Tow vehicle help

wgaboy

Cadet
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
9
Re: Tow vehicle help

Forget about a dual purpose vehicle.
There's very little worse than the whole rig sliding into the drink. Except a bad collision enroute.
You need a friend with adequate towing capacity.
And braking capacity. And yours and his insurance paid up. And he let you take the wheel.
You might ask your local dealer/marina.
And do you keep the trailer back at the house?

Wonder if a good tow service, say one that's associated with AAA, would do it for a reasonable fee. To me, reasonable would be around $125-$150 one way. Mileage over 20 + tow 4 + return 4 and 20 or say, 44 miles or less than $3.50 per mile. You couldnt even insure a car for $300.
Folks around here used to buy older hi cubic inch GM or Fords-- fishing car on steriods -- to tow to the Gulf. About 200 miles. At 33 cents per gallon gas was no issue and insurance was cheap.
But today with so many insurance and liability issues. No way.
I know you think of that $300 a year in terms of 80 or 100 gallons of fuel or several days of fun. Well, $300 is barely 25 pounds of good steak. Or a year of property taxes. Dont even think about it. If you can afford this $15,000 - $25,000+ plus boat, you ought to be able to absorb 1%-2% for
a few miles. Just do it.

btw make sure that not having trailer brakes or
nd sway bar setup is not an issue.

Some earlier suggestions are also right on target.
go for it!
good luck!
 

larry1167

Seaman
Joined
Jun 23, 2007
Messages
70
Re: Tow vehicle help

Have you considered a Toyota 4Runner 4x4 with the 4.0 ltr V6? Tow rating is 5,000 lbs. I just picked one up a few months ago. It averages 19-20mpg around town and 22mpg on the freeway when not towing. Not too bad for a truck based mid size SUV.

I tow about 3,500lbs with it and there are a few steep hills on the way to our local lake. You should be okay with 5k lbs if your trip is flat. You will never have to worry about sliding back down the ramp with 4lo and the locking diff. on the 4Runner.
 

sublauxation

Lieutenant
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
1,317
Re: Tow vehicle help

If you cant rent, beg, borrow or steal ... an SUV is great. We have a tool rental company here that rents trucks pretty cheap with hitches. A Uhaul would even work. As far as SUV's go I had an Explorer that did a pretty good job, got 18mpg on the highway. Just bought an Expedition with the 5.4 and it gets 17 mpg highway. There is no comparison between these vehicles (except the wife hates driving the larger Expedition). For 1 MPG I'd take the Expedition any day. I'd bet the same is true for a Blazer vs a Tahoe, minimal loss of MPG but much more comfortable vehicle. When I did tow larger distances the MPG in the Explorer were terrible.
 
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