98 Explorer & towing/launching a boat.

[voodookills31]

I have a 98 Explorer (4.0 SOHC 2WD) with a Uhaul hitch (Max: 5,000lbs) installed.

Overall, the truck is great and is mostly stock minus the a few items.

I am thinking of buying a small 16' pontoon boat that'll weight about 2100lbs w/o gear and maybe 2300lbs with gear.

I don't think I will have a problem towing the boat but loading and unloading the boat will be new to me.

Has anyone had experience launching a boat and retrieving the boat with a 98 explorer?

Is there anything i can do to this truck to make this task easier?

Thanks.

 

[manimal]

2WD can be a challenge depending on your boat launch. I have a small bass boat and use a lot of primitive launches as well as paved ones, and I would have a hard time without 4WD on many of both. On all of our vehicles I generally put it in 4-Low both backing in and pulling out of the ramp, to minimize any wheel spin, and reduce damage to primitive launches.

With 2WD, the most you can really do is just make sure you have a good set of tires on the rear, and figure out what is the shallowest level you can launch from, because you're not going to want to dip down too far into the ramp with only 2WD.

Do not submerge the rear axle for any serious length of time, as the vent hoses are not very long (rear axle vent hose attaches to the underside of the cargo area) and the axle seals are not designed to keep water out over long exposure to submersion..

One trick that works surprisingly well is to apply a small amount of brake, or apply the parking brake very lightly as you gently gas it up the ramp. The small amount of brake pressure can help to keep the tires from breaking loose and spinning if they begin to slip. Spinning tires on a ramp is always bad, since you usually end up moving backwards when this happens.

Sorry not much else to say that is Explorer specific.. You'll have to just take a crash course in Boat Launching 101..

I assume you already know that this is not how to do it so you're probably ahead of some of the pack

 

[voodookills31]

Nice picture. So the only concern would be the rear tires slipping due to wet ramps?

I've seen trailer extensions. If I only used this during launching/unlaunching, that should take care of the wet tire issue and I should be fine, theoretically... Right?

 

[J_C]

You may not even need an extension. Check out the technique towards the end of the following video, giving the winch some slack then stopping abruptly to slide the boat down towards the water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKzeQVz7dc4&t=3m36s

 

[shucker1]

High tide...

Unless you are in an enclosed lake.

My 98 5.0L 2WD seems to have no problems with a 25Ft Thunderbird. The only fun part is coming down a bridge because my trailer is older and didn't come with electric brakes.

Easy and slow. Like I said I try to time things for high tide.

Low tide and it's not happening and I have to wait or find a powered lift.

 

[voodookills31]

I would say 99% of my time on this boat will be on an enclosed lake. Good to hear another 2WD explorer not having load/unload issues with a boat... And a bigger one at that. I'm set on the 16' pontoon as I don't want to push the limits of the truck or my wallet haha.