hauling a 5 inch Dredge with a Prius

jewelerdave

Hero Member
Aug 29, 2007
848
96
Fort Collins, Colorado
Detector(s) used
I just follow my nose!...where the silver and gold goes!
Minelab 5000, Goldmaster, and a few others
XRF spectrometer, Common sense.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Ok, so today had its ups and downs. i have not dredged with a 5 inch in 8 years.

I got everything set up, the dredge on the trailer, the trailer hooked up too the car. All was great,
Drove 100 miles to get to where i was going to get some gold, and low and behold my pump seal burns out...crap. Ok, no gold today.

I do have to say, the set up for hauling does look pretty funny. But despite the extra weight, and drag on the car, I still managed to average 41 miles a gallon and go up hill no problems with the load. that 295lbs of Torque on that little electric motor in the car lets ya pull like it was not even there! that included 80mph on the freeway and about 40mph going up the windy mountain roads! I know a lot of people think Prii are slow cars as most drive them slow to get 55mpg but they can take a beating!

Hopefully I can start posting pics of gold when i get my new pump seal in.
 

Attachments

  • priusdredgepic.jpg
    priusdredgepic.jpg
    111.5 KB · Views: 470
Upvote 0

golddigger14s

Sr. Member
Aug 14, 2007
490
370
Lawton, OK
Detector(s) used
Teknetics T2
Keep an eye on your rear struts. Even though the pop-up camper I was pulling was under the rated capacity for my Subaru, that camper wasted my struts pretty quickly.
 

eathan

Sr. Member
May 19, 2006
358
12
Oregon
Detector(s) used
Goldmaster V-SAT, ACE 250, Lobo SuperTRAQ
What is the tow capacity on the Prius? I have a hitch on my WRX and manage our utility and tent trailers all the time, but we've been looking at more fuel efficient options. Our tent trailer comes in just shy of 1000 lbs and my 3" Proline dredge strapped to the canoe carriers on top would push it over the car's tow limit. 1500 lbs towing capacity and >30 mpg would be fantastic!
 

rmptr

Silver Member
Dec 25, 2007
3,274
25
Tierra del Fuego
Detector(s) used
Tesoro.Fisher.Garrett
That spare seal should be on your checklist, Dave...

But I guess you're learning that!

We'll be looking for your pics when you complete the shakedown cruises.

HH
rmptr
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top