www.iFourWinns.com

Well, for what it's worth, I tow mine with a 2004 Chevy Z71 Tahoe. I have towed it 600 miles round trip on relatively flat land. No problems. I am well over my tow rating. The only thing I did was flush the tranny prior to the season and I also had an oversized tranny cooler installed.

Not a bit of problems all summer.

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"Where Da Go"
2002 248 Vista
Lafayette, IN
http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz

Ya, like I said, flat ground I am sure you can get away with a little 1/2 ton to get her moving.

But I still argue that you could safely stop this monster in a panic stop or an emergency situation with a light duty tow vehical.

I have an opinion about 1/2 tons because I have been there done that, years ago with our 1st boats and RVs, and working the guts out of the poor little 1/2 ton and having to upgrade. I also tow in the rocky mts. vs flat land.

BTW, you have a very nice looking boat!

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

I would not recommend towing that kind of weights with a ½ ton pick-up truck. CGVW should include driver and all passengers as well as their luggage so it climbs up quickly. People in boating community always say to get a biggest motor you can get for your boat but I feel more important to have a bigger truck to tow than borderline truck. . I think towing is something you do not want to take a risk with so please use caution if you have to tow on borderline situation.

When it comes to reviewing the towing performance of vehicles, their seems to be alot of subjectivity. Some people are comfortable with (or don't realize) frequent shifting, heavy throttle application, and loss of stability. I'm with powellcrazy...more capacity ensures greater safety and longer vehicle life.

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2007 180 Horizon

Not all 1500's are created equally either... I do wish I had more torque (diesel) but I don't find my Hemi to be "hunting" for gears. We do have some of those things in Pennsylvania called hills (mountains even) I don't have to tow far to the launch, maybe 10 miles one way and it's on the interstate and there are hills. I don't have an issue at all, when I come up a hill I don't force the truck to slam into a lower gear, that is HARD on the clutch packs in an auto. I let it stay where it's at in 3rd gear (in TOW/HAUL mode, which locks out the OD converter). No problems.. Sure the Hemi will lug down a bit, the Hemi's are actually happier when turning midband to high RPM they have always been that way. But it works, and it works well for me.

I certainly won't sit here and argue that a diesel 2500 wouldn't be nice.. And if I go bigger it's a must.. But for now, I am under my max tow rating by the manufacturer.

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Brett DiMichele

Brett, you are absolutly correct that vehicals are not created equal. That goes for every model, there are so many options that help or hinder the towing capability that one must carefully spec out a vehical for there needs.

I have another thought about the auto manufactures GVW and GCWR on 1/2 ton vehicals, the big 3 keep bumping the numbers up to say they are better than the competitor, but I bet if you where to pull your boat with a properly equiped HD 3/4 dodge truck, with the same motor you have now, you would be amazed at how well it handles that 8k boat vs current one. (think panic stop/emergency manuver, brakes are not the only thing to concider)
Our '07 tahoe is equipt with all the towing options and has a tow rating just over 8k, but as mentioned earlier, it cant handle that much weight, it can handle comfortably 4-5k.

As for diesels, they are towing monsters!!! But, I was ready to go back to a big block gas motor until I found out that chevy has discontinued the 8.1L motor, so I am stuck with a turbo diesel for my towing needs. Next truck for me will be a chevy, it has all the goodies I want for spending time driving down the road.

The things I don't like about the diesels I have owned are, fuel prices around here are usually 10-50 cents/gallon over high grade gas. I could afford the gas motor ecconomy (5-7 mpg gas, vs 9-11 mpg diesel)
In the winter/cold weather the diesel is a very cold blooded beast, not as easy to just get in and drive vs. gas motor. Of course you can change oil (these things hold 4 gallons of oil, not cheap to change, I do change on a 5k basis which is not even one time per year for me lately) to lighter blend for cold weather (lighter blend not good for summer towing), add additives to fuel, plug in block heater, pre start/let warm up for 5 min before driving. Wife hates the smell of diesel, I do notice the odor, but doesn't bother me.
Just things I dont care for.
Food for thought, about turbo diesels, they are not the perfect solution, they have there down sides as well.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

Powell,

I pulled the 248 with the 1500 and a 2500 both 04's (my friend has a red 04 extended cab 3/4 Hemi) the big difference between his truck and mine is that he has deep gears. I have (without looking at the build sheet) 3.55's and he has 4.11's I have 20" rims he has 17 steelies. Those things combined on his truck get the Hemi in it's ideal operating range and his truck does pull up hills better. It doesn't handle the boat any better in terms of sway resistance, lane changes or stopping power. As fantastic as a Hemi is (I have two of them) they are not "bottom end" motors. The 8.1L GM was a BEAST that motor in my last boat went 71MPH! And that motor has way more torque down low...

I agree Diesels are not without thier own set of drawbacks. I can work on just about any gas V8 out there. I can not work on a Diesel. I pray the 3 Cylinder Diesel in my John Deere never has issues because I have no clue where to start! Oil changes, yep I've heard about those! Another friend of mine has an 07 F350, he uses only Rotella-T in his 6.0 and changes his own oil to the tune of $85.00 per change.

If a Diesel got fantastically better MPG than the gas motor it may be enough to offset the price of the lower grade fuel, that for some "odd" reason, costs more at the pump!

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Brett DiMichele

Besides the rear end gear ratio, the actual tire diameter will affect the end result of the drive train ratio. Does not matter what size wheels (rims) you have, only what size (diameter) tire is on that wheel. I am sure you already know that though.

I was only trying to give you an opinion of the differances between the models (1/2 vs 3/4). Since you have towed with the 3/4 ton, you already know about the extra stability.

I too am limited on working around the diesel, luckily, they run forever! Knock on wood! Mine has had to go into the shop a couple times, but I do all my own routine maint.

Powell,

Yep I'm aware of the overall tire diameter On steelie rims you wind up with more of a "work tire" where as I have this huge sport tires. My over all diameter is far larger than his and it shows in the low end torque.

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Brett DiMichele

I am going to have to disagree with you. We tow our 248 with a Tahoe and it tows just fine. Now, I can't argure that a 3/4 ton would do a much better job, but I tow in 3rd gear, have an oversized transmission, and I don't go over 60 mph. The boat stops better than my old one, but accelleration is poor. I feel comfortable towing with our Tahoe.

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"Where Da Go"
2002 248 Vista
Lafayette, IN
http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz

woggy, you say 'I tow mine with a 2004 Chevy Z71 Tahoe. I have towed it 600 miles round trip on relatively flat land' I said ' Ya, like I said, flat ground I am sure you can get away with a little 1/2 ton to get her moving. and I see that you are at a low elevation as well, which will help performance some. Ya, you can work the guts out of the tahoe, but how long will it last doing that??? I have been there done that, with our 1st tahoe ('97) trying to pull our '95 245 sundowner to powell and back for 2 seasons. I had to go back to a HD TV to serve our needs. I wish you the best.

We had a '04 Z71 tahoe before the current '07, very nice family car. I like those tahoes a lot, great vehicals to travel in, room for everone, ride nice. Some things about the '04 I like better than our '07. But towing 4-5k, the '07 handles a bit better.

I never said it was ideal, but I can't get the wife to drive a truck. I drive to many miles for work and the MPG would kill me so, for lack of a better option, we tow with the Tahoe. Everyone I talked to said the only risk I run with regards to premature wear would be on the transmission or the rear end. I guess I'm taking my chances. The good news is we got ourselves a permanent slip this year so we won't be trailering but a handful of times. Once to Put In Bay, and once to probably Chicago.

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"Where Da Go"
2002 248 Vista
Lafayette, IN
http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz

I have found trucks get better MPG vs our tahoes. Every tahoe we get, ends up getting worse MPG than the last. '97 got 18 mpg, '04 16-17mpg, and the '07 barely 15 mpg, that even with the new v8 / v4 mode that is supposed to be rated at 20+ MPG.

My wife wont drive our truck either, and she rarely lets me drive her tahoe!!!! I do get to ride in it once in awhile. I keep trying to talk her into a 3/4 ton suburban that would pull our boat, but no luck so far.

Our 04 gets about 16-17 on the highway. It really sucks. If you find out a way to trick the spouse into that 3/4 ton Suburban, let me know.

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"Where Da Go"
2002 248 Vista
Lafayette, IN
http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz

Brett... FYI (and this may be only 2006 and new Dodge Hemi) the 20" rims decrease your towing capacity by 1000 lbs.

I was looking for a tow rig in 2006 and was leaning towards an F-150 or the Dodge Hemi Quad. I talked to a Dodge engineer at a Dodge rally and he told me that if I wanted to pull near 8500 lbs the 1500 Hemi would do it, but not with teh BigHorn package (we were test driving a 1500 Hemi Big Horn Edition) When I asked why not with the Big Horn, he said the rim size effects the gearing ratio and decreases the towing capacity by nearly 1000 lbs. (8900lbs vs 7850lbs)
The top of page 8 http://dodgeram.info/2004/pdf/Ram_1500_Tow.pdf gives more details. The PDF is for the 2004 model year, but teh same capacities apply.

I wanted to go with the Big Horn edition... But opted for the SLT 1500 Hemi. I needed the 17" rims for the 248.

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2000 Four Winns 248 Vista (Nice toys, no Air)
2001 Highly Modified Yamaha GP1200R (75+MPH)