Towing Boat 3500

[Doc_Fry]

Any heads up. Buying a Carolina Skiff 198DLV Monday and will be towing it with the 4Runner. At the most I dont think that I will be over 3500 pounds loaded, with trailer, and motor. Is there anything I should be aware of. I dont forsee any issues. An tips or ideas. The boat is so light there are not trailer brakes on the aluminum trailer. I do not forsee needing a tranny cooler pulling something so light. I am no longer living in the Colorado High Country so I should be fine with power and brakes. Anyone?

Oh the boat. Attached a picture. Having the Minn Kota Riptide St 80pound trolling motor installed and all the Electronics. Ended up with a Garming 7608csv with a GT40 transducer, a Garmin VHF 200, a NMEA 2000 network and thE Garmin Meteor NMEA 2000 compatible Display (using to show depth, the. Will use to control the blackbox radio, bluetooth around christmas time when I can install the blackbox, amp, and speakers.) the onlythings missing for me is a TTop, with mister, ligts and the such, SeaDek flooring and Bolster Pads. Then all my rigging. Another fun project awaits.

edit: moving the thing about Desert Rat to its own thread.

 

[Neauxla]

I tow a 21' Sea Pro CC kn a regular basis no problem

 

[WakeDreams]

I tow a Sea Ray 195 sport with a wake rack, 3700 lbs, no issues. The only thing I will say is that if you are traveling long distances, use the manual shifting in 4th tom maintain decent power.

 

[4Surfin]

that will be an easy tow.

 

[JeremyB]

Any heads up. Buying a Carolina Skiff 198DLV Monday and will be towing it with the 4Runner. At the most I dont think that I will be over 3500 pounds loaded, with trailer, and motor. Is there anything I should be aware of. I dont forsee any issues. An tips or ideas. The boat is so light there are not trailer brakes on the aluminum trailer. I do not forsee needing a tranny cooler pulling something so light. I am no longer living in the Colorado High Country so I should be fine with power and brakes. Anyone?

Should be fine. I imagine your axle is 3500lbs, so you're almost certainly not over 3500 lbs. Wouldn't be a bad idea to take it to a certified scale and weight it out for giggles.
GA requires any trailer over 3000lbs to have trailer brakes, although I doubt you'd ever get stopped if it was over.
TN requires brakes at 1500 lbs. All of your other border states are 3k or more.

 

[dieck]

Only time I've seen people get in trouble is when they load the front of the boat with gear for the trip which adds to the tongue weight, then load the tow vehicle with people and gear and overwhelm the rear suspension of the tow vehicle which under weights the front wheels when breaking.

Empty boat and empty tow vehicle, I agree, no problem.

 

[Keith_PDX]

If that boat weighs over 3000lbs on the scales with trailer I would be VERY surprised. No problem.

 

[JET4]

Towing will be fine, nice boat

 

[Doc_Fry]

Thanks for the comments. The boat is under 1660 without a motor with the suzuki 115 is supposed to be 410 poinds the trailer probably 300 pounds or less being aluminum. My best guesstimate is under 2500 pounds with fuel and well under 3k even fully loaded with gear. Initially I was concerned about the lack of trailer brakes and do prefer them as they take off the strain from the truck and I tend to have to hang back more because of my TBI and my reaction time being slower. GA does not require brakes for anything below 3k, though neighboring TN does at 1500, though having a GA tag shoukd not be any issue. I think it should do well am not overly excited about an even higher drop in gas mileage but I dont think that even that will be too great with the weight that I am towing. Around town and such will be the worse yet I really will find out when I take a trip down to Jacksonville.

On another note I ended up getting the boat on Saturday and will be able to pick it up Wednesday when everything is installed and everything is checked out. I really liked the Sea Fox and the Key West but the admission was way too high to play with them. Maybe in the future things will change who knows yet I am pleased with how things turned out. Thanks again.

 

[WakeDreams]

Thought about this post this weekend and wanted to share my first tow with the TRDP. The truck had no issues what so ever and actually seemed to pull more steady from a stop than my Tundra on the boat ramps, my guess is because of the weight being more evenly distributed. Anyhow, here is my boat for you to compare if needed.

 

[Billdo]

I've got the same boat with as large hybrid top. It'll tow just fine.

 

[Diver Deuce]

Here's a pic from when I moved from Key West, FL to Yuma, AZ in 2011.

The boat was a 1995 Trophy Bayliner 1802.

 

[Doc_Fry]

Towing Update. The boat tows fine. I have not had any issues at all. I have even driven down to Florida from N GA. The gas mileage did take a hit. I was able to cruise at 75 most of the way. Pulling out of any ramp I have not had any issues wether steep or not. I have not even had to put it into 4 Wheel drive. I could see it being able to pull up to a 24foot boat comfortably. As long as you notice that you will take the hit in mileage on long trips.

 

[Dog Runner]

Towing Update. The boat tows fine. I have not had any issues at all. I have even driven down to Florida from N GA. The gas mileage did take a hit. I was able to cruise at 75 most of the way. Pulling out of any ramp I have not had any issues wether steep or not. I have not even had to put it into 4 Wheel drive. I could see it being able to pull up to a 24foot boat comfortably. As long as you notice that you will take the hit in mileage on long trips.

What kind of mileage hit did you take towing the boat? MPG with and without?

Thanks!!!

 

[Doc_Fry]

What kind of mileage hit did you take towing the boat? MPG with and without?

Thanks!!!

Honestly I don't remember what it was while towing. But this coming week I will be drying down the Ft Benning with the boat and will record the mileage for you.