Should I use stock bumper tow setup

[Scottybones]

Just purchased a 97 Eddie Bauer to pull a little 16 foot runabout. The stock bumper setup is rusted to ****. There are no holes and it still seems together, but there is large amounts of rusted metal on it. Do you think it safe for the mean time until I can upgrade to a real tow hitch?

 

[Anime]

If you're going to tow something and it's more than just surface rust, it would be a good idea to remove the bumper and the brackets, and remove the hitch plate from the bumper, sand the rust off, and repaint the brackets and hitch plate with some rust preventative paint.

This will let you check if any of the pieces are actually rusted so badly that they would be unsafe in a towing setup, and also that all the bolts and brackets are on tight.