Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

To the poster asking about towing with the 4.6L Ford - I towed my A22 half of last year with a 4.6L AWD Sport Trac and it did fine. You had to tip into it deeper on hills but the truck would hold 70 and had adequate power, including a 500 mile tow in the spring with a different boat weight 5500lbs. I just felt like it was working and required high rpms on hills for sure. That was a 2008 rated at 292 hp and 310 torque. Towing economy was 7-8mpg.

I replaced it with the ecoboost F150 and it is significantly less dramatic to pull with. The power comes on earlier without the need to ever lay deep into the throttle like the 4.6.

2013 ram 1500 4x4 5.7. I get 8.5-10 when towing.

2008 f-150 with the 5.4. It tows great but not like my buddies ecobooat.

My wife and I are going to seal the deal on a 2012 A22 tomorrow (I'll post pics when its finalized). Now we need to figure out what we will pull it with. We are upgrading to the A22 from a '95 seadoo two-stroke pwc

We are looking at trucks but not sure what will be able to handle our long drives to the cabin. Its about a 4 hour drive and we anticipate doing the trip about 6 times a summer. We are in Minnesota so its pretty flat driving on highways.

My wife likes the avalanche and we want 4 Doors. Our budget is < $15,000

Will the V8 5.3L avalanche handle this amount of towing or should we go bigger?

We want the truck to last and since this is our first big boat we want something that will be safe and handle the boat well.

Any help is appreciated.

15k should get you a nice duramax 05-07 range, just make sure it hasn't been ragged on and has good service records, mileage isn't really an issue, a friend of mine tows 11000 lb trailer with his 06 and it has 275k on the ticker. I just hit 100k on mine and it still runs like new.
Also inspect for leaks when buying used, they have problems with the torque converters cracking if they are used too hard and that is a 2k$ fix

The avys are ok at towing but make sure it has the 3.73 rear end. For that long of a tow and doing it that many times a year I would take Walters advice and look at a diesel. That avy will probably get about 8mpg towing vs. a diesel that has the potential of 16+ towing. That's a big difference if your towing a lot of miles.

My wife is really against getting a diesel. I could probably convince her if the numbers show a huge savings.

As far as trucks should I be looking at the first or second "teir" (F150 or F250 Ram 1500 or 2500). Im big on doing a ton of research before i purchase something but Not having experience with towing makes it difficult to look at tow ratings and try to figure out what that means in the real world when a deer runs out on the road.

I pulled our A22 for the last two seasons with a 4 door Jeep Wrangler and it was super sketchy a lot of the time. Not a big deal going 5 miles from the ramp to the dealer, but more than that was really hard work. Getting like 5-8mpg. Worked really hard to tow it at 65 on the flat.

This year my company car turned into a 2500HD diesel, so we upgraded to an A24. My buddy borrowed the truck to go to Fort Hood from Indiana with a 16' trailer to collect his stuff. Empty versus fully loaded (with furniture, clothes and a full size safe) over 1000miles was a difference of maybe $50... I can't wait to tow the boat and not have to stop every 30 minutes for gas. Plus having the wide mirrors and being able to see behind is always a plus!

Just have your wife sit in both, I think the interior on the avy is identical to a similar year 2500hd, just different on the outside, comfort will be the same.

I have to have a 4 x 4 due to my boat ramp but I just engage it when backing down and it takes just barely over idle speed to pull out, I'd be screwed if i still had a gas burner.
But if you don't have to pull up any big hills or steep ramps a gasser might work out fine for you.

Vanamp, you'll be fine with a 5.3ltr 1500. I tow with my 2002 silverado. It does great around here where it's all flat. I towed my old boat here from CA and it was pretty slow going up the mountains but still did well. I get about 10mpg towing vs 13 not towing. That said I do plan to take a hard look at diesel for my next truck.

Where in MN are you? I'm on Forest Lake.