trailering from PA to wherever the road takes me

[A*aron]

Hey guys,

I have an 03 300 and I was wondering if I need a CDL to trailer my boat in PA? I was also wondering if there were any trailer shops around here you could recommend? Would I be able to pull my boat with a 1500 and a fifth wheel or should I look into HD?

 

[95290]

You won't need a CDL, but a 1500 p/u will be a little light. According to Sea Ray the boat weighs 12,500. That will be a pretty good load for a 1/2 ton p/u. If you have a fifth wheel trailer built, it will help in the way the boat pulls.
Good luck.

 

[DragonAnchor]

Cant answer your PA questions but there is no way in this lifetime would "I" trust towing with that pickup.

The specs on your boat are: http://www.searay.com/online_brochure.asp?display=brochure&tab=2&modelid=27715&reqtype=1,5,9,19

Overall Length : 33'4"/10.16 m
Overall Length w/ Std. Extended Swim Platform : 33'4"/10.16 m
Beam : 10' 5'' / 3.18 m
Draft - Stern Drive Down : 40'' / 101.6 cm
Draft - Stern Drive Up : 24'' / 60.96 cm
Dry Weight : 12,500 lbs. / 5,670 kg
Fuel Capacity : 170 gal / 643.5 L
Water Capacity : 35 gal / 132.5 L
Holding Tank : 28 gal / 106 L
Dead Rise : 21° / 21°

The weight is dry with just the standard engines, no fuel, water or oil in any of it. By the time you add in the weights of the options you have on your boat, any gear you take boating, fluids, AND the weight of the trailer, I would be very surprised if you havent DOUBLED the safe towing capacity of that vehicle.

I have gone through this exercise myself when considering a 240DA( a much lighter boat). With a Ford F150 (should be comparable to your 1500), after all the calculations, I was right at the recommended safe towing capacity. Add a couple more guests or more gear and I was into the danger zone. And btw, MY insurance company would not cover any incidents when towing if I exceeded the towing capacity. Doing the math again with my current boat, I need atleast a Ford F250 Super Duty with Diesel option which has up to 13500lbs towing capacity.

 

[Quint4]

I regularly tow my 290 with a Chevy 2500 Duramax diesel. I have electric brakes on the trailer. I would not even consider towing it with anything less.Your boat is a bit larger than mine. Remember you have to be able to stop and you have to be able to pull it up a steep wet boat ramp ! Unsure about the CDL but you need wide load permit.

 

[STIHLBOLTS]

Pulling large cruisers has been brought up several times. Your 1500 is in no uncertain terms NOT the truck to pull your boat. Boltman has a 320DA pulls his with a custom trailer and 350Ford dually that has been customized to pull that load. You might want to send him a PM for some more detailed information on his rig. Even if PA does not require over size load permits there are many states that due. You will also need to look into towing hours. There are some states that will only allow you to tow oversized loads in day light hours.

If I were to consider pulling a boat of your size a 3500/350 rig would be the very minimum in my opinion. I would actually take a strong look at the 450 Chevy or GMC.

Good luck. :grin:

 

[beerman]

Stihlbolts said it dead on. There have been numerous discussions on here about what size vehicle to tow with. I towed my 240 with a 1500 chevy. It had air bags in back for the load but was severely under powered with the 5.3ltr. We then bought a new 2500hd with the 6.0ltr gas and then ended up buying a 280da. We tow it to the marina in the spring and back home in the fall. It pulls fine and stops fine(we added electric over hydraulic brakes to the trailer) but I would not want to tow it much more than that.

 

[dpvandy01]

10'5" is more than oversized.. you may well be in to "wide load" which requires quite a bit more red tape.. I just got my oversized load permit for a 280 to Tenn. I had to get a DOT number from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, quite a PITA if I do say so myself but my load was only 9'5". They required the the GVWR, CVWR and the VIN of the vehicle to double check my numbers. Good luck and have fun towing that load

 

[never monday]

I'm not up on PA's laws. From what I've heard they don't offer a class A non-CDL. You'll need a class A license to tow that kind of weight anywhere. At 10'5" you also need oversize permits and the "red tape" paperwork mentioned above.
Is an F-150 up to the task. NO WAY, not even 1 mile down the road. I tow >10,000 regularly with a Cummins 2500 and it does well up to about 17k. After that it's sketchy. Then you have the problem of the shear size of a 300DA. The windage alone would make me want a 3500 dully or larger. I've towed my 340DA 12 miles to my shop and it was tense.

 

[tmhudson2]

In addition to weight of the boat and its trailer that you'll be towing, and the overall width of the rig, to top it off you need to check the overall height of your boat on its trailer to make sure your vertical clearance won't be a problem. This is especially true if you've got a radar or sat phone/TV dome mounted on top of your arch.