Big Week(end)

Well, as the title states. It was a big weekend for fishing, but the boat didn't get wet at all...

On Thursday, I got my hands on a GPS/Fishfinder combo for the boat. It's an "older one", but I got it for FREE. Holds 250 waypoints, maps your way to your destination. Does "leg" style coordinate mapping, has direct input for gps coord waypoints, and a lot more that I haven't even discovered yet. It will be A LOT nicer than my basic $89 handheld gps (which will remain with me as an excellent back-up).

Yesterday, the wife decided she was going to rearrange the look of the side of my 89 F-250 tow vehicle. So, today, we made a 4hr roundtrip to go buy my new tow vehicle. Picked up a 1998 durango (90k miles) with tow package to get the big red monster to the lake and back. The drive was worth it due to the good condition of the vehicle, low miles and great price.

Well, anyways... still rolling around another purchase... a 6hp kicker for the boat. You guys are slaying them while trolling and you're killing me (in a good way) with your reports!

I used to tow with a Durango with a 360 motor and that thing was a towing machine and very easy to maneuver at the dock. I hope you have good luck with your's too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eyezcrazy

I used to tow with a Durango with a 360 motor and that thing was a towing machine and very easy to maneuver at the dock. I hope you have good luck with your's too.

---

Thanks Eyez... I am hoping it sits ok. Gonna hook it to the boat today and see if it squats much. Not worried about the tow weight as I estimate my rig, trailer and all to weigh around 2800lbs and the durango is rated around 6400 for pulling. Just tongue weight has me worried until I see it with the little SUV.

My Durango has a 5.2L in it btw. That's the Dodge 318.

All you need is a big sea anchor off the back slow your big motor right down, less than 100.00 at the bait barn.

Good point on the sea anchor. I do have a drift sock. The 120 idles pretty low as it is. With the "new gps", I plan to see what kind of speed it actually idles at. Perphaps it would only take a 5gal bucket off the back to do the trick... Just worried about fuel consumption and wear on the big motor. She ain't no spring chicken and I don't wanna use up the last of her while idling along.

I did hook the boat to the Durango today and was very very happy to see that it only squatted about three inches with the tongue full supported. Looks like she's a go! I did cheat a little before I actually hooked it up. I looked in the owner's manual and saw the pull rating for it was 5200lbs and max tongue weight was 15% of that. Some quick math in the head gave me around 800lbs max tongue weight. I was pretty confident then, as I was quite sure that my 2800lb rig did not put 800lbs on the tongue.

the 5 gallon bucket idea is good on paper, but not so much in practice. use the drift socks instead...this is from personal experience. GOOD LUCK