I have a 2012 Sierra 1500 with the 5.3L (I should of added sorry) and it pulls my 23ft crownline open bow no problem obviously. I was looking at a new Escalade but that's not going to be big enough I'm guessing.

But I am buying a fountain and really want a 35 or bigger so looks like I'm going to need a Diesel.

Thanks guys for the help.

I had a F250 Superduty King Ranch diesel. Yes, it had more engine power. But as far as towing on the highway at 65-70mph, my current 97 tows WAY better. With the single rear wheel on windy days, the boat would blow the truck around. I can care less how fast I get to 60mph with my boat behind me. Try driving a class 8 semi scaling at 80k+ lbs. See how fast you can get to 60mph. Big difference is, that truck will last a million miles plus, and you can run it to California from new York at 80k lbs without breaking a sweat behind the wheel.

I drive a semi for a living, and have towed just about every size boat, with several different trucks/suvs, big enclosed recreational trailers, etc.

People assume disc brakes are superior for stopping power. Wonder why Big Kenworths, Peterbilts, Volvos, etc, are still using big drum brakes. Main advantage to disc's is they run cooler.

According to the brouchure, our Jeep Grand Cherokee overland can tow something like 8500lbs. I would NOT want to tow a 27 Fountain with it.

The original poster is looking at a Escalade, and wants to know what size boat will be comfortable and what not, for 3-4 hour trips back and forth to the lake. So, to answer that, and just my opinion, is a 27FT Fountain. The 2013 Escalade has a GCWR of 14,000 lbs. Curb weight of a new truck, is 5700 lbs. 4 People, some luggage, cooler, etc, your looking at a curb weight probably around 7,000. So that leaves about 7,000 lbs for a trailer. I wouldn't be shocked to see even a single engine 27 Fountain with a steel trailer and full tank of gas, exceed that.

Now If you havent had performance before I might suggest a 29 or 32 to tackle first. going from a 23ft open bow to a 35 plus cuddy with two engines and 2-3 times the power if not more is going to be a big difference in cost, maint, handling, insurance. Dont know how old your crown is but the days of boat insurance costing 2-300 a year are over with. My 225 crown had a 75 gallon tank and could go all day at least and sometimes multiple days. Fountain like that your talking 100 plus gallons, $500 plus fill ups that will not last all day if your running, your talking about using 60-80 gallons per hour at full throttle. annual fluid changes are 150 bucks or so. Insurance depending on age is probably somewhere between 1000-2000 a year. So just keep this all in mind, dont know your background, budget etc. But that 35 ft fountain or bigger is easily going to cost you twice the amount of money to run and maintain if not 3-4 times the amount than that crown. Good luck on your boat and truck purchase.

You could get a Ford Super Duty with the Diesel. Fully loaded Lariat is less than base price of an Escalade. Go test drive one I will bet you like it just as much as an Escalade. Plus save some money on truck, you have some $ sitting around for unexpected repair of boat.

I hear ya. If a 29 twin weighs 7 dry, you have to think minus one engine, and two feet at most is a thousand, so I would think with trailer some fuel your well over the cadi mark. But if you towed an hour or less to the ramp, ehh its probably doable. Semi application is a different ball game, its millions of miles vs some tom dick and harry driving 10's of thousands of miles. Breaks on a semi are drum more or less due to the fact that drums are cheaper than rotors, and imagine the caliper that would have to go in there, so its more of an engineering thing than anything. My friend is a truck driver, has to have a diesel four wheeler, owned a 2009 now has a 2013 F450 lariat to tow 4 sleds, lol. So trust me I hear it all the time from him, lol.

Like I said, having owned a newer diesel F250 SRW, and this 97 Dually, I'll take the 97. Similar mpg towing, slightly worse than the diesel by about 1-2mpg, but then again im towing a boat with blown 800hp engines. Fuel is what it is. Trust me, this truck doesn't struggle up hills, doesn't overheat, or anything like that. I towed my 14k lb boat back from Wisconsin this past sunday, it was 95 degrees out, and we had the a/c on full blast, temp gauge stays cool even in bumper to bumper Chicago traffic. The truck will easily pull at 80mph all day if I chose to.

Im probably not winning any popularity contests as far as having a "cool" tow rig. Then again, im not towing a new Outerlimits or Nor-tech. Its a 1990 Fountain. I feel the rig is a good match for what I have. Don't need a 65k dollar truck to tow a 35k dollar boat.

My single weighs 7K# loaded on a steel trailer. I've towed it with three different Denali's XL, same drive line as the Caddy, 6.2 AWD. Those vehicles did great aorund town and on the road to Lake Travis and Texoma. I decided to make a change this time and got a LTZ Avalanche 5.3.....Nice truck for sure BUT it doesn't get the job done towing the 272 anything close to the Denali's. I wouldn't take it down 35 to Travis. The boat wags it around bigtime on the highway, even with air bags.

I use a 05 Duramax 2500 for road trips these days. Pulling home from Orange Beach/Destin this year I got 13 MPG at 75 MPH and couldn't even feel the boat. Much more comfortable towing behind the wheel than the Avalanche.

nice rig, for the age both look good. My 29 is a 91 and looks about brand new as well, minus my trailer has some battle scars, lol.

Thanks! My Myco is a 1989. Just been repainted red/white. Was black.

Damn awesome info bro. This is the reply I was looking for on the next thread I havent started. I know its a huge difference. Fact is I'm looking for something I can stay in. I don't want to deal with swapping out boats again. I have a customization problem lol.