Took the boat to my parents house to put some rails on it and other goodies. About 100 miles round trip. Truck had plenty of power to get it up and moving and easily maintained speed in 7th gear. Its still not fast by any means, but the 8 speeds are much more appreciated with the load than they are empty. Didn't check the fuel mileage as it was only 100 miles, but the instant readout fluctuated between 15-17 mpg while towing.

Outside temp was 81 degrees and the trans temp would run the same after I reached cursing speed and the oil and water registerd 5-10 degrees over normal which I hear is normal.

Only gripe is with the reverse gear. I read that the reverse gear is equivalent to the 2nd forward gear in ratio... when it came to backing the boat up my folks steep driveway I was turning 2k rpms in reverse... that sucked. Boat is 24' long and as far as boats go I feel its pretty heavy.

Dang that's a long boat!

Never knew the boat was gonna be THAT big. Our TT is 30 foot from ball to rear bumper. This boat is 31' from ball to motor. I had to revise the plans for my garage a couple days before concrete was poured, so glad I made the last minute call to get an exact measurement on the whole deal. Driving around with this boat is literally like pulling a travel trailer you need trailer mirrors to see the sides.

I just pulled my brother in law's Nauticstar 231 coastal from Houston to Austin and that thing is a beast but the Ecodiesel sportsman 4x4 did very well averaging 16 MPG. That Star is a HEAVY HEAVY boat and backing it down the narrow ramp I used at Lake Buchanan was a serious challenge.

Carolina Skiff with a Zuke? Is it four stroke?

Nice rig and I like the


Freudian Slip?

Yeah has a 150 hp Suzuki 4 stroke. We replaced a 19 foot skiff with a 24 like them both quite a bit.

Took the boat to Rockport this weekend 100% towing mileage was 14.1 mpg. Other than needing to learn more about the bay and bad weather everything went great.

Speed?

65-70 mph

I noticed if I backed it down to 60 mph all the temps dropped a few degrees and the fuel mileage was a mile or two per gallon better, but we were headed home to make a funeral viewing so hypermiling had to wait for another day.

Was pretty impressed with the truck fought a head wind both ways. I am interested to see what the temperatures run in the 105 degree heat of summer. Everything stayed well within acceptable temp ranges, but the outside temp was only in the mid 60's. Fluid temps below:

Water: 210
Trans: 199
Oil: 224

I will have to look and see what my normal water and oil temps are after the truck is all the way warmed up. I know my empty trans temp runs 192 all the time, but don't recall the oil and water other than the oil usually runs about 10 degrees hotter than the water.

Reverse gear is still wwwaaaaayyyyyyy to F*#&(ING high! I don't know what the designer of this transmission was thinking when they put the reverse ratio in that they did but they surely weren't thinking about trailers or backing up hills!

Samsonworld,

I have been really pleased with my truck and ecstatic about the fuel mileage; however, I will openly admit that when it come to speed and pure muscle the ecoboost will walk all over the ecodiesel every day every time any which way but fuel mileage.

That said I also have the 3.55 gears instead of the 3.92's. I have talked to a few people pulling 34-35' TT's with a truck like mine and I think they are nuts.

Just gives me a better idea on the mileage. 14mpg at 55mph not so good. 14 at 70mph is pretty good imo, especially in wind or hills.

ps - I think I'm nuts for towing 35' with a half ton.

nice rides!

Thanks, have enjoyed both!

That's a heavy boat.

Would not want to pull that with a half ton a gasser would struggle with that.

How do you like the boat? What's your speed with the 150?

Do you have trailer brakes on the front axle of that rig? My only real concern with towing it with that truck would be stopping power.

Was also wondering if your truck has a tow/haul mode that locks out higher gears as appropriate (like on hills).