Boat Trippin’

All good stories start with a road trip. In this one my bride and I will head almost 3 hours north tomorrow through the hellish heart of Atlanta to retrieve a 2000 Pursuit 2460 Denali - a 25' boat that weighs around 7000 lbs with trailer. It will be the heaviest thing I've ever hung behind Ole Blue, our 2013 F150. It's rated for 9700lbs and well over 15k GCVW though, so should be fine.
 

Tools are loaded - EDC box with enough tools for most trailside repairs, air compressor, and recovery straps. Additional tool tote with battery impact and drill, larger sockets, wrenches, hammers, punches, etc. dirty old tote for various greases and fluids, green electrical box with a full trailer wiring harness, small floor jack and jack stands, spare tire and some cribbing. 
 

itinerary:

0530 - wheels up

0545 - fuel ourselves and the truck at Bucee's (Beast breakfast tacos..mmmm)

0800-0900 onsite at buyers house. Handle paperwork and then get new tires on trailer, go over boat systems and hopefully be headed out before 1400

return trip will be leisurely backroad circumnavigation to avoid Atlanta and the interstate. 
 

hopefully stay tuned for live updates 

Good luck!

I am wicked jealous that y’all have a Bucee’s within 15 minutes.     Good luck with the tow, you’re well prepared and should be fine with your truck.  

It's the only Bucees in the state right now and it is 

A

MAY

ZING!

I had never been in one. I was deprived. 

We enjoyed them on our trips to see our son when he was in Texas.  Agreed on amazing.  

slightler later start than planned, but Bucees up and rollin' 

It's a secure man that ventures to the "hellish heart of Atlanta" with red toe nails.

In reply to 914Driver :

Not what I took home from that image, but damn that's good!

And my wife is just that man! LOL. 

Arrived at 0845, signed paperwork and put the boat up on jack stands. I hadn't stood next to it on the trailer. It's huge. 
just dropped the wheels off, should have new shoes by noon. Then some demo time on the boat. 

Tires done by 10:30, back to the house for a walkthrough of the boat. Went over all the systems, a ton of documentation and service history. On the road by 1. Stopped 40 miles out and the bearings seem to be doing ok. Truck is handling the load well. Not sure the trailer brakes are working. 

Trailer brakes?  On a boat trailer?  You are a very funny man.

It always starts with a 3 hour tour...

finally home safe and sound. Trip went great, even did the last 40 miles or so on the interstate running 65 or so. I refilled the master cylinder every time we stopped, the starboard side brake is pumping fluid out pretty quickly. I don't think I really had brakes from it at all but overall stopping ability from the truck was ok enough for comfort. Since I've got to rebuild some of it anyway, I'd really like to convert it to EOH disk. I'm not a fan of the clunky nature of the surge system so far.  Trailer hubs never got much over 120*F

The truck did great. It pulls away from a stop fine, pulled up some pretty steep hills comfortably, never felt overwhelmed by the trailer even being passed by a semi on the interstate. Easy one hand driving. Rear end does get bouncy over dips, you can feel the tongue weight. I might add airbags to help that but it's not really that bad as it is. 
 

I filled up with premium instead of the usual cheap stuff as I read the EBs really like it when towing heavy. I averaged and indicated 10.6 mpg, so real math it's probably just under 10. That pretty spunky for 7000 lbs through hills at 65mph and a bunch of stop and go traffic. 
 

build thread starts soon. Maybe tomorrow 

Super kick ass! 

Looks awesome. Glad the trip went well. That's solid mileage towing that much weight. 

Congratulations on a successful trip!   Get on the trailer brake work, I know mine were powerful enough to stop the whole rig with only steady pressure on the the brake pedal to keep the surge cylinder forward.  You really want the trailer brakes working properly if you need to stop in a hurry.    Also, that is decent mileage.  I did about 13 at 55-60 with a 6 cylinder  Explorer and less weight, 4,800 or so.  

Good brakes are key. Because we trailer everywhere I believe in spending the time and money to do it safely and make it as bulletproof as possible. My ultimate goal is Kodiak stainless discs on both axles and electric over hydraulic actuation, but I don't think I can drop that coin until I've been through some stuff on the boat. I suspect I'll have to start with new drums and a new surge actuator, and maybe add drums to the second axle. Or stay with a single axle and do surge discs. I was hoping I could piece meal into it, but I don't think there's enough hardware crossover to make it work. 

The capability of modern trucks is amazing. Great boat, by the way. I have always had plans for eventually owning something that would be capable of offshore fishing. 

I finally realized I'd never be able to afford it. I'm saving money by messing with cars instead.  

Yeah...I'm enjoying the boats more these days. Everything in its own season. One plus to this is that my bride enjoys the boats a lot. That means she gets to benefit from my hours spent in the shop as well, and that makes for a happier life. 
 

another comparison - I'm closer to boating facilities (lakes) than I am to racing facilities - with the exception of auto cross or rally which are only available  once a month. For less than 10 minutes total time each time. 
 

in fact, the closest track is in Savannah, so trailering to an event and paying to run for a weekend would actually cost me more than trailering this boat to the coast for a weekend. 

I was promised a build thread.  

I missed the end of the engine story on this one, apparently it worked out OK

So....has anyone seen or heard from the OP? I don't have his # anymore but he seems to be absent. Sort of weird that I'm asking but with COVID these days it's wise to check on folks. 

Hello GRM Nation. This is Mrs. Ultraclyde.  As I am sure you all know by now- Ultraclyde passed away in August of 2021.   I now need your help in selling this boat.  There is more information in this thread and the thread where  Ultraclyde was thinking about purchasing this boat than I will ever know.  It has been parked in my driveway for almost a year and I need for it to be gone.  I'm asking only what we paid for it - $23,000.   Any help you can give will be most appreciated!

Still for sale!!!!