Towing 6000 lbs boat behind gas class A

[TLLOYD]

I am at an RV show now and the wife likes the 2016 Thor Miramar 34.2. I am questioning the salesman in the towing capacity as I have a 4500 lb boat on an approximate 1200 pound double axle trailer.
He is of course stating the rig will pull it as the hitch sticker says it's an 8000 pound rating (which it does say).
I told him I think it only has a 5000 pound capacity or even less as I was told that the gas class A rigs are around 5000.
The brochure I am reading says GVWR is 22000 lbs and GCWR is 26000 lbs.
He says I will be fine pulling it just a few times a year to/from the river, but I am skeptical for safety and the drive train.
Any suggestions as the wife is adamant she wants this RV. We do drive the boat and leave it at the river and drive it home when we are done.
Thanks

[TLLOYD]

Thanks for the replies.We did in fact make the purchase.
BTW, yes I worry about my wife driving the Class A and also towing the boat behind my truck.
We do have the means to figure out the river with multiple vehicles or asking for help. I just wanted to make sure the Class A could pull the boat without worrying in the event we want to take it elsewhere or just for piece of mind.

Very much appreciate all the responses.

[Bedlam]

Many times the chassis and power train is rated for higher tow weights, but the RV extension off the rear of the chassis is the limiting factor. I tow an 8000 lb enclosed trailer behind my truck camper because purchasing Class C or A model motor homes with a high enough rating was outside of my budget and space I had to park/store one.

[Gdetrailer]

Ivylog wrote:
If the OP is not worried about the boat ramp, why are we? Since he goes there often, he may have a friend with a truck if it's a difficult ramp.

"My biggest concern is what would towing 5900 lbs behind this gas coach do to the engine and transmission?"
I think carringb has summed it up the best and I'd keep my weights down, hook it up and go. You will not even know it's back there if you manually gear down going up and down major hills.

OP is not worried about boat ramp and NEITHER am I.

BUT I WAS asking a "legit" question, the OP answered it.

BUT once again when READING the OP's response I THOUGHT WHY EVEN WORRY ABOUT TOWING CAPACITY OF THE CLASS A WHEN THE OP ALREADY HAS A EMPTY TRUCK.

Sure I was asking a rather obvious question, but what the hey, it NEEDED to be asked..

As I see it, OP's DW does not feel comfortable driving the Class A or not comfortable towing a boat with the truck..

Once again another obvious question pops up..

Why worry about the Class A capacity when the OP is PLANNING TO USE THE TRUCK TO GO BACK AN FORTH TO THE RIVER ANY WAY.

Heck the OP can drive class A, DW can drive the empty truck to the river one weekend without the boat.. Then the following weekend TOW the BOAT to the river..

ONE "WEEKEND" without the boat certainly should not kill the weekend without a boat..

Many creative ways to do this...

[mkirsch]

My guess is the "better half" isn't comfortable towing, or driving the big Class A.

That's why TLLOYD can't tow the boat up to the lake with the F250.

[Ivylog]

If the OP is not worried about the boat ramp, why are we? Since he goes there often, he may have a friend with a truck if it's a difficult ramp.

"My biggest concern is what would towing 5900 lbs behind this gas coach do to the engine and transmission?"
I think carringb has summed it up the best and I'd keep my weights down, hook it up and go. You will not even know it's back there if you manually gear down going up and down major hills.

[Gdetrailer]

TLLOYD wrote:
Gdetrailer,
Good one on the movie response, believe me I pictured that. I doubt I would have to use the RV to put the boat in/out of the water. We will use the RV to pull the boat to the river, leave the boat and RV at the river all summer and drive my truck back and forth on weekends and use my truck to pull the boat in/out.
If for some reason we wanted to take the boat elsewhere then I would hope to be somewhere where I could just ask someone to put my boat in/out with their vehicle.
I am more concerned with just being able to tow the weight of my boat to and from for now.
For the last 5 years I owned a 39' fifth wheel, towed it with my F250 Superduty all around Southern California. Never did enjoy those drives and now that I sold the fifth wheel I want to make sure I don't get on the road like before as far as safety and now owning a new RV don't want to have it in the shop because I am pulling to much weight a few times a year.

Thanks

Since you are keeping your truck, why not use the truck to pull the boat?

Seems to me that you would be driving both to the river anyways..

[TLLOYD]

Gdetrailer,
Good one on the movie response, believe me I pictured that. I doubt I would have to use the RV to put the boat in/out of the water. We will use the RV to pull the boat to the river, leave the boat and RV at the river all summer and drive my truck back and forth on weekends and use my truck to pull the boat in/out.
If for some reason we wanted to take the boat elsewhere then I would hope to be somewhere where I could just ask someone to put my boat in/out with their vehicle.
I am more concerned with just being able to tow the weight of my boat to and from for now.
For the last 5 years I owned a 39' fifth wheel, towed it with my F250 Superduty all around Southern California. Never did enjoy those drives and now that I sold the fifth wheel I want to make sure I don't get on the road like before as far as safety and now owning a new RV don't want to have it in the shop because I am pulling to much weight a few times a year.

Thanks

[mkirsch]

carringb wrote:

TLLOYD wrote:

My biggest concern is what would towing 5900 lbs behind this gas coach do to the engine and transmission?

Nothing. Both are very robust. The only thing different between yours, and V10s rated up to 30,000 pounds is the rear-end gear ratio.

X2.

Not only that, but the load will be very minimal because it is a boat behind a Class A. Aerodynamic drag is the biggest load at speed. The big coach blanks out most of the aerodynamic drag of the trailer, and it's an aerodynamic boat.

On a related note, I think the 26,000lb GCWR has more to do with CDL licensing requirements than the limits of the coach.

[carringb]

TLLOYD wrote:

My biggest concern is what would towing 5900 lbs behind this gas coach do to the engine and transmission?

Nothing. Both are very robust. The only thing different between yours, and V10s rated up to 30,000 pounds is the rear-end gear ratio.

My combined weight is typically 22,000 pounds but can top 25,000. I'm at 414,000 miles and half those are towing miles. NO problems with engine or transmission, and mine is the 4R100 which is inferior to the 5R110 you have.

[Gdetrailer]

TLLOYD wrote:
I am at an RV show now and the wife likes the 2016 Thor Miramar 34.2. I am questioning the salesman in the towing capacity as I have a 4500 lb boat on an approximate 1200 pound double axle trailer.
He is of course stating the rig will pull it as the hitch sticker says it's an 8000 pound rating (which it does say).
I told him I think it only has a 5000 pound capacity or even less as I was told that the gas class A rigs are around 5000.
The brochure I am reading says GVWR is 22000 lbs and GCWR is 26000 lbs.
He says I will be fine pulling it just a few times a year to/from the river, but I am skeptical for safety and the drive train.
Any suggestions as the wife is adamant she wants this RV. We do drive the boat and leave it at the river and drive it home when we are done.
Thanks

For some strange reason I am picturing the Robin Williams movie called RV...

Are you REALLY sure you want to use an expensive RV to BACK DOWN a boat launch???

I have seen 4x4s sometimes struggle getting back up a boat dock safely and they weigh a heck of a lot less than the Class A you are considering..

[TLLOYD]

I was able to contact Thor and with the VIN information I received the following:
GVWR: 22000
GCWR: 26000
RV dry weight (shipped from the factory as is): 18,050
Cargo: 3,459 (assuming that is what I can add when packing)
Hitch: 8000

My boat and trailer (with disc brakes) actually weighs 5,800 lbs as it sits now.

So if I take the GCWR and minus the dry weight that would give me 7950 lbs to add in cargo and trailer. That leaves me with around 2000 pounds for bodies, gas and cargo.

I obviously could keep the cargo weight down to stay around 26000 lbs just to tow the boat 3 hours to the river, leave it there for 4 months and drive it home.

My biggest concern is what would towing 5900 lbs behind this gas coach do to the engine and transmission?

Thanks for the replies thus far.

[carringb]

The newer F53 chassis is rated up to 30,000 GCWR. If you can find a 24k or 26k GVWR coach, that will have the higher GCWR. Depending on actual loaded weight of the coach, towing 8k is most certainly possible on a gas chassis.

[Triker33]

GVWR is 22000 lbs and GCWR is 26000 lbs

That puts the towing lb. at 4,000 on that MH. 😞
GCWR -GVWR = towing capacity all MH's should have a sticker somewhere with those numbers.

It will be very hard to find a gaser MH with over 5K Towing.
My DP only has 5K towing. My 4 down toad is 4,680 lb.

[Ivylog]

The good news is the hitch is rated high enough but if you use all of the rigs weight carrying capacity of 22,000 lbs that only leaves 4,000 for the boat. You need to know what the empty weight of the rig is as suggested above. Since you are buying this rig (wife is adamant she wants this RV) and the boat trailer has at least one axle with brakes I would haul it without any fresh water and half a tank of fuel to reduce your GVW. You can actually us this to your advantage in that she cannot bring stuff because it will make the rig too heavy... do not let her see your tool box.:W