I'm just a poor boy, from a poor family... (Tow Vehicle)

[martinarcher]

33 minutes ago, redrooster said:

Oh boy.  I wonder how bad the rust is.  

Yeah, check rockers on the Excursions for sure.  There are clean ones out there but many were not undercoated and lived a long life in salted roads.

[SkipGundlach]

5 hours ago, Steve B. said:

I'd maybe rethink the U-haul idea for a summer. Use your van to move the boat around your property as necessary. Rent a U-haul to tow the boat to the lake, followed by the van with all the stuff. Zero maintenance to worry about, save cache for future tow vehicle.

I did it for several years and may again. So nice using a brand new truck only when you need one. My situation is similar. Lakes close by, all easy towing and ramps.

I see I wasn't clear:
1: Boat at a dock 500 feet from the closest driveway-end

2: 80 year old driver/teacher/skier unwilling to hump 35# gas cans to the dock even if golf-carted to the dock ramp from the driveway (and no current plans for suitable path to enable same)

3: Ramp/fuel fill/storage all within a few minutes by water (to get to a vehicle/trailer) or from home to get to storage or from ramp to get to fuel fill or take to storage

4: Even if willing to pay the buck-a-gallon premium, closest marina for fuel a half-hour high-speed transit by water

all combine to make trailering to fuel once every couple of weeks an attractive option.  And

5: A suitable tow vehicle won't be new, but needs to be suitable for passenger use and reliable.  One such candidate was considered, but it's in FL and the home is in NE GA, where the replacement will be bought.  So, we're back to the original premise:

A relatively inexpensive, relatively low mileage, relatively highly documented regular-maintenance, already-Class III tow equipped vehicle, and being ignorant of those suited, in need of recommendations for search-definition markers for what to look for...

My apologies for any lack of clarity and adventurous explorations into fraught territory (my current minivan)!

[justgary]

6 hours ago, oldjeep said:

Father in law had a long line of Chrysler mini vans from work that were used to tow his response.  It was pretty normal to have 2 of us perched on the hood to get enough traction to get it out of water.

@SkipGundlach could weld a bracket on the front bumper and hang some suitcase weights on it.  500 pounds ought to do it.

[CaptainMorgan]

2 hours ago, SkipGundlach said:

I see I wasn't clear:
1: Boat at a dock 500 feet from the closest driveway-end

2: 80 year old driver/teacher/skier unwilling to hump 35# gas cans to the dock even if golf-carted to the dock ramp from the driveway (and no current plans for suitable path to enable same)

3: Ramp/fuel fill/storage all within a few minutes by water (to get to a vehicle/trailer) or from home to get to storage or from ramp to get to fuel fill or take to storage

4: Even if willing to pay the buck-a-gallon premium, closest marina for fuel a half-hour high-speed transit by water

all combine to make trailering to fuel once every couple of weeks an attractive option.  And

5: A suitable tow vehicle won't be new, but needs to be suitable for passenger use and reliable.  One such candidate was considered, but it's in FL and the home is in NE GA, where the replacement will be bought.  So, we're back to the original premise:

A relatively inexpensive, relatively low mileage, relatively highly documented regular-maintenance, already-Class III tow equipped vehicle, and being ignorant of those suited, in need of recommendations for search-definition markers for what to look for...

My apologies for any lack of clarity and adventurous explorations into fraught territory (my current minivan)!

Why is it the job of the 80yr old teacher to drag the gas cans? Whoever is doing the activity can pitch in.  

Solving this fueling issue via searching for the unicorn of a truck you describe to still seems unnecessary.  For ~$130 you can get a 14gal rolling gas can with pump from Amazon and get the youngsters to help once in a while. I'd at least try that before buying and selling cars.

[SkipGundlach]

16 minutes ago, CaptainMorgan said:

Why is it the job of the 80yr old teacher to drag the gas cans? Whoever is doing the activity can pitch in.  

Solving this fueling issue via searching for the unicorn of a truck you describe to still seems unnecessary.  For ~$130 you can get a 14gal rolling gas can with pump from Amazon and get the youngsters to help once in a while. I'd at least try that before buying and selling cars.

A reasonable question - and I appreciate the thought - but when it's not family, it will be a VRBO paying customer I'm pulling...

So I want to make it as seamless as it was when I owned a home 30 years ago, with a ramp all the way to the dock ramp, and a marina 5 minutes away.

It's how I got my fuel, most of the time, for my Supreme I had at the time.  I'd put a pic of that arrangement here, but have the same issue; it's in my computer, not some internet site :/

[dizzygti]

This is all to have a boat available for your son's VRBO listing?    Seems like a horrible idea from the start, as this "rental" boat will be treated like a rental car by most.    And what lake and specifically ramp in NEGA will this be at?    

[oldjeep]

1 minute ago, dizzygti said:

This is all to have a boat available for your son's VRBO listing?    Seems like a horrible idea from the start, as this "rental" boat will be treated like a rental car by most.    And what lake and specifically ramp in NEGA will this be at?    

This isn't all that uncommon.  Its a way for people who live on good ski lakes - which are generally undesireable water for a lot of other activities to get folks to rent their summer place.

[oldjeep]

Maybe consider making a deal with a neighbor to borrow their truck when needed?  Around here everyone has a full sized pickup or 2 and they sit around a lot when they have other cars.  If I look out the front door I can see 5 of them

[dizzygti]

4 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

This isn't all that uncommon.  Its a way for people who live on good ski lakes - which are generally undesireable water for a lot of other activities to get folks to rent their summer place.

I guess that makes sense.   I just know how rental boats get treated and wouldn't want any part of management of this.   Hopefully it works out for the original poster.   

[oldjeep]

31 minutes ago, dizzygti said:

I guess that makes sense.   I just know how rental boats get treated and wouldn't want any part of management of this.   Hopefully it works out for the original poster.   

I don't think he leaves them the keys   Sounds like the boat comes with a driver.

[SkipGundlach]

6 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

I don't think he leaves them the keys   Sounds like the boat comes with a driver.

Got it in one. ☺

And perpetual borrowing of a neighbor's truck would get very old quickly if I were on the other end (and on my end as well, but I've got a thick skin)...

[CaptainMorgan]

Still brainstorming - Maybe go with gig economy - any High school kids nearby willing to make $20-30 for a gas can run when no friends/family around?  Even 10x/yr still cheaper than inspecting and registering a new vehicle 

[shawndoggy]

@SkipGundlach

I think I am coming back around to you doing the work on your van to add the tow package.  Of your priorities, "cheap," and "the creampuff I know" seem to rank pretty high.  You have a light boat and are towing only a few miles on country roads.  Put the hitch on, use it for a year, see if it meets your needs, at least for the "couple miles to the gas station and back" runs.  Then when you are ready to go on a road trip, use the warchest of money you saved to rent a real truck from Enterprise (or a uhaul) for highway travel.  

[SkipGundlach]

2 hours ago, shawndoggy said:

@SkipGundlach

I think I am coming back around to you doing the work on your van to add the tow package.  (clip)

I've been disabused both by related stories and my own thought process.  A lightweight FWD vehicle isn't the thing to tow with, particularly if some of it involves wet hills, so to speak...

[shawndoggy]

16 minutes ago, SkipGundlach said:

I've been disabused both by related stories and my own thought process.  A lightweight FWD vehicle isn't the thing to tow with, particularly if some of it involves wet hills, so to speak...

Well, you and I are a lot alike.  LOL learn from our own mistakes and nobody else's. So despite what folks are telling you, you still think an ancient creampuff tow vehicle is out there for cheap.  It isn't, but that's a lesson you need to learn on your own.  I get it! (lol believe me if you search my history on this forum, I'm sure you'll see that I learned it myself after several attempts).

Edited March 26 by shawndoggy

[SkipGundlach]

4 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

Well, you and I are a lot alike.  LOL learn from our own mistakes and nobody else's. So despite what folks are telling you, you still think an ancient creampuff tow vehicle is out there for cheap.  It isn't, but that's a lesson you need to learn on your own.  I get it! (lol believe me if you search my history on this forum, I'm sure you'll see that I learned it myself after several attempts).

LOL there's cheap, and then there's cheap.  The link I posted isn't particularly cheap, but not very expensive; likewise, the boat we have under contract, as an example of what happens, sometimes, is by all indications a pearl at the price of a rock - other than that I have to figure out the wake tow part; my preferred modus isn't making them any more and will be out of action for a while in any event, even if he were.

 

But I'm sure it will all work out ☺

Thanks for the encouragement...

[SouthsideBoarder]

Maybe consider a well cared for early 2000s Chevy Trailblazer? I had one with the inline 6 and it was rated to tow up to 6300lbs if I remember correctly. It also had a 5.3 v8 option as well. Many will have four wheel drive as well and it towed by 2008 vtx just fine when I had it. That older generation had some minor problems that could be easily fixed but engine wise both platforms were fairly reliable. It could meet your budget but the only downside I had was gas mileage was beyond atrocious unless doing 55mph on the highway with nothing behind you. It is not pickup or large SUV big so you’d have to be more careful and aware of your momentum but could be that diamond in the rough you are looking for. 

[SkipGundlach]

1 minute ago, SouthsideBoarder said:

Maybe consider a well cared for early 2000s Chevy Trailblazer? (clip)

Thanks.  We're abating that search until we actually move to GA, the better to huddle with both sets of guy/gal in the decision process.  My son's buying it; I'm selling my car and contributing that to the purchase, which will be in my name.  Once acquired,boat and tow vehicle are my responsibility to maintain, but I have no purchase skin in the game.  In return I teach his kids to ski, VRBO folks who care to, and have wakeboard capabilities once I settle on what tower equivalent we go with.  Right now, the Monster towers (which I am just starting to research) look the most functionally similar to the unavailable Titans, which I favor strongly on simplicity and robust-ness terms...

[Bozboat]

@SkipGundlach  Is that a picture of you on the slalom ski in your Post?     You mentioned teaching others to ski, just wondering as it looks like you are talented

[SkipGundlach]

23 hours ago, Bozboat said:

@SkipGundlach  Is that a picture of you on the slalom ski in your Post?     You mentioned teaching others to ski, just wondering as it looks like you are talented

LOL I thought I had answered this but I was on my phone, and apparently it didn't send.

Yes that's me; my son and I used do course work for fun (someone had a permanent course set up near where we lived on Lake Lanier near Atlanta) but I think that's me free-skiing, as I don't recall seeing a ball in that particular pic.

We had a digital (previously a VHS) video camera on a line-guided swivel on our tow bar in the Supreme, and I would look at it to get form tips.  But being digital, I could also grab stills, so I have a few of the better shots from them.

My son and I will be teaching his kids - and I VRBO'ers, likely and/or those bringing their own gear - on the presumed completed purchase of the 02 Sunscape mentioned here earlier (https://www.boats.com/power-boats/2002-malibu-sunscape-21-lsv-8967585/), and I'm doing heavy-pain-level rehab so that my two new knees can get me up off my butt once I'm out of the water (out of the water is as far as I got this summer)!  I *do* have a pic of my rounding a ball, but like all the rest which might be interesting, they're in my computer, not out in some website, so, unless someone can render me clued, my cluelessness leaves me unable to post pictures!

Thanks for the compliment.  My wife would characterize me more as graceful than talented ☺

 

[justgary]

7 hours ago, SkipGundlach said:

unless someone can render me clued, my cluelessness leaves me unable to post pictures!

Clue: Find the "How to post pictures" sticky post and read it.

Here, I'll find it for you:

 

 

Edited March 28 by justgary

[SkipGundlach]

9 hours ago, justgary said:

Clue: Find the "How to post pictures" sticky post and read it.

Here, I'll find it for you:

 

 

WOW.

 

I haven't yet tried it, but I'm hooked.

I try to support anything I've found useful, and this site is my salvation as a Malibu newbie.

So:
I'm a crew chief, or whatever the top end is for the label, now.

I hope to figure out the mechanism for stuff on my computer, but even if I fail, y'all are my heroes.

Thanks!

[SkipGundlach]

Yup, it works!

Hallelujah, and thanks again to JustGary!!

As proof, pertinent to an earlier question, here's one of me with a ball being rounded:

[justgary]

4 hours ago, SkipGundlach said:

I'm a crew chief, or whatever the top end is for the label, now.

[Ryan1776]

On 3/13/2024 at 11:30 AM, COOP said:

I towed for years with my WK Grand Cherokee with a Hemi. 

I'm late to the party. But my 2010 WK grand with Hemi pulls JUST fine. 
I don't tow far, to and from the launch 2-4x a year and to fuel it when needed. 
I know the 2010 LSV is back there, but it's totally fine.