Tow a ski boat behind a TC?

[TruckCamperNoob]

Hi everyone - been studying up on how to tow a boat behind a truck camper. Kind of out of the blue, my wife and I have recently bought a ski/surf boat (2005 Mastercraft x10) and have absolutely fallen in love with boating. We have two small kids and been planning on buying a trailer in the future, and with the addition of the boat our focus has quickly shifted to a Truck + Truck Camper Magazine + Boat combo.

I know people do this, but I am trying to figure out how because as far as I can tell this kind of combination is going to more than max out even the most extreme trucks.

It seems like the limiting factor is overall payload. Do I have this math right?

Payload = GVWR - truck weight

Weight of camper + **tongue weight (??)** of trailer + all people, gear, water and fuel = must be less than overall payload.

We’re contemplating buying both the pickup and the camper (probably recent models but used), so here’s a rough example of what we’re considering:

GMC 3500 diesel, single rear wheel (not dually) - payload: ~4,200
Lance 855S - wet weight: ~3,300 pounds
Mastercraft x10 - trailer weight: ~4,200 pounds, tongue weight:~ 400 lbs

In this scenario, our payload situation would be 3,300 TC +. 400 boat TW = 3,700 pounds. Deducted from a 4,200 pound payload, we’d have 500 pounds available for all passengers, fuel, and gear.

This is where things seem to run aground (pun!). You’re probably going to have at least 250 pounds of gas in the truck, I’m a 200 pounder, my wife is 140, our kids are 50 (each - as of today), we could easily have a few hundred pounds of gear, an 80 pound black lab... you can see that we’re going to be way over the payload limit.

And that’s with a 1-ton truck!

So.... how do you pull this off? Do you have to go to a 1-ton dually?

[Lwiddis]

"we’d have 500 pounds available for all passengers, fuel, and gear."

An unrealistic number for passengers, fuel and gear IMO. Four very skinny people is 500 pounds (125 each) without adding fuel and gear. Soon those kids will want to bring their bicycles, baseball gear, a friend etc.

[Eric_Lisa]

TruckCamperNoob wrote:
...Do you have to go to a 1-ton dually?

At the end of the day, it will probably come down to the load rating of your tires more than anything else.

Could you take a SRW 1-ton truck and load up a camper + boat? Sure, I see guys rolling down the highway like that all the time. No doubt in my mind they have exceeded the carrying capacity of their rear tires - regardless of their under-the-hood power, braking capability, and chassis capacity.

Naw, I am not going go all weight police on you here. You are paying attention to the details just by the nature of asking this community. Run the numbers, assess the risk and if it works for you, then go for it.

[Kayteg1]

x2 on boats having lighter tongues than the same weight cargo trailer. But than boat trailers are not good for WD bars.
I did tow my patio boat with 4' stinger and even with 6000lb camper and heavy winds it had no issues.
Mind your boat will be heavier, than mine, but than having 3" receiver, my stinger was $40 worth of 3" tubing.
Bottom line, you need to read more about COG on such set as the numbers you presented have no real life value in case of TC.
As starter I can estimate that 400lb tongue on 4 ft stinger will put about 700lb on your rear axle.
Not even saying that Torklift superhitch and their stinger will add 300lb alone (on the axle)


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[jimh406]

If you can get by with a DRW, buy one. I say get by because once upon a time a DRW would not work for me. There are disadvantages, but no doubt DRWs are more stable with more weight.

I was able to drive my SRW and get by because I carried the minimum including minimum water/stuff/etc. I also added 19.5s to give a bit more room for error. I no longer have to worry about what I carry and I have towed a fully loaded TT with no issues behind the TC/truck with no issues.

Also, you won’t know the true weight until you weigh the vehicle with TC/boat. You are on the ragged edge now. That’s fine if you are planning on only going minimal distances.

[joerg68]

Pay less attention to the payload and more to the rear axle weight rating (RAWR), especially on a SRW truck.
A TC usually puts most or all of its weight on the rear axle. If the CoG of the camper is behind the axle, it will even transfer weight from the front to the rear, effectively making the front axle lighter.
The tongue weight of the trailer is also carried by the rear axle, amplified by distance.
On a SRW truck, the RAWR is usually limited by the load rating of the rear tires. At some point, no tires with a higher load rating are available.
A DRW truck has twice as many tires in the back, which translates to roughly twice the capacity.
Edit: with a TC and a trailer you tend to be pushing (or exceeding) the capabilities of many trucks. Calculate your weights conservatively. Things tend to be a lot heavier than you anticipate. Wherever possible, get actual weights from a scale.

[jdc1]

That tongue weight is probably light. Add in everything you'll be loading in the boat and camper = larger truck or lighter TC.

[TruckCamperNoob]

By the way - we live in the mountains and it’s up and down over some significant mountain passes to where we want to camp and boat, so I really don’t want to be under-gunned here. We are currently towing our boat with an old 2500 suburban (gas), and this weekend had to chug along in first gear at 30 mph with the hazards on to get up and over the pass to get home... I hate that!