i am thinking of selling my truck, and using my wifes pathfinder to tow my boat around. who has experience in this situation?

seems like that would be pretty durn tuff. I had a v6 single cab Chevy and it did not like hills or wind when pulling my 18 footer and that because it is maily pretty flat here. I am not sure but I would think a 20 footer is far to much boat unless you don't mid going 55 to 60 mph.

mostly i fish 3.7 miles away from home, speed isn't that much of an issue, loading and unloading are my biggest concerns...

well as far as loading and unloading I never had a problem. Like I said, my boat is a n 18 footer but a very heavy 18 footer and absolutely zero issues getting up the ramps and I have gone up some very steep ramps. I think you'll be more than ok if thats all you need it for.

I second (or maybe third) what the others have said. I used to trailer a heavy 17' fiberglass inboard/outboard ski boat with a Dodge V6 pickup and it did fine. I sure didn't set any land speed records, but pulled that boat out of the water 100's of times no problem and nothing ever broke. Granted, I don't know how it would've done in the mountains, and I never dared try passing on a two lane road, but driving grandma style here in the flatlands was no problem. Ideally, of course, you'd want to use a more powerful tow vehicle (my father's V8 Tundra makes short work of towing jobs) but as long as the weight doesn't exceed the maximum the Pathfinder is rated for, it should be adequate.

I towed my 17ft bass boat with my 98 4runner v6, traded it in to get a v8 tundra could not feel the 17ft boat, now i got a 20 ft bass boat. BE CAREFUL!!!!!!! (action and reaction) I have overload springs on my tundra, tundra can pull it 80 no problem just the springs dont like the weight, added overload spring balanced the truck out ready to go.

The Pathfinder will do it (rated at 3500lbs i believe), but ithas a coil spring rear end to give a soft ride. You might need to invest in a different rear shock setup. I've got a customer with a QX4 that tows a Champion & he added coil over shocks.

You sound like you live near me. I'm just south of 20 and GSW PKWY. I pull my boat with a 6 cylinder. Course it is a light boat and my truck is rated to pull 14k lbs.
I have been thinking of trying pull the Allison to Joe Pool with my daughters Honda CRV. Its not rated for it but its only like 5 miles or so and the trailer weighs somewhere around 2000lbs or less.

right next to each other david, i live off claremont and gsw.3.7 miles from the launch

David,

A 6 cylinder with published rated towing numbers of 14,000 pounds? What truck is that?

It would seem to me the Pathfinder would be fine, if the hitch is rated for your load and the ramp is not steep. I've seen the little hitches on things like that....even though it is 3.7 miles, if something "happens" and you are over the rating, I am sure it would not be a good day for you legally.

Put it like this:
Its like insurance, you never need it until you need it.

The V-6 should be fine for short hauls. I used to tow an 18 1/2 footer with a 4x4 s-10 with a Vortech V-6. I would consider something to stiffen up the rear-end. Does the trailer have brakes? On a 20 footer, i would hope so. Knowing what I know now, brakes would be the kicker. Never thought of that till one time I was pulling a hore-trailer without trailer brakes. that was alot bigger trailer with ALOT more wight though.

2000 Dodge Quad Cab diesel with a 5 speed manual. I lied about the towing capacity. Its only 13,950 and you caught me on that one.

LOL. No, you caught me on that one!

Here I was thinking this thread was about 6 cylinder gas engines, and you drop the teaser that your 6 cylinder can pull more than V8's!

The funny thing about it is the original poster was looking for advice on what a 6 cylinder could pull, and you post how much your vehicle can do, which is totally irrelevant to his question. I bet you're a riot at parties!

Sorry, I thought the 14k lb hint was a dead giveaway, but....