The ultimate beach cat truck

I'm pretty happy with my extended cab 1500 Silverado with a cap on the bed and a carpet kit in the bed. I've got plenty of room to put gear, N20 and F18 sails fit lengthwise into the bed with no issue and I've never run out of space back there. Stinky gear also goes in the back for the trip home and because the bed is separate from the cab, we don't have to smell it. The seats in the back may not be suitable for a 5 hour trip but most of the time someone's back there, we're just headed to a restaurant.

Couldn't be happier with my FJ Cruiser.

Plenty of space in the back for all of your gear, 4WD w/locker for pulling trailer on sand. Trailers great. NO CARPET IN THE WHOLE DAMN THING so you can leave a pair of soggy sailing booties in the back for a day in the Florida sun, then pull them out and the car doesn't stink at all.

A fuel tank that never empties!!!!

The one hitch is that the truck needs to keep its ability to pull a gooseneck trailer. One of those canvas bed camper/cover deals might be a reasonable compromise. Right now I have a cab-chassis so the options are great.

I love my F-250 SD Diesel. 226k miles and running strong. I have the Crew Cab and it is nice dogs in back and people in front. I also have a slide in camper , or fiberglass shell for the bed.

I'd +1 Rich's setup... might even save some hotel costs?

How much did that camper setup cost?

http://www.rvclearinghouse.com/listings/view/17/toters-and-trucks-2002-fl112/11965

This should do it!

I think retail was 18,000 on the camper. had an old one I traded in and got last years model so it was cheaper.

So the project begins. Here is the starting point. It's an 07 F450 diesel, ambulance package which means it has a pair of generators that can produce ~250 amps. The plan is to build a steel flat bed with boxes for tools, sails or anything else. Add a larger compressor and inverter. The second part of the plan is to acquire a 25-30f gooseneck that is built a little on the lighter side and add a small pop-up or slide in camper to the front of it, leaving room for boats on the back. The goal is to keep all of this under $10k if possible.

I would love to hear ideas on how to practically move 2+ boats and their trailers at once.

How about just using a car and the money saved on gas will pay for the hotel room.

Yeah lol so what'd that big F450 cost?

I'm pretty sure trailex and others build double stack trailers for a reason, idk, maybe so you can move 2 boats at once?

I get 21 MPG towing with my car, Toyota Corolla (I know laugh now I need a different vehicle) and it isn't too happy about it (36+ MPG without towing). We got about 18-19 MPG towing with the V6 Toyota Highlander, which normally does close to 30 around town. Point is, the bigger the vehicle the less it gets around town and they all do about the same, ~17 MPG towing, unless you drive like Trey.

Something with a V6 will do the job well IMO. I want space for gear etc. The Toyota 4Runner fits the bill, as do a few pickup trucks and other SUV's. Nothing against American built but the foreigners have won until recently and I can't afford a brand new something.

I've got $2,700 in the truck so far. I often need to move big things, sure a car could do the basic 2-boat thing but that would be really boring.

How is that car gonna haul a p19 with no trailer and a 7,000lb bandsaw home from Miami?

Or haul 3 420s with no trailer to Mobile and haul an A with a unknown trailer back?

and a 7,000lb bandsaw home from Miami?

What's it rate?

http://www.bedslide.com/
i have one of these an i LOVE it. I have a camper top on my ram1500 and with the slide i don't have to crawl inside to get stuff. i bring it out to me!!!

sweet, just like the hearse my co-worker left in!

A hearse makes a great tow vehicle. Power, suspension, ride, and storage. There was a J24 college team that used to use one.

I use a Hyundai i30 with Diesel engine. I get about 25 mpg towing an f18 or double stacked vipers. Before this I would have always said at least an f150 or similar. Now if you're just hauling your boat plus the occasional 2nd boat. It doesn't matter what you have, it will get the job done.

For those that use a diesel, any problem with exhaust residue collecting on the boat?

My pickup smokes like a tire fire, I never notice anything but on the bumper of the pickup. It's just soot, water should take care of that easily enough.

I seem to collect the same amount of road grime pulling the CRV and diesel.

Since I dumped Facebook (THart unfriended me so I said f!@k it I'm out) I haven't been able keep up with all that is Karl. Are you going to be a daddy soon?

This thread is boring!

<**** first into a door jamb as a child, I'm probably sterile anyways. A few days of swollen bits, and a few more of pissing blood mixed in with a grotesquely large left nut and I'm calling it unlikely. Then there's the statistic anomaly that I'm not currently paying any child support, or amidst any custody battles despite my, .....um..... history. Seventeen years of not being the most careful boy on the block, and not one pregger scare.

Bacho- I've thought a flat bed would an awesome way to go. Much more useful than a box, especially if it were a 10' model. Plus, it'd be super easy to build a rack to put a boat on the truck that way when the trailer is full.
I'd look at these guys for a flatbed. I've got one of there trailers and it is the shiznit. www.fthr.com
I really like my trailer too. Its just a four place snowmobile trailer. 20' flatbed, with a pair of 2.5k# axles. Tows frickin awesome, even with three boats on it. The mondo box I built last fall can easily hold three boats worth of crap, and still have room to not have to put anything you don't want in the cab. I wish I could've coughed up the cash to do it out of diamond plate, but rough guessing I figured it was going to be a $5k box.

I only see any signs of diesel in the non skid on top of the decks of the tiger after 7 years. The new owner didn't notice so it wasn't that bad. But I did trailer with a cover on the boat.

Found the ultimate beach cat truck.

Just had a new trailer built and with 2 of the Velocity boxes on it should have plenty of storage.

I've been thinking about getting one of those for a couple of years. It sucks after a day or two at a regatta to get to the stuff at the front of the bed. I can't find dimensions on that site - can you still fit 4' wide sheet goods in the bed?

My regatta ride. Great to get down on the beach 4wd with lockers and heaps of room in the bag for sailing gear and tools. Will be adding draws and a slide out fridge down the track. A lift kit and winch is on order first.

When winter hits, unhook the boat trailer and hit the Aussie outback. Got both seasons covered <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

That's a cool Volkswagen! We don't get any sweet vehicles in the USA, hell you can't even get a normal transmission anymore. We've become so fat and facking lazy pretty soon the transmissions will be voice activated.

I knew you were straight all this time... Sort of like those QIPOs (queer in prison only)

We can start with NHTSA, the the EPA, and some other government alphabet soup organizations

That truck is probably safer and cleaner than anything we currently have on the road even if it may be a diesel..