I have a 2002 Nissan Altima, 3.5 V6, 5 speed...obviously front wheel drive. I also have a 15 foot ski boat, with trailer, weighing around 1700-1800 pounds (depending on boat load...fuel, ski toys, etc.). I know there's power to "tow" it...but what are the odds I get screwed trying to pull the boat/trailer up out of the water on a slick boatramp?

What is the factory tow rating?

well...I'm sure you've pulled boats out of the water with a pickup and know how slick boatramps can get...

There's two ways to look at this, the first is that your drivewheels do not get submerged, and they have a much smaller chance of hitting the moss at the bottom of the ramp, so you should get more traction.

BUT, traction comes from normal force on the tires, and chances are since the boat is pulling down on the rear which in turn takes weight off of the front of the car, you might not get enough traction and your fronts will just spin out.

It can be done, but it's probably not a very good idea.

The other question, and I cannot answer this one...does the vehicle have enough torque to pull the boat up a hill from a standing start?

From what I've read you have a towing capacity of 1,000 pounds, so I wouldn't even try it.

I do not know the factory tow rating...I will look it up tonight. As for power, it has the 240 hp, 245 lb/ft (or is it ft/lb?) engine. I'm not worried power-wise (actually has more hp and almost as much torque as the F150 I used to use to tow the boat). It's all coming down to drive wheels and enough weight on the front to get traction. I do not have a hitch on it and don't want to install one if there is no chance of towing a boat up a ramp.

Um...no. Unless you want a new transmission for Christmas.

There's more to towing than power. Yes, your engine probably has enough grunt to get the job done, but the running gear,(clutch, half shafts, cv joints... etc) were not designed for that kind of repeated load.

just FYI mike...it's (ft*lb)...and order doesn't matter...(ft*lb) (lb*ft) same thing.

(lb/ft) is a distributed force
(ft/lb) is a unit used with things such as springs...distance per unit force.

[This message has been edited by TexasRebel (edited 7/10/2006 5:18p).]

your suspension would go to hell in a handbasket before the tranny.

Reminds me of a time when I was in High School. I couldn't stop laughing while I was watching this guy with a Datsun pickup try to pull a trailer out of the water. All he had on the trailer was a Jon Boat, but with his worn street tires and the slick boat ramp, he wasn't having any luck. He did generate a lot of smoke though. Eventually, my buddy hooked his CJ-7 up to the front of the Datsun and pulled the truck and the trailer out of the water. The Jeep struggled a little and we almost had to get my K5 Chevy Blazer to rescue everybody.

'wood: I've seen the exact same problem with a short bed (flareside) older Chevy pickup. But the Jeep pulled the truck and the boat right out.

I personally wouldn't tow a boat without a full size PU with a V8 and 4WD.

lawyer...the 4wd is not really necessary for towing...I know some people that tow boats all over Texas, but they don't ever put the boat in or take the boat out of the water with their 4x2 unless they absolutely HAVE to. Normally you can find somebody willing to lend a hand with a 4x4.

One other towing note. I have a '99 Ford Expedition and a '94 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Both have the biggest factory V-8s available (for their year model), both are 4x4 and both have the trailer towing packages.

The Grand Cherokee has a much better power to weight ratio, but the Expedition has something else going for it. SIZE - which translates to wind resisitance when you're towing a trailer at highway speeds.

I've towed the 12 ft. U-Haul cargo trailer with both vehicles. With the Jeep, the trailer starts getting squirrely above 55 - 60 mph. With the Expedition, I easily towed the trailer from Denver to LA at 70 mph.

I've seen someone pull a Sea-doo boat out of the water with a minivan......about four people were pushing and he was smoking the front tires.......so that might give you an idea!

I think I'm settled...not going to do it. Thanks for the comments and stories!

Reb: I'm thinking more of pulling the boat out of the water in case the back wheels get the green stuff underneath them rather than towing down the highway.

I agree with you, as I've pulled boats out with a Pontiac ____ (Cutlass/Monte Carlo body style; forgot the specific model) that only had a V6. It works, of course, but I was talking about what I would rather use, and that's the minimum I would buy for boat towing.

Now, if I used your stuff...

That's what I was saying...I just just noting that you don't have to go out and buy a 4x4 just to tow a boat up and down the ramp...if you get a boat, but don't want to buy a new truck, you can probably find somebody at the ramp with a 4x4 that will run the ramp for you.

Future boat towing duty is one of the reasons I'm holding on to my Expedition that I don't drive anymore. I could do it with the Grand Cherokee, but with 220,000 miles on the odometer, I'd rather not risk an incident. Plus the Load Leveling Suspension on the Expedition is awesome. It makes towing very comfortable.

The boat is still a dream, but maybe by summer 2007 I'll be able to make something like this a reality.


[This message has been edited by HollywoodBQ (edited 7/12/2006 2:11a).]

I'm a 2wd guy but I'll admit 4x4 is nice with a boat but only at the ramps as is an auto tranny.

The ramp I just launched at (tigerville at livingston) has a severly sharp drop and with the water down almost 3 feet it only makes it worse.

Being said I launched our boat with my dually 2wd standard truck. Tranny does have an ultra low gear and I was able to just let the clutch up with no gas and pulled her out....

A buddy of mine just sent me this. Let's hope the guy with the ATM sticker in the window was just a t-shirt fan and not a graduate. Too bad we can't tell if this is a 2WD or a 4WD truck. Although in this case, it probably wouldn't matter.

ouch! Is it just me, or is the boat still attached to the trailer on both ends?

Look in the outdoors forum, there is a texas tech pic and a sip pic although those are "airbrushed"

i pull a boat with a 2wd f-150 and it never has any problems, you just have to make sure your not in gravel if your not on a concrete or paved launch

[This message has been edited by aTmags (edited 7/15/2006 1:01p).]

atmags,

just try gettin' out of that green stuff...

...and then please take pictures after!