20 SF Weight and Minimum required tow vehicle

I don't have a 4wd but there are many steep ramps down here and our 2wd expedition with posi diff does have trouble pulling my 23cc with twins out of most ramps but when it starts to spin if I shift the tranny into 2nd gear it usually stops the wheel spin and comes right out.

[fishstu]

I bought a 2005 Toyota Tundra double cab, 8cyl, 4 WD, tow package to tow my 20 SC
Have not towed enough to figure out towing mileage but non- towing mileage is very good for a full size truck. My estimate is between 16 - 19 mpg depending on type and speed of driving. This truck is very powerful and comfortable making it easy to drive smoothly i.e. uses little throttle to get going and coasting rather than heavy braking to stop.

A dual axle trailer with brakes at each wheel will be easier on any tow vehicle.

TRAILER SELECTION GUIDE + Towing weight
All weights measured in pounds.

Model SeaCraft 20MA
Hull 1600
Console Incl.
Leaning Post/Seats 50
Bow Dodger, Coaming Kit, or Bimini 30
Steering, Controls, & Battery Cables 30
Bunk, Platform, and Console Cushions 20
Battery @ 45 lb (3) 135
VRO Tank/Crankcase oil 15
Motor-Merc 150 EFI 25 in 437
Prop (S.S.) 10
Lenco troll'n Trim Tabs 80
Rails, Cleats, Chocks, etc. 15
Anchor, Chain, Line, Fenders, etc. 30
Safety Gear, Clothing, etc. 20
Tools & Fishing Gear 30
70 gal Fuel @ 6 lb /gal 420
Coolers, Bait Tanks, Camping Gear, etc. 100
Boat Totals 3022

Trailer-Alum, dual axle,4 disc brakes, spare wheel 950

Total Max Towed weight 3972

[jerryjc]

I have a 2003 Toyota 4Runner V6 4WD, and it comes with locking differential as standard equipment. I use it to tow my SF20 and it works just fine, the towing capacity is rated for 5000LB. The trick as someone mentioned above is to run with the 4 Speed automatic transmission in 3Rd gear so as to eliminate overdrive this helps by putting less strain on the engine and trans. I get over 20MPG with a mixture of highway and local driving and about 15MPG towing the boat. Good Luck.
Jerry

[Tarpun]

My main tow vehicle is a '98 E-350 Ford van. 7.3L PowerStroke diesel. Average milage non-towing 16.5-17mpg. With a 20' behind it about 14mpg. Overkill for the 20 but if a 23' would show up I'd be ready. Towed No Bones's project (no motors or fuel) back from Louisiana and got almost 11.5-12mpg pulling @ 70-75mph. I was never a van guy but 4 capts. seats and 7 1/2' of space has me converted.
Room for the whole crew and all their gear.

[nestorpr]

Muddy,

My 2004 Tacoma 6 cyl gives me 18 mpg on the highway at best and that's also the sticker mpg! So keep the V8, you won't do much better with a smaller truck.

[muddywater]

I started this thread in June 2005 while shopping for more fuel efficient transportation. With gas trends, I expected more and more people to start looking for alternatives. Almost a year ago, I ended up trading in my Z71 for a new 4WD Toyota Tacoma 4-cylinder. I wrote down my exact gas usage for the first 10 tanks of gas or so and my gas milage was pretty consistently 21-22 MPG (that's highway and city together). Interestingly it gets pretty close to the same milage in the city that it gets on the highway (good city/bad highway). The Z71 got good gas milage on the highway for a vehicle its size (17-18), but city or offroad was more like 13 MPG the few times I actually checked fuel burn. The changeover has helped my finances to the point that I am no longer seeing red. The 4-cyl Tacoma with a manual trannie seems to have a harder time at the ramp in 2WD than the old S10 I had once, but if you put it in 4-low it could probably pull out a 30 footer though you won't catch me trying it. Note that I don't have to tow very far, so gas milage while towing was not important. In retrospect, the better option would probably be to keep an old truck for towing and buy a Honda Civic or something that gets 40+ mpg to use the rest of the time, but for the one vehicle route, it serves my purpose. The Tacoma 4-cyl had a higher towing capacity than anything except a 6-cyl and it had seemed pointless to downgrade to a 6-cyl, many of which got worse milage than my V-8.

-Muddy