My tow truck fuel Mileage

[bradcox100]

When we bought our new pontoon, I was worried about how much fuel it would use. The 60 hp Mercury 4-stroke does great on fuel. It is the fuel mileage my 2007 Ford F150 4X4 Crew cab gets when pulling the toon is the problem. I knew it wouldn't be great but I would have thought it would get better than 7.5 to 8 mpg.

Is this sort of fuel mileage typical for pulling a 20' toon? It makes me wonder if I should consider putting the boat in a wet slip.

Brad

[HandymanHerb]

Your pulling a drag parachute and come on a 4x4 gas engine and you want good mileage too, should have got the diesel, then you would be getting 14 mpg pulling it.

[BoatCop]

You have the typical fuel mileage loss.

My 'Hoe gets 18-20 when not towing. Throw the toon behind it and it drops to 8-10.

I'd hate to see what my motorhome would get if I towed the boat with it. That thing only get's 7-9 MPG all by itself.

[MPosey519]

This is why I rent storage a 1/4 mile from the ramp. $35 a month saves me a lot of towing, and a lot of gas

[bradcox100]

I guess your right. I just need to fill the truck up when empty and don't calculate the fuel mileage. It is better not knowing, ha.

It has occurred to me to find a place close to the lake that we like to store the boat. I will have to think about that.

Brad

[rob28]

I was quite shocked when we picked our pontoon up last month. On the return journey with the boat, the truck was drinking a quarter tank of gas every 100km..... And I've got a 36gallon tank....

This equated to approx 8mpg. When I've towed a 3000lb load previously on my sled trailer, the mileage hardly dropped at all, indicating the air resistance of a pontoon is a HUGE factor (as already mentioned above).
Thankfully, now it's home it has a 5 minute journey to the boat launch, so mileage isn't really a concern any more.

[GXPWeasel]

Okay, I'll type this again, since the damn webpage timed out on me...

I tow my toon with an '01 Silverado, half ton, with the 5.3L V8 in it, 2wd, and it's lowered 4&6 inches (it sits level, at about 4" off the ground). I normally can get about 17mpg with my truck, mixed highway and city driving. When towing the toon, I get about 11-12mpg. I atribute this to a few factors. True Dual exhaust, Cold Air intake on the truck, hard tonneau cover on the truck, and I tow the boat with all of the gates open, for optimal wind flow. I also use the tow/haul button on my truck, but not all the time while towing. I won't put it in tow/haul mode if I'm going down hill, or on a flat stretch for a while, or if going under 55mph. Quite honestly, I normally tow at around 65-75 mph. I know, not what most people would do, but I wouldn't do this, if I wasn't 100% certain that I was being safe about it, and that myself and truck / trailer could handle it. This means not following cars very closely at all for 1. Occasionally, I also tow with our 2010 Traverse, with the 3.6L V6. I get just about the same MPG while towing with it. The Traverse sits higher than my truck, by about 1.5 feet, but it also searches for gears more often, due to the lower torque levels, and the 6 speed auto. transmission. Yet, I've never had worse than 10 MPG while towing the toon with either vehicle.

My advice, ditch the FORD, and get a Bowtie to tow your toon with.

Seriously though, if you really want to NOT be able to tell the boats back there, get a diesel. Although those are hard to justify if you're not towing a LOT.

[DRock]

That doesn't sound too far off for your mileage. I have a 2001 F150 4x4 supercab with the 5.4L and while i've never calculated it, i know it's not good mileage while towing the toon. i would guess in the 8-12mpg range.

I bought my pontoon off of Lake Keowee, SC(about 5 hours from me) and i wanted to be able to get good mileage and be comfortable while towing. I drove my 99 F350 dually, 4x4, crew cab, long bed, 7.3L diesel to get it. I got 20+mpg on the way down(unloaded), and 15+mpg on the way back with the pontoon in tow(going 70-80+mph). I swear i think my dually gets better or the same mileage pulling my 10,000lb+ fifth wheel as my F150 gets pulling my little 20 ft pontoon.

[Bryden24shp]

Yep, that's about right. With my 2010 Sierra, 5.3 6 speed I get 21 highway and about 12 pulling the pontoon. They really do act like a parachute! I pull mine naked, right down to pulling the bimini and leaving the gates wide open. 10 with bimini on and in trailering position and gates closed. Makes a huge difference. Be sure to pull in 4th or 5th gear, in trailering mode, or you will burn your tranny up! Done way too many trans repairs for towing in drive, when I was at the GM dealership...

[MH Hawker]

I have a 05 silverado 4 x 4 crew cab with the 5.3 and it gets around 15 - 16 and drops off to 12 towing my 20 footer. Horse power costs.

[bassn429]

Must be nice to get that kind of mpg. I have a 99 ford f350 with the v-10 and when i tow our 25' 5th wheel and our 20' pontoon behind it i get a whopping 6mpg . All u can do is drive the thirsty thing and fill it up . Hit the lake and have some fun.

[ttcfan4476]

I have a 06 dodge diesel. I average 20 unloaded and 16 pulling the boat. i had to pull 15000 pounds about 200 miles one time and it dropped to 12 but that is the lowest i have seen it. the truck is not stock tho it has a edge programmer and 5 inch exhaust.

[trktrd]

I towed the toon ONCE with my F350 4x4 7.3 diesel. One word of caution, If you have a tuner and stacks on your truck you will arrive at your destination with "diesel poop" all over your boat! Not easy to get off upholstery!

[badmoonrising]

Yeah seems right. Lucky almost every launch ramp around here is 3-10 miles away Being that they raised my slip fee last year from $2900-$3300/year, I'm doing better trailering and not having to worry about storms is a plus.

[HandymanHerb]

Must be nice to get that kind of mpg. I have a 99 ford f350 with the v-10 and when i tow our 25' 5th wheel and our 20' pontoon behind it i get a whopping 6mpg . All u can do is drive the thirsty thing and fill it up . Hit the lake and have some fun.

You have another choice, turn it into a Fumins with Cummins swap in kit and you can turn that tuner down so you don't smoke up the toon