Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

[captain tmc]

I am looking at buying a 1979 Sea Sprite Segull, weight listed is 2100lb, plus trailer. I used my 2002 Jeep Liberty to tow a 1972 17ft Glastron that was 1200lb. The Jeep has the towing package with tow rating up to 5000lb. When towing the Glastron I did not have any problems except one time while launching the boat I hit the brakes and continued skidding for about 6 inches or so, then the boat floated off the trailer and the Jeep stopped. Probably not a big deal, but it did freak me out a bit, for a few seconds I thought I was going to slide right into the lake. The curb weight for the Jeep is about 3700lbs, so the vehicle would still be at least 1000lb heavier than the boat & trailer. Any comments on my Jeep Liberty being "enough truck" to tow & launch the Sea Sprite?

Thanks,
Captain TMC

 

[Joe Dirt]

Re: Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

I have a friend that own's a Liberty, and I think it's rated up to 5,000 lbs, but I wouldn't go that high. I think max cap for gear and tongue weight is about 1,100 for those trucks, and I'd be sure you checked out the brake setup to be sure it had enough on hills, but spec wise, you should be ok, but I don't know if I would go much higher with it... I've found that on smaller vehicles, the rated capacity is sort of misleading, because the engines can't keep up a good cruising speed in hills even though they can haul the load on flat gound.

Good luck! Is it possible to hook up to it and do a "test pull" to see how your truck behaves? I've done that on a few boats I've looked at in the past, and decided against one of them because of it, even though by the numbers, my truck was supposed to haul it within spec.

 

[captain tmc]

Re: Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

Thanks Joe Dirt. I'm buying from a co-worker so a test pull is definitely a possibility.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

I've towed with smaller trucks for years. There is a big difference to what you can tow and what you can launch on the ramp. If 1,200 lbs almost pulled you in once, what would happen in the worst case scenario with double that weight?

I tow with a 4 cylinder Ranger and it will pull a lot more down the highway than it will handle on the ramp. Anything much over 1,500 lbs gets a bit hairy. I've towed over 7,000 lbs down the road for short distances and it felt fine, but I wouldn't attempt to launch more than 1,500lbs.

The short wheel base in the Jeep won't help handling any either.

 

[fishmen111]

Re: Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

Read the owners manual. For 5k, you must have trailer brakes (and dam good ones) which you did not mention. I believe you are limited to 2k without. The difference in those two weights should tell you what Jeep thinks about the Liberty towing ability. It is not about power, just weight and wheelbase. $0.02.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Re: Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

Great advice- the ramp is a whole different story- as said- the capacities never take into account things like ramps- let alone gravel ramps. Make sure you have the weight to anchor yourself to get it out of the water, and the wheelbase to be able to control the boat both up and down hills...

 

[shorts&chanclas]

Re: Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

My wife had an 03 liberty when we got married. Mainly pulled jetskis. I did use it as a secondary tow vehicle for my old 185 Sea Ray which weighed in around 3k plus the trailer. Never had a problem on a ramp even when not in 4x4.

 

[captain tmc]

Re: Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

Thanks shorts&chanclas - did your Sea-Ray have trailer brakes?

 

[captain tmc]

Re: Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

Thanks for everyone's replies I did buy the boat and have towed and launched it a couple of times. So far, so good. I take it slow and max 55 mph and we only have less than 10 miles to go to get to 4 different lakes. The Liberty launches and pulls out OK no problems, even one launch pulls up a pretty big hill no problem. No trailer breaks, but they are on the trailer if I get an actuator and get them working (were not used by last owner). I will probably not go ahead and get them working.

 

[shorts&chanclas]

Re: Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

It was a single axle shoreland'r w/ drum brakes probably weighed about 900lbs empty. It was vacation time...sorry for the late reply.

 

[CRDLIBERTY]

Re: Is my Jeep Liberty enough for this boat?

Mine would tow it then again its a 27k jeep lol diesel. I towed 5k with mine real heavy cabinet material filled tot he brim in uhaul 16foot trailer i mean full. The scales said 9700lbs with the jeep included if its right. Was scary stopping. I do have 3.73 gears newer brake setup and everything is beefed up on diesel model. I towed the same boat with my 2000 nissan v6 170hp and could barely go 45 where the jeep could go 80. If you need to back up slowly 4low can be your friend, i always did that in my wrangler towing at dock and also going forward just dont turn your steering wheel go straight back or foward. FYI the jeep is way more beefy than a ranger lol, just be sure everything is in good shape new tires,brakes,shocks!