Who is towing a pontoon boat? Share your experience.

[Mindflex]

Know there are a lot of towing threads out there but did not find a whole lot on people's experience pulling specifically pontoon boats.

Wanted to trade stories on towing pontoon boats to see how that is working.

Pontoon boats are somewhat heavy but more applicable is the fact they catch a lot of wind on the road and ride on a longer trailer. Curious how others are fairing.

After pulling one for about 500 miles this past summer I would say it did 'ok'. Have airbags, trans cooler and obdII reader to monitor temps.

Noticed the truck doesn't like going over 70 (which is fine with me for towing). Temps stayed around 175-185 on flats and would only go over 200 briefly on long steep inclines.

I did have to slam the breaks one time when traffic rapidly came to a halt. Besides being embarrassed in front of my passengers, the 4runner stopped quickly and did not even come close to jack knifing.

Trailer is 31 total feet long end to end. The boat is a Sun Tracker 115hp 22ft. Trailer is 1,100# with surge breaking. The boat is about 3,250# wet weight so a total of 4,350#.


While the boat is very big, the angle I took for the pictures below create an optical illusion that makes the boat look bigger and the 4runner smaller.


What's your story?

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[Fishpilot]

Your 4R looks like a toy in front of that barge!!

Moving company towed our 20' party barge behind a semi truck from OH to MA many years ago and had the roof fly off like a ninja star at 75mph somewhere in PA. Smacked a car behind it, not good for either vehicle. Insurance money bought us a sylvan fish-n-ski that was far more fun on the water and on the hitch.

 

[brtnstrns]

Know there are a lot of towing threads out there but did not find a whole lot on people's experience pulling specifically pontoon boats.

Wanted to trade stories on towing pontoon boats to see how that is working.

Pontoon boats are somewhat heavy but more applicable is the fact they catch a lot of wind on the road and ride on a longer trailer. Curious how others are fairing.

After pulling one for about 500 miles this past summer I would say it did 'ok'. Have airbags, trans cooler and obdII reader to monitor temps.

Noticed the truck doesn't like going over 70 (which is fine with me for towing). Temps stayed around 175-185 on flats and would only go over 200 briefly on long steep inclines.

I did have to slam the breaks one time when traffic rapidly came to a halt. Besides being embarrassed in front of my passengers, the 4runner stopped quickly and did not even come close to jack knifing.

Trailer is 31 total feet long end to end. The boat is a Sun Tracker 115hp 22ft. Trailer is 1,100# with surge breaking. The boat is about 3,250# wet weight so a total of 4,350#.


While the boat is very big, the angle I took for the pictures below create an optical illusion that makes the boat look bigger and the 4runner smaller.


What's your story?

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Holy shit that looks ridiculous lol. Do you park the 4Runner on the deck once you get to the boat launch? Could be a nice landing craft for when you're storming beaches in the 4Runner.

 

[ehcanadian]

I still help at out at my old company which was a marina around this time of year hauling all kinds of boats over to dry storage. My 4runner held up significantly better than both my former 2013 Explorer and 2014 Jeep Grand piece of garbage. Adding bags to the rear coils in mine undoubtedly helped a ton.

Hauling a pontoon boat at first can be intimating because of size and width especially with the narrowness of our vehicles it can make it difficult to see out of our mirrors but at the end of the day you get used to it. I will say though a lot comes down to the trailer, strap it down well always. And a lot of trailers especially pontoon boat trailers run smaller tires and aren't really meant for long hauls so be cautious of those tires overheating because nothing ruins a good day on water more than your boat on the pavement cause you blew a tire.

Happy Hauling!

Pic is with a Malibu M235 w/ dry weight of 6,200lbs 4Runner handles it well

 

[Mindflex]

Holy shit that looks ridiculous lol. Do you park the 4Runner on the deck once you get to the boat launch? Could be a nice landing craft for when you're storming beaches in the 4Runner.

This made me laugh, great visual!

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[aelarson]

Pic is with a Malibu M235 w/ dry weight of 6,200lbs 4Runner handles it well

My girlfriends family has the same boat. Beautiful ski boat!

Does it make you nervous that your 1,200lbs + (have to account for weight of the triple ax trailer too) over the towing capacity of the truck?

 

[honda250xtitan]

I'd honestly laugh and stay far away if i saw you pulling that down the highway. Is that weight with batteries, fuel, ice chests, all your shit, etc? These little v6's are gutless wonders IMO.

 

[nb rob]

as they say in Maine, nice pahty bahge

 

[djhuff7]

I still help at out at my old company which was a marina around this time of year hauling all kinds of boats over to dry storage. My 4runner held up significantly better than both my former 2013 Explorer and 2014 Jeep Grand piece of garbage. Adding bags to the rear coils in mine undoubtedly helped a ton.

Hauling a pontoon boat at first can be intimating because of size and width especially with the narrowness of our vehicles it can make it difficult to see out of our mirrors but at the end of the day you get used to it. I will say though a lot comes down to the trailer, strap it down well always. And a lot of trailers especially pontoon boat trailers run smaller tires and aren't really meant for long hauls so be cautious of those tires overheating because nothing ruins a good day on water more than your boat on the pavement cause you blew a tire.

Happy Hauling!

Pic is with a Malibu M235 w/ dry weight of 6,200lbs 4Runner handles it well

Curious as to how far you are going with that? Many moons ago I had a Mastercraft X2 that weighed out close to 7K with the trailer, and even with an Excursion V10, I still definitely knew it was back there. Do you live somewhere extremely flat and not go very far to the ramp?

Not trying to give you a hard time, just genuinely curious how the truck does, and any issues pulling out of a steep ramp.

 

[Mindflex]

I'd honestly laugh and stay far away if i saw you pulling that down the highway. Is that weight with batteries, fuel, ice chests, all your shit, etc? These little v6's are gutless wonders IMO.

Not sure if you are asking me or Ehcanadian.

For me that is the total weight with everything included.

Pontoons are big but light.

Not sure why you would laugh seeing as the total weight is well below the max tow limit of the 4runner with all the correct safety features in place such as trailer breaks, dual axle, rear bags, etc.



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[Mindflex]

I still help at out at my old company which was a marina around this time of year hauling all kinds of boats over to dry storage. My 4runner held up significantly better than both my former 2013 Explorer and 2014 Jeep Grand piece of garbage. Adding bags to the rear coils in mine undoubtedly helped a ton.

Hauling a pontoon boat at first can be intimating because of size and width especially with the narrowness of our vehicles it can make it difficult to see out of our mirrors but at the end of the day you get used to it. I will say though a lot comes down to the trailer, strap it down well always. And a lot of trailers especially pontoon boat trailers run smaller tires and aren't really meant for long hauls so be cautious of those tires overheating because nothing ruins a good day on water more than your boat on the pavement cause you blew a tire.

Happy Hauling!

Pic is with a Malibu M235 w/ dry weight of 6,200lbs 4Runner handles it well

Nice ride and boat! Thanks for sharing.

Unfortunate on how quick the negative folks show up with no actual experience with pontoon boat towing (per the thread topic).

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[ehcanadian]

My girlfriends family has the same boat. Beautiful ski boat!

Does it make you nervous that your 1,200lbs + (have to account for weight of the triple ax trailer too) over the towing capacity of the truck?

You should probably marry that girl lol But thank you, its a little ridiculous honestly

To answer your question, yes it made me nervous. I've only towed said boat twice with the 4runner from storage to the boat slip for the summer and just recently back to storage for the winter which is only a few non-highway miles away. Will I be hauling it again next summer? probably not. If the drive I had between the 2 place wasn't mostly flat I wouldn't have done it. I don't like the strain it put on the truck, and I like my 4runner a little too much to put it through that again.

Curious as to how far you are going with that? Many moons ago I had a Mastercraft X2 that weighed out close to 7K with the trailer, and even with an Excursion V10, I still definitely knew it was back there. Do you live somewhere extremely flat and not go very far to the ramp?

Not trying to give you a hard time, just genuinely curious how the truck does, and any issues pulling out of a steep ramp.

What year was that X2? My family had a 2007 which is what I learned to wakeboard behind. Loved that boat.

But happy to answer! Like I said above not far at all, only a few miles and mainly flat for the most part. I will probably not do it again. The strain on the vehicle was something id prefer not to put it through again. Honestly though I give that v6 some credit as I wasn't expecting to be able to pull the boat out of the lake at the ramp to start with. I should mention we pull out all gear, seating, carpeting etc before pulling it out as it make it easier to clean the stuff instead of pulling it out while its on the trailer. Situations like this I really wish they had at least an option for a v8. A good friend of mine runs a plowing company so I for sure will be asking him to borrow one of the trucks to tow

 

[aelarson]

You should probably marry that girl lol But thank you, its a little ridiculous honestly

To answer your question, yes it made me nervous. I've only towed said boat twice with the 4runner from storage to the boat slip for the summer and just recently back to storage for the winter which is only a few non-highway miles away. Will I be hauling it again next summer? probably not. If the drive I had between the 2 place wasn't mostly flat I wouldn't have done it. I don't like the strain it put on the truck, and I like my 4runner a little too much to put it through that again.

After 5 years of dating, that's the plan lol! They are crazy boats..lots of tech and things you only use once or twice a year hahahaha!

That's probably a smart idea. I definitely wouldn't tow it anymore if possible. That's what friends with pick up trucks are for ound:

 

[LouisianaRebel]

I would be scared it would start swaying pretty good being such a short truck.
This one will sway with my big truck.

 

[ehcanadian]

Nice ride and boat! Thanks for sharing.

Unfortunate on how quick the negative folks show up with no actual experience with pontoon boat towing (per the thread topic).

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Thank you and yours as well!

Just gotta take it with a grain of salt. At the end of the day your're the one with a beautiful toy go enjoy

 

[Mindflex]

I would be scared it would start swaying pretty good being such a short truck.
This one will sway with my big truck.

That is a nice setup. How much are you pulling total there?

So far I have not gotten any significant sway with this setup. I don't know if its because of the long trailer tongue or the Shorelandr trailer but it really is pretty smooth.

The only issue is power going up long steep inclines.



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[ehcanadian]

After 5 years of dating, that's the plan lol! They are crazy boats..lots of tech and things you only use once or twice a year hahahaha!

That's probably a smart idea. I definitely wouldn't tow it anymore if possible. That's what friends with pick up trucks are for ound:

Hell yea, best of luck boss! SO MUCH TECH its ridiculous and way to much to be controlled by 1 touch screen... one thing goes the whole system is shot. Bring me back some switches!

Life lesson: Always keep one person with a full-size pickup in your friend group :cheers:

 

[djhuff7]

What year was that X2? My family had a 2007 which is what I learned to wakeboard behind. Loved that boat.

But happy to answer! Like I said above not far at all, only a few miles and mainly flat for the most part. I will probably not do it again. The strain on the vehicle was something id prefer not to put it through again. Honestly though I give that v6 some credit as I wasn't expecting to be able to pull the boat out of the lake at the ramp to start with. I should mention we pull out all gear, seating, carpeting etc before pulling it out as it make it easier to clean the stuff instead of pulling it out while its on the trailer. Situations like this I really wish they had at least an option for a v8. A good friend of mine runs a plowing company so I for sure will be asking him to borrow one of the trucks to tow

I had an '06, ordered it before riding it, actually saw the gelcoat get sprayed at the factory (was there the day it was born *sniff).

Miss having it, but moved and no lakes close enough to really get the use I needed to to justify keeping it. If I had the need for another boat now, it'd probably be that one again.

 

[LouisianaRebel]

That is a nice setup. How much are you pulling total there?

So far I have not gotten any significant sway with this setup. I don't know if its because of the long trailer tongue or the Shorelandr trailer but it really is pretty smooth.

The only issue is power going up long steep inclines.



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Don't exactly know. The motors take away all the tongue weight then it has 100 gallons of fuel. It pulls great until it gets windy and will blow around. I pull 30k with this truck so it doesn't bother me with the boat.

 

[e60ral]

Don't exactly know. The motors take away all the tongue weight then it has 100 gallons of fuel. It pulls great until it gets windy and will blow around. I pull 30k with this truck so it doesn't bother me with the boat.

sounds like if you can get your tongue weight up it wouldn't sway as much