Hi Joseph:
    I tow a flatbed trailer that weighs about 600 lbs empty, and 1500 lbs
loaded.  The handling improves from the inertial coupling to the rear of the
van, and the ride improves also.  Make sure to place the ball fairly low.
    My van has a receiver that I made from square and rectangular tubings,
welded to the existing bumper brackets.  It all tucks up under the bumper
and only the receiver shows.
    The trick to stability is getting the load positioned correctly on a
good trailer.

    Good things:
        Long hitch-to-trailer CG distance
        Low load CG
        Wide trailer wheelbase
        Short distance from van rear axle centerline to ball center.
        If you use leaf springs on the trailer, position the shackles in
front of the axle.  This makes the axle countersteer for you when the
trailer leans over in a corner - a convergent, not divergent, behavior.

    There is a book on trailer design by a lady engineer that spells this
out, if you're interested I'll dig it out.

    Randy Bergum
    1990 Carat

Joseph Badger wrote:

> Hi, my name is Joseph Badger and I currently have a 1990 Vanagon Carat
> with about 170,000 miles.  I also have a 1996 Jetta GLS.  Would you tow
> a boat and trailer weighing less than 1,000 pounds combined with either?
> The owners manual says 1,350 pounds for an "unbraked" trailor.
>
> If so would trailor this, where do you recommend getting a hitch that
> will work with US type trailor mounts?
>
> Joseph