How much Truck..??
 

I have 23' Seacraft Sceptre with a 4-stroke 250 hp Yamaha on a dual axle trailer. I've been pulling it ( EASILY..) with my Tundra w/ 5.7 liter motor and full towing package. I'm starting to consider a new truck. Wondering if a Tacoma 6-cyl would pull it safely. I launch at local ramps so there's no long hauls or crazy launch points involved. I don't even know what the boat/trailer weighs. Looking for advice, experience...whatever you might be able to add.
Thanks.

I have a Tacoma 6 cylinder 4 wheel drive truck and pull my 20 on a dual axle trailer with no brakes and I tow it 50 miles to my place in islamorada.
I would not tow yours behind mine unless it was real close to the ramp. The manual says it can handle 6500lbs but it’s not pulling it’s stopping it that matters.
I would stay with the Tundra

X2

I pull my 23' Sceptre with a 1/2 ton Suburban and wouldn't use anything less personally.

I have owned and towed with both trucks. Stick with the Tundra, a bigger boat may be in your future. I have several thousand miles on both rigs towing my 20. Would never go back.

I still remember clearly the time my friend and I took my 18 to the Keys a long time ago(late 80s). Wife needed our truck to take to work and we towed the boat with my friends S-10 Blazer. It was pretty new and in good shape. I was driving, going through Islamorada and it started to rain. The guy in front of us pulled a typical Keys move and hit his brakes and then put his turn signal on.i braked, but had nothing. I missed him somehow. I then wanted to get off the road and was maybe going 30 and slid right on by a gas station. Pulling and stopping are two different animals.

Like another said it’s not moving it. It’s stopping it. And I’ll add controlling it. Tundra is plenty for your scenario (and what I would buy between 2). But I always recommend the biggest truck you can get in front of it that makes sense. Might want to consider what tail wagging the dog looks like. I’d run trailer brakes regardless. Short trips maybe you’ll be fine. I have mountains and long drives.

Tacoma’s legal… might work. But Tundra would be better and I’d bet one day you’ll want to take a long trip and won’t be able to.

Good luck on your decision.

my 2002 tundra 4.7L V8, with headers and upgraded bigger brakes the 2006 size brakes, struggled with my 23CC + double axle trailer, on the rare occasions my trailer disc brakes (one axle) failed it was not a lot of fun stopping. between slow acceleration, some swaying, and braking, I would not even consider a Tacoma for towing a 23......

I have a 2016 Tundra now as well....peachy for towing but the MPG is horrid, towing or not!

Thanks for the replies. Fact is, the boat may not be a factor going forward as I'm using it less and less these days. That said though...I appreciate the comments from your experience and for as long as I am owning this boat..I'll stay with the Tundra. The stopping comments are the most helpful btw. Thanks again.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread here, not sure if you've pulled the trigger on anything to this point however I have some experience on the exact question at hand.

I have had two Tacoma's now, a 2016 shortbed and a 2019 long bed. I also have a Sceptre but with a transom mounted 225 etec and a hardtop. I've towed with my Tacoma a few times a year no problems with this little (by comparison) truck with little to no issues, with the towing package they're rated up to 7,800 lbs but as all have accurately stated its all about stopping. It has a tow mode (ECT Power) that holds onto the lower gears longer which is helpful. I also manually downshift the transmission while slowing for peace of mind sometimes though I've never had an issue stopping, and I have no brakes on my trailer. The only time I got plowed while stopping was my own fault coming downhill into an intersection with limited sight distance ahead, only needed to learn that lesson once. For local towing, to and from the ramp a few times a year or to the marina It'll serve you fine. I'm continually surprised at how much of a beast these little trucks are. That said I'm looking for a Gen 1 Tundra at lease end, hope it'll perform similarly...

The new tacomas are basically the same size truck as the 2000 - 2006 tundras. I had 2004 4.7 tundra braking wasn't great, but it towed fine. The 5.7 Tundra tows the 23 much much better.

Exhaust breaks are wonderful...I will never be without them again. I dont know if I would call a Toyota a truck...No offense there Bigshrimpin :)


strick

anyone towing a 20' with ford square body from the 90's?

Ryan

Welllll... I'm considering buying a friend's 2014 4WD V6 Double Cab Tacoma, in part to "move up" a little from my current tow vehicle, a 6 cyl, stick shift '02 Jeep Wrangler! Only go 4 miles to the ramp, tow speed 25-35 mph, and keep a really sharp lookout ahead, 'cause yeah, stopping is the issue. As you can see, the boat is a Sceptre. Of course, "Dis is de islands mon," and my rig is waaay better than some of the ones you see here every day.

I feel yah bruddah. Dat’s right I see half tons towing boats way, way over tow specs all the time. Prices are crazy and selection is near zero most of the time here anyway.

But get the biggest you can find and afford and stay in specs. I ended up with a Titan 4x4 for now. It’s within weight specs, but I’d much rather have a 3/4 ton Srw diesel with exhaust brake and trailer brakes. But dat’s crazy kine money.

2 issues is stopping and if trailer starts swaying you be in big trouble. Weight and length will hope on both as will weight distribution hitch and brake controller

No offense taken :) The Tundra is real comfortable, but nothing as plush as the roadmaster with AirBags :)

http://www.wellcraftv20.com/gallery/...568_Medium.jpg


https://media.carsandbids.com/cdn-cg...t=161859691409

I have a 96 F-250 powerstroke. OBS. 2WD. I installed a LSD in it last month. It tows fine unless you want to race. I am not sure the 25 is a lot slower than the 20 behind it.


8 foot bed, extra cab, 215 HP. 22' long. It doesn't turn on a dime, but you can lock the trailer brakes up and it won't jackknife unless you get really dumb.



Best part, it's paid for.

You shouldn't have issues with the 20'er behind you. It's looking likely that I'll be starting to use my 86 K10 4 speed to tow my 23 in the near future, we'll see how that goes...

That's one bad ass Buick!

Bad mother Buick for sure! Love the 07 Tundra with 5.7 I have. It's pulled 26 foot boats for all of its 170K mile life with nothing more than routine maintenance oil changes, tires, and brakes.

Wally World is closed folks haha.

I tow my 20 w my 03 Sonoma. Factory ordered as HD as you can.
6k lb rating but the 20 is enough for the truck.

Factory Eaton G 80 full mechanical locker under 10 mph.
Just power brake and it locks right up.

No offense taken The Tundra is real comfortable, but nothing as plush as the roadmaster with AirBags

You still have the roadmaster? I loved that car..we had one when I was a kid... it was luxury back in those days..

strick

Who needs a truck when towing.

With what looks like either a '64 or '69 Dade County Florida License plate on the front. Which is strange, because Florida has never required front license plates.

Yeah, delivering a boat to the 69 Miami boat show. (Don’t know) Looks like a 64 era Volvo, with possibly a car dealer plate “M” or “W”, which would be the wrong weight class for that car and as was said,on the front of car. Strange that the guy is apparently checking his rear view , looking at front of boat? Not even a passenger side mirror. I was trying to see what the name was on that cafeteria sign on building . Interesting photo, with all the people and things. Gee I have too much time on my hands. It’s cold outside.

Vintage Photoshopped?

Looks legit to me, although of course these days anything's possible. I'd guess it's a Bertram on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, perhaps on the way to the Convention Center. They built them over by the airport, and looks to have been placed on the trailer with a crane. Not all that hard to get the thing going on flat land, but stopping that baby would be no mean feat! I think the 1W tag is probably the correct weight class for the Volvo (heavier vehicle tags sported two w's), and maybe the guy put the tag on the front so the cops would be less inclined to stop him?

My least favorite thing about towing here are the fairly narrow, curvy two lane roads, with few sidewalks. Once in a blue moon you come around a curve and find a pedestrian or jogger on the edge of your side of the road, and a dump truck or something big coming the other way. Ah, the taste of adrenalin in the morning!

I’m thinking that car would have been more in the weight class of a 1D tag. Look how small it is next to what I think is a Chevy. From what I have learned the 64 Volvo was about 23-24 hundred pounds. That would definitely be quite the sight to see it going over the bay from the airport to the beach. I’ve never seen one except on internet, but they apparently had a M tag for a car dealer and the pic is a little blurry on tag, but the letter looks to be wider at the bottom than at the top. That tag is haphazardly attached, maybe with magnets?

On the tundra/tacoma question for 10K miles a year, the difference between 12 mpg and 20 mpg at $3.50/gallon is about $1200. If you add in the cost of crashing because no brakes, I'd say stay with tundra. Or better yet buick road master.

Now if you look at 100 hours at 35 gallons per hour WOT (350hp V8) versus 16 gallons per hour (3L merc 150, 2.8L yammy i4 200hp), that's a bigger number. So my advice is to get a tacoma, if you plan to use it as an outboard engine.

The Volvo B series engine has 5 main bearings in a 4 cyl engine.
That pic is hilarious.

Whoa Nelly.
Top responsible speed?
7

Not a Bertram?
 

I thought it was a Bertram. But a good friend who had a 28’ Bertram for several years said, “No it is not a deep enough “V” and the windows are different.”

As far as Fla license tags not being required on the front, I believe I recall seeing old Fla or even out of state tags on the front occasionally.

The front tag got me to do a lil research and it looks like Florida hasn’t used a front auto tag since 1922 and that Volvo ain’t that old so why was it on front!

He probably surmised that his car was doing a trucks job.
The 2021 Florida Statutes


Title XXIII
MOTOR VEHICLES
Chapter 320
MOTOR VEHICLE LICENSES
View Entire Chapter
320.0706 Display of license plates on trucks.—The owner of any commercial truck of gross vehicle weight of 26,001 pounds or more shall display the registration license plate on both the front and rear of the truck in conformance with all the requirements of s. 316.605 that do not conflict with this section. The owner of a dump truck may place the rear license plate on the gate no higher than 60 inches to allow for better visibility. However, the owner of a truck tractor shall be required to display the registration license plate only on the front of such vehicle. A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a moving violation as provided in chapter 318.

Regarding the W tag that was mentioned, it looks more like an M to me
Sample Plate 4 Sample Plate 5

You have to love some of the DMV laws they got us a few years ago on a DMV road side check and couldn’t find anything wrong except the inspector said our DOT letters (2 1/2”) were to small. Section reads the letters must be legible at 50’ guess it kinds of depends how good the inspector eyesight is? We were going to fight it but not worth the cost so we contacted a new sign company to make 3” letters showed them a receipt for all 6 trucks to be redone and payed there fine ! But it would be damn nice if they would spell out just how big they expect the letters to be.

It is a 31 Bertram, mid 60s vintage - notice the flared chine line and the curved glass. The 31 was 24deg at the stern and only a bit more forward (like the 20); thats why they never tripped on the forefoot in a following quarter. The 28 had more deadrise forward than the 31 but it was a later design.

Very interesting that the rear tires of the Volvo show no load compression, the body appears level, and the focus/resolution of the tag don't quite match the bumper/grille.

Excuse the language on this but I thought it was pretty funny.
https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdkBNSKD/

Yo Big that looks like a perfect balancing act there...if it's real?

strick

Ok Strick, I was going to stop, but.. There is a shadow from the car and maybe one from at least one axle of the trailer. Where is the shadow from the boat? Also the sun appears to be shining from the opposite side on the rear section of the boat. I know the buildings must do crazy things with the light. Then again, there is the crosswalk stripes reflecting off the road.

Couldn’t get Buick roadmaster out of my head. Came across this… boostmaster!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNttXPe-114

4500hp! Not sure what torque is but wow. Billet engine and heads out of a bbc. Now if the frame doesn’t split or tires are aired up enough for the weight… but if the Volvo can do it this will with ease 🤣

Circling back to my earlier post re: "moving up" from an '02, 4.0L, stick shift Jeep Wrangler to a 2014 4WD Double cab Taco for my 3.5 mile, 25-30 mph run from the house to the ramp, I put the following comparisons together. I know that you big truck guys have a hard time wrapping your head around what I'm doing, but the whole island is only 25 miles long, so there's zero chance of ever having to tow very far. My question is if you think the Taco (without tow package, with automatic transmission) is going to do a little better than the Jeep? If not, I may just stick with the Jeep, it's worked fine for over ten years.


Wheelbase Length Weight Tow cap HP
Jeep 93.4" 155.4 3,360 2,000 190
Tacoma 140.6" 221.3 4,285 3,500* 236

*6,500 w/tow pkg (Class IV hitch, oil & engine cooler)