[elhigh]

People talk bad about the Duke but I liked it. It suffered from beancounteritis, being designed down to a price tag and, initially, to a fuel economy goal. It delivered a solid 30mpg in our 1980 Citation, which was actually pretty good for the time in a car that size.

They stopped screwing the Duke into S-10s around 1993 or so, and by that time it was delivering a modest 105hp and 135 lb-ft. That's comparable to the 22R in the compact Toyota that was available at the same time. The torque number is what really matters there.

We have a 1987 Toyota pickup and it dragged around a 16' Bayliner with no difficulty. That wasn't a bass boat so I don't know how the weights would compare, but since this one was set up as a bowrider just for pleasure use, I'm guessing that there was more weight dedicated to seats and stuff...but a bass boat may have comparable weight dedicated to livewells. So you'd have to compare them.

At a first guess, I wouldn't attempt to tow anything more than 3500 lbs on a 2.5-equipped S-10, same rating as my truck. Again your most limiting factor would be the brakes, but no one likes the smell of cooked clutch either. If it's mostly level where you tow it may be less of an issue.

If the price is right on that low-mile truck, nab it. Then do what you can to mod it and make it thrifty. That's what the rest of us are doing, refusing to be satisfied with the factory equipment.