Towing my boat.. | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Towing my boat..

New to the Explorer... I recently purchased a 2022 Platinum... and I need to tow my boat.

The boat is a 21' Carrera Elite, essentially a day cruiser on a tandem axle trailer with disc brakes... overall length is approximately 26', with boat and trailer weighing in at about 5,000 lbs dry. The tongue weight is roughly 150 lbs.

Ford rated the Platinum to tow 5,300 lbs., but because a boat trailer doesn't do the weight distribution hitch thing due to surge brake system. I guess my question is... is there, or should I look into a supplemental, airbag system, to pick up some of the weight?

Another question while on the subject... being I live in Arizona, where summer temperatures regularly exceed 110 degrees, would the installation of supplemental transmission and engine coolers be something to consider.

My previous vehicles were 3/4 and 1 ton pickups/Suburbans with 460 or 454 engines.
 



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woo! carrera!!!! :bounce: 5k dry is a hefty tow for the X, as by the time you add in any weight (driver, gas, extra props:p, iceboxes, etc) youll be pushing up to the limit EASILY to be honest, unless you plan to tow at the crack of dawn with no one on the road on side roads, i wouldnt even reccomend towing that stuff at all:confused: it would be pushing the limits of what it can do... and extra tranny cooler never hurts...
 






woo! carrera!!!! :bounce: 5k dry is a hefty tow for the X, as by the time you add in any weight (driver, gas, extra props:p, iceboxes, etc) youll be pushing up to the limit EASILY to be honest, unless you plan to tow at the crack of dawn with no one on the road on side roads, i wouldnt even reccomend towing that stuff at all:confused: it would be pushing the limits of what it can do... and extra tranny cooler never hurts...
Thanks for the advice, I'm pretty sure I already knew the answer... but it never hurts to get confirmation.

My estimate 5,000 lbs is generous... I prefer to err on the side of "heavy", and I always tow with just enough fuel to power to a gas dock... maybe 5 gallons in each saddle tank. Keeping your input in mind, coolers and such will carried empty and I have 1 extra, aluminum prop.

Generally speaking, I tow my boat to the lake and leave it there, in dry storage for the season.

I'll definitely install an auxiliary trans cooler
 






How far are you towing it?
 






Thanks for the advice, I'm pretty sure I already knew the answer... but it never hurts to get confirmation.

My estimate 5,000 lbs is generous... I prefer to err on the side of "heavy", and I always tow with just enough fuel to power to a gas dock... maybe 5 gallons in each saddle tank. Keeping your input in mind, coolers and such will carried empty and I have 1 extra, aluminum prop.

Generally speaking, I tow my boat to the lake and leave it there, in dry storage for the season.

I'll definitely install an auxiliary trans cooler
if its just a one way tow, depending on length of tow as mentioned by mbrooks, and if you tow at the right time (preferably not peak time) should work... let us knkw the distance and route though, as side roads are preferred, and not at a traffic time... and just in general keep a greater following distance with trailer and without, but you seem experienced, so assuming you know that! love carreras too, have an 18' caliente!
 






First of all.... Welcome to the Forums! Its nice to have a fellow Arizona resident here. I agree with the others, if the truck is rated at 5300 and the boat is 5000 dry, you're really pushing it. An extra cooler will help of course. If you're just going to Lake Pleasant or Lake Saguaro (something in the valley) you should be ok, just take it easy and watch those temps. If you're headed out of the valley so you have to cross the mountains I wouldn't do it.

If worse comes to worse... I've got an 07 Expedition and I'd be happy to see you and your family safely to the lake! :)
 












i think it could be done if the right precautions are taken.... lets see what others think!
 






I towed a 19’ bayliner from Colorado to California and back with a 88 bronco ii on 33” tires, truck had a 4.0 v6 and auto trans.

Smartest thing in the world? Not likely. Bronco ii short wheelbase the trailer and boat could easily push me around. I did have surge brakes and 4 wheel discs in the bii, enough power to tow w enough brakes to stop.. but if a emergency maneuver was needed I likely would have been fubar… so I just went very carefully. It can be done and it can be done safely, just make sure you keep distances, check your equipment like tire pressures fluid levels surge brakes etc

After that it’s all safe driver stuff

My bronco ii was built to handle the extra loads, lots of trans cooling, good shocks, big brakes always in a perfect state of tune… same was true for the boat and trailer. Some sketchy spots in the Rockies the worst part though was heavy traffic in California trying to keep the lane through construction zones etc etc. these guys are spot on, try to avoid the heavy traffic times and areas
 






First of all.... Welcome to the Forums! Its nice to have a fellow Arizona resident here. I agree with the others, if the truck is rated at 5300 and the boat is 5000 dry, you're really pushing it. An extra cooler will help of course. If you're just going to Lake Pleasant or Lake Saguaro (something in the valley) you should be ok, just take it easy and watch those temps. If you're headed out of the valley so you have to cross the mountains I wouldn't do it.

If worse comes to worse... I've got an 07 Expedition and I'd be happy to see you and your family safely to the lake! :)
Lake Pleasant seems to be a popular lake in this area... I'll have to check it out.

And thank you for your kind offer.
 






hope it all goes well! take it slow, keep a good following distance, use common sense etc... stay safe out there!
 






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