Absolutely nothing wrong with well cared for 50 year old 182s and they are relatively plentiful. I have a 1964 182G low total time & low time engine, beautiful paint and interior with a legal Schweizer hook that I have had for thirty odd years and have towed with and behind zillions of times. With one non-fat pilot and light fuel load it tows better than a 150 Super Cub. About like a 180 Super Cub. The original 0-470R Cont. is bulletproof with plentiful parts available. Legally burns auto fuel too. What's not to like?
I have hardly flown mine in several years. I'm too old for medical. I keep it in my air-conditioned basement hangar just to look at and cry over. I should sell it and probably would to some deserving club. Also it's a fine cross country back up. I'm just musing around and don't know what I'll do.
Bottom line. Cessna 182 is good tow plane as is.







On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 6:05:20 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Good used Pawnee tugs are getting rare. Actually, very rare. What else is there that isn't 50+ years old?

There is a C-182 at Nephi hauling skydivers which has Wing-X wing-tip extensions which increase its load capacity, rate-of-climb and ceiling. It is said this also makes a C-182 into a good towplane for high density altitude operations. Another C-182 is being up-engined to a Lycoming IO-580 producing 315 HP. There is a C-182 STC for a Tost Hook available. Together these mods might make a decent "tow-anything" tug.

So what would all this cost?

A decent 1980 C-182Q is about $110,000 used. The IO-580 upgrade runs about $150,000 if one is able to re-use everything panel forward from the original Cont. O-470 installation - $180,000 if you can't. The Wing-X conversion runs about $11,000 installed. I'm guessing the Tost hook is about $5,000 intalled. Throw in another $30,000 for whatever is wrong with a 35 year-old airplane and one gets a decent tug for roughly $310,000 - $340,000. Ouch!

Alternatively, one might consider a brand new 260HP Embraer EMB 201R, a built-to-purpose glider tug made in Brazil. If one is worried about AVGAS availability, it can be ordered with a Lyc-540 engine that uses 100% ethanol.. Indications are it costs about $270,000 FOB at the factory but shipping and import duties may push that to $300,000.

A new 200HP Husky sells for about $270,000 but its not that great with heavy gliders.

What do you suppose tows will cost?