Northwest Fishing Reports

I'm currently browsing/ready to purchase a bass boat. I'm looking more around 16ft. Bass Tracker or similar
style but have been browsing a few larger boats such an 18ft Skeeter etc, I have no real idea what these vessels/trailer
gross weight is and I'm curious if my truck could handle the weight of an 18footer,its a 1997 Chevy S-10 Blazer
with a 4.3, any info is appreciated.

Hey kevinb,
If I'm not mistaken, your Blazer has a six banger under the hood. I think you might have issues towing a larger boat. On the flat you will probably be OK but for longer trips or towing up hill you'll be in the slow lane for sure. Does your Blazer have a transmission oil cooler? That could also be an issue.

The 4.3 V-6 has plenty of power to pull an 18' glass boat. Where you will run into trouble is stopping power (brakes). The more boat weight pulled = increased load on all of the trucks mechanical systems. Even if you go to a trailer with surge brakes stopping can become interesting to say the least. I you plan on going over the Cascade passes to Eastern WA you get a double whammy. The long upgrades put a severe load on the transmission and even on the down grades you will probably need to downshift to use engine compression to save the brakes. The down grades will be tough as they will definitely tax the trucks braking capacity. On flat land westside towing you'll probably be OK. To be safe and have the truck live you'll need (at the least) to put on a transmission cooler, and install the largest capacity brakes that you can find.

Tow anything Buy a truck and a real truck starting at a 3/4 ton 4x4 the starting blocks.

Always had 1 ton 4x4 crews but if its a 4x4 3/4 with airbags, oil and tranny cooler she will do most.

All the others in the real world and real conditions if your a angler who chases 12 months a year are Grocery haulers gone bad.

V-6 upper mountains suck real plain then you add math size and weight to your towing rig they are pushed down the hill which leads to early brake damage and these lighter rigs the trannys are not designed to be workers the dealers will tell you you can but within 2 years your yuppie puppie is used to tow and work will be toast .

In my younger days I tried the 2.9 V-6 Ford Bronco 2 I did every upgrade and more built the SSSS out of her $$$ it was still lame

Every process has a reason and a value and if your towing Bigger is better, safer and in the long run cheaper if you keep her and care for her Sweet:cheers:

swedefish4life1 wrote:Tow anything Buy a truck and a real truck starting at a 3/4 ton 4x4 the starting blocks.

Always had 1 ton 4x4 crews but if its a 4x4 3/4 with airbags, oil and tranny cooler she will do most.

All the others in the real world and real conditions if your a angler who chases 12 months a year are Grocery haulers gone bad.

V-6 upper mountains suck real plain then you add math size and weight to your towing rig they are pushed down the hill which leads to early brake damage and these lighter rigs the trannys are not designed to be workers the dealers will tell you you can but within 2 years your yuppie puppie is used to tow and work will be toast .

In my younger days I tried the 2.9 V-6 Ford Bronco 2 I did every upgrade and more built the SSSS out of her $$$ it was still lame

Every process has a reason and a value and if your towing Bigger is better, safer and in the long run cheaper if you keep her and care for her Sweet:cheers:

Kevin, unfortunately I agree with Swede on this one. To many years I tried to get by with less – too many lessons learned. Your S-10 makes a good garbage hauler but will fall short towing an 18 ft glass boat. The power range, transmission, stopping power (even with surge brakes on the trailer) and all of the running gear are much to small. I would not like the idea of towing that big of boat down the “Denny Grade” on Snoqualmie Pass. You may decide to give it a try but I am sure you will be sorry later on.

If you are not going to purchase a bigger truck,just stick with your choice of aluminum boats lighter that glass..then you truck will be fine...16' probably the biggest u would want to deal with..for the size motor...You could buy my tracker for 5k:-" 18'pro tourney 60hp

Thanks for all the reply's....you guys freakin rock!:dj:

I think I'll try to ground myself a little more and scrap the 18footer idea and the 16ft is perfect for the family and I,
also a little cheaper too.
Hey Sparky,I'll keep you in mind...I'm checking out a boat tomorrow and will keep you posted.

kevinb wrote:Thanks for all the reply's....you guys freakin rock!:dj:

I think I'll try to ground myself a little more and scrap the 18footer idea and the 16ft is perfect for the family and I,
also a little cheaper too.
Hey Sparky,I'll keep you in mind...I'm checking out a boat tomorrow and will keep you posted.

Family and a bass boat...trust me stick to the single console..daul console offers nothing to the boat other than a shield for passenger and x-tra weight...they can dress xtra warm...family usually will only be out in nice weather where this wont be a prob....

I occasionally tow my starcraft 170 with my wife's nissan xterra that has a v6. as most people stated above it's fine on flat/small hills though it always wants to downshift and most of the time i just turn overdrive off, but up hills it's a pain and it clearly doesn't have the power you would want. i would imagine taking it over the passes would be a nightmare.

kevinb wrote:I'm currently browsing/ready to purchase a bass boat. I'm looking more around 16ft. Bass Tracker or similar
style but have been browsing a few larger boats such an 18ft Skeeter etc, I have no real idea what these vessels/trailer
gross weight is and I'm curious if my truck could handle the weight of an 18footer,its a 1997 Chevy S-10 Blazer
with a 4.3, any info is appreciated.

I thought about not even getting into this debate. but I think you need to hear from someone that did something like what you are talking about.

For most of my early married years, we were as poor as church mice. One vehicle had to do it all, and I could not pass up a boat when it became available to me.

I towed a 14' aluminum, with a 25 horse outboard, 15 gallon live well installed, with a 4 cylinder Ford compact car.

Now the transmission was a 4 speed manual, and I went slow and watched my rpms on the climb, and I went slow and really used the transmission to slow me on the down hill runs.

I never did have premature brake problems, or transmission problems with that vehicle. It did drop a manifold seal at about 125,000 miles, but friends I had got even less miles from those old pieces of junk then I did, and they treated their car like a child.

So, can you do it? YES.

Would I do it again? Not if I could help it.

Given the option, I suggest you go as light as possible on the boat, check the vehicle owners manual for any towing rating, and try to follow it. Next, call your marine dealer and make him find out the gross weight of boat and trailer.

All things are possible, but use a little common since, even if I did not.

Kevin you should take a look at the Smokercraft Alaskan if you can find one. We had one before we bought the Lund and Bill made bass fishing platforms both front and back. It worked great for Bill and our son to bass fish out of and I was always comfortable in the middle. I even would join in the fishing once in awhile. We sold it after we got the Lund but a couple years ago we bought another for Bill, Amos and our grandsons to duck hunt out of and you have seen it out on Tapps with our friends fishing from it. They pull it sometimes with her little Ranger pickup with no trouble around here at least. It is 15 feet long and very stable. The grandsons are always going from one end to the other and leaning over the sides with no problem.
Good luck in your quest.
Rosann

I have tacoma v6 pulling my 17' bass tracker, it doesn't have any problems, but eventually I'd like to get an 18' glass bass boat and wondering the same thing. I guy on this site named Skeeterbassin has an 18' skeeter, I believe his prior vehicle had 6 cylinders, you might want to PM. I think he said it was okay to pull it here on the west side, but the pass is tough on your vehicle.

nice cheap light boats!!!!

My dad had a boat of this make and it was great for kids and fishing and playing Tell me what you think kev this boat is under 1000 lbs your blazer would be fine:cheers:

OK enuff Get a HEMI mega cab haha my 2 cents!!!! It will pull anything hahahahahah

SPARKY101 wrote:OK enuff Get a HEMI mega cab haha my 2 cents!!!! It will pull anything hahahahahah

Hey Sparky, that truck has so much power it will pull a hundred bucks right out of your wallet every time you pass a gas station.

Perhaps you are only giving your two cents because that is all you have left?

LOL

Having a Toyota Tacoma myself, I can say that any V-6 powered rig can haul FAR more than most people give it credit.

5000lbs gvw.

Just find the rated towing capacity on your vehicle, then talk to the dealer. He will know the weight of the boat and trailer combined. Definitely heed the trailer brakes thing, as thats just common safety.

I personally haul a wood cored composite 22 foot boat behind my Tac, and it does GREAT. Did I mention I get over 20mpg?

E

kevinb wrote:I'm currently browsing/ready to purchase a bass boat. I'm looking more around 16ft. Bass Tracker or similar
style but have been browsing a few larger boats such an 18ft Skeeter etc, I have no real idea what these vessels/trailer
gross weight is and I'm curious if my truck could handle the weight of an 18footer,its a 1997 Chevy S-10 Blazer
with a 4.3, any info is appreciated.

Alright kb!!

Now your getting it. The wife let's you get a new boat....SWEET!. "but honey, my Blazer isn't safe to pull the 18' skeeter, for SAFETY sake we better look into getting a new truck......for you of course. But I could use it to pull my, I mean our, new boat... ", kevinb said.

new boat AND truck on the way....

Anglinarcher wrote:

SPARKY101 wrote:OK enuff Get a HEMI mega cab haha my 2 cents!!!! It will pull anything hahahahahah

Hey Sparky, that truck has so much power it will pull a hundred bucks right out of your wallet every time you pass a gas station.

Perhaps you are only giving your two cents because that is all you have left?

LOL

HAHAHA not that bad if you no how to drive.I live in olympia,i drove to coulon launch and back to O-town with boat 1/4 tank thats all could have been less but a couple hills i wanted to see the raw hemi power:cheers: ...south hill fairgrounds....hit the fast lane 60-80 no time flat i love the sound of power:-$ so anyways my points is just drive the speed limit stay in right lane or middle"for the notso great mergers"and cruise.Big truck = great room for long drives and comfortable for the whole family and the circus i can pick up along the way

I towed my 18 foot bass boat with a 1997 Chevy S10 4.3 for a year without much problems. My truck has more power than a Blazer no doubt about it since I have some mods done to it (15.2 sec in the 1/4 mile). I installed a aux trans cooler, thats needed big time if its an automatic trans. Braking with surge brakes on the trailer was pretty good. I now tow with a G20 Chevy Van and the S10 could stop the boat faster I'm sure. Around a corner would have been hairy though if the boat ever got loose. I think its ok for a temporary rig, but I wouldn't go TOO long with it. I avoided going over the pass with my rig, but I did it twice. Trans in DRIVE the rpm's would get up there, I mostly towed at 55mph if I could get away with it.

Well everyone has an opinion so I throwing mine in. I used to think my Jeep Cherokee would be just fine for hauling the family and our 14' boat. It had a bored out H.O. 4.0 in it which was definitely no slouch. Halfway up Stevens, I realized that just because the Jeep COULD do it doesn't mean it SHOULD. The motor had the power but the temperature was running pretty hot and the transmission I'm sure was hating life. The brakes were probably at their limit also. I came to the realization that our kids weren't getting any smaller and eventually I would like to get a bigger boat. I found a 2005 Dodge Quad cab Cummins turbo diesel and haven't looked back since. I know that the truck will be able to pull (pretty much) anything my family will grow into. By the way, I towed my CJ-5 on a 16' car trailer over Stevens Pass and got 19 mpg.