Do you boat on a pond? I bought the boat to be fast and comfortable on the Chesapeake Bay - wasn't influenced about the tow vehicle.

Ted,
As you've stated, you only want to tow a couple of times a year, and if so, a srw 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive will do just fine. I am currently towing a 38' Fountain on a triple axle Myco with a 2500 Chevy 4x4 crew cab diesel with a super chip. I get 19 mpg on the highway empty @ 65 or less, 9.5 towing the boat on the interstate @75 mph, and you can't tell its back there. Make sure you have a good trailer with good brakes, its more important than the truck. If you are towing on a regular basis and covering a lot of miles, then the dually would be better for the long haul.

15k tow 4x4 20mpg
 

I have a dodge 3500 4x4 thats rated at 16k hitch towing. Without a trailer I average 21 mpg although I do have a bully dog with a a cold air intake.The dodge is a quad cab short bed. I get 12mpg towing a 15k fifth wheel with a bike trailer behind weighing about 2k and I don't even know it's behind me!

What does "how far" or "how often" have do with it? Does frequency or distance have any effect on towing ability?

:Whatever: And just which "P" series tires are you going to recommend for his truck?:snide:


Donzi-If your boat spends most of the time racked or on a lift and you don't really want to buy a heavy truck, here's a couple methods that might help you. 1)Become good friends with someone who has a big enough truck to safely haul your boat those couple times a year you want to travel with it and take them on your trips and show them a good time. 2)If that's not possible check with the local marinas where you want to take your boat and see if they have anyone with an empty truck/trailer that you could hitch a ride with for a small fee, or 3)hire bgchuby01 to haul it for you on those occasions and buy the truck you really want for a commuter. You'll probably come out ahead in the long run, and so will anybody you contact as a result. Option one gives you the opportunity to introduce a new friend to performance boating. Option two gives you the opportunity to chum up with a few reputable dealers, one of which may have your next boat. Option three gets your boat hauled by an often highly-recommended member of this site who seems to have a very good reputation. Everybody wins.

I have a Duramax dually that gets even better mileage. The problem is neither of us are rated at 15K with a tag-along trailer, this means NO INSURANCE if we have an accident. This is the reason I bought a new F450.

My in-laws have a 2006 F350 dually that I have access to. However, they mentioned to me that they don't use thier 5th wheel camper that much and are thinking of selling it all. I am just looking in advance for a possible new truck. I use a pick-up truck pretty often in my construction business - just don't want to drive a dually everyday. That was the whole purpose of this thread.

The insurance thing is my main reason for towing with the right truck. Otherwise, I would be willing to take the risk and tow locally with a heavy duty SRW truck.

42MTI
Is the F450 a dually?

Yes.

How about a nice daily driver and an older used regular cab 4x4 dually. kills both problems.

Whatever you get, throw some d's on it!