What can fit in my garage? And what can tow it?

[Peter_C]

My Outrage 190 does go in my garage, I have to let the air out of the tires and drop the windscreen and rail.

N

I have seen a few folks that use an electric winch to suck the axles up to get their trailers into the garage (Much like a rock crawler does to keep the front end down when climbing). Harbor Freight has cheap ones that might work great for that purpose. There is someone on another board that mounted a winch onto the floor of the garage and with a remote control just pull their boat into the garage as they steer it from the front by hand.

As to fit a boat into a garage you can also put it in at an angle. Will take up more the garage but the door can often close.

Maybe if you are buying new, the dealer after a commitment, would be willing to bring one over and see if it fits.

If you get to choose your trailer, then you can also decide if you want tandem or single axle and can get brakes on both axles if tandem. Overkill is never a bad thing. Anything of that size I would want tandem in case of a blow out, and they track much better. Plus if you get flat on a tandem you just strap the axle and keep going...or put a spare on if you have one. I have spare tires for both my trailers.

 

[tazrox]

Thanks for all the responses! I was hoping I could get away with a 2WD 4-cyl, for the other 5 days of the week, but it seems like the 4WD V6 is the way to go.

Aside from Nemrod's Outrage 190, do the rest of you have to remove the windscreen and rail, and let the air out of the tires?

Maybe I'll go with the Montauk 150 for storage and price considerations. The next question is how much of a sacrifice would it be from a 170 to a 150.

 

[Nemrod]

Thanks for all the responses! I was hoping I could get away with a 2WD 4-cyl, for the other 5 days of the week, but it seems like the 4WD V6 is the way to go.

Aside from Nemrod's Outrage 190, do the rest of you have to remove the windscreen and rail, and let the air out of the tires?

Maybe I'll go with the Montauk 150 for storage and price considerations. The next question is how much of a sacrifice would it be from a 170 to a 150.

My Outage 190 is considerably larger and taller than the Montauk 170, in fact it is about 2.5 feet from top of grab rail to bottom of keel and bridge clearance is 1.5 feet greater requirement, I suspect a Montauk would go right in. Most garage doors have a standard opening height I think of seven feet (that is what mine is), measure your door height and then find the height of the boats you are interested in.

The problem with two wheel drive anything is that you really only have one wheel drive unless there is a locker or a limited slip diff. My 4WD Tacoma has a locker in the rear in addition to the 4WD

As to dropping my windshield/grab bar and letting air pressure down on my tires, it takes me about 20 minutes in or out if in a hurry, 30 if I take my time.

I believe a Montauk 170 on trailer will clear a 7 foot door, barely.

N

 

[captain]

With the Eaton locker in my 2 wheel drive Suburban I have never spun the tires pulling out my 22' inboard even on wet slimey ramps.

 

[deepwater]

With the Eaton locker in my 2 wheel drive Suburban I have never spun the tires pulling out my 22' inboard even on wet slimey ramps.

Captain...in addition to your Eaton you have the weight of a Suburban on your wheels. Trucks have a serious lack of weight in the rear to be considered. My F150 4x4 spins it's rear wheels, on slick concrete ramps, all the time. Without the V8 and 4x4 I'd never get my 25' toon out of the water. I saw one of those Tundra, 2x4, trucks hooked to a tractor last weekend. Couldn't pull his nitro out.

 

[Nemrod]

With my Toyota's electric locker engaged there is no wheel spin even on steep, slippery ramps in the Ozarks.

True, a standard PU is light in the rear but double cab trucks have a bit more weight distribution to the rear.

Of course, see, a locker is nice for limited use, but when it snows and the wind blows cold, 4WD makes the truck go, of course there is no boat in tow.

N

 

[deepwater]

Snow????? Cold???? what's that?

 

[herman]

With the Eaton locker in my 2 wheel drive Suburban I have never spun the tires pulling out my 22' inboard even on wet slimey ramps.

I use to/still pull a 24 ft, 6000 lb boat with both a 2wd Chevy station wagon (when they made real full sized V8 ones), a 2 wd Surburban and now a 2wd Tahoe, all of which pulled the boat with no problems, even up slick ramps. Its all about the weight on the pulling tires, PUs, reguardless of their size just don't have the weight needed on the rear to keep them from spinning. Extended cabs are better but still 4wd is needed for larger boats.

 

[captain]

Captain...in addition to your Eaton you have the weight of a Suburban on your wheels. Trucks have a serious lack of weight in the rear to be considered. My F150 4x4 spins it's rear wheels, on slick concrete ramps, all the time. Without the V8 and 4x4 I'd never get my 25' toon out of the water. I saw one of those Tundra, 2x4, trucks hooked to a tractor last weekend. Couldn't pull his nitro out.

I have pulled with Suburbans for years and this in the first one with a locker, all the others would spin the tires to some degree even when loaded with 500 pounds of dive gear depending on the ramp grade.

 

[JamieS]

In regards to the 2wd truck slipping, I remembered this post on another board from a while ago. There are some good thoughts in the discussions later on. And, a classic photo to start it out!

http://www.diver.net/bbs/posts002/78574.shtml