I "had" an 01 F150 4.6 and it barely pulled my ZX250. Seemed like I had to pump the accelerator pedal all the time to get up hills. Upgraded to a 2011 Chevy 5.3. Pulls it like a dream. I hated that truck but needed it to pull my boat.
18 or maybe 19 ft boat would probably be alright with the 4.6.

I have an 07 Supercrew 4x4 with the 5.4 and a 20'Champion and its fine on power, could use a little more. Gas mileage is 15 to 16 not towing and 11 to 12 with the boat.

The boat on the other hand with a 250 Pro XB in a gas hog . Maybe I need to stay out of the hotfoot a little?

If you want better gas mileage you gotta go with an 09 or newer Ford and it will also tow it pretty well. Had an 05 and 06 with the 4.6 and it got the job done but guzzled the gas when towing and better be in the right lane going up hills cause unless you wanna turn 5k rpm your going to steadily slow down all the way up!

They won't pull a wet weenie out of a jar of mayonnaise.

My 10' F150 w/ 5.4 goes just fine with my 202 Skeeter, Im sure the new tranny really helps.......If we all worried about gas mileage the fish would be lonely.......
Gone Fishin!!!!!!!!!!

My deisel F250 doesn't get much better mileage. I think around 13 pulling.

If you're concerned with the towing performance of the older 4.6 you could always get a tuner like the Gryphon from Power Hungry Performance.

http://www.gopowerhungry.com/

Stock engine tuning is very conservative. A tuner can help greatly with towing performance.

I had a 2010 with the 4.6L and honestly it drove me crazy towing an 18ft skeeter with it. The tranny could never decide what gear to stay in and unless I was going downhill with the wind at my back it would not stay in 6th gear for nothing.

I had a 2010 with the 4.6L and honestly it drove me crazy towing an 18ft skeeter with it. The tranny could never decide what gear to stay in and unless I was going downhill with the wind at my back it would not stay in 6th gear for nothing. It was the shortest lived vehicle ownership I have ever had with a vehicle bought new, had it less than 7 months. Traded it in and bought another Tundra with the 5.7L!

I have a (07) F-150/4.6L that tows my 20-I, loaded with gear, and fuel with no problems.

With the small gas motors use tow mode and take them out of overdrive it will save your transmission. I pulled with an 07 Ford 4.6 and a 21ft Sprint with no problems. Yes there were time I wished I had more power. I have upgraded to a Dodge with a 5.7 look forward to trying it out towing. BTW I need to reseach this but I guess if your 6 speed has double overdrive you will need to drop down to 4th gear.

I fixed it for you.

i pull my 18.5' with a lifted jeep grand cherokee inline 6...
so while its not the best tow vehicle it gets me from a-b but i gaurantee the f-150 would be more stable and would drag the jeep if we lined them up lol

This is very true. I have a 97 Scab w/5.4 2 valve and before the Grypon and Gott's intake mod I was getting 10mpg towing and it improved to 13mpg towing and 16 highway empty. I bought back in september an 06 Screw w5.4 3 valve and it is getting 13.5mpg towing and 17 highway empty with no mods but plan on adding a Gryphon and doing the DWV intake mod after I find out whether I'm going to have to pay taxes again this year . Either truck has towed my 01 TR186DC like it wasn't there except at the gas pump. The boat is loaded to the hilt with 18 R&R combo's and storage compartments filled to the point the lids barely shut with enough tackle to start my own tackle warehouse and 36 gallon fuel tank full. Neither truck is totally empty with a tool crossbox loaded. Both trucks get around 13.5 to 14.5 driving daily from Garland to Irving to work in LBJ frwy traffic . My dad has a 2010 with 4.6 and non limited slip diff and it tows his utility and livestock trailers as well as his 17' procraft without any problems and no mods. You should be ok but if your thinking about doing any mods then do your homework you can throw alot of money at things that really won't make any major improvements for instance the cold air intake as opposed to a Gott's or DWV intake vs the expence.