Trailering a 24' Yamaha

[Matt Phillips]

As others have said, the only time you'll be under the 5k weight might be on the initial trip home. Fuel is about 300 pounds, anchor & rode is another 50, drink cooler 50, pull toys about about 30-40 EACH, safety gear another 100, towels-sunscreen-lunch, another 100-300. You'd be surprised how fast that weight can add up to 1,000 pounds.

I'm about 5,300 pounds fully loaded going down the road and I recently moved from a vehicle that has a 6,000 pound towing capacity to one that's 7,700. I'm much more comfortable with that added safety margin.

 

[Devildog]

Appreciate it everyone. Final decision is to use my cousin's Ford 150 to make the 2 hour drive home. Let it sit in my driveway for a few days so that my neighbors get envious. Then load it up with everything and make the 20 minute drive to the marina with my MDX. Driving super cautiously of course.

 

[Bones]

I towed my sx210 with a Honda Pilot for a few years. I was fixing breaks ever 15000 miles. I was never that concerned until the ramp. You need a lot of power to get the boat out of the water at a steep Ramp. I almost lost the pilot at the ramp once. Bought a infinity qx80 the next week. I will never tow over the limit again. You should rethink for your own safety . I happened to upgrade this year to a ar240. I will keep you posted on how that tows it around.

 

[Julian]

The Chain o Lakes ramps have very little incline and no sea weed.....the MDX will have no issue....put her in 4 wheel drive on the ramp if its slippery at all (which I never had an issue with).

 

[jawsf16]

Appreciate it everyone. Final decision is to use my cousin's Ford 150 to make the 2 hour drive home. Let it sit in my driveway for a few days so that my neighbors get envious. Then load it up with everything and make the 20 minute drive to the marina with my MDX. Driving super cautiously of course.

Buy your cousin a case of beer and use it to get to the ramp too. Better safe than sorry. A new MDX is not the best water toy...

 

[Devildog]

The ramp at my marina is fairly flat which is great. What worries me is the steep drop in the road as you enter the marina. Maybe I'll just have Steve launch my boat as well. I think his truck has a 12,000 lb tow capacity.

Thx again gents. I'll shoot you some photos once I get in the water. The boat, not MDX .

 

[john94si]

add trailer weight also.. you are way over. My RAM is rated for like 9k and i notice it back there for sure.

 

[Devildog]

Update: Just got the boat home using my cousin's F-150 and it operated like a champ. Not surprised as the towing capacity is 12,000 lbs. Glad that I listed to you guys . Gonna load it up and put in the water on Friday.

 

[OperationROL]

Definitely a beaut!

 

[MattFX4]

Sharp boat! I'm digging the no tower look

 

[Devildog]

Thanks. We don't do a ton of wake boarding, blah, blah, so a tower was not needed for us. The boat looks better when the Bimini is up and positioned with the cover still on. But not good for towing . Super happy with our purchase and can't wait to get er' wet later this week.

 

[WHITERIVERRAMBO]

pulling it down the road aint a real big deal stopping it on the other hand is paramount. most uneducated people are just concerned with "will it pull it?" and you should be concerned with im I set-up to be able to stop it? my biggest question is how far do your trips to the lake typically last? is it 50 miles or less? is it hilly? are there any steep grades? I see your in Illinois so chances are its flat as can be. make sure your running hydro disc brakes, tounge weight is tuned to the vehicles capacity, and take it easy. plan on double the stopping distance.

 

[txav8r]

Having had two SX boats, my previous SX230, and now my SX240, I am with you, I don't need the tower. I love the graphics and colors on your boat! It is truly a beautiful boat!

 

[SGMPhil]

I have pulled my AR240 with both an F-150 & F-250. Either works well, but the F-250 is definitely much better especially here in central Alabama where we have lots of hills and winding roads.

 

[Jay Petzold]

Right move by borrowing a truck stopping is definatlty the issue I towed my 17 ft Larson with my 14 pathfinder (5000 towing capacity) towed just fine but hills and stopping, probably twice as longer to stop, decided I needed a tow vehicle for the 24 ft boat, gmc 2500hd, no worries

 

[dansshin]

@dansshin , didnt you tow with a MDX?

Sorry for the late reply but just got out of my winter boating hibernation and started a post today here and saw this!

I do have 2014 MDX (see picture in the signature) with factory towing package that I installed and for my situation, I've had no issues but my boat is only 212x which is under towing limit of MDX. I've had the 212x fully loaded with fuel, gear and food and MDX loaded with kids and their friends and have had no issues for my short towing to local lakes. I have not done a long trips yet but I do not believe it would be an issue as long as you drive like you are towing a big boat. Surge brakes on these big boat trailers should also help with stopping.

However I would definitely not tow anything that exceeds the recommended towing limit of MDX. It may be able to handle it but you may damage your MDX or even worse cause you to have an accident because you were getting pushed around by the excessive weight.

When I owned my first boat some 17 years ago, brand spanking new 17' Bayliner I/O, I pulled it around with Acura Legend for ~ 5 years and had no issues going to the same local lakes I do now. My trailer didn't even have the brakes to help you stop so it was Legend doing most of the work. Car never had any issues with transmission or any other side effects from towing. But I think that boat was probably less than 2000 lbs with the trailer.

 

[dansshin]

I forgot to mention that for you to be able to tow up to 5000 lbs limit of MDX, in addition to the factory towing kit, you also need the automatic transmission cooler. Without the automatic transmission cooler your limit would be 3500 lbs. I installed this on my MDX also and while the steps were easy it was pain to install from under the front bumper. There is hardly any room to work with it.

 

[Devildog]

I forgot to mention that for you to be able to tow up to 5000 lbs limit of MDX, in addition to the factory towing kit, you also need the automatic transmission cooler. Without the automatic transmission cooler your limit would be 3500 lbs. I installed this on my MDX also and while the steps were easy it was pain to install from under the front bumper. There is hardly any room to work with it.

Thanks. I was actually thinking ahead for a change.....when I bought the SUV last year, I told them to install the 3500 lb tow package. Which was fine for my previous Sea Ray. Then got thinking that at some point, I may buy a bigger boat, so I quickly asked for the 5000 lb package with the transmission cooler. I did not think that I would be buying a new boat this year. But hey, when the wife asks for more room, I can deliver. And I did .

Your MDX with boat photo is super sharp.

 

[dansshin]

Thanks. I was actually thinking ahead for a change.....when I bought the SUV last year, I told them to install the 3500 lb tow package. Which was fine for my previous Sea Ray. Then got thinking that at some point, I may buy a bigger boat, so I quickly asked for the 5000 lb package with the transmission cooler. I did not think that I would be buying a new boat this year. But hey, when the wife asks for more room, I can deliver. And I did .

Your MDX with boat photo is super sharp.

Haha, yeah it looks like things worked out for you by thinking ahead. I was actually not planning to buy 212x, instead I was thinking I would get 17' or 19' boat when we traded my wife's accord for the MDX but I found this great deal on eBay last year and jumped on it.

Thanks. While MDX may not be a beast for towing monster sized boats that weight over 5000lbs but it definitely is great utility vehicle for me and my family with 3rd row seating option, awd and it's quiet ride quality. It also gets high twenties MPG if you do a lot of highway driving.

Enjoy your new Yamaha boat!