Towing a 24ft Yamaha Boat with the Taco

Yes, I tow all the time. Mostly a set of jet skis that come in at ~2800lbs but I have pulled a 24ft Monterey M3 that came in at 7300Lbs (with an F-150 not a Taco).

Well I live in So Cal (just south of LA) so I would be towing from my storage unit in Corona to the ocean which is about an hour drive on mostly flat terrain. I also go out to Lake Mohave in the summers so that would be a considerable terrain, the cajon pass on the 15 which is a steeper pass but besides that most parts of the I-40 only have slight grades in sections so it would be up/down but nothing crazy.

 

Wise words.

 

Thanks for the input, that is defiantly a different perspective from what I normally hear. The more I think about it, especially considering the price difference and towing hassle between the two, the 21ft sounds like the best fit for me. When going out it will most likely be my girlfriend, brother and a few friends so having the bigger boat might not be needed right now. I like the perspective of if its difficult to use you won't want to use it and I think that would defiantly be the case with the 24ft. Yamaha's are known for there reliability and resale value so I think if I did upgrade down the line I would still be in a good place.

Thanks!

 

I wouldn't want to tow more than 3500lbs on a recurring basis with this truck. Especially not in Southern California traffic.

 

Good luck, I'm sure you will have a lot of fun in that Yamaha. I'm a Yamaha (outboard) guy myself.

 

I didn't realize you're in hb! Is this going to be salt water? Or what lakes are you planning to use it on? You'll be fine with a 21 footer but you'll probably keep the boat longer than the truck right? So it would be a shame to go with a boat thats not exactly what you want. Also its hard to go off the dry weight because loaded down with everything is going to be much heavier.

 

Yep I'm in HB born and raised.

Well I am new to using a boat in the salt just because I have always gone out to lakes but I feel to get your money worth out of it I should run it in the salt but I mostly run my toys out at Lake Mohave and Lake Powell. I don't know yet if the boat will stay longer then the truck, I plan on buying a full-size once the Taco is paid off and then making my taco into a more off-road vehicle. But I definitely plan on keeping both for a while.

 

Nice! Im out in newport. Yeah hard not to take advantage of all the water nearby, but a bigger boat will handle the chop way better. I definitely wouldnt tow that big of a boat to powell with the tacoma.

 

You are going to run a sterndrive in salt water, you have more things to worry about than towing bro.

 

My enclosed trailer / rv / motorcycle hauler is set up pretty light. For a dual axle setup I am barely stressing the capability of the trailer or truck. Around town you don't even notice the weight that much. Get up to speed on the hwy and the aerodynamics become a major drain on your fuel economy. I bet in my setup a cap (topper) would make a huge difference as the trailer punches a huge hole in the air even though it is a v-nose.

At the end of the day the Tacoma gets great gas mileage for the 95% of the time that I am the sole occupant and have no load. For the half dozen times I need to use my enclosed in a year I can live with its short comings. After all I came from a 3/4T diesel and I paid heavy each tank regardless of what I had or didn't have behind me or in the box. Sure the big truck was better for towing the same load but it was horrible for daily driving. Do you buy a truck for the 1/2 dozen trips you make a year or the hundreds of daily ones? If it was that bad I would rent a full size for the few times I actually needed more.

 

Whenever we go to Powell I will use my dad's suburban to tow, we do that now anyway, it's just better for distance. Do you run in the salt? If so what kind of boat do you have?

Ask anyone in Florida, the Yamaha's do really well in the salt if you take care of them. Yamaha's main market is Florida so they design their pumps with the salt in mind. I don't plan on putting it in the ocean all that much but it's hard to rule that out all together with that much water 5 miles from your house.

 

No, we just got rid of our wake boarding boat. Only ran it in freshwater, mostly havasu. Occasionally local lakes like pyramid, caustic, etc.

 

True that ! They shrink in the water lol

 

So what about towing 4k for 500 miles including a payload/cab load of 1k

Anyone have experience with that?

 

That's actually a decent question. The 21ft I am now looking at will be about 4700Lbs on trailer with gear. Trip to Lake Mohave is about 350 miles. Anyone have any experience with that kind of load for that distance?