What do you tow your boat with?
 

Anyone care to their share experience in moving these boats overland?

How about your boat model, estimated loaded weight w/trailer and tow vehicle experience with same, both good and bad?

Thanks--

My worst tow was with a Dodge I barrowed from a buddy of mine. It had plenty of power to tow but the stearing was so bad it was all over the road. I use a Ford F-350 dually.

I have two suburbans, a 2004 - K2500 w/ 8.1L and a 1999 - K1500 w/ 5.7L (3.73 gears).

The 2500 is our primary tow vehicle for our travel trailer which weighs in about 10k lbs loaded up. With family I am right at the GCWR of 17,000 lbs and it tows it around Indiana/Michigan great! Going down the highway you can forget it is back there (Unless you are in a good crosswind, then you know!)

When I bought the 272, I towed it from NJ back to Indiana with the 2500. The 272 should weigh in just under 6000 and I had it on a long steel loadrite roller trailer, no idea how much that weighed in at. I would guess 7500 total. No load levelers, seemed to have a heavy tonque weight. Again, towing it through PA and OH was a breeze, that 8.1L never felt it. Milage wasn't bad either. Truck gets 14mpg on the highway empty, about 8 towing the camper and I got 10 or 11 towing the boat.

Now, when we go camping up in Michigan, we will tow it with the k1500 since the 2500 will have the camper behind it. Indiana and SW Michigan are pretty flat and all the gear, kids and stuff will be in the other burb and camper, so it will not be that bad with the boat and 1500 empty. I will have to report back on how is scales out and how it tows. This is about as big of a boat as I would want to tow with a 1500. I know others pull larger and 38' scarabs around Michigan with a 1500, but not for me! I have pulled 6500 behind my 1994 burb and it handled it fine, really steady.

***Disclaimer note:***
I get a feeling this thread will turn into another tow capacity verse safety thread and dually verse single. Hopefully not. I am tired of seeing post about how this is dangerous because you exceeded some spec that was limited by a piece of equipment that you have improved, but a VW is fine because it has a higher tow rating than my suburban. You are always responsible for your rig regardless of how you have it set up.

You have to know your truck, how you have improved it or degraded it and what condition it is in. what is your experience and what are the conditions in which you will tow. These really do matter. You can take a "in spec" setup and be very dangerous in it, or take a "out of spec" setup and tow fine with it. Towing these things is just as serious as operating a high performance boat.

Thank you, Brian

Oh, as someone else mentioned a hitch, I did get rid of the stock receivers on both burbs and went with heavier Curt brand receivers.

F-350 DRW 7.3 Diesel Stick....2wd 12000 lbs

Tows great!

2004 GMC 2500 HS, lifter and on 35's pulls the 342 like a champ.

'01 F-250 4x4 7.3. I'm about 11,500 - 12,000 lbs on the hitch at the scales. I use a 2.5" receiver, and an appropriately rated hitch, the stock factory hitch is the biggest POS I have ever seen. The truck handles the boat fine, but I do miss my dually.

2007 chevy 2500 HD 4 dr 4wd. Haven't towed the formula yet but have towed my dads 30 scarab sport with twin 300 hpdis. Tows like a dream.

tow baby tow
 

My 2000 BIG WHITEY F-350 4dr, 4x4 8ft bed with 7.3 and lifted 6" and a few aftermarket parts like chip, exhaust, breather.. Set the cruise and pulls like a dream. Sitting on 216000 miles... Hits Jellico mountain in TN at 70 and kicks A_S pulling my 312 fastech and a couple brews......:eekdrop:

04 GMC 1500...5.3 with ported heads, 2.0 intake valves, comp cam, lingenfelter valvetrain, built tranny (only 4L60 i came across that barks the tires when she hits 2nd)

pulls my 26ST just fine

33 Powerplay- Ram 2500 crew SRW 4x4 5.7 guessing boat and trailer weigh 10-11k? No issues pulling and avg 10mpg. Would like a lil more power but usually tow less than a half mile each way to the launch and couldn't justify the added cost of diesel + maintenence.