What is the longest distance you towed your boat...

[Dave S]

and would you do it again?

We are thinking of a trip next summer that will be about 2600 miles round trip, towing with an 01 F-150 5.4l 4x4. Now has 133,000 miles on it. Truck is in great working order and shape and well taken care of.

Am I crazy for considering this trip OR load up and go prepared?

[da.bell]

Fine other forum members within the area you are traveling and see if you and your family can get a ride.

You aren't nuts but you will have the ability to meet other forum members that love their Tigés

[bfrank]

When I bought my boat it was in Abline TX, had the guy meet me in Springfield MO which was about 800 miles. Not alot but its the most I have towed this boat.

My first boat was a Gekko GTS 20 that I bought out of Alabama. Got there to pick it up and had no trailer lights and two flat tires!!

Boy Scout moto: Always be prepared!! I always carry a greese gun, big breaker bar, and a low profile jack for long trips!

[Iwndr]

Bought mine from a Kentucky dealer and met him in St Joseph Mo. About 750 miles one way, I hauled my old boat down for trade, 2007 F150 had about 90k miles on it at the time. We made about a 650 mile one way trip this summer with the new F150 and met some TO members along the way and at the place we stayed
it's whatever you are comfortable with man

[chadster2]

Check bunks.
the bolts on mine always back out.
tie it down.
tie windshield down.
leave drain open.
I'd think about an alarm (a push pin type)

[whitlock87]

LA to Lake Powell
13 hours to get there, and 16 to get home. (Took to different roots.)
Never again!
Powell was nice and extremely larger than I thought, but 13 hours in my expedition with 6 teenagers.
Ahhh NO

I am going to stick with Mojave; it is only a 5 hour drive.

[Iwndr]

LA to Lake Powell
13 hours to get there, and 16 to get home. (Took to different roots.)
Never again!
Powell was nice and extremely larger than I thought, but 13 hours in my expedition with 6 teenagers.
Ahhh NO

I am going to stick with Mojave; it is only a 5 hour drive.

6 teenagers?

[yllw20]

dallas tx to benton ky -

I'd do it again. Spent a long weekend, but would definately make sure you stay for a whole week or more. Have a fun trip. Make sure you have a spare, bearring grease, jack. Where are you trying to go? I would see who on here is on that lake and get some pointers on wehre to launch and stay.

[gwhite94]

and would you do it again?

We are thinking of a trip next summer that will be about 2600 miles round trip, towing with an 01 F-150 5.4l 4x4. Now has 133,000 miles on it. Truck is in great working order and shape and well taken care of.

Am I crazy for considering this trip OR load up and go prepared?

We do Denver to Lake Mojave every year 1700 miles round trip. It's a family tradition I have an 02 excursion with 130k well maintained...My motto what ever it takes to get warm weather and good water and lake larger than a postage stamp...

[talltigeguy]

LA to Lake Powell
13 hours to get there, and 16 to get home. (Took to different roots.)
Never again!
Powell was nice and extremely larger than I thought, but 13 hours in my expedition with 6 teenagers.
Ahhh NO

I am going to stick with Mojave; it is only a 5 hour drive.

You would only have to drive 9 hours to get to Wahweap...you either drove really slow or went the long way to Bullfrog. Unless you had traffic or something.

The longest I have gone is 300 miles to the dealership...didn't even go that far to get in the water. The longest to get to water is about 175 to Lake Powell. Going anywhere else further would be a letdown and seem like a waste of time and effort. It does not get any better.

[whitlock87]

Ok I only have 3 kids, but each one brought a friend.
And yes, we went around about way to Page (thanks Tom-tom) we ended up going through some national park (mountain), which was fun pulling the boat on those tight turns. We also had to have them close down a tunnel; (the boat with the tower would not fit except for down the center of the road.)
On the way home we hit the north and south rim of the Grand Canyon. Kids wanted to do the glass horseshoe thing.

[embo]

and would you do it again?

We are thinking of a trip next summer that will be about 2600 miles round trip, towing with an 01 F-150 5.4l 4x4. Now has 133,000 miles on it. Truck is in great working order and shape and well taken care of.

Am I crazy for considering this trip OR load up and go prepared?

So where are you thinking of going?

[KonaKing]

LA to Lake Powell
13 hours to get there, and 16 to get home. (Took to different roots.)
Never again!
Powell was nice and extremely larger than I thought, but 13 hours in my expedition with 6 teenagers.
Ahhh NO

I am going to stick with Mojave; it is only a 5 hour drive.

13 hours you must have been crawling. Provo Ut to Mohave 475 miles
7 hrs Dodge Diesel

[Ewok]

I'll be towing my boat about 2500-2600 miles when I move from Del Rio, TX to Spokane, WA. This last week I've been looking at all the nuts and bolts and welds on the trailer. I had some extra support pieces welded to the trailer. I just measured my tongue weight yesterday, which was 525 lbs. I've had my 4runner inspected again by the dealer, checking the torque on all the bolts on the frame and suspension. I've assembled a towing tool kit with a Jack, Jack stands, grease gun, air compressor, extra wheel bearings and I think I'll throw in a hub as well.

I've already driven the boat from Fort Worth to Del Rio, then to Altus, OK, then back to Fort Worth, then back to OK, then back to Del Rio, TX. About 1800 miles so far. The only problem I've had is one of the tire treads became separated and threw the tire out of round. There was a serious vibration and when I pulled over all the tires were inflated properly and I couldn't see anything wrong, I guess I stopped on the bumpy part of the bad tire. I limped home the last 60 miles finding the speed with the least vibration, I was thinking it was just the crappy roads down here. When I took the trailer to get work done they didn't notice the bad tire either. Luckily I wanted them to balance all the tires and that's when they saw the bad tire. The tires were pretty new so the tread didn't split, it just got very much out of shape, it was hard to see but I know what to look for now.

[Ewok]

I've read that generally trailers should have 10% of the weight of the trailer as tongue weight. I have also read some stuff that said boats could be as low as 5% as tongue weight. I'm not sure why boats would be different so I'm not changing anything on the trailer until I know for sure with more proof than some Internet posters.