Money is a BIG factor this year, and gas prices are doin the hurtin. I'm not surprised, and here in OS we are gonna do some money pinching this year.

Regatta organizers, cinch your belts...
sea ya
tami

Half full or half empty? Time to get some word out to those people that would normally be pouring that expensive gasoline into a motorboat or jetski (perhaps we can be choosy!) and grow the fleet.

I'm just speaking personally here, but I'm going to be attending MORE regattas this year than last, and I'm going to be buying a home later in the year and relocating further south!

Money grows on trees. Didn't you know?

The 20's and 100's falling from the palm trees overhanging the pool are clogging the filter.

Dang it, I knew I planted the wrong kind of tree!!!

Do you have an extra one of those money trees for me?

[img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img][img]http://www.florida3s.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif[/img]

To get this thread back on track, yes gas prices suck, but when you do the math the increased cost of the road trip is not much more than the cost of a pizza, I won't let that stop my travels.
But I do agree turnouts will be less, in our other hobby (BMX Racing) the attendance is down, some blame the hurricanes and some even say it hasn't been the same since 9-11.

Gasoline prices, Home heating costs, Auto Industry, last one out of Michigan turn out the lights.

It all depends on priorities & support from the family. I find that sailing is still cheap, yet I don't travel like I used too.

I'm still going sailing, I dont care what gas costs. I could be $10/gallon, I'm still going sailing and if a regatta is fun/interesting/competitive gas is less than the steak dinner and the margaritas I'm going to eat/drink

What will be fun is watching all those Chevy Suburbans sit on the lot and seeing all you guys pull your i20 down the highway with a Toyota Prius.

What are the odds that the Prius waranty covers towing?

Even better... Do you think they build a trailer hitch for a Prius?

http://search.cartserver.com/search/search.cgi?cartid=a-9041&bool=AND&category=c1_receiv_01&maxhits=1&keywords=gl0145&GO=GO%21

I pulled a Hobie 16 with an old Toyota Tercel and it has about the smallest 4 cylinder you can get. You can get a hitch for anything nowadays.

Doug Snell
Hobie 17
ww.tcdyc.com

Towed my first H16 with a '78 Corolla! I'm currently using a Toyota Tacoma for towing. Plan on driving it until the doors fall off or Toyota offers a Prius-like drive train in a small truck!

If you slow down from 80 mph and just drive 70, you probably won't notice the difference at the pump.

Used to pull a trailer with a Prindle 16 stacked on top of a Prindle 18 (Totaal 290 kg and alot heavier then a I-20 that way) WITH me 1993 Toyota Starlet. I would easily do 70 mph and still get a mileage of 50 per gallon. At one time I tested how fast my car would go with this setup and I ended at 135 km/h = 85 mph on flat ground. I did this fro about 80 km and couldn't detect any extra fuel consumption. I'm sure that was more consumed but it was so small that I couldn't see at at the pump over the basic 50/gallon that I get when toweing at 70 mph. The covered distance was too short fot that.

Toyota Prius pulling an I-20 ? No problemo !

Wouter

Ok, now I`m confused. If I could get 50miles/gallon in ANY car I`ve ever owned (ok, my small Opel diesel ute could almost manage it) without towing anything, I`d be really impressed.
50 miles = 80,5km.
1 US Gallon = 3,785litres.
1 British Gallon = 4,546litres.

This translates to a fuel consumption of 5,7litres/100km, my diesel did 6,2l/100km on a very good day. My current 2.0litre petrol engined car gets about 10l/100km without towing, most new cars beat that but only by a small margin, say 7-8l/100km.

I know you have no hills to tow up, Wouter, but are your figures even remotely possible ?

As far as I know a gallon is 4.2 liters, maybe that is a Texas gallon ? I don't when you Anglo-Saxons convert to a decimal system anyway !

Anyway I intended to say 12 km/liter, that is what I get when towing the stacked trailer at 100-110 km/h.

Seems like I made another math error as well.

Anyway :



100/5.7 = 17.5 km/liter. My best score up till now is 17.15 km/1 liter = 5.9 liter/100km. So I wasn't far off despite my math mistake. But on average over a whole year (all weather conditions etc) I get 15.7 km/liter or so (=6.4 lite/100 km).

Without the big rig in tow I get 15 km/liter in the winter and 16:1 in the summer. And no I don't drive like an old lady. Toyota starlets are just very efficient cars. With a 1.3 liter 4 cylinder engine it accellerates quite well as well. Top speed without tow = 160 km/hour or a 100 mph. All very decent specs for any car.

The secret of the Toyota starlet ? It is lightweight ! Only 840 kg (= 1850 lbs) for the whole car while still packing a 75 hp engine. Nearly 1 hp per 10 kg and let me tell you that alot of modern cars don't have better ratios.

Yep, I'm all going for lightweight these days. Lightweight boat, lightweight car, lightweight women !

Wouter

We need Mike Dobbs to post a photo of him towing his Tornado on a tilt trailer behind his Mini--looks like an ant carrying a watermelon.