Re: Weight of a 1987 35'
 

Like I said, I'm not 100% sure but I think the boat alone was 42 feet. Figure 36 for the boat hull, 3 for the drives and 3 for the tongue roughly. With the modifications to that truck you can't really compare it to stock, but it wasn't fun. I just mentioned it to show what you can tow it with if you have to. It's a 1/2 ton truck with a modified 318 and 38 inch tall tires and 9 inches of lift.

Re: Weight of a 1987 35'
 

It will be just over 42' with the drives and tongue. I keep my '85 357 in a 40' building with a hole cut in the front doors for the tongue. It sticks out 2-3'.

The hull and swim platform are close to 38'. I have some pics of my 357 sitting next to a 38 Special in the "Post Pictures of Your Formula" thread and it my 357 actually sticks out farther than the 38 Special.

Weight - I'd say 13,000 lbs with trailer give or take.

I pull mine with a 2000 F250. I've pulled it over 3,000 miles with my 2000 F250. It pulls it fine running about 60-65. I don't go much faster. A dually would be nice. But, i don't think an F350 is necessary. The only difference between an F250 and F350 are the springs, badges and that you can get a dually in a F350. My F250 has F450 front springs and F350 3/75" rear leaf spring blocks.

Re: Weight of a 1987 35'
 

I don't know what I was thinking:chimp: Your correct the boat & Trailer were 42' not including the truck. My bad, Add another 22' for a crew cab short box.

Re: Weight of a 1987 35'
 

Hi Guys,
Just chiming in here. One consideration is your insurance. It is NON-EXISTENT if you have an accident and you are towing a gross load that is even one pound over the truck manufacturers published tow ratings. My buddy Ron has a 1985 F302. Catalogs put it at 6950 lbs dry. Add 1200 lbs for fuel and 200 lbs for gear and this boat is at 8500 lbs easy. Here was the surprise and everyone needs to check this. It sits on a triple axle steel bunk trailer. A trailer repair shop weighed it. The empty trailer came in at 4700 lbs! Total gross weight of 13,200 lbs. Thats dually country! Ron had been looking to buy a Chevy avalanche 2500 with the 8.1 big block in it. I told him to wait until they build the dually one ton avalanche. :D Anyway, not to rain on anyone's party but insurance companies love to have an excuse not to pay six figure or seven figure insurance claims. Take a 15,000 lbs + boat and trailer, an 8000 lb truck with 1000 lbs of people and luggage down a steep hill at 50 mph and see how fast those half ton or 3/4 ton brakes fade. And no... the trailer brakes won't save your butt. Check how many axles really have brakes on that cheap trailer youv'e got. Ron's trailer only had brakes on one axle.
I for one wouldn't even think of towing anything over a 30 foot boat without a 1 ton truck. Next time you are at your favorite truck dealer go into the service department to see if any 1 ton's or dually's have a wheel off. Go take a look at those brakes and axles. I couldn't believe the size of the brakes on my '01 gmc dually. The rotors are probably an inch to an inch and a quarter thick.
My rig..... 2001 GMC dually crew cab long bed, 8.1 gas big block, Allison 5 speed auto trans.
Towed toy #1 1987 Formula F206 on a custom Oklahoma steel bunk trailer, tandem axle (surge brakes on only one axle) and is a tag along approx towed weight 6000 lbs Yes guys a 20 footer!
Towed toy #2 1985 Formula F402 on a custom triple axle steel frame Target gooseneck trailer, three axle electric brakes, oil bath 9000 lb axles, 8 bolt (1 ton ) lug pattern. Approx towed weight is the far side of 15000 lbs and has a tounge weight of between 1500 and 2000 lbs. With a in-bed gooseneck hitch the rear bumper drops 5 to 6 inches when I load the 402 onto the truck. Thats with a dually!
There are so many things to consider when you tow. Ask yourselves. What is the truck really rated for? How big are the brakes? How heavy duty are the axles? (When I tow the 40 footer my axles begin to overheat the gear lube. I can smell it coming out of the vent tubes after a long tow.) How is a half ton axle going to do? Can the trans really handle the load?( My buddies are all trying to figure out how to get Allison 5 speeds into their light duty frames. This transmission ROCKS, period!) How heavy duty is the frame? Will it fold up in the rear if you have a panic stop? What about the tires? What is my tire rating? What is my tire's load rating? Will they hold up to 1500 lbs of tongue weight on a late July afternoon when the temperature of the pavement is over 150 degrees? Look around the highway next time and look at all those truck tire carcasses. That could be your tire. (My dually runs E rated tires as does the Target trailer.) Do I have a proper hitch system? Just because you have a 2 inch receiver doesn't mean it is set up right. There are different 2 inch receivers. Is mine rated for 15000 lbs? Does it have a forged outer ring? Is my insert rated for the correct weight or am I using the standard hollow insert that came with my receiver hitch? Is the towing geometry correct? What happens to my towing geometry when I put a 6 inch lift kit in, cheap lightweight aluminum wheels, and monster tires on my truck? I'll bet that 12,000 to 15,000 lb boat that youv'e got back there starts making things look like the tail wagging the dog in a very big hurry.
Sorry to get on the soapbox guys. This is just one of those cases where....been there - done that. I love cool looking trucks as much as the next guy and I wouldn't have an extra $13 grand into extras on my dually if I didn't. I did learn that there is a right way and a wrong way. Like heavy duty forged Neepers. A 1/2 inch thick -4 foot by 5 foot steel plate in the bed to mount the hideaway gooseneck hitch. and the quest never ends. My buddy Steve has an 05 dually Dodge ram 1 ton diesel. And that sucker put full blown air brakes on his truck and Eagle triple axle trailer. Yea just like a semi! (he has a 1982 F402 on it) So whenever I have a spare 4 or 5 grand I going to the airbrake store! Be safe guys. That is the only thing that counts for anything in the end. :drink:

Re: Weight of a 1987 35'
 

Alj: If you are that concerned about being over the truck manufacturer's weight rates for insurance reasons, you may have a problem. I'd bet your 402 and trailer are more than your 1 ton dually is rated for.

Secondly, I don't know about GM, but Ford's 3/4 ton and 1 ton brakes are the same, as are their axles if we're talking about SRW. The dually axle is different. but I'm not sure if it's stronger or just longer.

Finally, your points about safety are valid, important, and good for you for voicing them.

Re: Weight of a 1987 35'
 

I pulled a 44' race car trailer with a F-550 for 3 years. A friend of mine pulled a similar trailer with a dodge dually, cummins with some motor work. The trailers grossed in around 18000 lbs. The dodge would out power the power stroke, but relied on the electric trailer brakes, and an emergency stop was not an option! With the 550 you could sit back and use cruise control, did'nt even know the trailer was there and I did not NEED the assistance of the electric brakes to stop. Basically my theory when it comes to towing is BIGGER IS BETTER! (there are lots of maintenance issues with an overworked Dodge but thats a whole new thread!)

Re: Weight of a 1987 35'
 

Sorry about that diatribe last night guys. Don't know what got into me. I usually don't like to be preached at and therefore it bothers me if I catch myself preaching. I agree with resurrected wholeheartedly. On the subject of towing, bigger is better ...period. As for the F402, if I tow it dry (no fuel, no water no gear), it comes in just below the tow rating. At least according to the State of Illinois weigh station nearby. Pretty ridiculous though that legally I can only tow it with one other person in a crew cab and almost no gear and luggage. And god forbid it should rain and the boat fills up with water.That ridiculous falls completely on my shoulders though. The right tow vehicle is a GM Topkick, a Ford F-550 or bigger or something like that. I can make my GMC 3500 and that Target trailer handle the load. Steves idea of putting full blown airbrakes on his trailer is one step. My point is twofold though. One....your insurance company and mine don't give two farts about all the heavy duty towing equipment you can jam into your truck and trailer. If you run somebody over with your rig there WILL be a state police investigation and they WILL weigh the wreckage. These lovely insurance companies will look for every reason to hang you out to dry all by yourself when you get sued by the victims relatives. Being over the manufacturers weight rating is an automatic get out of jail (lawsuit) card for your insurance company. It may not be fair, but it's the way these guys operate.
TWO.... simple point and the most important. It's about safety! For you and your loved ones.I don't claim to have infinite knowledge about how GM, Ford or Dodge builds their trucks. I don't know for sure if a 3/4 ton from GM, Dodge or Ford uses the same axles, brakes, frames, engines, steering boxes, clearance lights, etc. as a one ton or dually. I do know a lot about the equipment on the different size GM trucks but I'm not knowledgable enough to comment on it here and won't advise anyone of anything that they can't get directly from a good source like directly from their manufacturer. What I can share with you guys is pretty interesting and pretty scary at the same time. Looking at a GMC truck trailering guide (latest one I have is for 2002 so this is only ballpark) the best that any 1/2 ton can tow is 9200 lbs tag along or in the bed. If it's a HD1500 the number goes to 10,300 max. Here is a scary thing for tag along trailer owners. (thats about 98% of us) GM only rates up to 12,000 lbs maximum for any trailer if it is hooked up to a reciever hitch on any GM pickup truck or SUV. ANY! this includes all 1500, 2500, HD1500, HD2500, and all 3500! 12,000 lbs max if you tow a trailer on a reciever hitch!! period...end of story. I just saw this and am amazed. Maybe this changed in recent years. If you hitch up in the bed a HD2500 has a maximum towed weight of 16,300 with 2wd and the gas big block. Hitch in the bed on a 3500 2wd and gas big block and you can tow 15,800 lbs. (did anyone catch that????? it's not a typo) I'm sure that the numbers have changed in recent years. Check with your manufacturer to see what the tow rating is for your truck....for your year....for your original equipment per your vin number. This stuff is on the truck manufacturers websites. We all know our trucks can tow more than they are rated for. How does that argument go?......"those ratings are way too conservative"
Well I'm really ticked off that my dually can't tow as much as a 2500HD. Maybe I should trade my truck in for the 3/4 ton. At least I could get the damn thing through a car wash!!!!! Later guys :D

Re: Weight of a 1987 35'
 

Just FYI - The new Ford F350 and 250 ratings are up from before. You'd have to check but I think the new F350 Dually is rated at 19,800 lbs towing capacity! That ought to haul that 402 around without having to worry about the insurance.

Re: Weight of a 1987 35'
 

hey brent,
how are you doing? Yea, I've been watching some of the new trucks and they seem to have really increased the tow ratings. Thats good! Easier to afford a new F350 than some tricked out conversion of a F450 or F550. I still don't get what the manufacturers are doing with low ratings for receiver hitch towing. Goosenecks and fifth wheel tailers are pretty scarce out there. What do Fords ratings look like for receiver hitch towing now?

Re: Weight of a 1987 35'
 

Hi - Going well, thanks. I was actually coming on here to list my 357. I was drooling over a 353 Fastech the other day so I think I may have to do something about it.

I'm really not sure exactly what the rating are. I have an '05 King Ranch F250 that was my late step fathers and I am selling it for my mother. So, I went to the dealership jsut to look at the options and prices of the new ones. I just happened to notice the tow ratings were higher on the new '05 F250s than on my 2000 F250. So, I went and looked at a dually just out of curiousty and I am pretty sure it was 19,800 lbs. But, I have slept since then so I could be off. I just remember being surprised at how high the capacity was.

What does your 402 with the trailer weigh?

I've never weighed my 357 but I know these old boats are heavy.