Big Tow

[Diamondpilot]

You guys always ask so here is one. We have pulled and winterized about 20 boats so far.

This one is a 34' Sea Ray with a 13' beam. I have been pulling and launching this one since 2003. She sits on a tri axle 25,000# Eagle trailer with 3 8,000# axles. It has electric over hydraulic brakes. I have weighed this rig at 21,000# empty and right at 25,000# with fuel, water, and personal stuff. Today it was about 24,000# I guess.

Being pulled by a 06 F350. Needed a little tug mid way up the ramp from my 08 Titan once the weight fully transfered to the trailer and the truck was hopping in 4 low

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

More pics.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

It's about 17' tall as it sits.

Chris

 

[Dmace]

Beautiful boat! :thumbsup:

 

[Diamondpilot]

Wish it was mine. This one is a customers. First time its been out of the water since 2009. It will need the bottom redone and I brought new props with me to be changed out. They are badly pitted.

Chris

 

[deepNdirt]

You guys always ask so here is one. We have pulled and winterized about 20 boats so far.


Being pulled by a 06 F350. Needed a little tug mid way up the ramp from my 08 Titan once the weight fully transfered to the trailer and the truck was hopping in 4 low

Chris

Hey Chris, I don't know why but for some reason seeing the picture with the F-350 pulling that big-ol-boat reminds me of a TV commercial I seen several years ago, apparently a Chevy owner had tried pulling his large boat out of the water up a ramp and some how the boat wound up pulling the truck back into the water, the One guy driving a ford having seen the truck sink out of site, he turned and said to his buddy that Chevy sure did sink quick....
his buddy replied yeah sure did "Like a Rock"

 

[Dmace]

What does it say on the back?

I love the names people put on their boats. My buddy's boat has a bee on the back and says "MISS BEE-HAVEN"

 

[deepNdirt]

It does amaze me how heavy a good built Fiberglass boat can weight, I've has several boats in my time, Mostly being fishing type bass boats etc, nothing to pull even with a mid size car or SUV, the largest thing I pulled with my f-250 was a 24 ft pontoon, Pulled it like nothing, then some few years later bought a 21 ft sportscraft Avanza, with a Volvo v/6 ..... I had no idea of how heavy this boat was going to be until I pulled off and started up a 1/2 mile incline, I thought the boat trailer tires had went flat or something,
This boat weigh 3700 lbs. although nothing compared to the boat you show, but still the boat was too heavy to simply pull each weekend 80 miles there and back to the lake,
In fact after about the 10 th time I pulled it I wound up causing problems with the transmission in my truck, and it has factory tow package with trans cooler, after a rather expensive trans. rebuild I decided to sell the boat,
I've pulled this much weight and more at times but it seems to tow differently than this boat did,

 

[Diamondpilot]

What does it say on the back?

I love the names people put on their boats. My buddy's boat has a bee on the back and says "MISS BEE-HAVEN"

It says Hair Of The Dog!

My boats are named:

I'll Be Damned Again...

My Kinda Party!

There are some real funny ones at the lakes we frequent.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

It does amaze me how heavy a good built Fiberglass boat can weight, I've has several boats in my time, Mostly being fishing type bass boats etc, nothing to pull even with a mid size car or SUV, the largest thing I pulled with my f-250 was a 24 ft pontoon, Pulled it like nothing, then some few years later bought a 21 ft sportscraft Avanza, with a Volvo v/6 ..... I had no idea of how heavy this boat was going to be until I pulled off and started up a 1/2 mile incline, I thought the boat trailer tires had went flat or something,
This boat weigh 3700 lbs. although nothing compared to the boat you show, but still the boat was too heavy to simply pull each weekend 80 miles there and back to the lake,
In fact after about the 10 th time I pulled it I wound up causing problems with the transmission in my truck, and it has factory tow package with trans cooler, after a rather expensive trans. rebuild I decided to sell the boat,
I've pulled this much weight and more at times but it seems to tow differently than this boat did,

I pull this boat every weekend 150 miles or more from April till Nov. I have also pulled it on 3 800 to 1000 mile trips. It weighs 9,700# empty and is usually right at 10,000# for most trips.

3,700# is nothing for me and my friends. I have pulled my 15,600# boat well over 10,000 miles since I got it in 05.

Chris

 

[not2old]

Being pulled by a 06 F350. Needed a little tug mid way up the ramp from my 08 Titan once the weight fully transfered to the trailer and the truck was hopping in 4 low

Chris[/QUOTE]

I know you have a lot of experience towing, but I have to ask. How about a light left foot brake to stop the hopping??? It has always worked for me with my 1990 F250 and for my son with his 2002 F350, both in 2 wheel and 4 wheel and towing or not.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Being pulled by a 06 F350. Needed a little tug mid way up the ramp from my 08 Titan once the weight fully transfered to the trailer and the truck was hopping in 4 low

Chris

I tried that twice. It was not going to happen. You have to remember this is 24,000# on about a 30% grade from a dead stop. Even in 4 low its a load.

Chris

 

[deepNdirt]

I pull this boat every weekend 150 miles or more from April till Nov. I have also pulled it on 3 800 to 1000 mile trips. It weighs 9,700# empty and is usually right at 10,000# for most trips.

3,700# is nothing for me and my friends. I have pulled my 15,600# boat well over 10,000 miles since I got it in 05.

Chris

I feel lucky I have a lake as close by as I do, if I had to tow a boat that size for that many miles just to have a day on the lake I suppose I would have to rent a slip at the lake to store it in or I wouldn't own a boat at all, getting back to the weight of these boats, How efficient are they to move themselves about? I mean how much fuel do they consume? My Avanza even as heavy ( to me that it was ) once put in water it seem weightless, would easily get up on plane and run at 60 mph, but for the most part It would cruise at around 35 with 7 passengers half throttle, it had a 36 gal tank and would be empty after about 8 hours of use, I thought this was bad but due to the weight, I can only imagine how much fuel these bad boys you have would take...

 

[DrRick]

I have a '96 330 sea ray sundancer with twin 7.4 v-drives. It is trapped in lake travis, and as soon as we get some rain I want to pull it out. Iam thinking of trying to get it back to west texas so I and a friend can build a trailer for it, as we have not found one to buy around here for an affordable price. I think it weighs around 12,000 lbs. Is there a place that I could get the deadrise specs in order to build a trailer?.
rick

 

[DrRick]

As to the fuel issue, If it is wide open throttle, it says aprox. 55 gallons per hour. ( kinda like a small cessna)

 

[jeffsw6]

In fact after about the 10 th time I pulled it I wound up causing problems with the transmission in my truck, and it has factory tow package with trans cooler, after a rather expensive trans. rebuild I decided to sell the boat,
I've pulled this much weight and more at times but it seems to tow differently than this boat did,

Some of this is because a big boat has a big surface area that is causing drag when you tow it.

Getting a cover for your boat helps with this, because as you tow it, air goes over the bow and then it expands down as well as up, so the air that goes down applies pressure on different surfaces on the deck of the boat. If you buy a cover the air will just go over the bow and then have a fairly smooth surface from there until the stern.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Good trailer builders will have the specs for your boat. For a steel trailer plan on $11,000 or so and for a aluminum generic trailer plan on $7000 They are not cheap.

The steel trailer will weigh 5000# for a 330 As for your boat weight there is no way its only 12,000# My 280 weighs that with 5.0 twins and a gen. It's, 15,600# on the trailer.

It gets heavy quick. Manufactures lie big time on boats. It's all about HP to weight ratio.

My 280 gets about 3 mpg at 35 mph. Never checked my 260 its close.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

I do not have the info on the 330 you have but the 2011 330 with a 10'5" beam is 14000# with standard engines, no gen, no arch, ect. Your boat has a 11'6" beam and big engines and I would guess a gen. I think your boat is every bit of 16,000#.

The boat I pulled int these pics is 18,000# dry with the extended swim platform, arch, gen, and twin 6.2L motors.

These are dry weights. I think your boat holds 225 gallons of gas and 40 gallons of fresh water plus if your boat is anything like mine I have a good 1500# of food, drinks, and personal stuff on the boat. All the bedding, dishes, movies, cd's, tools, ect add up quick.

Chris

 

[DrRick]

you are correct. I have a bunch of other stuff on her. It has a gen, arch, swim platform, and was set up as a blue water boat. Radar, etc. The brochure listed 300 gal fuel, 40 water, and it probably weighs more than the 12k listed in the pamphlet. I have a fifth wheel homemade trailer that we moved it on using a semi, but it is not very easy to use. I will need to re-evaluate the trailer use, as we wanted to get it out of the water, refurbish, and then take it to the local small lake on weekends. Would save on the slip fee, and I am too far away to use it. Can't sell it in this market, so might as well keep it in the shop. I was hoping a 18,000 gvw aluminum trailer would hold this beast.
on a side note, I have always been told that boats gain weight with age due to moisture infiltration. any truth to this?
rick

 

[Diamondpilot]

Modern boats dont gain the weight like the old wood core boats. Especially the ones with wood stringers that would get saturated.

As for weights all manufactures lie. I have a 2003 Wellcraft Martinique with Twin 5.0L EFI Volvo's, 280 HP each, 7.3K Kohler Gen, extended swim platform, and a arch. It has a killer stereo and a GPS but little other electronics other than a TV and DVD play. Wellcraft list it at 9,500# with a single 496. I weighed it the day I bought it brand new with only 5 gallons of fuel and winterized so no water or waste and it was 14,700# on my 18K tri axle Eagle Trailer that weighs 2,800# which was weighed by the marina. So that makes the boat empty with nothing in it 11,900#. Big difference. It now weighs 15,600# as I tow it with fuel, water, and our stuff.

My 2007 Larson 260 is listed at 5,850# dry. It weighs 9,700# on the trailer with 1/3 tank of fuel and no water plus my stuff. The trailer is 1,800# but that means the boat and our stuff are 7,900# or a ton more than they list. When It does have the extended swim platform, a 6.2L Mercruiser 320HP, and a 5.0K Kohler Gen. But the gen is 300#, the platform is 200#, and about 1000# of our stuff. That still means the boat weighs about 1000# more than Larson says. Its right at 10,000# when I tow it.

They lie. I have never had a boat, and I have owned well over a dozen, that weighed anywhere near what they list.

Chris