towing with a Honda Oddessy

[Rickyrocket]

Does any one do this,how big of a TT/Hybrid can one tow safely ,I believe the manual says 3500 lbs.

[atreis]

I tow my trailer with a Sienna, which is similar in terms of capabilities. It's worked quite nicely for five years now. Read the owner's manual and follow the instructions there with regard to towing speed and the heavy-use maintenance schedule (for the Sienna, this amounts to changing the transmission fluid more frequently). Also keep in mind that most trailer tires are rated for a maximum speed of 65 mph and have little engineering margin. You'll almost certainly be more successful and safe towing at 60 mph than at 75 mph.

You have to watch the total weight, and likely won't be able to carry water (I also don't carry food).

You should use a good Weight Distribution hitch.

There are some significant advantages to towing with minivans: They have a low center of gravity and long wheelbase. This makes them inherently more stable vehicles.

GVWR: The GVWR on my trailer is 5600 lbs (and it's built on a frame rated for 14,000 lbs). The actual fully loaded weight is 3100 lbs, as measured at a scale. It's the fully loaded weight that matters, not the GVWR. The fact that my trailer can theoretically carry another 2500 lbs is irrelevant. (I don't know how any sane person could actually manage to put that much more weight into this small trailer.)

[3LittleDucks]

We towed with our Sienna for a few years, but only a PUP (quite a heavy one), we REALLY wanted to tow an HTT with it, but after crunching the numbers (family of 5 with large dog) and taking a friend's trailer out for some test rides we weren't comfortable with it.

We did look at a small HTT that was owned by an older couple, no kids, small dog, who said they travelled with tanks empty, took their time, and felt comfortable with their set up.

A close friend (family of 3) bought an R-POD to tow with their minivan. They plan to upgrade to a truck for next summer, though they put a huge number for miles on it this season, might have been different with occasional use.

Sorry for rambling, hope this helps.

[popupcamping]

TheDirty wrote:
I have a Sienna that I tow a Jayco Feather 17C. Similar tow specs. You will get better answers if there is a Odyssey forum around. I know I got most of my info from the Sienna Chat forum regarding what other people are towing and their experiences and what the problems might be.

Best answer yet.

I have suggested this more times than I can count but it usually gets deleted. This forum might be great for some things but it is mostly conjecture and speculation than actual experience. A forum of the vehicle type is always more informative as you are more likely to find people with experience

[TheDirty]

I have a Sienna that I tow a Jayco Feather 17C. Similar tow specs. You will get better answers if there is a Odyssey forum around. I know I got most of my info from the Sienna Chat forum regarding what other people are towing and their experiences and what the problems might be.

[Campfire_Time]

When we towed our old Kiwi 17a with a Montana, there is no way I could have or would have without W/D. I'd be hard pressed to think that one could get away with towing a box with the Odyssey without a W/D hitch. Honda's official stance on using a W/D with an Odyssey is no. But I know that many are doing so.

[Mvander]

I have seen several oddyse vans towing tandem axle trailers as well as other mini vans. My parent tow a 14rb with a Montana. However it is 3000gtwr and the van dosent like it on the hwy or in any head winds. If you can keep your weight in check and dont mind flogging your van (like lots of hills in second at big rpms) then go for it.

[Billbeat]

I would not tow any hybrid with any minivan.

[skipnchar]

Max hitch weight will be the actual weight of the vehicle when fully loaded for travel, passengers and cargo complete, subtracted from gvwr from the dot safety plate on the vans door post. Remember weight of tongue is always much more than the brochure number which is empty weight, since they can't possibly know how you will load the trailer or how much weight you will load. Good luck / skip

[Bumpyroad]

Ascend makes some small lightweight fiberglass sided ones. as does R-pod.
bumpy

[Padlin]

Any idea what the hitch weight the van can handle is?

Check out some of the smaller CampLite trailers, don't bother looking at the ones that have a dry weight of over 3000 lbs.

CampLite

You could probably also get away with some of the fiberglass trailers, up to the 19'er might work.

Escape Trailers

[Bumpyroad]

when I was looking at the Pilot, at that time it was rated to tow a 3,500 lb. TT and a 5,000 lb. boat. don't know about the oddessy however.
bumpy

[bikendan]

only a handful of hybrids will have GVWRs of 3500lbs. and they are around a max of 17'. but nearly all have very low CCC numbers.
some will only have 100-200lbs. for cargo, battery, propane and water.

but your problem is that the frontal area of a hybrid, will exceed the frontal area limits on any minivan, except the Astro/Safari minivans which are no longer made.
any conventional hybrid or travel trailer's frontal area will exceed your van's max amount.
second issue is the van's payload amount. when you add passengers, cargo, WDH and tongue weight, it'll probably exceed the van's payload amount.