what do you tow your trailer with

[DRIFTER_016]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

I tow with a 2005 Honda Pilot.

 

[paul burris]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

RESPONSE AND QUESTION: Response, I just sold my old Sylvan ski boat 17' and towed it using my Toyota Tacoma 4cyl. Towing was slow but I never had to go very far to get on the lake. QUESTION: I am buy up to a cabin cruiser, and want to know if a 1/2 ton pickup, like a ford f150 v6, would tow a 5000 pound displacement boat down the highway? I am thinking of something like a Sea Ray 2500, 25 footer, or something around 23-24 foot.

 

[skargo]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

RESPONSE AND QUESTION: Response, I just sold my old Sylvan ski boat 17' and towed it using my Toyota Tacoma 4cyl. Towing was slow but I never had to go very far to get on the lake. QUESTION: I am buy up to a cabin cruiser, and want to know if a 1/2 ton pickup, like a ford f150 v6, would tow a 5000 pound displacement boat down the highway? I am thinking of something like a Sea Ray 2500, 25 footer, or something around 23-24 foot.

Absolutely NOT. Your Taco wasn't safe either.

I am amazed at the nonchalant attitude about towing safety around here.

 

[fordv840]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

RESPONSE AND QUESTION: Response, I just sold my old Sylvan ski boat 17' and towed it using my Toyota Tacoma 4cyl. Towing was slow but I never had to go very far to get on the lake. QUESTION: I am buy up to a cabin cruiser, and want to know if a 1/2 ton pickup, like a ford f150 v6, would tow a 5000 pound displacement boat down the highway? I am thinking of something like a Sea Ray 2500, 25 footer, or something around 23-24 foot.

I think the boat you are describing weighs more than 5000lbs, I would guess between 6500 and 8000 and that is just the boat add at least 1500lbs for a trailer that size. A good rule of thumb to be safe is to add up the boat, trailer, gear,fuel, people, etc. And find out the tow rating of the vehicle you want to use and don't go more than 2/3rds of that rating. That doesn't mean you can't tow more weight it just means you won't have ANY issues playing it safe. Also keep the GCVW(Gross Combined Vehicle Weight) in mind. If you are towing with an SUV that seats 7 people and you have it full of fat bastards like me you can't tow as much weight. Also, even if you read a vehicle like the F-150 can tow say 8000lbs, i think now they advertise 11000lbs for the 09. It has to be setup with the tow package and who knows what else to have that rating. Most stock trucks tow much less than the maximum tow rating right out of the box. I used to work for GM at the proving grounds in Arizona as an intern and my glorious job was to test heavy trucks for load stress.

 

[Linc33]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

Another Minivan entrant.

2005 Grand Carvan SXT 3.6L V6 - Towing our 1995 Rinker 180

Love them both.

-Linc

 

[fordv840]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

Another Minivan entrant.

2005 Grand Carvan SXT 3.6L V6 - Towing our 1995 Rinker 180

Love them both.

-Linc

I used to tow my old boat with the same van, it towed great. Funny story, one time i was at a ramp that was very flat and was basically a beach but had asphalt down to about 2ft from the waters edge and then sand the rest of the way. So you had to back your vehicle way in to get something on the trailer. Well one day I went down there to do some fishing and this guy was down there with a mid 80's ford F150 buried up the the rear axle in sand with his 20ft boat on the trailer! It was too shallow to get the boat back off and the truck wasn't moving. I said to him let me try to pull you out with the van. He laughed but said ok, well what he didn't know was that all my traction was on the asphalt section. My back tires where in the sand, actually in the water but my front tires where on nice dry pavement. I pulled him with the boat attached out with no problem at all. He was amazed, as was I actually. Sometimes its nice to have front wheel drive at certain ramps. I prefer four wheel drive myself but I remember my dad had a two wheel drive pickup for years and we launched some pretty big boats with it over the years. Sometimes we had to stand on the bumper but it worked!

 

[STARCRAFT16SS]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

1994 Chevy Silverado Extended cab, k1500, manual 5 speed transmission
with 5.0 gas engine...I make sure my emergency brake is in good shape
for boat launching.....no desire to be a sub captain here..tow a 1971 starcraft supersport 16ft aluminum with 1971 Johnson 60hp looper with
a Spartan roller tilt trailer.... does a fine job towing the boat!

 

[BamaAlum97]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

2005 Nissan Frontier NISMO 4WD.

I keep my boat in a slip at the marina, so I don't actually tow my boat very often. But I have never had a problem when I have towed it.

 

[TJDave]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

I see the river from my back yard. I use my 2004 Wrangler to haul it one block to the boat ramp. On out of town excursions, if I am
not towing the Jeep behind it, I use this..2006 Four Winds 5000.

It all depends on where we are going...mountains, or water!

 

[arnezie]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

2007 GMC Yukon DENALI with a 6.2L V8 All Wheel Drive, pulls my 23' Searay Weekender like its nothing at all. 12 MPG in tow at 70MPH. I had a standard Yukon and wouldn't do that again. ohh by the way my boat is about 5000 LBS and trailer 1000 LBS so 6000 total.

 

[tagolf2000]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

77 4x4 pullin the donzi

 

[Blue Crabber]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

I am amazed at the nonchalant attitude about towing safety around here.

x2 Well said skargo.

Remember those towing ratings are from the manufacture and imho, are when the vehicle is in tip-top shape. How are your tires, brakes, transmission, etc, operating? To many things can go wrong while towing.... please be safe out there!

 

[Up to My Ears in Fiberglass]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

325is will tow 14' Larson All American 146 (boat is currently being repaired and restored). Yeah, I know, it's just a small car; but then, it's just a small boat, right?

 

[loadchris]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

I tow a 2002 Glastron 205..20' w/ my standard cab 2wd 07 Silverado 4.8L no probs. Truck is rated at 6200lbs towing and im pretty sure the boat weighs anywhere between 3800-4000 lbs. w/ gear your talking 4300lbs max. I have a Valley class IV hitch rated at 10k pulling/Tounge 600lbs. Plenty enough......Ill tell ya though..if I knew I was getting this boat I would have gone with the extra cab 5.3L....Man I hate that!! LOL

 

[CaptOchs]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

'06 Chevy Impala v-6 3.4 liter ------> 15 ft Glasspar Tri-hull & 100 HP Johnson. Tows very good for a sedan. You can even turn the A/C on if needed. The car handles acceleration and braking very well. For hilly terrain, I'll put 93 octane or E-85 fuel in. E-85 is equivalent to 100 octane gas.

On camping trips I'll tow a 06 Hornet 28' camper (6000 lbs) with the 03 Ford Expedition and my wife will tow the boat with the Impala.

Prior tow vehicle was a 1999 Olds 88. It struggled and liked to overheat. Some of the cooling systems components were made out of a heavy plastic. I replaced a 90 degree elbow 3 times!

 

[FLWeekender]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

toyota tacoma

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

A receiver mount would be prudent, as a bumper mount is just plain dangerous.

I'll second that... heres why:

Heres what I haul with now: 1999 Olds Bravada

 

[NYGiants]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

00 honda oddesey
12' 1970something lowe rowboat

 

[vandy21]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

I've got two tow rigs. The t-100 is better for towing, but not great for long distances. It's a bit of a beater, but it runs really strong.

For longer distances, or when carrying more people, I take the Volvo. It actually tows pretty nicely, the boat is well within the tow capacity.

 

[oaksld]

Re: what do you tow your trailer with

3 miles to the ramp and it's a shallow ramp........ The little S-10 does pretty darn good!