pulling a pontoon with a minivan?

[GXPWeasel]

Ive pulled my toon with both.
The v10 got 8 mpg while towing... ya... 8.
The diesel got 16.

The diesel F250 also gets better mileage when NOT towing as well..

I agree whole heartedly, However, your friend with the V-10 needs to pull something heavy more often. My dad had an F-250 with the V-10, and it got really crappy mileage, until he pulled his camper from Kansas to Florida. Then he was getting almost 18mpg. when pulling, and 20mpg. when not. This only lastet about 3 months though, and the truck was back to normal 8-10mpg. on the highway.

[Hersbird]

I towed and even launched and recovered our boat with our old 2000 AWD Grand Caravan with the 3.8 and a load leveling rear suspension. It functioned but was slow getting up 55 or on hills. I have also tried our high miles 4.0 96 Grand Cherokee and it seemed worse then the minivan but does have a low range 4wd for the ramp. The minivan had similar power but the longer wheelbase and it's awd was fine for any paved launch. I have also used a 2003 5.7 Hemi Ram (sold), a 2003 5.3 v8 GMC Envoy XL, a 1984 5.0 Chevy Pickup (my dads), and a 99 454 Suburban (sold). The 454 was by far the best and surprisingly got the best mileage, averaged 11 mpg at about 65 mph. Then Envoy is a little slow on hills and needs to use the motors rpms but does get 10.5 mpg, and the Ram had plenty of power but only got 10 mpg. The old Chevy pickup had a bad carb and could only muster 6 mpg on the lake trip. We currently use the Envoy as it's much better day to day w/o the boat then the Suburban was which even not towing never got better then 13 mpg. I'm currently setting up a 96 454 one ton crew cab Chevy longbed to have a slide in camper and tow the boat but I can't afford the camper so the Envoy is working for tent camping duties.

For me, my boat is square with a folding hardtop and sits up pretty high on a trailer with 14" tires so at 65 mph it's not so much the weight but the wind resistance. It's like a 22' camper. I'm sure that would destroy the minivan or even the Jeep if done on a regular basis.

[rancherlee]

The issue with pontoons is not so much the weight, its the WIND that they push AND the cross wind that pushs on the sides of them that cause issues. My Pontoon/Trailer combo is 2500# and it pulls harder at speed then my 6500# skidsteer/car trailer combo behind my V8 Mountaineer (7300# tow rating BTW) at speed. I get better mileage pulling the skidsteer on flat ground then the pontoon. Pulling the 20' pontoon in a stiff 30mph crosswind makes for a wobbly ride also with a shorter wheel base. Older 1/2 ton trucks sell cheap and are more than capable of just about any toon.

[devdwt]

I dont even have a vehicle that can pull my toon.
BUT i have friends with trucks! And all i need is 1 pull to the slip at the beginning of summer and 1 pull back at the end...

IF i was to buy something to pull it around, it'd have to be a diesel.
The main reason being, the things get relatively Great millage when towing, not to mention you feel 'safer' while towing. They pull effortlessly.

I have two friends with F250's
One has the v10, the other a diesel.

Ive pulled my toon with both.
The v10 got 8 mpg while towing... ya... 8.
The diesel got 16.

The diesel F250 also gets better mileage when NOT towing as well..

There's no doubt in my head which truck id buy.
Either a F250 diesel or Dodge 2500 diesel.

Got to agree.....here is my tow vehicle.....all 7800 lbs of it!

[mike]

Nice truck, I was looking at F250 diesels before I bought mine... The ones I liked were 6-8K more so I went with my F-150 instead, its been a great truck other than the window regulators breaking

[HandymanHerb]

I bought an 05 Dodge CTD 2500 with 27000 miles on it so I didn't have to pay the 45 thousand they want new, bought it for a little over 30 thousand and I see they still selling used for 25 thousand with 70 thousand or more miles on them.

If your ready to buy your last truck find you a good used 05 or 06 with a 5.9

[sammyinafrica]

I think the best bang for my buck...Which is not much buck... will be a used SUV. A Durango, Epedition etc...

i will probably have to buy one with fairly high milage to get what I would like.

Lots of searching to do...

[mike]

Whats the used market look like for suv's in africa?

[dockholiday]

I think the best bang for my buck...Which is not much buck... will be a used SUV. A Durango, Epedition etc...

i will probably have to buy one with fairly high milage to get what I would like.

Lots of searching to do...

Thinking you are on the right track. Even one with 125k to 150k should work since it's primary duty will be to tow.
doc

[ROLAND]

This is what we pull our boat with... can't even tell she's back there ( except in strong cross winds )

[hoosiername]

we recently bought a toon, a reasonably priced one to try out. Temporarily am pulling with a 95 GMC Safari AWD Van, and launching the 25' bennington. Not advisable for long hauls, but we go no more that 30 miles to the furthest launches. close to 5000 pounds.

Launches and pulls just fine.

Trailer has surge brakes, and that helps a lot.

Yacht club trailer dual axle bunk style.


Know that a Trailblazer or Durango will pull it and launch fine, but looking a little larger for a Yukon style vehicle.


my other boat is 30' sailboat, deep keel, on a trailer, all electric brakes ( 8 wheels ) and that one needs the F250 minimum, GM Duramax/Allison would be better.