Re: will van tow boat alright?
As far as just pulling on the highway...
I have a '94 Transsport with 3.8L 4 spd, pulls my 16' aluminum fine. I also have an '03 Montana 3.4L 4 spd, also pulls fine. (Neither transmission will tow in 4th, both need to be in 3rd for the highway...) that drops fuel economy by about 20-25%.
I had a '94 Transsport with 3.1L and 3 spd. It would also tow fine, but the 3.1 didn't have as much zip as the 3.8 or 3.4. The 3 spd tranny was good... better than the 4 speed for towing. Lost some economy (when not towing) on the highway b/c of lack of OD, but it shifted better than the 4 speeds and didn't "hunt around" at all. I never felt I was hurting that tranny by doing light towing with it. With the 4 speeds, it would be easy to overheat them by pulling in 4th. If you don't have a tach in the dash, you might never know that the torque converter was constantly locking and unlocking...
Now as for pulling up the ramp... my personal experience says it depends on the ramp.
I have successfully launched and retrieved my 16' aluminum with them, from a variety of paved ramps with no excitement. However, steepish ramps with either gravel or gravel/mud mix are a problem. It is a PITA that the ramp at my home lake (where we have a cabin) is like that. I can launch OK, and if the ramp is dry, and you avoid wheel spin, it will manage to get back up the hill with the empty trailer. But when retrieving, it will spin/slide and dig holes before it'll pull even my light boat up. FYI, traction control is of no use in this respect... my '03 has it, and it's the exact same as my older ones were.
It is bad enough that even in ideal conditions at my home lake (not wet, boat empty), I'll either get someone with a truck to pull it out for me, or expect that I'll need to ask a neighbour to come to the ramp and give my van a slight tug with their 4x4 to get up the ramp. It doesn't take much, but it does need help.
The fact that I can't launch/retrieve independently on my own lake is a major bug to me... I'd like a crew cab 4x4 or suburban, but with today's (and tomorrow's) fuel prices I don't think I can bear changing to that. My montana gets great mileage. I have toyed with the idea of either buying or making some kind of "traction mats" or welded grippers a few feet long to lay in front of the wheels... It needs so little help, that I'm sure it wouldn't take much of an increase in traction for it to work. Maybe deflating the tires to about 10 psi would do it?
Anyway that's my experience with those.... if the ramps are paved, you're probably fine.... BTW, those huge dashes are great for bringing home extra-large pizza's.
I always say the look like big dustbusters.
