[bmajvi]

At the risk of drawing doomsday criticisms, I thought I'd offer the following. Here in the islands there's no DOT or even trailer registration, and some of the rigs you see pulling local fishing boats around are like the Beverly Hillbillies... and the police don't even blink an eye. So you're sort of on your own determining what's doable. I've had a 2002 Jeep Wrangler with the 4.0 liter 6 cyl engine and manual gearbox almost since it was new, and used to pull my 18' SeaCraft without any problem whatsoever, up and down hills, sometimes 20 miles at 45-50 mph.

Now for the kinda crazy part. Sold that boat, and eventually wound up with a 23' Sceptre. My brother-in-law had an old 3/4 ton Chevy PU that pulled it like nobody's business, but he died and the truck got sold. I had the bright idea one morning to try pulling the Sceptre down the road a mile or so with the Jeep, "just to see what it was like." Not exactly a jackrabbit getting it going, but the tongue weight seemed about right, and it pulled smoothly at 30-35. Trailer has brakes. Hmmm. The ramp I use is 4 miles away, with a couple of gentle hills. Decided to give it a shot the next day, and made it fine - kept it under 35 mph, and using 4WD made launch and retrieve a snap. I know, I know, It can't/shouldn't/mustn't be done, yadda, yadda.

Soooo... Would this be my first choice if I was purchasing a tow vehicle? Nope. But I'd suggest you look at how you really expect to use the boat. Is that 70 mile run a once a year thing, or every summer weekend? How far is your "normal" ramp? I think, especially in FL, decent braking is important. I'm a big fan of 4WD at the ramp, I've launched and retrieved solo a few times since repowering recently, and haven't had any problems, even on the side of the ramp that's pretty mossy. My 2 cents. Good luck!