Towing pontoon boat with hitch extension
 

Hello and thanks for all the great info here. This is a little off topic and maybe better posted in Misc but I will give it a shot here. I have a 2001 Ford F-250HD (gas burner). The hitch I have was on it when I bought it 2 years ago. The sticker says V5 with limits of 10,000 lbs towing weight and 1,000 lbs tongue weight. I have a very light truck camper (maybe 1,500 lbs fully loaded) in my bed. Finally, I have a 24 foot pontoon boat with a 70 hp motor and trailer with a combined estimated weight of no more than 4,000 to 5,000 lbs. I plan to tow my boat to the water on good level roads about 2 hours away and leave it. My questions: To use the hitch with the camper on, I already have a 2 foot hitch extension (no idea of manufacturer or rating). The label on the extension says it decreases towing limts by 1/3 but based on my above weights I would still be within limits. Can I safely tow the boat as set out above on a once every year or so basis? Also, I think that I could get by with only a 1 foot extension. Would that make the difference as far as being able to safely do this? If this is not something I can safely do, I can tow the boat with a different vehicle since it is not something I will be doing often and not that far, but I would prefer of course to use my own. Finally, I have air bags on my rear suspension so that will not be a problem. Thanks in advance. Raleigh.

Whats reduced by a 1/3rd- the tounge weight, or trailer weight?

Do you have the OE Ford hitch or an aftermarket hitch?

I have the Class V hitch on my truck that came from factory and it is not rated for much without a weight distributing setup.

Here is a pic of the sticker on my hitch.
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...0/DSC00023.jpg

If you have the same hitch I do I would not recommend towing your boat with the extension. Honestly I don't like extensions but if you have no other choice but to use one you want to go as short as possible and get one rated as higher as you can.

I need to upgrade my hitch soon because I'm on the raged edge of its rating and have went over before. The Ford hitch has a very poor non WD rating considering the truck it came on.

Probably both. The extension is just basically a lever that puts more stress on everything.

I pulled my hitch off my truck and installed that Reese Titan hitch with the 18,000lb trailer and 2000lb tongue weight carrying capacity. I feel better with it but wonder if the Ford hitch rating had anything to do with the frame strength or anything like that. I know with the Titan hitch it's not only secured with the 8 bolts like the factory one but also is attached with a plate and bolts on each side which probably helps with the increased tongue weight. I also got the matching draw bar and ball, it seems indestructable!!

I was looking at that hitch but it is a bit overkill for me and I don't really want to step up to 2 1/2". All the drops I have are 1500/15000 for 2" receivers so I really do not want to switch. i may be upgrading to a 14k GVW trailer in the future so I'll have to do something. All I tow is utility/dump trailers and boats so I don't use a WD setup with any of them. Only time I see people using a WD setup is with travel trailers.

I think this hitch would work good for me.
Curt Trailer Hitch for Ford F-250 and F-350 Super Duty 2004 - 15514

That looks like a nice hitch with a high enough capacity for 2" draw bars. A hitch like that should come on the trucks from the factory.

I chose the overkill my my 14k dump trailer and the fact it wasn't that much more money for capacity. I have the reducer but I only needed it for a small until its trailer where capacity was next to nothing. But if you got all that then sure. Mine was a factory 2 1/2" anyway.

Hitch Photo
 

My hitch label does not say Ford so it may be after market, if that helps. How can I attach photo saved on my desktop. I can't see it.

I really don't think your trailer weighs as much as you think. What is the model of the boat? Also I don't think you have all that much tongue weight if you have a tandem axle trailer. As others have said use the shortest extension possible.

Trailer weight
 

First, disregard question re photo. I see now I cannot post attachments. My rig is a 24 foot Tracker party barge with a tandem axle trailer and a 70 hp outboard motor. I was trying to estimate on the high side. What is your idea on weight. Thanks.

Use a hosting site such as Photo Bucket then copy the IMG code and paste it in your post.

I searched for Suntracker Party Barge 24 DLX and found the weight of that particular unit is 2085lbs plus trailer which I would guess would be 1000lbs. So guessing a total weight of 3085lbs plus some cargo, round that off to 4000lbs. Tongue weight would be maybe 400lbs. I think your reciever would handle that.

The truck camper and the tongue weight count toward your payload. That's probably fine. The truck camper + boat + trailer counts toward your GCWR. If you are under both, the last to worry about is your hitch. In your case, my guess is your hitch is the biggest worry. A general rule of thumb is 10-15% tongue weight of the trailer or probably no more than 600 lbs of tongue weight for your camper. Shorten the ball mount as much as possible. Otherwise, you will have leverage against the hitch which can destroy the hitch by breaking it.