If I get an old Ford F-150, do I have to resign?
 

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1614970087

Two or three times a year, my brother and I need to move a ~5500 lbs sailboat + trailer. Not very far (<10 km = mi.), and not very fast (typically <20 km/h = 16 mph, though sometimes up to 65 km/h)

Years ago, we used to use my brother's Honda Ridgeline. Things were a little bit beyond the Honda's towing rating (5k lbs), but it was fine.


https://ecomodder.com/forum/images/g...-ridgeline.gif
(From: Honda Ridgeline MPG vs speed graph: fuel economy with & without cargo trailer )


Unfortunately, someone smashed into the Ridgeline in a snowstorm, and his replacement vehicle is only rated for half the Honda's towing ability. So, no go.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1614971263 (Not my brother's actual smashed Ridgeline, but pretty darned close to it! White, too.)

Since the Ridgeline's premature exit, we've been begging/borrowing numerous friends' pickup trucks. Always repaid with beer/gas, but we hate asking. We've rented trucks too, but it's $$$, and the local rental company no longer has half-tons available.

Enter crazy idea: the neighbour of a good friend has a running & driving but otherwise beat-up 1985 F-150 that he parked in a field about a dozen years ago.

Something close to this:


https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1614970711

Lately I've been watching too many episodes of Vicegrip Garage, so obviously I'm thinking the ideal thing to do is drag said pickup from its field/grave and fix it up to use as our 2-3 times per year tow vehicle.

It'd definitely need a battery, and brakes & brake lines, and fuel lines, & parking brake cables, and exhaust, and probably tires, and a tune-up, and bodywork, and mouse removal, and miscellaneous other repairs, and an air freshener. But it might be a fun project, right?

Probably not. Well, probably initially.

What am I thinking?!

I should be trying to cull the herd, not add to it!

That vehicle would fit right into my neighborhood. ....lifted. :thumbup:

It should clean up real nice. Bump the metal and keep the patina. I vote stealth [underbody] aero and an eAssist altermotor/battery pack.

Just slap an Ecomodder sticker on it.
That's worth an easy 10+ MPG.

I knew you piloted sailboats, but I had the impression you meant single person sail boats.
It's huge !
Also, that's a beautiful boat !

it's like a blank canvas.

I've a [now-distant] friend who in the 1980s built a shingled egg-shaped lift-off cabin on the back of a Ford flatbed. A custom flatbed with curved but not tapered sides.

You can stack the shingles and plane them into wedge shapes en mass for a lift-off aerocap. I'd layer them like fish scales, horizontally.

Three-camera assist for those elephant-ear mirrors.

edit: Have you got it home yet? :)

You guys are supposed to be DIScouraging me!

PS: that's not our boat. That thing probably weighs 50 tons, not 5000 lbs! It is a looker though.

PPS: too much snow to rescue said vehicle from the field just yet. It'd have to wait until after spring thaw and after the fields dry out some. Honestly, I dunno if it's even still there. I haven't laid eyes on it in years, and for all I know the guy might have scrapped it.

Just mulling over bad ideas.

Ha. This thing MIGHT get driven 300 km a year! (~180 miles.)

Dang. I had recalibrated my eyeball. All in vain!

That trailer alone would be quite the tow.

I say go for it. I'm doing the same thing, with my late grandfather's 1991 Toyota pickup (that I drove from 2004-2009) which has been sitting at my parents' since 2017. I'm having it towed to their mechanic next week who will make sure it turns over, then starts and runs, and then I'll fly out in a few months and do whatever else it needs (timing chain, ignition, complete fluids, tires, etc.) so I can drive it from Washington to Illinois.

If it's been sitting for a dozen years, how long has it been since it was started?

Hang on a second... you're proposing that a neglected 35 year old f-150 is going to be capable of pulling, controlling and, more importantly stopping a 5500 lb sail boat?

Well, we'd be aiming it towards water, just in case.

Worst case scenario: good YouTube content! Silver lining.

---

In all seriousness, it'd clearly need brake and other work to be driveable. (See the 2nd paragaraph under the truck picture in post 1.)

.

My 2 cents.

I’m betting the truck in the field will be a “five and dime” money 💰 pit.

Just up the cases of beer 🍺 you offer to move it and be done with it.

Or hire a tow truck. (tow trucks are cheaper than you would think)

It’ll cost less in the long run... 😉

No taxes, tags, insurance, repairs or maintenance.


But, if you want to do the non sensible.

Maybe something like this instead.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...etplace_search

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...etplace_search

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...etplace_search

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...etplace_search

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...etplace_search

And many more...

They probably all have a higher towing capacity.

Plus with one these ☝️ it might be possible to get your money back in the end.


But, if we’re lucky.

You’ll buy the field truck...

And we’ll get to hear about it...

😈

>

.

As awesome as it would be to have you owning a big ol' pickup, I'd rent something to move the boat every time. It'd be easier, cheaper, more effective and safer.

Everyone needs an F-150 (or equivalent) from time to time.
Give us 10 hail hydras and you're good to go.

Don't do it. Think of the children!

Just buy a trailer (instead of a pickup)

:D

Irresponsible me would say go for it, but sensible me says leave it. Too much (I'm assuming) time and hassle for what it's worth.

I haven't been booted out yet (well... permanently) so it looks like you can stay. :)

Except it's the trailer that's the problem!

My $0.02: you have a home depot or a rental yard then you have a rentable truck with a trailer hitch. Believing you do your own work, it will still cost you tires, some brake parts, gas tank flushing and whatnot to get it semi reliable. For that money you can rent what ever big GM/Ford/Dodge/Toyota pickup perhaps many times and still be ahead $$$. You COULD buy a vehicle that makes 60 ish mpg, but you are an Ecomodder. Saving dollars is a supposed benefit.

Yes. :p

Let's suppose you get the truck and restomod it. Probably it will still have a lesser impact than getting a replacement built for that specific truck.

I have a Chevy 3500 extended bed (the equivalent of an F-350) and I still consider myself an Ecomodder

At 11 mpg the only time it leaves the yard is with my lawn or boat trailer behind it or for a run to Home Depot if I need to pick up plywood or drywall. I've put about 5k miles on it in three years

My gut tells me the truck is going to cost your more than the alternatives, even if your time is free.

On the other hand, this thread made me smile. My vote is "go for it".

A patina'd F150 could become an objet d'art.

There's a thread on a 50mpg 3/4-ton drivetrain here: ecomodder.com/forum: 94 Caprice Wagon project--now 50.55 MPG with "3/4 ton" drivetrain/suspension

The cases of beer isn't the problem - I don't like asking the favour in the first place. Also, we often decide on launch/haul days on impulse based on the day's weather, which complicates begging/borrowing.

Yeah, we've actually paid for a tow a few times. Not super cheap because the boat's at a somewhat remote lake.


No doubt. But it's not a 100% logical/financial decision.

That one's bonkers! How does the guy justify "I want $1500, or I'm going to scrap it"? The wrecker might give him $200 for it!!



Some of the others look more reasonable.


I think it'd be fun. It wouldn't be a wise decision on any level, but still fun.

That said, I haven't even confirmed if the thing is still parked where I last saw it.

We actually do have truck rentals at Home Depot here - they rent full size vans anyway. I wonder if you can tow with those - contractually, I mean. I always assumed that you couldn't. Will check into that.


Not always! Not in my case anyway. I'm pretty sure I've spent more money on sheets of coroplast through the years than I've saved in gas as a result! :D

You have enough eco cars, link them up like trains and tow the boat. :D

If you get another reason to own a truck all-year round, go for it. On a sidenote, if you could get some Deutz or Perkins Diesel engine to swap into the truck, it would be even better.

Will the homedepot vans haul stuff? If the have a 2" steel box/hitch adapter on the rear bumper they are good to class 3 towing. (The rating is actually a stopping limit on the brake system) if they have a round connector for the trailer probably up to Cat 5 with trailer brakes.

Otoh, if you want a project......... that is how the Ranger went electric.. and my bicycle. And my toy planes........roasting my coffee, making beer, building a greenhouse, but you should get the point.

Just like going to the casino.

You win! :D

Like a little mini version of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XNXnarR4oM

Smething like that, yes. :turtle:

Wait, you tow it from one lake to another? Is that still cheaper than parking it at the preferred lake?

Trucks aren't the only things that haul. You mentioned vans, but remember that 3/4-ton Caprice station wagon?

Can any cars haul that much? Google only shows lists of trucks and SUVs. This looked more interesting, especially when I saw the Rav4 on the list, but don't get excited, the 2020 requires special equipment to pull more than 1,500 pounds, also known as less than my Accord's rating, although I certainly wouldn't pull 2,000 pounds hard or fast with a 3,300-pound car:https://www.carfax.com/blog/fuel-eff...es-for-towing/

Does anyone know how to create a new thread? ;)

It sometimes gets moved from the lake to the river. But mostly it lives at or near the lake.

I wouldn't necessarily rule out a big ol' BOF sedan. But this idea of using a ran-when-parked pickup is a case of it being a bird in the hand. I don't want to actually have to LOOK for something.

You could always mod it for lean burn. Drive it like normal and get a 20% increase in fuel economy, but an 8,000% increase in NOx lol.

At Permalink #5 it was a Schrodinger's Bird, both in the bush and not until you look?

Considering some folks have been rebuilding Ford trucks from the '70s around Ford Galaxie frames in my country, makes sense.

My mechanic put a 70's F150 shell on a Crown Vic chassis/drivetrain/cockpit.

Freebeard: correct! A bird in Schrodinger's hand is worth... ?

Even though most mainstream cars moved to the unibody structural layout, the body-on-frame configuration which most trucks retain can be easily traced back to the days when there were no dedicated truck platforms on the Ford and Chevrolet ranges. But it was so easier to push the average Joe from traditional body-on-frame sedans and wagons to trucks and SUVs, which by the way are favored by EPA and CAFE rules.

Field cars rescued: 4 to date
 

Thinking more about this, I've revived 3 "field cars" and one "barn find", so far.

1) My first car could have towed this sailboat+trailer! It was a huge BOF American sedan: 1964 Pontiac Catalina 4D hardtop with a 389 V8. It had "ran-when-parked" status - for an unknown number of years - when I bought it & fixed it up.


https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1615342026
(Not the actual car)



2) The MPGiata was parked beside a hedgerow out in the country for 2.x years, essentially abandoned by its previous owner.


https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1478628628

3) The ForkenSwift (Geo Metro) was also given up for dead, parked in someone's side yard, though it had been sitting for less than a year I think.


https://forkenswift.com/album/9-10-m...e-purchase.jpg

4) The Firefly was parked the longest, but was the easiest to "revive". It was parked for 7 years, but inside a garage, and all it needed was a new battery.