Hooked up the boat trailer for short pull, all is well

[JoelD]

One of my use cases is pulling my boat to the ramp (only a mile away). I decided that today was a good day to go fill up the gas tank on the boat (rainy Friday, before all the weekend tourists come later today). So I hooked up and off I went to a gas station with non ethanol (aka boat gas) and an easy pull thru, only an 8 mile round trip. Buying gas at a marina is typically much more expensive, but still put in $315, and that’s less than half a tank.

My only issue hooking up was that when the Rivian stops, it stops. Not like an ICE where it will roll a bit as you wiggle the hitch on the ball. But got hooked up with no issues. Then set off to the gas station. This is a heavy boat/trailer (4,000 boat, 750 motor, 1,500 or so trailer, gear, and 122 gallons of gas, so about 7,000 pounds) but I didn’t even notice the trailer behind me, and I sure could on the Silverado 1500 the Rivian replaced.

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[NY_Rob]

That's great to hear!

Our trip to the local ramp is only about 8mi round trip and our 20' Grady is probably a tad over 4,500lbs, so you proved that will be absolutely no problem for the R1T.

Too bad my delivery is scheduled for Nov-Dec which is two months after boating season here.... ah well, next year then

FWIW- "boat gas" (non-ethanol gasoline) is $7.50+ per gallon down at the dock here

 

[jollyroger]

My boat and trailer is similar in weight to yours, when you get a chance it would be interesting to see the consumption rate, I figure a boat is not a bad aerodynamically as a big walled trailer but there are a lot of open nooks and crannies that might cause issues as well.

I'm really interested in highway, but if your ramp is only a mile away that's probably asking you to just drag your boat around for no good reason

 

[EarlyAdptr]

Thanks for sharing...

How was the backup camera? Could you easily line up the trailer hitch?

 

[JoelD]

Thanks for sharing...

How was the backup camera? Could you easily line up the trailer hitch?

The camera works fine for lining up the hitch. The only issue I had is that the Rivian stops instantly when backing up, and doesn’t budge when the hitch starts to come down on the ball (unlike my old Silverado), and there is not much play between the trailer hitch and the license plate (with a standard Reese tri-ball) to wiggle to drop the tongue on the ball. But it worked fine just have to learn a new procedure ?

 

[rydb]

So i attempted something that was on the edge of possibility last weekend with a backup ICE truck to take over if it wasn’t going to work. I live in Tallahassee and went to Pensacola to watch the Blue Angels, the only charger between is in Chipley, FL.

The first leg was definitely doable at 84 miles with a full charge, but the second leg of 108 was the questionable part and to have any chance would require a full charge (or close to it), which is very slow.

I went 65 for a bit, then as I did the math realized there was no way I was efficient enough to make the second leg, so I started slowing down to see if any reasonable speed would give me a chance at 108 miles. Efficiency was around .87 to .93 miles per kWh. The weirdest part was that my backup tow passed my exit, so once I had enough charge to easily make it without the boat, I hooked up and just towed it about 10 miles to the next exit. Since I had way more power than I needed, I just pulled it at 75 to keep up with traffic more and to see what that did… basically the same. Still got around .87 for those 10 miles.
Now there are hills (surprising, I know) in north Florida, so you’re constantly going up or down and maybe there was more down than up over that run, but it can’t be much net change in elevation.

And in case anyone wants to see a pretty cool shot of an F/A-18 going almost right over the boat, click here:

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c9C9Nj1IDCBPMC7OyfT9tB8g

 

[JoelD]

I launched the boat yesterday for some sandbar time. No issues at all with the 7,000 pound boat, motor, and trailer…except for “old habits die hard.” When I’d backed the boat down the ramp and stopped to launch off the trailer, it just felt weird to put it in park and get out, and not set the parking brake (like the old Silverado). But the Rivian didn’t move a bit, rock solid. Doing a great job!

 

[elektrode]

Is one pedal reverse weird at all for backing down the ramp? I’m so used to coasting and riding the brake letting the bot slowly pull me down the ramp.

I haven’t even master backing out of my driveway yet.

Sadly my truck is “throwing codes” and I don’t trust it to hook my boat up yet. Headed for service tomorrow.

 

[NY_Rob]

Never even thought about this.. the R1T has no "N" gear for going down the ramp slope area?

 

[Dark-Fx]

So i attempted something that was on the edge of possibility last weekend with a backup ICE truck to take over if it wasn’t going to work. I live in Tallahassee and went to Pensacola to watch the Blue Angels, the only charger between is in Chipley, FL.

The first leg was definitely doable at 84 miles with a full charge, but the second leg of 108 was the questionable part and to have any chance would require a full charge (or close to it), which is very slow.

I went 65 for a bit, then as I did the math realized there was no way I was efficient enough to make the second leg, so I started slowing down to see if any reasonable speed would give me a chance at 108 miles. Efficiency was around .87 to .93 miles per kWh. The weirdest part was that my backup tow passed my exit, so once I had enough charge to easily make it without the boat, I hooked up and just towed it about 10 miles to the next exit. Since I had way more power than I needed, I just pulled it at 75 to keep up with traffic more and to see what that did… basically the same. Still got around .87 for those 10 miles.
Now there are hills (surprising, I know) in north Florida, so you’re constantly going up or down and maybe there was more down than up over that run, but it can’t be much net change in elevation.

Is the front windshield on the boat removable? I'd expect that would be the biggest drag for you. If it comes out easily I'm really curious what the difference in consumption would be on the freeway.

 

[JoelD]

Is one pedal reverse weird at all for backing down the ramp? I’m so used to coasting and riding the brake letting the bot slowly pull me down the ramp.

I haven’t even master backing out of my driveway yet.

Sadly my truck is “throwing codes” and I don’t trust it to hook my boat up yet. Headed for service tomorrow.

No, one pedal backing down the ramp was no issue. However, I do have years of experience driving an EV (a Bolt) in one pedal mode…

 

[NooterIA]

Never even thought about this.. the R1T has no "N" gear for going down the ramp slope area?

It's got Neutral (N). Just need to press the break and push up on the gear stock lightly to the first point where it wants to stop and hold it there (don't push it all the way up like you're pushing into reverse or whatever). it'll switch to N and you can let off the brake, and it'll roll!

 

[Smithery]

The manual suggests a weight distributing hitch over 5,000lbs, and you appear to not have used one at 7,000lbs.
Notice any sway? (I assume not on your low speed 8mi drive ?)

Does your trailer have brakes and - if so - In your opinion does the integrated brake controller work well?

 

[jollyroger]

The manual suggests a weight distributing hitch over 5,000lbs, and you appear to not have used one at 7,000lbs.
Notice any sway? (I assume not on your low speed 8mi drive ?)

Does your trailer have brakes and - if so - In your opinion does the integrated brake controller work well?

I've seen some weird contraptions over the years to try and put a weight distributing adapters on boat tongues, but there have been traditionally been a couple of problems with weight distribution systems and boat trailers.

One, the boat trailer has a single pole to the hitch instead of a A shaped hitch like an RV has which makes an adapter necessary, but there are concerns around trailer manufactures that these put pressure on parts of the tongue where it's not ment to be.

Two, boats often use surge brakes which are incompatible with most of the distributed hitch setups, I've heard some can account for these, but there seems to be compromises with them.

I use something like the following https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution-Hitch/Lippert/LC380605.html which activates the brakes if the boat trailer starts to sway.

 

[JoelD]

I've seen some weird contraptions over the years to try and put a weight distributing adapters on boat tongues, but there have been traditionally been a couple of problems with weight distribution systems and boat trailers.

One, the boat trailer has a single pole to the hitch instead of a A shaped hitch like an RV has which makes an adapter necessary, but there are concerns around trailer manufactures that these put pressure on parts of the tongue where it's not ment to be.

Two, boats often use surge brakes which are incompatible with most of the distributed hitch setups, I've heard some can account for these, but there seems to be compromises with them.

I use something like the following https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution-Hitch/Lippert/LC380605.html which activates the brakes if the boat trailer starts to sway.

No weight distribution hitch on boat trailer, as you say. I’ve used these on other trailers before so I know them well.

5000 pounds doesn’t need a WD hitch on most any truck…or 7000 ?. I towed this boat on a Silverado 1500 with no issues, and did so at highway speed.

I did not tow faster than 45mph on this pull. This trailer is old, and the surge brakes have long ago rusted away ?. The trailer has a 4 pin connector, so I used a 7 to 4 adapter which worked fine. Braking was easy, from 45 mph I didn’t ever need the friction brakes, regen stopped it. The tow was extremely stable, I didn’t notice the trailer behind me…tows much better than the Silverado. But at 7200 pound curb weight, not unexpected!

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