The More You Tow

There’s more to buying a boat than the act of buying itself. Not to say that’s a minor part, of course, but a lot of factors will come into play. Some of those are things you won’t see coming, things that even we, the wise sages of pontooning, can’t account for (like a murder of crows descending on your parked boat and destroying the cover and upholstery. This has actually happened). There are some things, though, that we can anticipate. One of those is actually pretty simple, but it’s something that could potentially get overlooked if you’re not careful. Are you prepared to haul a boat?

Not everyone is going to be in a position to pull a trailered boat, whether that’s because you plain don’t have a vehicle that’s equipped with a hitch or because your rig has seen better days and may not be up to the challenge. Either way, consider this a quick guide to get you up to speed on the things you need to consider when it comes to getting trailer-ready.

We talked to Bryatt Fischer, head of marketing at Bullet Proof Diesel out of Mesa, Ariz., to get some pointers on how to prepare for towing your boat. Bullet Proof specializes in Ford 6.0L Power Stroke diesels, so they know what it takes to make a truck a mean, green towing machine.

Rolling On The River
One of the simplest places to start is your tires. The very first thing to check is your tire pressure, both on your vehicle and on the trailer. Every vehicle is rated differently, so check your manufacturer’s directions to find the right numbers to hit. I know we all ignore that tire pressure warning light that seems to always show up on our instrument panel, but when you’re towing something, that’s when things especially need to be running in the optimal range. Next, what kind of shape are the tires in? Check for wear and cracking. You also need to check the load rating on your tires. That rating has to do with the load you’re expecting to tow, not just the weight of your vehicle. If your vehicle weighs 6,000 pounds, your tires need to be able to handle way more than that, once you add the weight of your boat and trailer.

Weight A Minute
This is a good time to talk about the general weight ratings for your vehicle. There are various factors that determine what you can safely tow. I’m going to go ahead and burst your bubble right now: if you’re planning on using a minivan or small two-wheel drive truck to pull your boat, you’re gonna have a hard time. The US Department of Transportation classifies trucks (and the like) into eight classes by Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR). The GVWR is a measure of how much your truck can carry while driving including the weight of the truck itself, but excluding the trailer. There is another measurement called the Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR), which is basically the GVWR plus your trailer.

The classes of GVWR that we’re focusing on here are Class 1 and Class 2. Classes 3-8 concern much larger vehicles that are for the most part specifically designed for freight, so don’t worry about those. Class 1, at 6,000 pounds or less, includes minivans, SUVs, and light pickup trucks like Tacomas, Frontiers or Rangers. With most pontoons clocking in around 2,000 pounds, and these vehicles weighing around 4,000 pounds, you see that you’re already over that limit. Class 2 vehicles can pull between 6,000 and 10,000 pounds. This is where most people’s towing vehicles will live, such as your Silverados, Suburbans, F150s and F250s, and RAM 1500s and 2500s.

Let’s touch briefly on a few other considerations: payload capacity, towing capacity and tongue weight. Payload capacity is how much the truck can haul in its bed and cabin. Towing capacity is pretty straightforward: it’s how much it can pull in a trailer. Tongue weight is a measurement of how much force the tongue of the trailer exerts on your hitch. For most conventional trailers, you want that to be around 10 to 15 percent of the total trailer weight. Make sure the weight of everything you’re towing is within the manufacturer’s specifications and you’ll be good to go.

Playing In Tune
Give your truck a tune-up! It’s probably been a while and it needs the sprucing up. This is just like getting a physical at the doctor: you’re making sure your vehicle can handle the stress you’re about to throw at it. If there are problems with any of the belts, the oil pressure, the coolant levels, etc., it’s going to be even worse with your boat behind you. Bryatt says, “There’s a lot of strain and extra workload, so is your engine equipped for it? You need to make sure your oil cooling stays in check because there will be a lot of added heat as your engine works harder to compensate and pull harder and add more torque.”

It’s also a good idea to use a data monitor to see what your truck’s normal operating range is in. You can then use that data to make sure things are behaving properly while you’re on your trip. This may require a fair bit of driving, both with and without a trailer, to get enough information. Hey, who ever said that it was easy to have fun?

Finally, make sure that your exterior lights, both on the vehicle and the trailer, are working properly. It’s dangerous to pull a trailer without letting the people behind you anticipate what you’re about to do.

Follow these tips, and you’ll be prepared for anything the road has to throw at you. Except for those crows. Watch out for those crows.