Jeremy Clarkson uses a C3 to tow a 13 000 TONNE ship. First ever video on the internet that you can smell (the clutch).

You could pull it with almost any amount of force, the questions are, how fast will it accelerate, and what is your maximum sustainable speed?

The initial acceleration is super easy. F = ma, and the mass is 13,000 tonnes. So whatever amount of force you apply divided by 13,000 tonnes gives you the initial acceleration. This will become less as the boat begins moving and you start fighting drag.

The drag on the boat, when moving, will be proportional to the square of its speed. Fluids do have static friction, but the water isn't perfectly still underneath the boat anyway, so there's no real static friction to overcome. So when the boat isn't moving, the drag is zero, meaning you can overcome it just by pushing on it with your hand. You won't get it moving very fast with your hand, only as fast as it takes for the drag to equal the force of your hand.

Most cars have enough torque in low gears to spin their wheels, so the force that a car can apply is determined by its tires and the amount of weight on the driven wheels. Use an AWD vehicle and load it up to its maximum weight for best results.

/r/cars Thread Parent Link - youtu.be