princevalium

Well everyone today I was hanging with my long time good friend and he had his Striper connected to his F250 ready to go out crabbing tomorrow. After shooting the bull for a few hours I asked if I could try hooking up to his boat and towing it around with the F150. It is a 26' 2006 SeaSwirl Striper. He was all for it so we commenced to getting the right ball hitch installed. (2 and 5/16)

Unfortunately my ball mount was locked on to my receiver and the key was at home. It was a reese 6,000 lb. and had a 2 inch drop. (I would have preferred using the 12,000 lb. ball mount but that wasn't possible) I also would have preferred to turn the receiver around and give it a lift instead of a drop due to the tongue weight of the boat. (approx. 1,000 lbs.) The weight of the boat and trailer with the gear and fuel was approximately 10,000 lbs.

So we ended up hooking up the boat, checked the lights etc. and set out to set the trailer brake settings. I ended up doing about 8 on the gain because his trailer was a electric/hydraulic brake setup.

The boat sitting on the hitch did for sure make the truck squat...not too badly however. I ended up using the new Air Lift LoadLifter 5000 Ultimate air bags that my local dealer so nicely installed. I set the pressure initially to about 40 psi which did a nice job of leveling out the bed of the truck. (I ended up going to 60 psi later on the freeway)

Here's a pic of the boat and truck just before setting the tongue on the hitch:


Here is a picture of the sag before the air bags were inflated:



Finally the truck hooked up to the boat:




All I can say about the Egoboost is I am impressed!!

I definitely noticed the boat being towed but in no way felt like the motor was laboring pulling the load and actually had some decent grunt getting that big boat on the freeway. It towed great and stopped without issue. The fact that this boat outweighed the truck by several thousand pounds and how good it handled the load surprised even me.

I now know there will be no problem towing around the 5th wheel we were looking at now! Anyway thought I would share the fun today.

cerhai

I have been towing my 26' camper for 2 years and still smile when I need to get up on to the freeway or up hills, the eco just does it effortlessly, not bad for a 1/2 ton gasser.

zx12-iowa

You sure that rig is 10k lbs? Looks lighter than that by 2-3k lbs. and yes the Eco easily out tows the other f150 engine choices as well as other half ton choices, even the dodge diesel. But the dodge is supposed to get better mpg while doing it?

Bigbirt

If the fuel and fresh water tanks on that boat were full, he's easily around the 10,000lb mark with fishing gear, all the electronics, and trailer weight. My friend has the same boat (without the glass enclosed console and radar)

dac12046

Heres my ecoboost towing my parents 26ft striper towed it no problem just wish it had a oil stiffer suspension

xcntrk

Nice!

How do you like the bags?

For me, I absolutely love my Firestone bags and Air Lift wireless compressor. Whether it's supporting a heavy tow such as this or hauling 2cu of dirt, the bags are an absolute necessity for the soft 1/2-ton suspension. I can't imagine owning a 1/2 ton without them.

princevalium

Well I asked my buddy about the weight of his boat and trailer and the gear with 100 gallons of gasoline. He guessed around that weight...so no I am not certain about it. He does carry a lot of gear on his boat too. (crab traps, fishing gear, etc.)

princevalium

I love the airbags...and having the wireless controller to add or remove air on the fly is awesome. I was able to add air until I got it where it felt right while towing.

coley909

Awesome man I've been thinking about getting the ride rite bags installed. By the way our trucks tow 15k fairly easily. Don't ask me how I know ;-)

princevalium

I bet they can...however stopping would be the thing to worry about!