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Don Tomczak

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Location
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Who else here tows a boat with there Trac? We have a 185 Capri that is listed for sale loaclly and I am just trying to determine how big of a boat I can get. I really have my heart set on a 23 foot Hydro Swift Sport Pro. Our Bayliner was about 2300 pounds and the Trac towed it like there was nothing there at all. The Hydro Swift is 3500 pounds, which is still under the Tracs rating of 4000 something. Does anyone have a picture of thier trac with a 23 foot boat hitched up? Here are some pics of our current boat if anyone is intrested.



http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h302/speed_racer_801/SportTracandBoat.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h302/speed_racer_801/SportTracandBoat2.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h302/speed_racer_801/SportTracandBoat5.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h302/speed_racer_801/SportTracandBoat3.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h302/speed_racer_801/SportTracandBoat4.jpg
 
Don, I use my ST to tow our 21ft Welcraft. It's well over 3500 lbs when fully loaded to go offshore, and to be honest, I have no worries. But, you can definitely tell it's there.



I've taken it to some pretty steep ramps, and have had no problems pulling it out either. I cannot say towing it will be effortless, but you will not feel like you have to worry about anything. The trac holds up well to it.



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I do not have a picture of the ST towing our boat, but I have a picture of my brother's truck towing the boat. I tow our boat with the ST all the time. It is a 21' Nitro with a 200hp Mercury. The boat and trailor weigh about 3600 pounds full of gear and gas. The ST tows it pretty easily. I can tell it is there when I am getting close to our camp in North East Texas on Toledo Bend Lake. It gets pretty hilly around the camp and the ST has to downshift to handle the load occassionally. I love it because it can still tow the boat, but gets MUCH better mpg than my brother's F-150. He gets around 12-13 towing the boat and I get about 16-17 with the ST. But the biggest difference in mpg is when we are driving to the camp NOT towing the boat and the ST gets around 20-22 mpg during the 4 hour trip. Anyway, here is a pic of my brother's F-150 towing our boat that the ST also tows about a dozen times a year. I am going to the camp over labor day and will be using the ST to tow the boat once again. I will try and take a picture of it and post it.



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Just remember, the tow rating includes passengers and cargo! I knew a service manager that smoked his locking rear differential because he did not take that into account with a van.
 




OK think I fixed it Harold's ST and Boat









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A 22' 1973 Sea Ray. A tad over 5000lb(actually weighed on a scale). You knew it was there, and OD was not an option, but it towed ok. Didn't tow it for long distances though.
 
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Thanks guys. I have a felling that my truck is gonna sit like Sean's is, only worse. This winter I pulled a 22 foot trailer that was loaded with 4 M8 snowmobiles. I was gonna take a pictue, but it was so bad, I didn't want a photgraphic reminder of how bad it was.



Anyways, I was thinking about getting a set of AirLift's REAR RIDE CONTROL LOAD-ASSISTING ADJUSTABLE AIR SPRINGS from JC Wittney.



Any thoughts?

 
When I had my '00 Excursion, I had AirLifts. I towed my travel trailer. It worked real well. I would get them on the Trac.
 
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It's all in how you set up the hitch and load the trailer. The trailer needs to be level, and then adjust the ball height to keep it that way with the tongue weight figured in. That should stop a lot of the rear end sag. For a boat, the tongue weight should be about 8-10% of the total. Adjust the boat on the trailer until it is... Boats do pull better than trailers because of the pointed front end...



For a trailer, the tongue weight should be 10-15%, to try to keep the sway in control. I like a good weight distributing hitch with sway control, such as an Equalizer brand. Won't work with a boat trailer though, unless the boat trailer has electric brakes. Most have surge brakes. Boxend trailers do pull harder because of the large frontal area that has to be pulled through the air. They tend to have more sway problems too because of that. My Travel trailer at 3800 lb pulls harder than a friends boat at about the same weight...



 
Ours is a 2006 FourWinns Horizon 200. She weighs about 4500. Starting off and going up hills the truck struggles a bit but keep in mind that we have a 4x2 with a manual tranny and that makes a huge difference. We really have to watch the steepness of the ramps. I have this fear of them both taking a dip one day. We won't even go into mileage. But, in the end..it's all worth it.



This is the day we picked up the boat, we were at Lake Mead. The other is upstream from Lake Havasu City, AZ on the Colorado River.



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I'll be towing my little 14' Hobie Holder - "KingsFisher" with my ST. I towed it last year with a 2000 Nissan Frontier and hardly noticed it was back there. I've put a DrawTite hitch on the ST, but have not yet had the time / weather to get her in the water yet this season for a maiden voyage. Soon I hope!



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