karmaMD11
Active member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2014
- Messages
- 28
- Fluid Motion Model
- C-302 SC
- Vessel Name
- Second Star
Fellow Tug Nutters:
We just completed a1500 mile journey with a R31 sedan in tow and this is a review of what we experienced. For all those curious about the tow experience, we thought you may find this informative and an interesting read.
Our Towing Experience:
- Lots of garden tractor / utility trailer time at home
- Handful of long range U-Haul Trailer tows
Rig:
- 2015 Ram 3500 Single Wheel Axle w/ Cummins Diesel
- Truck only had 1000 miles on it at start of the trip (new)
- 34’ long Tri-axle “Float On” trailer
- 2015 R-31 Sedan
Routing:
- Ft Myers, FL to Buffalo, NY (1500 miles)
- Via FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, WV, PA, NY
- 500 Miles / day - 3 days
- 55 - 60 MPH average
- 2 Lane roads in NY and FL
- No problems unless passing other boaters in tow or big farm tractors
Fuel / DEF Consumption:
- Truck w/o trailer: 18 MPG
- Truck w/ trailer in tow: 10 MPG
- 9 MPG going thru mountains of VA / WV
- DEF consumption: 5 Gallons over entire trip ($2.89/gal)
Permits:
- Mercury Permits used to obtain all permits
- 30% discount with BoatUS membership
- $140 in Mercury Permit fees (percentage of each permit)
- They would not apply for permits until 7 days prior
- We had all in hand via email the day before we left except for NY
- NY was dragging their feet / not Mercury
- Good recommendation to use them again
- $220 in permits (each state had it’s own pricing)
- All states required a wide load permit except NC
- Basic Restrictions for all states:
- Permit required on any width over 8’6”
- No escort vehicles required on 10 Ft beam
- Tow hours: Sunrise to Sunset (some allowed 30 mins either side)
- No towing on weekends or holidays
- Yellow beacon visible 360 degrees (NY only)
- 2 x Wide load signs (front / back of rig)
- 6 Ft or longer (NY required 7 Ft min)
- 6 x 18” Flags (Fwd, Aft and widest part of rig)
- I had to guess on weight of rig for application
- Ram published their weights on line
- Trailer weight was on manufacturer plate
- Ranger advertised weight of 12,000 via website
- 2000# pad for personal goods / fluids
- Tongue weight: unknown
- I had no time to do an actual weigh in prior to launch. Hopefully next trip.
Ram Truck impressions:
- In a word: awesome.
- Tow / Haul w/ Jake Brake kept full control of the rig at all times
- Camera in tail gate made hooking up extremely accurate and easy
- Equipped with Ram Box, there was plenty of room for tools, chocks, jack, etc.
- Highly recommend this as an option on a new build.
Trailer:
- Truck mirrors set vertically worked great monitoring footprint of trailer tires but remember boat is wider 10 feet above the trailer
- All NY tollbooths were wide enough to accept the rig
- WV Tollbooths were too narrow. We were re-routed just prior to entry to the far right hand lane. That caused a bit of a traffic jam.
- In all cases, do not favor the left side to make an easy reach to toll booth operator. The gunwales come dangerously close to the toll booth itself at the 10 ft high point.
- Tires held up fine. We carried a bottle jack and blocks in case of problems.
Weak Points of rig:
- I couldn’t figure out where to mount the Wide Load sign and flags off the front bumper of the truck without drilling holes in truck
- My solution was to put it on the front of the boat vs. the truck
- Easy mounting off stanchions with bungie cords
- Doubled as a bug catcher before they hit the windshields
- Truck could stand to have taller mirrors to make it easier to monitor trailer wheel tracks and clearance along the gunwales 10 feet above.
- Camera in truck tailgate gets displayed as part of rear view mirror.
- Although functional, it is only approximately a 2” x 2” display
- Why not use the 8” screen in the dash for a bigger picture for hooking up.
- Have to work with dealer to see if this is an option.
Over night accommodations:
- 2 Nights in motels
- Cockpit and Cabin were both stuffed full of clothes
- No A/C available in boat being out of the water
- Parking
- Parked in the back of hotel perpendicular to cars
- Carry traffic cones with you to block off 2 adjoining spaces for maneuvering room
Refuelings:
- Tried to use Flying J / Pilot truckstops as much as possible
- 6 cent discount using Camping World c/c
- Lots of turning room available
- DEF available right from pump
- Recommended iPhone Apps:
- MyPilot
- Love’s
- Trucker Path
- Since NY marina fuel prices are typically high, I opted to refuel the boat in PA at the last truck stop
- That was a mistake.
- Seems highway diesel prices are even higher than NY marina prices….
Weigh Stations:
- Trucker Path app identified all weigh stations on our routing
- There was zero human interface with all of the weigh stations
- We got a green light to bypass the scale at all weigh stations except 1 in NC
- That 1 weigh station had us pull on scale, then we got a green light to proceed
Any questions, fire away. We aren’t the only ones doing this but there seems to be enough interest out there about doing this that we thought we’d introduce everyone to what our experience was. I'd attach a rig pic but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.
We just completed a1500 mile journey with a R31 sedan in tow and this is a review of what we experienced. For all those curious about the tow experience, we thought you may find this informative and an interesting read.
Our Towing Experience:
- Lots of garden tractor / utility trailer time at home
- Handful of long range U-Haul Trailer tows
Rig:
- 2015 Ram 3500 Single Wheel Axle w/ Cummins Diesel
- Truck only had 1000 miles on it at start of the trip (new)
- 34’ long Tri-axle “Float On” trailer
- 2015 R-31 Sedan
Routing:
- Ft Myers, FL to Buffalo, NY (1500 miles)
- Via FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, WV, PA, NY
- 500 Miles / day - 3 days
- 55 - 60 MPH average
- 2 Lane roads in NY and FL
- No problems unless passing other boaters in tow or big farm tractors
Fuel / DEF Consumption:
- Truck w/o trailer: 18 MPG
- Truck w/ trailer in tow: 10 MPG
- 9 MPG going thru mountains of VA / WV
- DEF consumption: 5 Gallons over entire trip ($2.89/gal)
Permits:
- Mercury Permits used to obtain all permits
- 30% discount with BoatUS membership
- $140 in Mercury Permit fees (percentage of each permit)
- They would not apply for permits until 7 days prior
- We had all in hand via email the day before we left except for NY
- NY was dragging their feet / not Mercury
- Good recommendation to use them again
- $220 in permits (each state had it’s own pricing)
- All states required a wide load permit except NC
- Basic Restrictions for all states:
- Permit required on any width over 8’6”
- No escort vehicles required on 10 Ft beam
- Tow hours: Sunrise to Sunset (some allowed 30 mins either side)
- No towing on weekends or holidays
- Yellow beacon visible 360 degrees (NY only)
- 2 x Wide load signs (front / back of rig)
- 6 Ft or longer (NY required 7 Ft min)
- 6 x 18” Flags (Fwd, Aft and widest part of rig)
- I had to guess on weight of rig for application
- Ram published their weights on line
- Trailer weight was on manufacturer plate
- Ranger advertised weight of 12,000 via website
- 2000# pad for personal goods / fluids
- Tongue weight: unknown
- I had no time to do an actual weigh in prior to launch. Hopefully next trip.
Ram Truck impressions:
- In a word: awesome.
- Tow / Haul w/ Jake Brake kept full control of the rig at all times
- Camera in tail gate made hooking up extremely accurate and easy
- Equipped with Ram Box, there was plenty of room for tools, chocks, jack, etc.
- Highly recommend this as an option on a new build.
Trailer:
- Truck mirrors set vertically worked great monitoring footprint of trailer tires but remember boat is wider 10 feet above the trailer
- All NY tollbooths were wide enough to accept the rig
- WV Tollbooths were too narrow. We were re-routed just prior to entry to the far right hand lane. That caused a bit of a traffic jam.
- In all cases, do not favor the left side to make an easy reach to toll booth operator. The gunwales come dangerously close to the toll booth itself at the 10 ft high point.
- Tires held up fine. We carried a bottle jack and blocks in case of problems.
Weak Points of rig:
- I couldn’t figure out where to mount the Wide Load sign and flags off the front bumper of the truck without drilling holes in truck
- My solution was to put it on the front of the boat vs. the truck
- Easy mounting off stanchions with bungie cords
- Doubled as a bug catcher before they hit the windshields
- Truck could stand to have taller mirrors to make it easier to monitor trailer wheel tracks and clearance along the gunwales 10 feet above.
- Camera in truck tailgate gets displayed as part of rear view mirror.
- Although functional, it is only approximately a 2” x 2” display
- Why not use the 8” screen in the dash for a bigger picture for hooking up.
- Have to work with dealer to see if this is an option.
Over night accommodations:
- 2 Nights in motels
- Cockpit and Cabin were both stuffed full of clothes
- No A/C available in boat being out of the water
- Parking
- Parked in the back of hotel perpendicular to cars
- Carry traffic cones with you to block off 2 adjoining spaces for maneuvering room
Refuelings:
- Tried to use Flying J / Pilot truckstops as much as possible
- 6 cent discount using Camping World c/c
- Lots of turning room available
- DEF available right from pump
- Recommended iPhone Apps:
- MyPilot
- Love’s
- Trucker Path
- Since NY marina fuel prices are typically high, I opted to refuel the boat in PA at the last truck stop
- That was a mistake.
- Seems highway diesel prices are even higher than NY marina prices….
Weigh Stations:
- Trucker Path app identified all weigh stations on our routing
- There was zero human interface with all of the weigh stations
- We got a green light to bypass the scale at all weigh stations except 1 in NC
- That 1 weigh station had us pull on scale, then we got a green light to proceed
Any questions, fire away. We aren’t the only ones doing this but there seems to be enough interest out there about doing this that we thought we’d introduce everyone to what our experience was. I'd attach a rig pic but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.