What do you pull your boat with?

[wuttja]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

I tow my 21' Sea Ray bow rider with a 2005 Honda Pilot AWD with the towing coolers. Rated for 4500 lbs and tows great. First trip was 300 miles in severe thunderstorms & tornado warnings from the place I bought the boat to my house. Not exactly how I wanted to try towing a 3500+ lb boat for the first time, but ended up working out great. Could use a little more power, but fuel economy isn't too bad with the 3.5L V6.

 

[franco802]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

I also use my 2004 Silverado excab, but with a 4.8 V8 and 3.73 gearing.

I actually now updraded my tow vehicle to a new 2008 Tundra excab 4x2 with the 5.7 v8

 

[rthomas]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

my other toy- 97 f250 powerstroke diesel, its a bit overkill for the small boat but its just right for the big one. on occasion i pull with my 98 tahoe for short trips

 

[Skyhawk]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

Chaparral 198xl i/o with a tandem axle trailer pulled by my '98 Ram 1500 w/ 318ci (slightly modified), tow package, class IV Drawtite.

 

[Seon]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

Here's my tow vehicle...'55 Ford COE on an F350 chassis with 6.9 Diesel and C6 auto transmission. Gets the job done towing my 21' Trophy .

 

[rthomas]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

cool rig! the guys over at oilburners.net would love that!

 

[Astroquickfire]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

I tow my 1990 Astro Quickfire 18FDX with my 1990 Jeep Cherokee. No issues even in the mountains. I did install the stainless steel surge/disc brakes on it just to keep it straight on panic stops. I'm getting ready to buy a Tahoe but will still keep the Jeep.

 

[beilwing]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

I pull a 20 ft Sea ray with an 02 Mountaineer with the 4.0 v6, but I have awd and towing package. It works just fine but milage drops to about 11 mpg.

 

[timdan94]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

I pull a 15 ft 1986 mfb caprice with an 85 hp force with my 08 subaru legacy...

 

[abe321]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

03 mitsubishi L200 will pull anything. my caravan, boat, jet ski no problem a bit greedy on the diesel though or is just that the fuel price has gone up either way you still need something reliable.

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

We use an '08 Toyota 4Runner 4WD with 4.0L V-6 and tow package to pull our Lund 1750 Fisherman w/Merc 115hp. The load is about 2,600# or so. Truck does great with tow capacity of 5,000#. The V-8 version can haul 7,000# and folks who own them think they're the best. Our V-6 has done just fine so far. Decent mileage, too.

The 4WD might be overkill, but we are visiting lots of different lakes and one can't always be sure the ramp will be easy to get the boat out of. Besides, this is Minnesota, and the 4WD comes in handy sometimes in the winter...

A follow-up to the above post. Last week we towed our boat 210 miles north of the Twin Cities to a friend's lakeside cabin. It was the first time I've towed anything that big that far. We had the misfortune of fighting a strong headwind all the way up and a fierce crosswind all the back.

The 4Runner was marvelous. It towed the Lund on the Shoreland'r trailer straight and true despite the windy conditions. Trip computer said we got 18.5 mpg going up, but I used actual measurements and calculated it to be 17.0 mpg (those trip computers aren't always reliable, are they?). Still pretty good considering the headwind. The return trip was 17.8 mpg.

We had our two golden retrievers in the back, each in her own kennel. The back seat in 4Runners fold pretty flat, so that's nice.

Anyway, we were really pleased with the vehicle (and the boat!!), and feel our initiation to long distance trailering was pretty successful. Highly recommend the 4Runner for those with rigs in the same weight class.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

There's something to be said for that! Another post we are talking about fuel mileage and how important that has become to some of us when looking for a tow vehicle. The new 4 Runner is one sweet machine. My son is the accessories manager at a local Toyota dealer. I get to run down there from time to time and kick some tires. I feel he went in there and nailed that job because they have always been in our family and his knowledge of them. I bought our first Hilux in 1971 and have owned Toyotas eversince.
The 4.7 that they offer is in my '04 Tundra. With my wife driving back and forth to work she gets 21 mpg. Hotfoot here knocks that down to about 19.
When towing our 3500# rig we get 16 to 17.
Now, my sons 2 dr with a 5.7 and a lot bigger body and his driving style can't touch those numbers, but he still gets around 15-17. That is before he installs the supercharger.

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

i pull my boat with an 96 f250 powerstroke diesel a huge over kill for my boat dont even know its there...lol but its not so much of an over kill for the large trailer i pull frequently

 

[jaywiz]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

82 scorpion 210 with a 08 ridgeline rtx(v6 tow pkg) don't even know it's back there if you don't look in the mirrors!

 

[newbie_owner]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

I pull my MFG Gypsy 14' with a 2002 Ford Escape 2.0l 4cyl 5speed.

 

[hard-3]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

My rig is a 89 cobalt 23 ft pulled by a 02 f250 sd 4x4 powerstroke. trailer and boat weigh over 6000lb , never know its back there if you didn't look in mirrors

 

[dave1]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

my 98 mustang with a v6. been towing for ten years with it. no problems. i tow a 15ft fiberglass runabout with a 40hp evinrude.

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

Not sure if I'm doing this right, but here's a link to a pic of our rig at a rest area on our way home from Northern Minnesota. The doors are open for our two golden retrievers that were just reboarded. Note that the MinnKota trolling motor was removed from the bow and stowed in the boat to reduce aerodynamic drag.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn76/goldenretriever55/IMG_0570.jpg

 

[642mx]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

I pull my boat with my Tundra....

 

[danond]

Re: What do you pull your boat with?

'02 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with the 4.7 V8. No issues. The quadra-trac 4wd is AWESOME on slippery ramps.