Towing a GW 235 with BMW X5?

[billbass]

I’m needing to buy a vehicle for minimal towing my GW 235. Weight m: 6000 pounds with trailer. The BMW X5 is rated for 7200 pounds. The X5 weighs 5000# and its wheelbase is 117 inches. The 7200# X5’s rating probably regards pulling power and stopping/braking power, but not necessarily launching a 6000# load down a sloped ramp into the water. It may be directed more towards pulling a camper or utility trailer on a highway. I will never tow more than 20 miles and I’ll only tow 1-2 times per year. (I keep the boat in a wet slip.). Other than these 1-2 tows, I really don’t want to own a large vehicle like a suburban, or a large pick up.

My only concern is launching and retrieving it from the launch up/down the ramp, which is not overly steep. We don’t have slippery, algae covered ramp problems here.
Based on those above conditions, what advice might anyone have?

 

[PointedRose]

Rent a Home Depot truck for the 2x per year, small price for peace of mind

 

[DennisG01]

You'll be fine at the ramp - 6K lbs isn't all that much - I've used lesser vehicles than the X5 with that kind of weight. That car, while not having a true 4WD system with a low gear, will have an excellent traction control system. There will be no problem with "power" since you'll be in first gear with plenty of torque.

 

[billbass]

Rent a Home Depot truck for the 2x per year, small price for peace of mind

I considered that with Lowe’s trucks but they have no hitches on their trucks. I don’t know about Home Depot. I might be able to use U-Haul pick ups however. Those are good ideas! Thank you!

 

[billbass]

You'll be fine at the ramp - 6K lbs isn't all that much - I've used lesser vehicles than the X5 with that kind of weight. That car, while not having a true 4WD system with a low gear, will have an excellent traction control system. There will be no problem with "power" since you'll be in first gear with plenty of torque.

I agree that there’s going to be plenty of pulling force. My concern was at the very least that a 6000 pound boat on a ramp might have enough rearward force and then might be compensated for even if someone was applying the brakes. Might the boat drag the car into the water? Again, none of the tires would be allowed to be in the water, and even if they were, this ramp has no slippery algae.

 

[JJF]

Buy the daily driver that you want and hire someone to move the boat a few times per year.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

A few things to note here... what year is your x5? I'm showing that most of the ones per Google have a 6,600 lb towing capacity or even less than that. Second, what year of 235 Freedom do you have and what do you have for power on it? Per the GW website, they have the performance data on a brand new 235 Freedom with a single Yamaha F300 and without the trailer they've got it at "6040 lb. (including persons, fuel, water, gear, engines & accessories)." Now that number does include people, which I'm guessing is probably 2 and let's say that they weigh 200 lbs a piece, so 400 lbs total which you could probably remove from that number. But, you've likely got a fuel tank that's as empty as possible to get as good of fuel economy numbers as possible. I'd be willing to bet they probably had 20-30 gallons of fuel in the tank or less, and the boat comes with a 115 gallon fuel tank, so figure an extra 80-90 gallons or so at 6 lbs per gallon and you've already made up for that 400 lbs and then some. My math would put you at 480-540 lbs or right at round 6120-6180 lbs, and that's before adding the trailer weight, of which the tandem aluminum trailer for my boat is 975 lbs. I'm betting that yours is likely heavier than mine, and that's also before food, gear, ice, drinks, bait and whatever else you might have in the boat. My guess is that you're going to be well over that 7k limit even when lightly to moderately loaded and I'd bet you'll be even possibly closer to the 7,500 lb range fully loaded. As others have mentioned, you could rent a truck a few times a year, of which I actually used a U-Haul pickup truck a couple of times before my current tow rig. Or, you could upgrade to a slightly larger SUV with a slightly larger maximum towing capacity. I'm not typically one to tow over the maximum towing capacity, even if it is just right around the block as I'd rather play it safe. It's your boat, vehicle and responsibility though if you do decide to tow with your current rig and did get into an accident.

Grady-White | Freedom 235 Dual Console

Grady-White 23-foot dual console Freedom 235 has premium seating, roomy enclosed head, swim platforms and stern anchor storage.

www.gradywhite.com

 

[billbass]

Buy the daily driver that you want and hire someone to move the boat a few times per year.

Hmm. Very good idea but one of my concerns is being able to be in charge if a hurricane is on its way. The boat hauling providers get totally jammed up. To resolve this I’d have to pay $750/year, every year, just for hurricane haul out services, to just be available to have someone for certain to make a haul. If you don’t have that ahead of time deal you probably won’t get anyone to move your boat for you. This is a very in-water boating area so services are limited. If I can retrieve my boat on my trailer with my car I’m in good shape.

 

[billbass]

A few things to note here... what year is your x5? I'm showing that most of the ones per Google have a 6,600 lb towing capacity or even less than that. Second, what year of 235 Freedom do you have and what do you have for power on it? Per the GW website, they have the performance data on a brand new 235 Freedom with a single Yamaha F300 and without the trailer they've got it at "6040 lb. (including persons, fuel, water, gear, engines & accessories)." Now that number does include people, which I'm guessing is probably 2 and let's say that they weigh 200 lbs a piece, so 400 lbs total which you could probably remove from that number. But, you've likely got a fuel tank that's as empty as possible to get as good of fuel economy numbers as possible. I'd be willing to bet they probably had 20-30 gallons of fuel in the tank or less, and the boat comes with a 115 gallon fuel tank, so figure an extra 80-90 gallons or so at 6 lbs per gallon and you've already made up for that 400 lbs and then some. My math would put you at 480-540 lbs or right at round 6120-6180 lbs, and that's before adding the trailer weight, of which the tandem aluminum trailer for my boat is 975 lbs. I'm betting that yours is likely heavier than mine, and that's also before food, gear, ice, drinks, bait and whatever else you might have in the boat. My guess is that you're going to be well over that 7k limit even when lightly to moderately loaded and I'd bet you'll be even possibly closer to the 7,500 lb range fully loaded. As others have mentioned, you could rent a truck a few times a year, of which I actually used a U-Haul pickup truck a couple of times before my current tow rig. Or, you could upgrade to a slightly larger SUV with a slightly larger maximum towing capacity. I'm not typically one to tow over the maximum towing capacity, even if it is just right around the block as I'd rather play it safe. It's your boat, vehicle and responsibility though if you do decide to tow with your current rig and did get into an accident.

Grady-White | Freedom 235 Dual Console

Grady-White 23-foot dual console Freedom 235 has premium seating, roomy enclosed head, swim platforms and stern anchor storage.

www.gradywhite.com

Not sure where

A few things to note here... what year is your x5? I'm showing that most of the ones per Google have a 6,600 lb towing capacity or even less than that. Second, what year of 235 Freedom do you have and what do you have for power on it? Per the GW website, they have the performance data on a brand new 235 Freedom with a single Yamaha F300 and without the trailer they've got it at "6040 lb. (including persons, fuel, water, gear, engines & accessories)." Now that number does include people, which I'm guessing is probably 2 and let's say that they weigh 200 lbs a piece, so 400 lbs total which you could probably remove from that number. But, you've likely got a fuel tank that's as empty as possible to get as good of fuel economy numbers as possible. I'd be willing to bet they probably had 20-30 gallons of fuel in the tank or less, and the boat comes with a 115 gallon fuel tank, so figure an extra 80-90 gallons or so at 6 lbs per gallon and you've already made up for that 400 lbs and then some. My math would put you at 480-540 lbs or right at round 6120-6180 lbs, and that's before adding the trailer weight, of which the tandem aluminum trailer for my boat is 975 lbs. I'm betting that yours is likely heavier than mine, and that's also before food, gear, ice, drinks, bait and whatever else you might have in the boat. My guess is that you're going to be well over that 7k limit even when lightly to moderately loaded and I'd bet you'll be even possibly closer to the 7,500 lb range fully loaded. As others have mentioned, you could rent a truck a few times a year, of which I actually used a U-Haul pickup truck a couple of times before my current tow rig. Or, you could upgrade to a slightly larger SUV with a slightly larger maximum towing capacity. I'm not typically one to tow over the maximum towing capacity, even if it is just right around the block as I'd rather play it safe. It's your boat, vehicle and responsibility though if you do decide to tow with your current rig and did get into an accident.


here’s my source below. 4400# wo motor. 500# for a 300HP. No passengers when hauling on a trailer. Fuel and water 10-50 gallons max. Trailer 900#. Thats ~6k pounds. The newer X5 is rated at 7700 pounds and the X5 weighs 5k#. My concern is only at the ramp. Could the 6k weight drag the 5k# boat down the ramp even if someone is pressing the brake pedal in the X5 (which would lock all 4 wheels)?

Grady-White | Freedom 235 Dual Console

Grady-White 23-foot dual console Freedom 235 has premium seating, roomy enclosed head, swim platforms and stern anchor storage.

www.gradywhite.com

 

[Hookup1]

Take the boat and trailer and have it weighed. You own it so no need to guess. Get a tongue weight too. May have to go to a trailer shop for this.

Rent a UHaul if necessary. Note that they only equip trucks with 2" ball. They may not allow anything other than a UHaul trailer to be towed. I'm a UHaul dealer and have never had this situation.

UHaul 8' bed pickup truck - 6,000lbs.
UHaul 10' truck - 6,000lbs.
UHaul 15' truck - 10,000lbs.
UHaul 17' truck - 10,000lbs.

Do you own the X5? If the weight is within the range of the X5 I would try it. Hook it up and try.

I had an old Dodge RAM truck that would slide on the ramp. Likely defective rear brakes. Once the boat floated it was fine. A little scary though.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Take the boat and trailer and have it weighed. You own it so no need to guess. Get a tongue weight too. May have to go to a trailer shop for this.

Rent a UHaul if necessary. Note that they only equip trucks with 2" ball. They may not allow anything other than a UHaul trailer to be towed. I'm a UHaul dealer and have never had this situation.

UHaul 8' bed pickup truck - 6,000lbs.
UHaul 10' truck - 6,000lbs.
UHaul 15' truck - 10,000lbs.
UHaul 17' truck - 10,000lbs.

Do you own the X5? If the weight is within the range of the X5 I would try it. Hook it up and try.

I had an old Dodge RAM truck that would slide on the ramp. Likely defective rear brakes. Once the boat floated it was fine. A little scary though.

Pretty simple fix... Enterprise has both a 3/4, as well as even a 1 ton pickup truck, that can be rented.

Moving Trucks, Commercial Box Trucks and Vans - Enterprise Truck Rental

Enterprise trucks, vans and vehicles are among the newest and most reliable in the truck rental industry. These well-maintained and driver-friendly vehicles serve many purposes from work trucks to transportation vans to moving trucks.

www.enterprisetrucks.com

 

[JJF]

Hmm. Very good idea but one of my concerns is being able to be in charge if a hurricane is on its way. The boat hauling providers get totally jammed up. To resolve this I’d have to pay $750/year, every year, just for hurricane haul out services, to just be available to have someone for certain to make a haul. If you don’t have that ahead of time deal you probably won’t get anyone to move your boat for you. This is a very in-water boating area so services are limited. If I can retrieve my boat on my trailer with my car I’m in good shape.

yeah, that's a different story...

 

[Mustang65fbk]

here’s my source below. 4400# wo motor. 500# for a 300HP. No passengers when hauling on a trailer. Fuel and water 10-50 gallons max. Trailer 900#. Thats ~6k pounds. The newer X5 is rated at 7700 pounds and the X5 weighs 5k#. My concern is only at the ramp. Could the 6k weight drag the 5k# boat down the ramp even if someone is pressing the brake pedal in the X5 (which would lock all 4 wheels)?

I can guarantee you that if GW tested the weight of the boat by itself with minimal gear, a couple people on board and it came out to over 6k lbs... then there's no way that you're only going to be at 6k lbs towing weight including the trailer, not even I think if you had an empty fuel tank. Don't use the dry weights for boats and outboards as they're known to be quite inaccurate, instead use the weight of the boat on the performance data sheet that I linked. Second, per Google when I type in 2023 BMW X5 towing capacity it pops up with 6,603 lbs. Though again I'm not sure what year your vehicle is or how accurate that is, though even if it was a 7k lb towing capacity, I still think you're going to be over that. You could always try towing the boat with your vehicle, but again I'm one to play it on the safer side and would rather spend the $100 or whatever it costs a few times a year to rent the correct truck to tow your boat. Because yes, I wouldn't want to have an issue at the ramp and swamp your vehicle because you went the cheap route. I'm not a gambling or betting man, and I'd rather not roll the dice on going the cheap route just because it will save you a few bucks up front. There's a YouTube channel called Miami Boat Ramps/Wavy Boats and they record people at the ramps just because of this as people swamp their vehicles on a regular basis. Again, not personally something that I'd want to risk, but hey it's your vehicle and boat so you can do with it as you please. I'd personally rent a 3/4 - 1 ton pickup truck from Enterprise a few times a year and call it a day. Good luck.

 

[DennisG01]

I agree that there’s going to be plenty of pulling force. My concern was at the very least that a 6000 pound boat on a ramp might have enough rearward force and then might be compensated for even if someone was applying the brakes. Might the boat drag the car into the water? Again, none of the tires would be allowed to be in the water, and even if they were, this ramp has no slippery algae.

You may see posts and internet lore about that happening. It's all conjecture and "what if's" and "I heard". My post/responses are not based on what I find by googling. You will NOT be dragged into the water. I am a life long boater, with many, many combinations of tow vehicles and boats from tiny trucks to large trucks to mid-size SUV's to similar vehicles (I own an MB GL) as you're thinking about. I also happen to work in the industry

I've launched and retrieved on steep ramps, shallow ramps, slippery ramps, concrete rampes, gravel ramps... even where there was no ramp. I've launched and retrieved in places most wouldn't even think about driving including fording over 2+ feet of water in a dually Chevy just to "try and make it work". In that case... well, it didn't. The water never got deep enough to launch the boat. But it was a heck of a lof of fun to try! And you should have seen the looks from the bystanders!

As I said above... you'll be fine. This is not even something I would give a second thought to.

I'm not trying to say I'm better than anyone else posting here so I hope it doesn't come across that way - just offering advice from a "been there, done it" perspective.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I have quite a bit of experience launching and retrieving boats as well, and I can say that there have been a few times where I was a bit nervous about sliding back into the water. My old man had a 1995 Ford F-250 with the 7.3L diesel motor in it but it was RWD only, and with my previous 21' Arima on a somewhat steep, slippery ramp there were a couple of times where you'd be sliding backwards several feet. Never had an issue other than just a quick scare, and as mentioned it was only a matter of a few feet that you'd slide. That being said, sometimes a few feet can make all the difference if you slide too far back or slide off the concrete and into the sand. Every boat ramp is different with different conditions and every vehicle is different with different factors involving them, such as being RWD only or having bald or old tires. After experiencing a RWD only truck and spinning tires going both up and down the ramp, I've always played it safe since then and got the appropriately sized vehicle with great tires and 4WD. Because again, it's not worth it just for the "ego factor".

 

[DennisG01]

Bill, another couple reasons you won't "launch your truck"... your boat isn't pulling the vehicle with 6,000lbs of force - it's a whole lot less. The only way it would be 6,000lbs was if the ramp was completely vertical. Secondly, one of my other trucks is a 3/4 ton which probably weighs about 6,500lbs. It's not uncommon to trailer something more than double it's weight - and that doesn't pull me into the water.

Have I ever slid backwards a bit? Sure - a combination of a slippery ramp and backing down too fast and applying the brakes too quickly. But only a couple feet. No problem.

An X5 is MORE than adequate for what you want to do. You ABSOLUTELY don't need anything bigger. It's a hefty vehicle with fat tires and plenty of grip.

By the way, it's also TOTALLY OK to put your rear tires into the water if you need to. Completely, totally, 100% OK.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

The words in the back of my mind keep saying to “set yourself up with success” by having the right vehicle to do the job. A brand new 235 Freedom is right around $200k, at least that’s what they’re priced at on Boat Trader. I wouldn’t want to risk having an issue with a quarter million dollar boat and $60k+ vehicle on account of being cheap. If there’s a hurricane coming your way and it’s the only vehicle you’ve got then sure, by all means full send it. If not, I’d go the safe route with the appropriately sized truck.

 

[DennisG01]

The words in the back of my mind keep saying to “set yourself up with success” by having the right vehicle to do the job. A brand new 235 Freedom is right around $200k, at least that’s what they’re priced at on Boat Trader. I wouldn’t want to risk having an issue with a quarter million dollar boat and $60k+ vehicle on account of being cheap. If there’s a hurricane coming your way and it’s the only vehicle you’ve got then sure, by all means full send it. If not, I’d go the safe route with the appropriately sized truck.

He is NOT being cheap. An X5 is a perfectly fine/sized vehicle for pulling his boat. He could pull that boat year round with the X5 and be just fine, too.

 

[Beyond A Wake]

I have 2 X5s and had several over the years. Note that there are both Xdrive ones and Sdrive ones. Ie 4 wheel or 2 wheel drive systems. Not a true 4WD but all wheel drive.
One is a 2011 Diesel. It can well tow this and a friend compared it to an Explorer when moving something in a backyard. The Exploder did not manage it and the X5 had no problem at all. (Just one example)
I also have an Sdrive right now and it feels a lot lighter to drive (no front wheel driveshafts etc) and I would not trust that one with a heavier load.

I have used the 3.5d for towing over 600 miles with a load of a fully loaded 21ft Everglades and a heavy trailer. The only trouble I had was a blow out on the highway of one tire, scared me but got fixed and trip continued with frequent measuring of bearing and tire temps.
I would caution about trailer brakes though, make sure they work properly and that you car is set up for trailer brakes as well. I had to add the wiring for it at that time.

But as some other people have said for limited towing and launching retrieving the X5 is a good vehicle. It will look small in comparison to the boat though.........

h

 

[glacierbaze]

My neighborhood, salt water ramp is on a canal, with a couple of feet of tide swing, and that area which is in the tide swing is covered with algae. Where it is dry, traction is no problem, but one step into the water and you are on ice. I have to hang onto the tailgate to get to the winch post, just to keep my footing. I have seen quite a few people bust their ass on these ramps, and for that reason, I don’t get my tires wet.
A friend of mine sunk a full-size dodge ram on that ramp