You guys are nuts lol his durango is fine for the 12 miles to the boat ramp. Why waste all this extra money because you guys are freaking out so much over settle differences?

If the distances were longer then by all means. If the load was heavier then by all means. If the load was heavier and distance longer, do it right and get a diesel.

Maybe I fail to see the logic of cost over distance divided by time.

If it were me, a dumbass, I would buy the boat, tow it to the ramp then revisit the situation.

 

Me? I'd skip the boat altogether. Just another money pit.

 

publichair, you are entitled to your opinion, and yes if he were towing it OCCASIONALLY it would be a very minor issue to use the D, his plans right now to tow it are only a few miles, im willing to bet that he will decide to go farther with it once he has it, or to end up addding to it, plus maybe he decides to load the boat up with fuel and/or gear for his trip, now all of a sudden he is over the weight limit by more than a little bit, and is having problems getting the boat going, or worse yet stoping it when some idiot runs a red light in front of him, its a matter of personal safetly and if saving a few bucks to you is worth the risk of killing someone you do what you want, however most of us value our own and our families lives much more than we do a couple bucks in our pockets.

Aug, FOS is often 2:1 idk what the automotive industry uses, we design to a 3:1 FOS with 5:1 on the critical components(anything that could cause loss of life or aircraft), but then we are designing for flight safe equipment so its a whole different animal than automotive, i believe you are making the right decision in buying a beate pick up to tow the boat with, and remember, im just presenting facts to allow you to make an educated decision, you need to be comfortable with that decision regardless of what anyone else thinks is right or acceptable.

 

Nicely put Sharps.

 

Thanks for all the comments, looks like if I put transmission cooler and oiler cooler kits on my durang and a sway control on the hitch and electric barkes on tandem axle trailer, then should be not to bad off. Total weight of trailer and contents should not extend past 7000 lbs

 

Well, just a quick update: I did end up buying a boat - it's a 1988 21 footer in which lists the weight at 2200 (without gas and gear). The trailer itself is 1550, so it appears as if I'm going to be under the max safe capacity.