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 I have one New
- Forum: BoaterTalk
Re:  anyone have a toyota sienna awd for a boating vehicle? donutboy New
Date: Oct 22 2008, 23:59 GMT
From: unclefuzzy
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My wife and I have a 2005 Sienna XL AWD that we use as a boating vehicle, but more for long distance travel. The only complaint about it is that when we bought it (new) it had run-flat tires and NO spare. When it came time to replace the tires, we opted for regular all-season tires and a donut spare. We bought the rim and donut tire from our Toyota dealer. The cost of the rim and donut spare was only a bit more than what we saved on the cost of 4 new tires (run-flat tires are expensive). The donut spare fits in the space where the larger 3rd row seat folds into the floor. When the spare is there, we have to keep that seat folded up. With bucket seats in the 2nd row and the smaller 3rd row seat folded down, we have seating for 5 and room for paddles and gear. We have Yakima racks that fit on the factory roof rack and can carry 5 kayaks.
It is easy to remove the Yakima racks and I do so when I am traveling any distance and not boating. It boosts my gas mileage by about 2 mpg.
With our configuration, we can remove the 2nd row seats, put the spare on the floor behind the driver's seat, fold the 3rd row seats into the floor and put our kayaks inside. That's nice for non-camping trips. When we plan on sleeping in the van, we put the kayaks on top and take out the 2nd row seats. That gives us the whole floor for sleeping (which will hold a 4x8 sheet of plywood). When we run shuttle, we can roll up our sleeping pads and bags and set up the 3rd row seats for seating a total of 4-5 boaters.
We still prefer our 4wd Ford Ranger for rougher shutltes like those along the Gauley River. The extra clearance with the truck helps when driving all the way down to the Gauley.
If it wasn't for the sleeping arrangements, I would opt for the Toyota RAV4 AWD. It's smaller, but still big enough. And it has a full size spare.
Chuck Brabec
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