Telluride Boat Towing

[AlexMcHale]

Hi all! We just put a deposit down on a 2022 Telluride S AWD. We have a 24 foot boat that weighs right around the 5000lb towing mark (including gas and trailer). The trailer has surge brakes on both axles that are very effective and work with a 5 pin connector that we will have installed. Does anyone have experience towing boats this size with the Telluride? I know that the S does not have the self-leveling suspension, but the tongue weight should be well below the 500lbs limit for the Telluride. The trailer was custom fit to the boat and the tongue weight is about 7% total weight.

Also, does anyone have drive mode recommendations for towing?

 

[Vento]

I'm fairly new to towing, so take what I say with a grain of salt... I'm towing a travel trailer that's ~4,000 lbs loaded and can definitely feel it. The engine and transmission are not overworked but they're working hard enough, and the brakes do the same (the trailer has it's own brakes controlled with a Curt Echo brake controller). I'm getting about 20 L/100Km (~12 mpg) highway. Since you're close to the weight limit, you might have the same experience as me, but with a boat you'll have a lot less drag vs. a travel trailer.

See my post a few threads down... My car seems to stay in 5th gear at 3k RPM cruising at 100km/h no matter what drive mode I'm in... only way to drop the RPM is to put it in manual mode and go to 6th gear. Not sure why it does this and am pretty sure it's hurting my mileage... going to try using manual mode only next time to see if it helps.

 

[2020Telly]

With surge breaks and a 2022 you should be ready to tow as long as you get the Kia 7-way harness then something like this for your 5-pin need:

https://www.amazon.com/WOFTD-Trailer-Adapters-Connector-Adapter/dp/B082VV29H8

The Trailer Sway Control is brake based so it should work fine for a boat. You might want to consider towing dry in order to stay under the 5,000.

If you get the Kia branded tow hitch receiver it will be in the bumper. If you get an aftermarket one it will hang below the bumper so you might want to consider a ball mount with around a 2" rise to keep your boat trailer level.

Since it's a boat you probably won't have enough tongue weight to notice too much sag, but if you do, I recommend the AirLift 1000 bags. They work great with the standard springs to give you a little extra stiffness for weight of passengers and cargo when towing the boat.

Since there is no driving mode for towing, I would suggest the following:

• Set Smart mode driving - let the Telluride decide how much power
• Disable Autostart-stop - Some people find this annoying anyway because it shuts off the car at idle by winding down the starter and you have to lift your foot off the brake to start it again, but if you are towing you might need more instant pickup when the light changes to risk getting rear ended. It’s a button right next to your leg that you have to press every time you start the vehicle unless you use the card/coin hack posted on this forum.
• Disable the rear parking sensor - The Telluride doesn't know something is back there so when you backup you will go nuts with the camera and warning beeping at you.
• Turn off the auto-hold - I prefer to have my foot on the brake.
• Avoid using Smart Cruise Control - Just to remain fully aware and don't get distracted since you have added weight, if you choose to use regular or smart cruise control, I would increase the setting for the distance from the vehicle in front of you since you need more distance to stop. You might be able to switch to the Standard Cruise Control, but I would just avoid cruise control altogether when towing.

Lastly, if you tow a boat regularly, then chances are you might be going on a wet boat ramp. To make full use of your AWD on an incline and to make sure your vehicle braking works well along with the trailer surge breaks, be very mindful of the tire wear and replace with good quality tires that get you good traction. AWD enhances the tire traction by sensing slippage and adjusting power to the other wheels. It can't enhance performance with bad traction, only makes it worse.

 

[AlexMcHale]

With surge breaks and a 2022 you should be ready to tow as long as you get the Kia 7-way harness then something like this for you 5-pin:

https://www.amazon.com/WOFTD-Trailer-Adapters-Connector-Adapter/dp/B082VV29H8

The Trailer Sway Control is brake based so it should work fine for a boat. You might want to consider towing dry when you can to stay under the 5,000.

If you get the Kia branded tow hitch receiver it will be in the bumper. If you get an aftermarket one it will hang below the bumper so you might want to consider a ball mount with around a 2" rise to keep your boat trailer level.

Since it's a boat you probably won't have enough tongue weight to notice too much sag, but if you do, I recommend the AirLift 1000 bags that works great with the standard springs to give you a little extra stiffness for weight of passengers and cargo when towing the boat.

Since there is no driving mode for towing, I would suggest the following:

• Set Smart mode driving - let the Telluride decide how much power
• Disable Autostart-stop - Some people find this annoying anyway because it shuts off the car at idle by winding down the starter and you have to lift your foot off the brake to start it again, but if you are towing you might need more instant pickup when the light changes to risk getting rear ended. It’s a button right next to your leg that you have to press every time you start the vehicle unless you use the card/coin hack posted on this forum.
• Disable the rear parking sensor - The Telluride doesn't know something is back there so when you backup you will go nuts with the camera and warning beeping at you.
• Turn off the auto-hold - I prefer to have my foot on the brake.
• Avoid using Smart Cruise Control - Just to remain fully aware and don't get distracted since you have added weight, if you choose to use regular or smart cruise control, I would increase the setting for the distance from the vehicle in front of you since you need more distance to stop. You might be able to switch to the Standard Cruise Control, but I would just avoid cruise control altogether when towing.

Lastly, if you tow a boat regularly, then chances are you might be going on a wet boat ramp. To make full use of your AWD on an incline and to make sure your vehicle braking works well along with the trailer surge breaks, be very mindful of the tire wear and replace with good quality tires that get you good traction. AWD enhances the tire traction by sensing slippage and adjusting power to the other wheels. It can't enhance bad traction, only makes it worse.

Thank you! That was very helpful. 99% of our towing will be around town on flat, 45-55mph roads. We may do a highway trip once every year or two, but we will not be towing frequently on highways or interstates. I figured that we would be okay, but I just wanted to double check to make sure that we were not seriously exceeding the capacities of the vehicle.

______________________________

 

[TellmeyourWHAT?]

With surge breaks and a 2022 you should be ready to tow as long as you get the Kia 7-way harness then something like this for you 5-pin:

https://www.amazon.com/WOFTD-Trailer-Adapters-Connector-Adapter/dp/B082VV29H8

The Trailer Sway Control is brake based so it should work fine for a boat. You might want to consider towing dry when you can to stay under the 5,000.

If you get the Kia branded tow hitch receiver it will be in the bumper. If you get an aftermarket one it will hang below the bumper so you might want to consider a ball mount with around a 2" rise to keep your boat trailer level.

Since it's a boat you probably won't have enough tongue weight to notice too much sag, but if you do, I recommend the AirLift 1000 bags that works great with the standard springs to give you a little extra stiffness for weight of passengers and cargo when towing the boat.

Since there is no driving mode for towing, I would suggest the following:

• Set Smart mode driving - let the Telluride decide how much power
• Disable Autostart-stop - Some people find this annoying anyway because it shuts off the car at idle by winding down the starter and you have to lift your foot off the brake to start it again, but if you are towing you might need more instant pickup when the light changes to risk getting rear ended. It’s a button right next to your leg that you have to press every time you start the vehicle unless you use the card/coin hack posted on this forum.
• Disable the rear parking sensor - The Telluride doesn't know something is back there so when you backup you will go nuts with the camera and warning beeping at you.
• Turn off the auto-hold - I prefer to have my foot on the brake.
• Avoid using Smart Cruise Control - Just to remain fully aware and don't get distracted since you have added weight, if you choose to use regular or smart cruise control, I would increase the setting for the distance from the vehicle in front of you since you need more distance to stop. You might be able to switch to the Standard Cruise Control, but I would just avoid cruise control altogether when towing.

Lastly, if you tow a boat regularly, then chances are you might be going on a wet boat ramp. To make full use of your AWD on an incline and to make sure your vehicle braking works well along with the trailer surge breaks, be very mindful of the tire wear and replace with good quality tires that get you good traction. AWD enhances the tire traction by sensing slippage and adjusting power to the other wheels. It can't enhance bad traction, only makes it worse.

Great info - you know your stuff!

 

[gman1868]

Towing has been discussed extensively on the forum that if you are towing over 3500 pounds, you should use a weight distribution hitch and trailer brakes. When towing close to 5000 pounds, the weight is biased too much to the rear and makes it dangerous for braking and turning because of the lack of weight on the front wheels of the towing vehicle. In addition, the extra load on the self-leveling shocks will eventually cause them to fail.

 

[Mk2driver]

I would not recommend towing a 24’ 5000# boat, it may be believed that it’s 5000# but in reality it’s probably more unless you’ve scaled the boat to come up with the number. Generally you want 10% tongue weight or too much of the weight will be in the rear causing more sway. Plus when you add more to payload weight in the car it lessens the towing capacity as well. You never want to be right at the towing limit.

 

[gman1868]

One other note, if the boat is 5000 lbs, don't forget to add the weight of the trailer. That could easily be another 1000 lbs.

______________________________

 

[Mk2driver]

One other note, if the boat is 5000 lbs, don't forget to add the weight of the trailer. That could easily be another 1000 lbs.

He said boat, trailer, and fuel are around 5k

 

[tpgh]

I'm fairly new to towing, so take what I say with a grain of salt... I'm towing a travel trailer that's ~4,000 lbs loaded and can definitely feel it. The engine and transmission are not overworked but they're working hard enough, and the brakes do the same (the trailer has it's own brakes controlled with a Curt Echo brake controller). I'm getting about 20 L/100Km (~12 mpg) highway. Since you're close to the weight limit, you might have the same experience as me, but with a boat you'll have a lot less drag vs. a travel trailer.

See my post a few threads down... My car seems to stay in 5th gear at 3k RPM cruising at 100km/h no matter what drive mode I'm in... only way to drop the RPM is to put it in manual mode and go to 6th gear. Not sure why it does this and am pretty sure it's hurting my mileage... going to try using manual mode only next time to see if it helps.

Highly likely you’ll get worse mileage. There’s a lot of info in car racing where lighter throttle and higher rpm vs more and lower rpm. It’s also easier on the engine from a load perspective. Let the computer and transmission do its thing.

 

[2020Telly]

Towing has been discussed extensively on the forum that if you are towing over 3500 pounds, you should use a weight distribution hitch and trailer brakes. When towing close to 5000 pounds, the weight is biased too much to the rear and makes it dangerous for braking and turning because of the lack of weight on the front wheels of the towing vehicle. In addition, the extra load on the self-leveling shocks will eventually cause them to fail.

Boat trailers with surge brakes may be the exception to what you are saying. Surge brakes are still safe and legal to use over 3,500 lbs. Tongue weight is generally lower on a boat trailer and weight distribution might not be needed because the boat is pretty level. In order to float they are pretty balanced and the engine hanging off the back usually helps levels it out. Additionally a 24’ boat likely has a 2 axle trailer that will also lower the tongue weight over a single axle.