Define "boat" J. R.. If it's a 35 foot speedboat or a 25 foot center console with twin 300s, that big diesel is warranted, for instance.

Fair enough, I think for most freshwater boats though, the gas truck will handle just about any of them just fine for the most part. Save for a few exceptions.

Extremely large and heavy stuff like the speedboat you mentioned, or some type of yacht, houseboat, or anything of that magnitude will need a diesel, or possibly even a semi truck.

Also not hating on diesels, I love diesel trucks. They just don’t make much financial sense for the average truck owner or boater. Sure some things are too big and heavy for a gas truck to handle, and sure companies and individuals in certain occupations may need them for work. I just think the financial burden of one of those trucks is not necessary unless you need one, and you can get a lot newer and nicer truck for about the same price point as what these older diesels are going for if you opt for a newer gas one instead.

Ill echo that and take it one further. If your towing a bass/bay boat type boat don't even spring for a 3/4 ton, any of the gas 1/2 tons will do it with ease. I love diesels and I drive one, although its not one of the fire breathing 400 HP 1000 ftlb monsters they are building these days its a puny little half ton ecodiesel, even knocking down an average of close to 30 mpg its +'s over a gas vehicle are debatable.

Just out of curiosity for the guys that had problems with the 6.0's, did yours ever have a performance chip put in?

Not until after the problems were fixed. The big issue is the EGRs tend to fail and makes them overheat causing the head gasket to leak. The stock head bolts are a poor design and stretch if overheated. Mine was stock when the EGR failed at about 90k miles. About a year later ( just out of warranty), it overheated again pulling a trailer up a hill due to a head gasket leak. Likely the head gasket went when the EGR went out the 1st time, but it was the 1st time I pulled a heavy ( around 8000 lbs) load up a hill so I never knew.
I had the head bolts replaced with ARP studs and had the permanent EGR fix. At the same time I added a 140HP tune (moderate) with no engine problems since. Once you fix or delete the EGR and get head studs it’s a great engine and can tolerate a heavy tune. In stock form you can pretty much count on EGR and head gasket issues at some point, especially if you tow anything heavy.

What are you going to be towing with it??

I was gonna tow a Skeeter bay boat, but momma raised hell.

The fuel economy alone, with a bulletproofed 6.0, will more than pay for the cost of the bulletproofing. I towed back and forth to Las Vegas many times with a bullet proofed 6.0, hauling about 18,000 lbs. On a towing/performance tune, it averaged 15.8 to 16.1 depending on the terrain. With a light load like a boat, it would likely double the mpg of a 2500 with a gasser. I've had/used (some were company vehicles) a 7.3 Ford, a 6.0 Ford (bullet proofed), a 5.9 Cummins with a 6 speed stick, a 6.6 LBZ Duramax with 6 speed Allison, and my current rig, a 6.7 Ford.

For Tire frying fun, the Duramax, and the 6.0 were tops. For absolute grunt, the 5.9 Cummins. Fuel Economy, a tie between the 6.0 and the Duramax, For absolute bells and whistles, and just a nice all round truck, my 6.7 King Ranch. The fuel economy absolutely sucks balls with any of the new diesels, compared to the old ones. You can delete them, and pick up substantial power, and mileage. But, I'm waiting on mine to go out of warranty, before I would even think of that.

head studs, with a vc flush and new oil cooler and a egr delete is not a bullet proof job. I have built bullet proof 6.0's and held a international sr mechanics lic.back in my day. parts alone are north of 12,000. To truly bullet proof one it requires a complete tear down of the motor and then block & head machining and building up from there. I use to laugh at people who spent 8,500 and said there 6.0 was bullet proofed because they got head gaskets and a egr delete with vc flush... and the shop still didn't even change lifters.

6.0's are a power making machine and can be great engines when built right. But studs and head gaskets are not the answer. beside the head studs stretching is what we found the real problem is was the variable vane turbo to caused a lot of head issues . Ford uses a different program vs international with the same engines in the small delivery trucks and buses who never seen the head gaskets issues just the leaking up pipe problems. Fords program pushes the the turbo much harder then the international program did and that cause a lot a stress on the head gaskets and studs back in those days. Thats why Ford kept changing the ecu program updates all the time besides the ones for the injectors cooling tip issues.Just telling you what I seen a lot of and what the international engineers where telling us about the difference in programs.

16 mpg hauling 18,000 lbs... do we even need to call BULL $HI+ on that or can people smell it for what it is?

The rest of the post is about as useful.

You can call it what you want, but it was hand calculated, and verified by my employer, as they had to have gas receipts, and they couldn't believe it either. Also remember netween Oklahoma City and Vegas, it's about as flat a stretch of highway as you'll ever run. .Not much in the way of hills and/or mountains

I just wish I could get my 6.7 to even get close to that on the highway with nothing behind it.

No matter who presents this, its BS. 15 mpg on flat terrain with a rig, 7k truck and 11k trailer, is not going to come close to 15 mpg. I would be amazed if someone could get 12 mpg with that load and 10 to 10.5 would impressive.

I have a 5.9 with 5 speed that will tow at 17 mpg pulling my boat here in Texas. Put it in the Arkansas hills and it drops to 15.5 every time.