Tow Vehicle for Larger Boats

[ppaspa]

Hi

I'm in the process of getting a trailer for my 282 and wanted to know if people had feedback on the type of truck that would comfortably tow that size boat, and also if a dually rear axle would work much better. I have an F-350 with a V-10 and am thinking about switching it for a diesel F-350 and wondered if I should also be looking at trucks with dual rear wheels. I'd really rather not becasue when I'm not towing it's a lot of extra truck, but if it makes towing a lot better I would consider it.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[TunaT]

towing

some questions......how far are you towing? flat or steep grade on your path. Anything you can give us on what, where and what kind of conditions will help us help u......

 

[ppaspa]

Good question. I don't expect there will be much of anything but flat highway driving. Most of the time I'd use the boat I expect it would be under 100 miles round trip, and I wouldn't be a heavy user. Maybe a couple times a month average. Throw in a long tirp of a couple hundred miles once or twice a year. Not more than that.

 

[CJBROWN]

Duals are for hauling weight. Your tongue isn't enough to warrant it. Some guys claim a little bit extra for stability, but really, they are towed all the time with single rear wheels.

Your V-10 is fine, a diesel will pull a LOT better and burn a bit less fuel. If you go GM you get an Allison trans with tow-haul mode - the guys that have them love them.

Make sure your trailer is setup with electric over hydraulic. The biggest issue with the whole deal is stopping.

Oh, and you'll need an oversize permit and proper flagging. And replace the stock hitch with something rated for your towing weight.

 

[capt chris]

Also remember that for the truck to tow that much weight you'll need a weight distributing hitch set up. Not just the typical receiver set up. It takes a weight distributing hitch for the truck to meet the spec for that weight.

 

[SBLGFD]

I tow our 272 on a tri-axle bunk trailer with a 2007 2500 HD Duramax with no issues. Bought the boat in Charleston S.C towed it to Florida for spring break with the kids and then back to Wisconsin. The one thing we did do is replace the OEM hitch with a Putnam receiver. If I remember the Chevy hitch is only rated at 7500#'s the XDR is 15,000

http://www.putnamhitch.com/products_rec ... tml#class5

 

[Islander]

Surge Brakes and Weight Distributing Hitches

Many trailer manufacturers indicate that weight distributing hitches are not supposed to be used with hydraulic surge brakes. I haven't seen anything on electric over hydraulic, but they should not be a problem because of the way they work: they do not depend on the surge created by the trailer coupling movng forward on the trailer ball as the tow vehicle brakes are applied.

Weight distributing hitches with anti-sway bars apparently are uniformly recommended against, for the same reason, only more so.

All the literature I have seen take this position. The vehicle manufacturers do not point this out when stating the maximum tow weights for their vehicles, which are usually qualified by "when properly equipped"--that is, weight distributing hitches per the footnotes.

Here is the link to The Complete Guide to Towing, nicely captured by Google books (if the link does not work when pasted into the URL bar, then just search Google for towing surge brakes weight distributing hitch): http://books.google.com/books?id=l-qmyb ... &ct=result

 

[Islander]

Electric and Electric/Hydraulic Brakes

See the bottom on page 17 of The Complete Guide to Towing. It clarifies that electric and electric/hydraulic brakes on a trailer are designed to work with weight-distributing hitches and, therefore, the 12,000# and up weight capacities of big towing pickups can be legally used.

Pages after 17 go into further detail on many points the author believes many boaters do not focus on in determing the safe and legal limit established by the weakest link in their integrated and interdependent towing package.

 

[Renovator]

I purchased a used '05 282 this past fall and towed it from Wilmington NC to NE Fla with my F250 Diesel (no dually) and it performed better than I anticipated. I was fortunate enough to get a new tri-axle RoadKing trailer that was rated for #13,500 in the deal and she towed very well IMHO. Of course here in FL it is flat, but I typically make a at least one trip to the keys every year and it doesn't appear to tow much differently that my prior #6300 WA on a dual axle trailer.

 

[Southern Hunter]

Truck

I pull our 305 Express with a single axle F-250 and its not a problem at all, you just have to drive like you have 11-12,000lbs behind you!! Which means carefully!!

 

[Capt. Ed]

Towing

If you tow in NC, you must have WEIGHTED PLATE if the combined weight of the truck, boat, and all stuff on board exceed 6,000 lbs. NC state patrol has picked up enforcement lately and fines are steep. They have scales they carry and can weigh you on the spot.

 

[bc282]

tow my '02 282 sailfish on 15000# tri axle (elec over hydra brakes) with 2003 Ram 2500 4x4 diesel no problem thru a variety of conditions including big hilly and windiing roads. not winning any races, but gets around with no worries and back home safely.

i think as one member mentioned earlier, a dually really only helps with the tongue weight, which for a properly set up 282 on a tri-axle trailer, should not be an issue. As i can remember the back end of the truck moves down about an inch and a bit with the hitch loaded on.

 

[ocdansar]

I pull the 330 express with an 07 chevy crew cab short bed 4x4 dmax and 6sp allison, upgraded putnam hitch, superchips programmer and edge gauge pak truck has catback exhaust and cold air intake, the boat sits on a tragic tilt tripple with drum surge brakes on two axles 16k capacity. Previously I pulled with an 02 chevy crew cab short bed 2wd with 8.1 gas and 5sp allison both trucks did a good job the 4wd is definetly better on the ramp.