Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

[NewBoater1979]

I have been around boaters for a while but have never owned one myself. My wife and I have started looking at boats that meet HER requests.:redface:,a cuddy or a deck boat. We have a 2011 Chevy Traverse, front wheel drive with the towing package (5200LBS.) We would like to get the biggest boat that the Traverse could handle. From what I've found, a 20 to 23 foot is about the right size, I think. They have dry weights from 3500lbs to 4300lbs. I've looked at Chaps, Crownline, Sea rays, Glastron, and Sting rays.

So I guess my question is what is the largest dry weight boat I could handle with the Traverse? I don't expect to take a lot of gear with me for the day. It's just my wife and my 2 year old son and enough stuff for a day or weekend trip on the water. Also, boat recomendation would be good too.

Thanks for the help

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

I have been around boaters for a while but have never owned one myself. My wife and I have started looking at boats that meet HER requests.:redface:,a cuddy or a deck boat. We have a 2011 Chevy Traverse, front wheel drive with the towing package (5200LBS.) We would like to get the biggest boat that the Traverse could handle. From what I've found, a 20 to 23 foot is about the right size, I think. They have dry weights from 3500lbs to 4300lbs. I've looked at Chaps, Crownline, Sea rays, Glastron, and Sting rays.

I'd stick closer to the 3500 pound area. Anything at 4300 pounds is going to have a tandem axle trailer, which is going to weight close to 1000# (or more) by itself. Throw in fuel, oil, battery, gear, and you are at 6000# or more when headed down the rode.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

Welcome to iboats!

A 20-footer would be about the limit. You have to account for the dry weight of the boat, the motor (if not included in that dry weight), the trailer, batteries, fuel, water if applicable, safety equipment, food, beverages, cooler...well, you get the idea. Additionally, tongue weight will unload the front tires, exactly what you don't want with a front wheel drive tow vehicle.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

At 4300lbs plus 800lbs for the trailer and 240lbs (30gal) of fuel will have you over 5300 lbs with no gear.
Just the required USCG Safety equipment and an anchor could add another 20-50.
Keep the cooler and other heavy stuff in the Traverse until you get to the ramp.

You may want to stay under 4000 dry. Choose Wisely!
Towing at absolute MAX payload is not advised if you are towing very far!

 

[Mi duckdown]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

Read your owners manual. all the info is there in the towing section. Read it carefully. than decide.
Got to do your own homework. not a fan of telling people what they can pull safley. .02
Plus front wheel drive sucks at the ramp.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

Read your owners manual. all the info is there in the towing section. Read it carefully. than decide.
Got to do your own homework. not a fan of telling people what they can pull safley. .02

Not to be rude, but he knows exactly what the towing capacity is. He is asking about what kind of boat he can safely tow, and I'd be willing to bet lunch that his vehicle owners manual doesn't have any recommendations about types of boats.

 

[Mi duckdown]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

Smoking. what I was refering to is all weight. boat/trailer/tongue/passengers, etc. GCWR. Just trying to be helpful. HOW is that rude.???

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

While the Traverse is big on the outside, it's still light duty auto running gear inside. Front wheel drives just don't have the mechanical guts, and the braking system is insufficient for a total 10,000 lbs. weight of the car/boat/people/coolers, etc.

When you put 500 lbs. hitch weight on the rear bumper and weigh down the back seat area, weight transfers off the front end. When you back a boat into the water, there's also a weight shift to the rear axle and weight is taken off the front end. When you try to pull a boat out of a steep ramp, traction is often terrible and the truck can spin wheels and slide sideways. It can also get stuck.

But the worse scenario of such a vehicle is having to make an emergency 100% stomp on the brakes situation. Since so much weight is on the back of the Traverse, it's a disaster waiting to happen. Remember that brakes are very marginal to start with on a Traverse. I've had a trailer jack knife, and it's a terrible situation.

Nobody has said it, but modern day SUV's and mini vans are very heavy vehicles to begin with. When you add the people and their stuff, the vehicle is already max'd out--without adding a heavy boat behind it.

A Tahoe or crew cab 1/2 ton truck would have been a much better pick for towing a trailer.

I wouldn't want to tow more than 3,500 lbs. boat with a Traverse, and that' s with surge brakes on a tandem axle trailer. That would give you a 18' boat with an outboard. 22' boats are out of the question.

 

[kjsAZ]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

Have the smaller brother to the Traverse, an Equinox (3500lbs max GVWR) and tow a 17.5ft bowrider with it which brings 3200lbs to the scale. Don't believe the crap that front wheel drive is bad! We always see the big trucks (RWD) trying to pull out boats of the same size spin their wheels. Never even whistles with the Equinox. As my wife doesn't like handling the boat she usually launches and retrieves and she never had problems either.

Something a lot more serious is handling of the trailer and braking! I wouldn't tow without the surge disk brakes I added and the next step will be to upgrade from the 13" stroller wheels to 15" at least 30mm wider (215 instead of 185). Did the same with my last boat/trailer and it makes a day and night difference.

One thing is for sure, dry weight of the boat isn't relevant. The total weight including everything (trailer, gas, gear, options) is what counts.

 

[pmillar]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

Aluminum hulls are lighter could allow you to get into a larger boat for any given weight. Unfortunately, the pickings are slimmer and generally less attractive when you're talking about aluminum deck boats or cuddy.

 

[oregoncruiser]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

I own a GMC Acadia, which you probably know is the twin to the Traverse. I will not pull my 23' open bow Larson with this vehicle. I know the towing capacity is stated as 5200 lbs, but it just doesn't handle the boat well. I did however occasionally pull my previous 18' open bow an a single axle trailer with the Acadia. It was fine. My conclusion is/was that 4K is the max I think that rig is capable of safely towing.

My second concern was/is that the engine is underpowered and therefore the friggin 6speed auto would shift constantly, and therefore get warm. Anyone can tell you heat kills auto trannies, and that will cost you about 6K to replace. Another good reason to not tow with it.

Just my opinion, based on personal experience. I agree with the above comment about the traverse/Acadia being a glorified minivan. It a dang nice ride, just not designed for towing.

 

[NewBoater1979]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

I own a GMC Acadia, which you probably know is the twin to the Traverse. I will not pull my 23' open bow Larson with this vehicle. I know the towing capacity is stated as 5200 lbs, but it just doesn't handle the boat well. I did however occasionally pull my previous 18' open bow an a single axle trailer with the Acadia. It was fine. My conclusion is/was that 4K is the max I think that rig is capable of safely towing.

My second concern was/is that the engine is underpowered and therefore the friggin 6speed auto would shift constantly, and therefore get warm. Anyone can tell you heat kills auto trannies, and that will cost you about 6K to replace. Another good reason to not tow with it.

Just my opinion, based on personal experience. I agree with the above comment about the traverse/Acadia being a glorified minivan. It a dang nice ride, just not designed for towing.

After looking at them again, Yeah I don't think I'll be able to pull a 23 foot + boat. Yes I was going to look into electric brakes and also upgrading the tires on the trailer. I'm not to worried about pulling down the road, I've hauled very large box trailers with race cars inside with an expadition. I know the traverse is not an expadition but the boat and trailer and gear will be a lot less weight.
What do you think about torsion bars on the trailer. Some people have said yeah they use them and some said no. Does anyone have any experience with using them? A boat on a trailer has less tounge weight on it than say a square moter home. I have heard of people pulling a camper weighing about 6000lbs with a traverse, cross country. They used torsion bars and a sway bar. If I use them I think it would just help with the trailer weight being distributed to the front tires also. My biggest worry is loading/unloading the boat, and getting up the ramp.
I was looking at the 2012 stingray 215cr. It looks nice and has a lot of nice features that my wife likes. It has a dry weight of 3700lbs with a 5.0L motor. Add 30 to 40 gal of fuel plus the trailer, I'm guessing I'll be at 5200lbs. What do you guys think about that boat?
FYI: I checked the GCVW of the Traverse and it is 10,250.
Thanks

 

[kjsAZ]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

unfortunately I currently only have the smaller vehicle and a lighter trailer plus the experience of towing an exactly 3540lbs previous boat with a Nissan Quest Minivan (GVWR 3500lbs).
Larger and wider tires help a lot to make it safer! My wife refused to tow our old boat with the mini-van when it had no brakes and 13" stroller wheels. After upgrading to disk brakes with surge coupler and 225/75R15 LT tires (not the junk ST ones) you would hardly recognize that you tow a trailer except that it was slower uphill.
We picked up the new boat with her 1500 van (Chevy) and she told me that it was the first and last time she'd tow the boat.
The current trailer already got a lot better with disk brakes (now she tows it with the Equinox too but not with the 1500 van)) but is still not handling as good as I want it to be. Just figuring out what I have to do to install larger fenders which are required for the LT215/75R15 I will install on it.
As we live in AZ our vehicles have an additional tranny cooler but you need that just because of the 115F you have in summer.

I wouldn't have a problem to tow a 5000lbs trailer with a Traverse IF it has surge disk brakes and real wheels/tires plus eventually sway bars unless I'd live in an area with very steep hills.

We previously had a 1500 van and a 1500 truck, both RWD only, and after one try each we never used them to go boating. Fortunately these useless gas-guzzlers are gone now.

And before somebody comes up with the trailer tire fairy tale: it is perfectly legal to use P or LT tires on a trailer as long as they have the load rating. This is more difficult as car tires are usually rated with lower pressure (= less of a kangaroo ride and better tracking). You usually have to go for a larger tire but gain all the advantages of not running a tire blown up close to explosion and a lot better straight running.

 

[kjsAZ]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

It has a dry weight of 3700lbs with a 5.0L motor. Add 30 to 40 gal of fuel plus the trailer, I'm guessing I'll be at 5200lbs. What do you guys think about that boat?
FYI: I checked the GCVW of the Traverse and it is 10,250.
Thanks

I'd say it is really borderline and would be to close to the limit for my comfort zone. Boats always grow in weight over time. It also depends a lot on the weight of the trailer. I don't see the dry weight of the boat as a good criteria for your search as there are so many other things playing into it. I've seen steel trailers with more than twice the weight of aluminum trailers for the same load rating and even between steel constructions there can be a huge difference.
You have to start somewhere but it won't help you much if you fall in love with a boat just to find out that it's 300lbs above your vehicles limit.......

 

[oregoncruiser]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

I'd imagine you can do it and get by, it just wouldn't be my first choice for a long term equipment package. The vehicle just does NOT handle the weight like a pickup or full size SUV. I'm not saying I think youre gonna burn for doing it, but I do think you'll be happier buying a boat you can comfortably tow anywhere you want.

Power and traction pulling away from the ramp is not an issue. Stopping the whole rig will probably be fine, especially with GOOD trailer brakes. The load equalizing hitch may smooth out your ride a bit.

My problem pulling my 23'er with the Acadia was more related to handling the weight while rolling down the highway. At 5200lbs, the trailer/boat combo weighs as much or more than the tow vehicle. It just felt like it was pushing me around sometimes.

Bottom line for me is that I have a second vehicle, which is a way better towing choice, so that's what I go with. If I did not, I would probably use the Acadia and play locally, but I would not enjoy pulling my boat several hundred miles.

Hope this opinion helps

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

I would be looking for a 19' or smaller with the traverse. My 190 SeaRay was 3000# dry weight. the trailer was 1200#. add 37 gallons of fuel (265#) 2 bags of ice and 3 12 packs in the built in cooler, a cooler of food, misc. gear, skis, etc. and I was pushing a tick over 5000# I pulled it with my durango and in stop and go traffic or any amount of cross-wind, I wished I had a larger vehicle

 

[NewBoater1979]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

I was just looking at Yamaha jet boats. They have a 24 foot that has everything my wife and I are looking for and only 3500lbs.

Your thoughts.

Thanks

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

I would try hard to stay in the 3500 pound range, and by the time you add up the other weights it will be a load.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Biggest Boat My Traverse Will Tow

I was just looking at Yamaha jet boats. They have a 24 foot that has everything my wife and I are looking for and only 3500lbs.

Your thoughts.

Thanks

now add fuel, the trailer, and gear and your overweight. long story short. if you want a 24' boat, you need a bigger tow vehicle.