Tom, I think the problem towing with the dodge is the windage the boat has, I could go faster towing 4000lbs heavier sailboat with the dodge than towing the express 27, so I understand what you are saying... now, with the freightliner Fl 70 / chevy two ton with the cummins 8.3 250 hp tweeked ( 3200 rpm governor spring, different fuel plate and injectors..)...probably 325 / 350 hp and well over 1000 ft lbs of torque, nothing seems to bother or slow me down...and I don't feel side wind anymore and feel like the truck is always controlling the load and get about 10 mpg no matter what.. towed my sailboat back from san francisco, 24,000 lbs plus truck weight...same thing..10mpg.. one trip with the dodge I got about 6mpg against a head wind. next year im planning on towing the sailboat across country with a 10-6 beam and was wondering about permits... that's why I was asking.. thanks for the info. eric ----- Original Message ----- From: tomdepot<mailto:[email protected]> To: UnifliteWorld<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 5:38 PM Subject: [UnifliteWorld] Re: Uniflite 27 express
Eric, There are volumes on this subject to tell, but to answer your questions: The boat is a 31' with a 10'8" beam, it sits on a magic tilt triple axle trailer that supposedly is rated for 14,000# of boat (bought it when I thought weight of boat was closer to 10,000# as per printed specs). On the trailer it sits at over 14' high and over 10' 8" wide (it gets wider as you go higher due to my trailer uprights). I am totally in violation of both height and width. That being said, I have never been hassled by anyone, and have towed all over the state of Florida and been passed by many a state trooper. Never saw a DOT vehicle, and those are the guys who would really care from what I hear, so perhaps I have just been lucky. I am working my way through my first set of trailer tires, and I know that I am close to the 14,000# weight with the new diesels that weigh 1000# each as opposed to the 600 or so I heard the 318's weighed. I put a "oversize load" banner on the back when towing, but I don't know if that's a good idea or bad. I can't claim ignorance if I get pulled over. When I first got into this project I wasn't acutely aware of restrictions, and by the time I found out I was committed to the project. As it is, I mostly travel about an hour east to the St Johns river and we launch there for 3-day trips, and that's traveling on back roads. I don't know tire size offhand, but I will take a look tomorrow and try to get back to you on that. As for the tow vehicle: I have owned a 2001 Dodge 3500 since 2003 and I love the truck. 4X4, extended cab, manual trans., not the high output diesel (24 valve 230hp). I am a general contractor by trade and I have over 7 trailers, including the boat trailer. I have outgrown my truck, and need to go bigger. I have been looking at F750's and think I can get a pretty decent one for under 20k. My Dodge pulls my boat ok, but i can't get into 5 gear, and thus have to travel at 55 or under. I wouldn't really want to go faster anyways, but I am disappointed by the performance. It might be the high gearing my truck has, but nonetheless I frequently pull trailers that weigh more than the truck (sometimes twice as much) and I want to go up for many reasons. Ironically, I will probably get better mileage out of a bigger truck when pulling heavy loads too. My boat trailer is a 2 5/16" hitch and the tongue loading is not really heavy, its just the overall weight and wind resistance of the boat. A friend who followed me once told me he took his foot off the gas and the vacuum pulled him along. I am jumping to a class 7 truck because the F450's and F550's are basically the same as the F350's with simply heavier frame and springs (same drivetrain). Add to that the questionable track record of the 6.0 engine and I just want to stay away from those. If I go to a 650 or 750 I can get a Cat engine (or Cummins) and have a really good safety factor based on tow rating. I also plan to put a bunch of under-body tool boxes on the truck to carry all of my day-to-day tools. A 650 or 750 will have no problem with 14,000#, but the 350 size is kinda pushing it. My truck weighs less than 7k empty, less than half of my boat and trailer weight. My only regret is that I will lose 4 wheel drive, but with the weight of the 650 or 750 I don't think that will be a problem. Incidentally, I have a tandem axle (bumper pull) dump trailer that weighs 4200# empty, add 6 yards of dirt, and the truck is riding on the axle. I have DESTROYED the pistons of the trailer going over a speed bump when loaded, because with the truck on the axle it lowered the trailer to where the pistons hit the pavement. I almost got hung up, and since the pistons were trashed, I couldn't dump the load to get loose. Fortunately I rocked my way free. By the way I know I will have to get a CDL and all that, but I am interested in the 750 for the air brakes, then I will have a mobile compressor too. I really would like something like you did with the Freightliner chassis and Chevy body, but I need either a flatbed or a dump body. How is that truck doing for you? Let me know if I didn't tell you what you wanted to know, I could talk for days about this since I have asked just about everyone I have encountered about towing, restrictions, tow vehicles, blah blah blah blah................ Tom in Florida --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/unifliteworld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
