I hooked up a buddys 38foot boat to my suburban yesterday to tow it out to the lake. Its 3 axles and 9000lbs(he claims, i didnt try pick it up) It stands probably 14 feet into the air
Before I left I saw one of the tires was dry rotted so I parked it again until he gets a tire but my question is:

Is it going to be really hard to tow something of that size? My only enclosed experience was a 25 footer and that wasnt bad at all, but it had electric brakes.

Im scared .. well intimidated.


Modified by Want2race at 9:36 AM 6/27/2006

 

hi!

38' is a big boat. i'd be surprised if that whole rig was only 9k lbs. really surprised.

check this link here:

http://www.wellcraft.com/Boats...b=466

that boat is about the size you describe. dry weight, without fuel, water, or trailer is 20k lbs. i'd expect fully loaded on a trailer and ready to go it would be alot heavier (25k maybe?).

i think your suburban is gonna have a stroke trying to pull that!

good luck and have fun!

todd

 

I don't understand the question... 9000lbs of feathers would still suck. Do you mean aerodynamically? I'd expect the boat to be slightly better but it won't really matter as you won't be going that fast.

I'd expect it to be a real handfull. Definitely want electric brakes!

 

What kind of Suburban? Does the boat trailer have brakes? The weight does seem low for a 38' boat, will you be towing up hills? Flat-ground you can tow just about anything with almost anything. I've seen a 30' 9000 pound boat get pulled by a 155hp '91 Land Cruiser, but it did about 60mph top-out on flat ground. Apart from the motor issues of a 350 hating life towing that, of more importance are the handling and braking issues. I really, REALLY hope that thing has trailer brakes, 3/4 ton truck brakes are going to not-really-stop, and with 1/2 ton... good luck with that.

 

I've towed a ~35' enclosed trailer from Los Angeles, CA to Cleveland, Ohio using a 1980 GMC/chevy dually pickup truck (extended cab), with a 454ci motor. I don't know the weight of the trailer, but we were transporting an Eclipse race car and gear that was inside. Going up the mountains into Albuquerque, NM was a little tiring on the rig, but overall, it wasn't too bad. I can't imagine towing something like that with a smaller truck/motor though. Even with the dually, you had to be very aware of braking distances and the lack of handling. Power was adequate, but the turbodesiel big rigs were passing us on grades pretty easily. Oh, and whatever you do, never get yourself in a spot where you need to turn around.

on a side note, we had two 25 gallon side tanks and a 50gallon tank in the bed, under the sleeper part of the cab. we could go almost 1,000 miles between gas stops! 30 minute fillups kinda sucked tho.

 

assuming the trailer is in good condition and outfitted properly the boat shouldn't really be a problem - will certainly be easier on teh truck (in spite of it's weight) than an enclosed trailer, as it has a HUGE aerodynamic advantage over an enclosed trailer.

take due caution and you should be fine, IMO

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Safir &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">assuming the trailer is in good condition and outfitted properly the boat shouldn't really be a problem - will certainly be easier on teh truck (in spite of it's weight) than an enclosed trailer, as it has a HUGE aerodynamic advantage over an enclosed trailer.

take due caution and you should be fine, IMO</TD></TR></TABLE>

Honda usually gives different tow ratings for their vehicles that are different for trailers or boats. The reasoning is that boats are a LOT more aerodynamic than a trailer. The Pilot and MDX come to mind, I beleive they are rated at 5000# trailer or 6000# boat. The CR-V is the same way I beleive, 1000# trailer or 1500# boat.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kb58 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't understand the question... 9000lbs of feathers would still suck. Do you mean aerodynamically? I'd expect the boat to be slightly better but it won't really matter as you won't be going that fast.

I'd expect it to be a real handfull. Definitely want electric brakes!</TD></TR></TABLE>
I ment in terms of stability, hopefully whetever it does, it does consistantly

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by WRXRacer111 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What kind of Suburban? Does the boat trailer have brakes? The weight does seem low for a 38' boat, will you be towing up hills? Flat-ground you can tow just about anything with almost anything. I've seen a 30' 9000 pound boat get pulled by a 155hp '91 Land Cruiser, but it did about 60mph top-out on flat ground. Apart from the motor issues of a 350 hating life towing that, of more importance are the handling and braking issues. I really, REALLY hope that thing has trailer brakes, 3/4 ton truck brakes are going to not-really-stop, and with 1/2 ton... good luck with that.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Its a 3/4 ton with the 8.1liter

Hopefully it should be fine when on the open road. Chances are I'll try get out of the city before 5am to keep traffic to a minimum

 

I'm not believing the 38 ft boat at 9000 lbs including trailer at all. My dad has a 22 ft ocean going capable cruiser sailboat and with trailer it is about 9500 lbs. This is much heavier than the average 22 footer but I can't imagine that a boat nearly double in length and with engines (you didn't say) would weigh the same. His is a double axle trailer and not a triple too.

He bought my Dodge Ram V10 with a 12K tow rating to pull the boat with and he drives like Grandpa (he is one) down the interstate at 65. In general, boats are more aero that boxes going straight forward but they are more susceptible to side winds as their center of gravity is much, much higher and they have a lot of side surface area.

If would be a good idea to weigh this rig but I think the weight is pretty wrong and anything but a short, flat tow might overcome the 3/4 ton Suburban.