Question:
I have a newer F-150 with 2-wheel drive and limited slip differenti have had trouble getting my boat (Chrysler 22) out of the water. I ha almost 300 pounds of sand in the back to give me more traction. Tom Shilson s/v F. Y. Bliss — Think globally, act locally.
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I have a newer F-150 with 2-wheel drive and limited slip differenti have had trouble getting my boat (Chrysler 22) out of the water. I ha almost 300 pounds of sand in the back to give me more traction.
You might consider making a trailer tongue extention if your traction problem is due to the wheels slipping on slimy or too steep launch ramps. I had a Schock Santana 21 (same weight catagory), and I hade no trouble pulling the boat out with my somewhat weak-kneed Isuzu Trooper when I used the extention. I bought a scrap trailer tongue from a boat yard (12′ long with a 1 7/8" ball coupler at one end), I drilled through the trailer tongue and the extention so I could bolt them together with bolts made from 1/2" threaded rod (couldn’t find 12" X 1/2" bolts), with about a 1 foot overlap between trailer tongue and extention. I kept the extention bungeed to the trailer frame for travel and bolted it on to launch/retrieve (took 5 – 10 min). Worked like a charm, the folks that I sold the boat to used it religiously. It’s also great for getting the boat off of the trailer at ramps that are too shallow ar not steep enough. Steve Steve
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| I am looking to buy a truck to pull a catalana 25. (about 4500 lb empty | with out the trailer) I am thinking about an older Ford F150. I need | advice on engine size. I’ll only use it a few times a year so I am | somewhat limited on what I can spend. Most trips will be in Montana but | I need to be able to go to the Puget Sound area. | | Thanks for any advice or help. | | Flathead Lake here in Montana is Great.
We have a Nimble Arctic 25 which, with trailer and boating junk, weighs about 6000lb. We pull it with a Ford F150 4×4 stretch-cab long-box (a bugger to parallel park!) with a 351 V8. It is just adequate, providing you use a Reese hitch assembly with weight-compensating struts to control the sway. This rig has a comparatively short tongue, and even with a large tongue weight the rig will fish-tail at speeds above 50mph. With the Reese assembly (including a t-bar on the single-bar tongue for the weight compensating struts) we can do 110 kph on good roads with no problem. The 4×4 drive is good for rough roads and ramps of any kind: we moved from a 2wd van on our previous 2500lb. boat to a 4wd, and will never go back. On good roads you can switch the Ford to 2wd for slightly improved steering and gas mileage (as if 3Km/Liter is much of an improvement over 2.75 :-{ ). The trailer came with a set of surge brakes, and we put on a second set of electric brakes with a remote activator at the driver’s station in the truck to straighten out the occasional sway set up by oversteering or bad roads: you can put on the trailer brakes without activating the truck’s brakes, causing the trailer to drag itself back into line. Again, having used the trailer with and without the surge brakes, I wouldn’t go back to just the surge brakes. If you can get a bigger 4wd, do it: when trailering a large boat you can never have too much traction or power. Colin S. — Cheers, Tony &/or Colin Starratt: enthusiastic about Keeshonden (Lupus, ADC) Pomeranians (Precious, ADC), cats (Fur- ball, DSH), sailboats (Nimble), sundry sporting activities and handicrafts.
Response:
I am looking to buy a truck to pull a catalana 25. (about 4500 lb empty with out the trailer) I am thinking about an older Ford F150. I need advice on engine size. I’ll only use it a few times a year so I am somewhat limited on what I can spend. Most trips will be in Montana but I need to be able to go to the Puget Sound area. Thanks for any advice or help. Flathead Lake here in Montana is Great.
Horse magazines have taken this topic up frequently relative to horse trailers. The recommended rule of thumb is one horsepower for each fifty pounds of vehicle, vehicle contents, and trailer weight. A 4000 lb. truck with a 4500 lb. boat and allow 500 lbs. for occupants and trailer (at least) and you have 10,000 lbs. needing 200 hp. Other issues involve the suspension on the truck versus the tongue weight of the trailer. I play it safe and go with F250 and a 460 V-8. The newer diesels are also reputed to be good.
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Just a tad off topic here, you should also remember that if you want the boat to trailer well then you will need to carry about 350# of tounge weight. This is necessary to prevent the trailer from swaying. When we were Catalina dealers we had a customer who freaked when we attached his boat to his early 80’s T-Bird and the rear hitch almost touched the ground. He demanded that we reduce the load and we informed him that it was not save to do so, but he wanted near neutral weight (customer being right and all that) we honored his request. He drove about a block away and got on the freeway and hit about 70 or so and the sway from the trailer scared the pants off the guy. He then showed back up and demanded that we again adjust the trailer back to the way it was. He was really pissed at us! for screwing things up and threatened to sue us, defamed our family name etc. Anyway, bottom line is you need to make sure that you have load levelers on the rear to accept the weight. A tow package is fine, and —– As far as an engine if you are able to do it I will advocate a diesel. Lots of torque, and will last far longer in this role than a gas engine.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am looking to buy a truck to pull a catalana 25. (about 4500 lb empty with out the trailer) I am thinking about an older Ford F150. I need advice on engine size. I’ll only use it a few times a year so I am somewhat limited on what I can spend. Most trips will be in Montana but I need to be able to go to the Puget Sound area. Thanks for any advice or help. Flathead Lake here in Montana is Great It sounds like you will be towing around 5500-6000 lbs, so you need something capable of towing 7000 lbs (including gear and passengers). You definitely need a 351 or bigger, and proper gearing for towing, like a 3.73 rear axle ration or whatever Ford have in that range (is is 3.89?). And add the biggest transmission cooler you can fit into the available space. With those parameters, and older F150 should do fine. And finally, don’t tow in 4th gear if it has a 4 speed automatic transmission, don’t go higher than 3rd. The reason is that max torque is developed at fairly high rpms in the small block V8s, and you want to make sure you are not lugging the engine below max torque, generating a lot of heat and straining the engine and transmission. Better to drive at about 50-55 in 3rd gear. — Donald Wigston Atlanta, GA
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FYI. When I called to check on this about another boat, Ryder said that they won’t rent trucks to people that want to tow things with them/
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This article was probably generated by a buggy news reader.
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I am looking to buy a truck to pull a catalana 25. (about 4500 lb empty with out the trailer) I am thinking about an older Ford F150. I need advice on engine size. I’ll only use it a few times a year so I am somewhat limited on what I can spend. Most trips will be in Montana but I need to be able to go to the Puget Sound area. Thanks for any advice or help. Flathead Lake here in Montana is Great.
If you are doing this very infrequently, maybe yu could just get a one-way rental of a Ryder truck for those few occasions. Just an idea. JW
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: I am looking to buy a truck to pull a catalana 25. (about 4500 lb empty : with out the trailer) I am thinking about an older Ford F150. I need : advice on engine size. : : Flathead Lake here in Montana is Great. : You will need at least the 351 ci engine. I towed a 5000 lb rv with the : 302 ci and it barely did the job…particularly where hills were involved. Thanks Is it true that the older 400 ci engine gets a great 8 mpg no mater what? Doug
Response:
I am looking to buy a truck to pull a catalana 25. (about 4500 lb empty with out the trailer) I am thinking about an older Ford F150. I need advice on engine size. I’ll only use it a few times a year so I am somewhat limited on what I can spend. Most trips will be in Montana but I need to be able to go to the Puget Sound area. Thanks for any advice or help. Flathead Lake here in Montana is Great
It sounds like you will be towing around 5500-6000 lbs, so you need something capable of towing 7000 lbs (including gear and passengers). You definitely need a 351 or bigger, and proper gearing for towing, like a 3.73 rear axle ration or whatever Ford have in that range (is is 3.89?). And add the biggest transmission cooler you can fit into the available space. With those parameters, and older F150 should do fine. And finally, don’t tow in 4th gear if it has a 4 speed automatic transmission, don’t go higher than 3rd. The reason is that max torque is developed at fairly high rpms in the small block V8s, and you want to make sure you are not lugging the engine below max torque, generating a lot of heat and straining the engine and transmission. Better to drive at about 50-55 in 3rd gear. — Donald Wigston Atlanta, GA
Response:
I am looking to buy a truck to pull a catalana 25. (about 4500 lb empty with out the trailer) I am thinking about an older Ford F150. I need advice on engine size. I’ll only use it a few times a year so I am somewhat limited on what I can spend. Most trips will be in Montana but I need to be able to go to the Puget Sound area. Thanks for any advice or help. Flathead Lake here in Montana is Great.
You will need at least the 351 ci engine. I towed a 5000 lb rv with the 302 ci and it barely did the job…particularly where hills were involved. — ****Seeking Uniflite Info **** ****Know anything? Tell me****
Response:
I am looking to buy a truck to pull a catalana 25. (about 4500 lb empty with out the trailer) I am thinking about an older Ford F150. I need advice on engine size. I’ll only use it a few times a year so I am somewhat limited on what I can spend. Most trips will be in Montana but I need to be able to go to the Puget Sound area. Thanks for any advice or help. Flathead Lake here in Montana is Great.
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