timnfletcher
Recruit
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2020
- Messages
- 1
Hello,
I have an old starcraft islander 22 so it's 1950 pounds. I keep it in dry storage, and the launch ramp is exactly .4 miles away from the lot. I use the boat maybe 3-5 times a year.
I currently use a 1994 f150 to pull it out and tow it down, but since my truck is ancient now and I have kids, I really only use it to pull my boat in or out and launch it. Then, a few weeks ago, I was trying to pull my boat out and the ramp was extra slimy for some reason, and I couldn't get it out as my truck is RWD. I was looking pretty stuck when this fellow came along in a 4-cylinder CRV and hooked himself up to my truck and, despite the slime, was able to pull my truck and my boat out simply because he had 4WD.
I've been thinking about a new vehicle, and I don't want to spend a ton on a 4wd truck that I'll never really use. My buddy is selling an old Rav4. It has a 2000 pound towing limit and almost 250k miles on it. I'm considering just buying that and using it exclusively as a boat-launcher vehicle because it has 4wd.
My question is, given that the towing capacity of a rav 4 is exactly the weight of the boat... is this a problem? I mean, if I ever had to go further than the .4 mile to the ramp, I would rent a truck, but that would be such a rare occurrence (last time it went further away than the ramp on a trailer was about 15 years ago) that I'm not really expecting that to happen basically ever. But if I have an old junker car, is there anything unsafe about using it to pull and launch a boat maybe 3-5 times a year? Is a rav4 with 4 wheel drive enough to get a 2000 pound boat out of the water? If I two it for a total of about 5 miles a year, will that cause significant damage to the rav4 to where it'll only last a year instead of the maybe 4-5 years that it should have left in it?
Again, I would never use the rav4 to haul this boat anywhere past the ramp, so .4 miles at a time every few months. Once the boat is up the ramp, it's flat with exactly one stop sign, and while I don't want to ruin the rav4, I'm also not super concerned with doing things that would normally be considered "bad" for a transmission or whatever.
Just looking for input—thanks!
I have an old starcraft islander 22 so it's 1950 pounds. I keep it in dry storage, and the launch ramp is exactly .4 miles away from the lot. I use the boat maybe 3-5 times a year.
I currently use a 1994 f150 to pull it out and tow it down, but since my truck is ancient now and I have kids, I really only use it to pull my boat in or out and launch it. Then, a few weeks ago, I was trying to pull my boat out and the ramp was extra slimy for some reason, and I couldn't get it out as my truck is RWD. I was looking pretty stuck when this fellow came along in a 4-cylinder CRV and hooked himself up to my truck and, despite the slime, was able to pull my truck and my boat out simply because he had 4WD.
I've been thinking about a new vehicle, and I don't want to spend a ton on a 4wd truck that I'll never really use. My buddy is selling an old Rav4. It has a 2000 pound towing limit and almost 250k miles on it. I'm considering just buying that and using it exclusively as a boat-launcher vehicle because it has 4wd.
My question is, given that the towing capacity of a rav 4 is exactly the weight of the boat... is this a problem? I mean, if I ever had to go further than the .4 mile to the ramp, I would rent a truck, but that would be such a rare occurrence (last time it went further away than the ramp on a trailer was about 15 years ago) that I'm not really expecting that to happen basically ever. But if I have an old junker car, is there anything unsafe about using it to pull and launch a boat maybe 3-5 times a year? Is a rav4 with 4 wheel drive enough to get a 2000 pound boat out of the water? If I two it for a total of about 5 miles a year, will that cause significant damage to the rav4 to where it'll only last a year instead of the maybe 4-5 years that it should have left in it?
Again, I would never use the rav4 to haul this boat anywhere past the ramp, so .4 miles at a time every few months. Once the boat is up the ramp, it's flat with exactly one stop sign, and while I don't want to ruin the rav4, I'm also not super concerned with doing things that would normally be considered "bad" for a transmission or whatever.
Just looking for input—thanks!