Towing VS Pulling Boat Up Boat Ramp

Jason B

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With my '99 B4000, I only had to use 4x4 one time to get out of a stuck situation. But several times used 4 Low without locking the front hubs to pull a heavy load a short distance. An option not available on new PU's.
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THLONE

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I was down in Florida this winter and saw boat storage over two stories high. They used a specially made fork lift to stack your boat up on a rack.
 
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malibu23wake

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I'm really liking the ideas a few have mentioned about wheel chalks, a little extra weight over the rear axle, adjusting tongue weight to put more weight on rear wheels and pulling out using manual low gears .

I saw this video on youtube today where a guy using a 2wd truck would chalk just his front tires, where the pavement is more likely to be allege free and slick. This allowed his rear wheels to be free of the chalks and if his rear wheels slipped trying to pull out he had a little protection against sliding back.

He tied the chalks to his mirrors so if he did get good traction, the rubber chalks would just get dragged up the ramp with him.

I also read a comment on another forum that you should have your truck in neutral instead of reverse going down the ramp. I never did this with my old truck and boat but I can see the logic in it.
 

Peragrin

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Back in the late 70's to mid 80's, my dad was a fisherman here in Louisiana. Many were the times we would have 1000-1500 lbs. of crawfish in his homemade aluminum skiff. The places we would launch were remote and never well maintained. Depending on the water level in the basin, sometimes the end of the ramp was nearly out of the water. There was no way his '71 F100, 6 cyl., 3spd manual, 2WD could pull all that weight up the ramp.
The solutions:
1: Unload 20 to 30 sacks (~50lb each) onto the bank, pull the boat out, load sacks back into boat.
2: Transfer said sacks to the bed of the truck, pull boat out, transfer sacks back to boat
3. Leave sacks in boat. Have dad in truck pulling boat up, while one other was in the boat, engine in forward, revved up to assist by pushing forward. As soon as you would hear the motor scream as the prop came out the water, shut off the engine.

Option 3 was used successfully on many trips.
reminds me of my grandfather. His truck could pull his 23' foot out of the water. however a 1/8 of a mile away was a very steep hill. They would hook a jeep up to the truck with extra heavy duty tow chains, and backup to the water's edge. The jeep and truck would then gun it together to get enough speed to pull everything up the hill.

I was too young to do more than remember it.

Later years my dad would unload the ford aerostar before pulling the 19' boat up that same hill. also with a bit a speed start.

we would then carry our stuff up the hill to repack it before heading home.
 
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Kemo Sabe

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I'm looking at getting a boat since the purchase my Ranger in 2019. I was sure to get the tow package but I opted for the 2WD instead of the 4WD.

The boat I'm looking at is going to be about 5500lbs. That's total weight including boat. trailer, fuel and gear. The boat itself is around 3800 lbs. I'm confident in the towing capability of the truck but wondering how well it is going to do pulling a boat out of the water.

Previously I used a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 2WD to tow my old boat, a 2007 Malibu 23 LSV, it weighed in around the same weight.

I never had a issue an issue getting up and down the ramp with it but I am a little nervous with the Ranger being that it has a lighter curb weight, about 600-800lbs lighter. Curious to hear about other experiences with this and if they have had issues pulling up the ramp with the 2WD version of the truck.

**Edited with more detail**
If you can get traction, it’ll come up ramp. Ramp traction is key.
 

WOADKIL

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I'm looking at getting a boat since the purchase my Ranger in 2019. I was sure to get the tow package but I opted for the 2WD instead of the 4WD.

**
I would consider adding a locker...
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