Reading about Wildmans 40mph white nuckle trip in a Scout made me wonder What do you guys/gals use to tow your boat with?
I happen to have a Scout of 79 vintage that I used to tow the beachcats to FL and MS Gulf Coast for races for about three years. I've also hooked it to a 28ft Bayliner with Fly Bridge to launch and recover at the lake here. Now it just gets used for playing and if I need to drag something really heavy out of the water. Current tow vehicle is a 99 Extended cab F150 which is much nicer on long trips although I cant sleep in it like I have done with the Scout. I had planned to build a Aerostar van for going to the races - seating that converted to a bed, gear stowage, maybe a DVD player and a 300hp V8 for tow power. I've got all the stuff now but I just cant make myself build it. I think the next tow rig is going to be a F250 SuperCrew with Diesel power - I keep buying bigger boats and the braking on the F150 is just not enuff
A Ford F600 with a modified car hauler trailer. Shown here with a 31 ft. Bombay Clipper on the trailer.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c245/pyrat/Sailing/F600withtrailer.jpg)
Quote from: Joe Pyrat on January 24, 2006, 06:18:15 PM
A Ford F600 with a modified car hauler trailer. Shown here with a 31 ft. Bombay Clipper on the trailer.
I bet the trailer tongue extension on that thing to get the boat deep enough to float is *huge*! ;D
Actually we just use the F600 for moving the boats once we have them out of the water. We use a specially designed tongue extension to get the trailer far enough out to float the boat, and a diver to adjust the bungs while she is in the water. In the attached picture we were using a fairly healthy Dodge pickup to do the actual extraction.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c245/pyrat/Sailing/Mango.jpg)
If you have not driven a Duramax diesel from GM, you are missing the boat. The International diesle and Allison transmission is a package that is superior to almost anything in its class.
Here's the lifted Scout and it's towing replacement, a 1969 International Travelall I bought off the internet. The travelall has an extra 10 inches wheelbase that makes all the difference ( both have a 345 CID motor). I still use both trucks weekly.
(http://i1.tinypic.com/mm5r7p.jpg)
(http://i1.tinypic.com/mm5usx.jpg)
That Travelall is nice lookin but that Scout is questionable - I'll get some pix of mine up when I drag it back out from behind the shop. The carb is being werked on at the moment so it dont move too good
I think the Scout has character! I can definitely see cruising Duval street in that beastie. ;D