minor dilemma(any thoughts?)

[bigeasy1]

I'm trying save a few bucks on fuel,(not in the boat,but on my vehicle.)

I live 400 miles from where I keep my boat,(Western NY)and am planning on semi retiring next year,so that I can make more frequent trips up there.
My Ford F150 gives me a hair under 17mpg on the highway,and at current gas prices costs me in the ballpark of $250.00 for each round trip depending on how many side trips I make while there.
I have a permanent trailer in a campground, up there so lodging isn't an issue.

The boat is only a quarter mile from the launch,so I don't need a fancy tow vehicle.so
One thought is to buy a beater truck good enough to tow the boat to the launch with,and leave it permanantely hooked up to the boat trailer.
Then replace my F150 with a car/truck/suv that gets better mileage for that long ride up there and back.
This naturally would require two auto insurance bills,but i would have the minimum on the tow truck which would be about 350.00 per yr.
We took my friends wifes 2.5 liter 4 cylinder Ford Escape up last week to close up the boat,and got 30 mpg with it.Saved over 100 bucks on fuel.(Damn,I wish I could pull it up the launch with that little thing).

Second thought is to have just one vehicle for both my personal vehicle and tow vehicle that gets better mileage.Are there any small trucks that could get mpg's in the high 20's that would both pull the boat(23'Tsunami) that 1/4 mile trip,and serve as my daily driver?

Any suggestions?,

New trucks are out of the question financially,so it would have to be a used vehicle.
It's just me,kids are grown and married,ex wife's long gone,so only need one vehicle.I guess the most sense is one vehicle that gets mileage in the mid to high 20's which would save fuel on both the long trip to the boat,and around home.