Tow vehicle for 21 foot Pilothouse

[Mokee]

The picture of the Mountaineer doesn't do it justice. I assure you the vehicle rides level. Equally important is max towing capacity and gross combined vehicle weight. It's 1000 lbs. under max towing and under on GCVW with vehicle/passengers and boat fully loaded. I check the rig on truck scales every year. The Mountaineer's equipment includes an external tranny cooler and add-on tranny temp gauge. I keep an eye on the gauge and don't drive in OD unless the road is near table top flat. The AWD excels on slippery ramps. It's the 3rd Mountaineer in the stable.

The boat and trailer combination logged trips from the upper Great Lakes to Texas and Miami to Bellingham, WA. The "butt dragger" did 8403 miles on the trip pictured and averaged 11 mpg.

Hauling a boat on a trailer up and down mountain grades doing 70mph is asking for trouble. Trailer tire mfg. don't recommend speeds in excess of 55 mph. Fortunately, most tough mountain grades have passing lanes. The strap on mirrors satisfy states requiring towing mirrors and give a solid view of whats immediately behind. My trailer tires always vibrate in the mirrors before they blow. I see the vibration in the strap on mirrors better than in the stock mirrors.

Oh . . . thanks for the idea about the Sears clam shell luggage rack . . . maybe we'll see you on 95 as I'm planning a trip to Miami in May (or maybe not).

 

[parkerjon]

Just read this thread. Brought back some old memories. F350's, Diesels, etc. LOL. When I was young, you wouldn't believe what I was able to pull in a Plymouth Champ.

 

[POGE]

long hauls, pick up would be my choice. I have owned small V8 F150 and V8 Explorer. I tow my 23 DVCC a little now with just a regular hitch III no sag, no power problem. I agree with some of the post. Todays trucks and cars you do not need to over kill on the engine size to get the job done.
A tip I picked up was you can put a big class hitch IV on a SUV so you don't have the extra work of a distribution hitch. Also a good balanced trailer will do more to flatten out your load sometimes to. Make sure your trailer is balanced well. Get the tounge weight to spec for trailer.
Growing up Dad towed a 24' camper with the 1967 station wagon, 327V8 chevy, just added air shocks and still got speeding tickets when the limit was 70!!! I am all for horse power, but need to have multi use vehicles too.

 

[HM5]

...Growing up Dad towed a 24' camper with the 1967 station wagon, 327V8 chevy...

That was a 1/2 ton pickup with a passenger car body! :lol: :lol:

 

[ABRIG005]

I tow mine with a Forf F150 V6 4.2 L 5 speed and it struggles bad.
Actually I think its f'n up my transmission.
I now need a new truck....Thinking a new F150 V-8...Or just putting in in dry storage to eliminate the need to tow.

 

[Duct Man]

I got a f-150 with 5.4L pulling a 2320 and it does ok. regular trip to the ocean takes 1/2 tank and with boat in tow about 3/4 tank. first half down 70 has some rolling hills but nothing to big anything more I would say go with something bigger.

 

[FishPimp]

I had a 1999 F150 Lariat and pulling my 23Se was always a gnarly hair raising event towing. Even short distances. Not this year. I just scored a F250 V10 Lariat Super Duty Crew Cab out here and will be driving it back east next month.
All I can say about towing is it is better to have the power than to want it. Especially pulling such a pretty prize as a Parker.

 

[ackparker]

I just towed my new to me 2120 up from South Carolina to Massachusetts just under 900 miles with a V6 toyota tundra. As long as the overdrive was off it towed fine. I did not feel I need more power at all along the way. I kept it around 65-mph.

 

[Tawn]

Thanks for all the input - Last week I bought an 08 F-250 4X4 crewcab 5.4 liter P/U. From my house in So MD the Solomons boat ramp is only 15 miles away and Breezy Point is only about 5 miles away both on fairly level ground. Would loved to have had the diesel but the extra 10K for the diesel would have put me that much further away from a New Parker 2320. Additionally, I was able to find a new 2008 that hadn't sold and was able to get it out the door for a touchover $30K - a 2009 F-250 diesel would have cost $43 and that is going through the Navy Exchange Deployee purchasing program. All in all, pretty happy - couple more years in my Carolina Skiff 218 DLV and that Parker will be mine.

 

[Porkchunker]

Tawn,

"...Navy..."

So, are you in the Navy Recreation Center? If not, you should be, as it is much cheaper.

Dave

aka

 

[Peregrine]

One can define towing as either getting an object moving or stopping an object. I prefer the stopping side. That being said, more is better, not to mention the turning and control part.

For my money and safety, not to mention the safety of others, I'll still with the 3/4 ton pick-up for a 2320.

Mine is a 2000 with 200,000 plus miles on it. Original automatic trans and a virtually untouched 7.4 Powerstroke. Regular fluid and filters on both. A couple of cam position sensors (I keep one in the glove box for Baja, though I haven't had one fail in ~100K), and turbo seals on the engine. Brakes go 50-60k, and the BFG's the same.

Get a suitable trailer as well. Mine is ~9,500# GVW and it never wiggles.

Jeff

 

[Tawn]

Porkchunker,

I'm still on active duty - I live in Huntingtown, MD; just up Rt 4 from the Navy Rec Center.

A little bit of buyers remorse - hard to go from a big block (7.4L) V-8 3/4 ton to a small block (5.4L) 3/4 ton P/U. I was dead set on a diesel but through Bortnick Ford I found the new '08 F-250 with the 5.4L that was about 13K less than a diesel and based on the distance I tow, I took it - although I gotta admit, I'm missing the torque of the big motor and the milage of the 5.4 isn't that much different from the 454 cid - in hindsight, I kinda wish I would have held out for the diesel, but I'll say it before you guys do... you told me so!!!!