How much could we save?

[Iambjm]

 Originally Posted By: Windy City Walleye Hunter

Dtro,

What kind of tonage am I pulling? I have no idea. I'm one of those dumb flatlanders that buys a boat without checking into anything, LOL

I thought that the Alaskan was around 750 lbs and the motor was under 400 so loaded with equipment I thought I was well under 2G's. I thought 3500 was no problem, fill me in.

Windy

The 18 foot Alaskan runs around 1000 pounds. I like my Escape, but haven't towed the boat with it yet. I have a 5'x8' enclosed trailer that I use for craft shows and that is what I have towed so far. When I have it loaded the trailer and the contents must be between 1500-2000 pounds. It tows decent but you do have to allow for more stopping room. It has 4 wheel drive so pulling a boat out of the lake shouldn't be too bad. The hubby got our F150 stuck in the snow and I pulled it out with the Escape (probably shouldn't have) My Escape is equipped with a 6 instead of the 4

[DTro]

The dry weight of your boat and motor is 1038lbs, add gear and what not, let's just call it 1500lbs.

The 3500lbs max is exactly that....max. Like I said, it should tow it fine down the road and you probably wouldn't have any problems but I don't think that Escape was designed as a tow vehicle.

It will put some extra wear and tear, not to mention you might run into some difficulty at steep or muddy landings.

For example I think my Camry had a 2000lb max.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Might need a tranny cooler for that Escape. Maybe someone else knows about this.

[slipperybob]

I've seen someone saving money by using their Dodge Viper to tow one of those bigger boats with the lower deck cabin and all. I mean you couldn't see the Viper and you'd think there was just a boat driving down the freeway until you pass it and see a red Viper leading the boat.

[DTro]

See now that is just plain dangerous.

[solbes]

That has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard of. First to be able to afford a Viper (my dream car, ...sigh...). Then to be able to afford the gas & insurance to drive the Viper. And lastly to ruin the Viper and endanger others when a $3000 used truck would do the trick nicely.

[BLACKJACK]

I tried the third vehicle thing a few years ago, bought a little Ford Ranger from my sister-in-law to drive back and forth to work, with the 4 cylinder it got good milage but after couple of years of extra insurance and maintenace costs - $400 for tires, $200 for a new alternator, oil changes, etc. - I figured that I could buy a lot of gas for those extra costs. Now my wife and I just try to drive to work together as much as possible.

[BobT]

One thing we are forgetting. Maintenance costs don't necessarily increase because of the extra vehicle UNLESS you still put the same miles on all of the other vehicles.

For example, you still have the same tire wear but now it's spread out over eight tires instead of two.

Bob

[Scott K]

Another thing that I havent seen mentioned is depreciation on your good vehicle (truck), every mile you dont put on your good vehicle/truck just makes it worth that much more if you plan on trading it in soon! If you dont plan on trading it in, it will just make it last longer and you wont need to buy a different vehicle as soon.

I have almost always had an extra vehicle, so I normally put alot less miles on my truck then I would if I didnt. If I would have drove my truck as an every day driver, I would put about 50k a year on it, now I am lucky to put 8k. Better trade in, and it makes it last alot longer. Maintenance on a beater car is alot cheaper then a 4x4 truck. Parts are usually readily available at junk yards, if not the parts are considerably cheaper then on a newer truck. Less parts are wearing, better milage. There are several upsides. Not to mention in the case if something happens to one of the vehicles you have a spare and dont need to go out and buy the first thing you see do to the need of having the extra car. You then can shop around and save money.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

The 18 foot Alaskan runs around 1000 pounds. I like my Escape, but haven't towed the boat with it yet..... My Escape is equipped with a 6 instead of the 4

How does the Escape work for the towing the boat? I'm assuming you have towed it by now.

[Surface Tension]

I just bought a 98 Neon and love the fact I'm not throwing money away by driving the truck. Better then that, its my way of sticking it to the oil speculators or at least thumbing my nose at them. Not to mention the sheepish feeling I'd get driving the truck when a truck wasn't needed.

The auto industry though its marketing has capitalized on that need to feel invincible by consumers. It took $4 @ gallon for gas to consider stepping up production and marketing of small and more fuel efficient cars.

I would suggest reversing the thought of a beater car. Buy a beater truck and invest that money into a gas miser for your primary vehicle. Makes no sense to park something your making monthly payments and insurance payments on.

The answer to high gas prices is clear. Whether it be speculators or supply and demand, a small car will give you instant gas savings, is cheaper to maintain, will increase supply, and lessen demand.

As far as towing, I have a buddy with a Escort manual trans that tows his 16' boat w/25 hp.

[gilby]

I have three vehicles. 2002 gmc sierra 2wd for pulling the boat, which I get good mileage even when I pull the boat compared to a 4wd.I also have two cars, a 2004 and a 99 which is our daily driver. I feel where i will save the money in the long run is , not having to buy a differant vehicle every few years. Because one wears out. In the winter i drop the insurance down to storage on my truck. Plus i need a third vehicle, my youngest is driving now. And really if you only put on a limited amount of miles on your tow vehicle the maintenance should be minimal.

[united jigsticker]

You can save alot of money if you pay attention to your own driving habits.

Sure we all talk about clean air filters, inflated tires, etc, but I have changed my driving habits to borderline Grandma Like, and I am getting almost 3 mpg better.

We've all heard of "hypermiling", or whatever it's called. That's a bit extreme, but looking as far down the road as possible, for traffic, red lights, etc, and adjusting your speed, acceleration, spacing, and braking accordingly makes a huge difference.

My 2004 Z-71 with the 5.3 was @ 15.4 mpg at 60% city/40% hiway. Now it is at 17.8, so really, 2.5 mpg better.

The only thing that never seems to change is the 13mpg when I pull my boat. I used to tow hard, and now I have cooled it off, and still...13mpg. This is where a diesel takes over.

My boat is a 17.5 Lund with 70hp...

Anyone else feel there 1/2 ton truck is doggy when it comes to towing what is considered a "light boat"?

[SkunkedAgain]

I keep hearing about extra insurance costs. I could be wrong here, but when I was a single dude my insurance always went DOWN when adding a second vehicle. I called and said, "Hey I just bought a truck." They said, "Well your total insurance just went down to $xxx."

When I got married, I added my truck to her insurance policy and the overall cost went down. These are with different companies too.

[MuskyBug85]

you could just win a Hybrid at the state fair, thats what i did.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

you could just win a Hybrid at the state fair, thats what i did.

ok, I'd like to hear about it. What is it and how did you win it?

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

"Alcohol free since 1/1/08"

This is huge! Congrats on that