Tow vehicle question
 

I have an offer in on a 2005 32 with twin 250's. According to Concept specs boat without motors is 4400 lbs add motors 1200 or so lbs now at 5600. I realize there will be other weight on top of this as well. Can I tow this package with a 1/2 ton or do I need to go up to a 3/4 ton vehicle? Thanks for your input.

1/2 ton is fine. My dads F150 is rated at 8500, so depending on your rating, your probably fine. Look it up and make sure your brakes on trailer works. I pulled my 25 Outlaw with my old 150 and towed great. 4700 dry, steel trailer.... loaded around 7500.

Too big of a tail with too much weight on the tail of the tail; wagging too little of a dog...
...when it comes to a half-ton truck for towing this setup.

I don't care what the ratings say. It's not just about the overall weight. You're not pulling a two axle flatbed trailer with lead plates and perfectly distributed weight/balance.

You need the additional weight of the heavier frame, axles, and other running gear to keep that setup under control when towing.
Add trailer weight, tools, gear, FUEL, coolers, tackle, spare parts, stereo, additional batteries. etc. etc...
...that's going to be over 9000 lbs. And at 32 feet long of boat with at least 1400 lbs out outboards and rigging hanging WAY off the back...
...you will need a 3/4 ton. Especially when you consider that ALL truck tow rating are spec'd with an EMPTY truck.
They don't calculate all the stuff you have in the truck including your spouse, 2.5 kids, dogs, luggage, etc. etc. And the most important parts of that are priceless when it comes to investing in the right towing setup.

My 30 tows great with my 3/4 ton truck. How much towing do you plan on doing? If you are a real road warrior, you probably want to think about upgrading your truck. Short distances on flat ground you might be OK.

Thanks guys....it looks like I need to go 3/4 which is what I was thinking. I will be towing on flat roads Fl. only, but the distance at times will be a few hundred miles not just back and forth to the ramp.

on a side note, he accepted my offer, so I should have the boat by March 18th or so. Can't wait.

Good choice on stepping up to the next level with the truck. There is a big difference between a truck that is just enough adequate vs one that is easily working.

What is your current truck? Congrats on the new boat. Where will you typically use it? We're in St Cloud, and either go to Melbourne (down to Sebastian) or over to the West Coast around St. Pete. Btw, I have a 30' Velocity w/ I/O's that I tow with my 1/2 ton. I've got a '16 Sierra with a 6.2 4wd and Max Tow package, and it does fine.

I don't have a tow vehicle at this time, but trying to decided what to buy. I live in Orlando and my girlfriend is in Cape Canaveral so we will boat on several different bodies of water, St. Johns River, Indian and Banana rivers, Sebastian , keys and any place else I can find a group to hang out with. I love traveling with the boat meeting new people and visiting new places. It seems to me a 1/2 ton would tow it just fine but obviously a 3/4 or 1 ton would be best. I just don't have anything at this point and anything I buy will sit in the driveway and only be used for towing since I have a company car. Knowing that I'm trying to keep cost down when buying something but don't want to be unsafe.

That's great. We live in St Cloud so we are close to the east coast. We have friends in Merritt Island and a few in Melbourne so we get over that way quite a bit. Hit me up once you get settled with the boat and truck. There's also a group out of Melbourne that goes by Happy Times Power Boat Club on Facebook. They do a few lunch runs and such throas ghost the year.

Keep in mind STOPPING ability.

Actually, it's more than that.
YES, you need to be able to stop the whole getup in the event that the trailer brakes fail. But you can over spec a trailer's brakes and really have a well performing trailer brake setup with brakes on all axles and an EoH setup with in cab brake controller.

However, you can't expect to CONTROL a 9000 trailer in emergency/evasive maneuvers when you are towing with a 4500 Half-Ton truck. You need "ass" in the truck to make the trailer do what you want/need it do to. Else the trailer will whip the truck around wherever it wants to; along with your family inside. :eek:

Just bought a 17 ford f250 i looked at a bunch of trucks prices were just about the same for 1/2 ton and 3/4 tons. I got rid of a 7.3 f250 diesel and bought a gas this time almost 10 k less then diesel. I was nervous going with a gas motor but it has towed fine. 28ft enclosed car trailer with car tools spares around 10k pounds. Boat and trailer around 8k pounds. Boat tows mostly on flat land. Car trailer thru mountains and flats. maintains speed but there is more gear changes can cruise at 75mph it only got to 3rd gear once @3400rpm in the mountains. Mileage is not great towing around 10mpg empty around 14mpg. The 17 tows better then the 03 almost 0 sway with semis and wind gusts. Brakes are great and i have inside cab controller at it's lowest position. I had the brake controller completely off for a test and both loads were fine it didn't push the truck around under braking.

Congrats on the new to you boat. I am sure you will enjoy it down in Florida. You can never go wrong with more tow vehicle, but will regret if if you go too light and need the extra truck. I found this out twice towing my 36 foot Baja. Once when I had to stop on a local highway when traffic was at a stand still and once when I had to do an emergency lane change on I 4 in Tampa due to a stopped vehicle that missed its exit. The semi truck in front of me had to do the same and that is what revealed the stopped car.

If you only need the truck for towing, you can definitely find some nice used diesel trucks in Florida. Anything built from about 03 up, 3500 or 2500, should do the trick. Diesel will pull better than gas but there are some bigger gassers like the old 8 liter chevy used.

I picked up a 2002 F250 7.3 for the same purpose, I have a company car so the truck sits in the driveway 98% of the time, pulled my 32 Dakota with the wifes Yukon a couple times and that was enough.