[NacMacFeegle]

Just bought a 2004 20' Monterey I/O Bowrider and have it docked in Irondequoit Bay just off Lake Ontario. The problem lies with the lack of towing muscle in my current car, a Honda Pilot... I would leave it in all season, but every boater round here warns against that as you wouldn't like the way your boat ends up at the end of the year...too much algae growing on it. So I need to get it out of there at least monthly.
So what do I go for??? A Nissan Titan would do it but I can't bring myself to buy something that guzzles gas that badly...Looking at maybe the Toyota Tundra (slightly better on gas) or similar. Has to be something with a cab big enough that my growing like weeds sons will fit in the back of. Or should I stick with a SUV?
Ideas gratefully accepted.

 

[KYTGuy]

Boat ramps are steep, and slippery - you need rear wheel drive with a limited slip axle at the minimum. Steep and slippery means that the towing ability will be sorely tested, and that the towing capacity will need to be at least what the boat and trailer weigh, at a minimum - no cheating here. I have recently had to replace/rebuild two rear axles on my two tow vehicles, @ $2k each - even though I have been towing well below rated capacity for about 30-50% duty cycle for a bit over 130k miles in each.

When not towing, the Blazer has had a lot of off-road work, hunting on fireroads and tough rock and off road trails and deep sand duty pretty frequently. When not towing, the Tahoe gets a lot of relatively high-speed (75-85) on-road transport at full internal load, along with a fair share of deep sand duty also.

Personally, I would shoot for a rated tow capacity at about 120% of your boat and trailer weight in whatever vehicle you buy, and I would look for 4-wheel drive to make sure I went up the ramps when I wanted. Some sort of Traction Control System would be a plus, especially if you have not been off-road much, or this is your first four-wheel drive vehicle. I would not buy any front wheel drive vehicles with "part-time four-wheel drive systems".

Just my $.02.

 

[KYTGuy]

And, a couple more things:

Pickups are really useful around nearly any estate, and are cheaper to insure when the boys get to driving, as they are hotrodded less, they are not sexy, and they are limited in cab room - the less passengers/audience the boys have, the less hijinks they engage in. Pickups are, however (IMHO) less useful/easy on the boatramps - easier to spin the rear wheels, and usually harder to maneuver in reverse with a tow, as they tend to have a larger turning radius than something like a Yukon. Pickups get especially witchy and tricky as the tow weighs more. Many towing accidents are related to the tow being a high percentage of the Total Gross Weight of the assemblage.

I guess the upshot of this and the above discussion is that Fuel Mileage should probably be relegated to secondary or tertiary consideration, if I were King.

 

[iq160plus]

My suggestion:
Watch the movie "Long, Long Trailer" 1954 with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez!

 

[mrarroyo]

If you only plan to take the boat out of the water once a month there are alternatives you may want to explore.

1)Rent a truck for a weekend every month for about $70 and use that time to pressure wash the underside of the boat.
2)See if the marina has a service to pull the boat out on your trailer so you can wash the underside of the truck once a moth.
3)Get a friend with a truck.

Or a combination of the above.

 

[Mikey01]

I would definetly use a trailer. If you don't you will wear big openings in the haul of the boat.

 

[no1likesme]

you dont need as big of vehicle as you would thing to haul a boat, i have a 1995 jeep cherokee and it hauls my family's 22 foot sea ray with no problems my mom's old 1992 buick park avenue ultra hauled the boat for a few years as well although getting up the ramp was a little more difficult with the car

have you actually tried towing the boat with your pilot? it may do better than you think. but if that doesnt work a blazer, cherokee, or explorer may be a good choice

 

[NacMacFeegle]

First off...thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate them all.
Lets see now...
Trailer - check.
Movie - check...

New towing vehicle - not yet...I am still looking, but it seems the better used type are in short supply. The Pilot doesn't have a tow package on it so that would have to be added, but I'm finding the Honda dealerships round here getting very very smug with their customers..and I have driven Honda's for a lot of years. Any sort of question gets a snotty reply..Maybe they don't have to work it as hard anymore as they know people will buy their product anyway, but they've just lost my business.
Now if only the Chevy dealer would answer my e-mail about that nice black Z71 Tahoe they have on their lot...

 

[PinkFloyd]

a few ideas for you:

 

[wakeride74]

I recommend the family truckster with the optional rally fun pack

GIT-R-DONE!

 

[Mr.PD]

I would like to mention the Ford F150 Supercrew.
We have a 2004 model and rather like it. The back seat has more leg room than the Explorer we had, it will tow much more, and gets the same mileage as the '02 Explorer did. The bed is short at a 5.5 ft, but we have another pickup also. Makes a great vacation rig, smooth ride and low road noise. We put a canopy on it, so we have weather proof hauling for things that won't fit in the back seat. Mileage is nothing to brag about. The best we have gotten is 20mpg on the slow roads, just under 18 if I drive over 70mph.

Just my two cents.