I just recently purchased any boat and have been using my 2011 F-150 5.0 to tow the boat and the truck seems to really underperform from what I was expecting. I am towing a 22" Tri-toon total weight of boat and trailer is about 4500lbs. When towing truck really seems to struggle and mpg is about 7 mpg. On the highway doing about 65-70 truck does not leave 5th gear around city towing I do not really get out of 4th. Is this normal? This is my first time towing a boat with the F-150 so not really sure what to expect.

 

Hmmm...I pulled my daughter and son in law's 22 ft Triton bay boat a few times when I had my '11 Lariat with the 5.0 engine and 3.55 gear's. It had no problem's in the tow/haul mode at speed's up to 65 mph. Maybe the surge brakes are dragging a bit? 4500 lbs should be no problem for your truck to handle and get 10 to 12 mpg doing it.

 

I was thinking the surge breaks could be causing a issue I was going to bring it up to the place where I got the boat and have them check it out?

 

I would..especially if the boat is new. No way that truck should be having a problem.

 

OP, What is your gear ratio?

 

I about 95% sure that I have 3.73

 

you should be way better than that... a 4500 pd boat should pull easier than a travel trailer because it has better aerodynamics and people report better mileage with heavier travel trailers (i see 10-12 reported pretty constantly towing heavy trailers with the 5.0)

 

Agreed 7 MPG is low but the Tritoon looks like a humongous brick with very poor aerodynamics. So maybe that accounts for the low MPG particularly if towing was into the wind. Just a thought.

 

That maybe so but at 22 inches its pretty short

Have you done any towing before? I ask because the truck will feel sluggish with weight behind it of any kind. If you ahve not towed before and jumped to a 4500# load you would notice it back there.

 

not really arguing but it's still got to be better than the frontal area of a travel trailer no?

i have a 5.4l without a fancy 6 speed transmission and one time i got 7.5 mpg hauling an 8k travel trailer with a passenger's side exhaust manifold leak.