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I've seen quite a few posts here and other places about vehicles to tow boats. It looks like in general a 3/4 ton or 1 ton truck is the gold standard, but there have been suggestions that 1/2 ton or even some SUVs are adequate to tow.

I have a 2024 R8 with the trailer and I believe the dry weights are 6400lb and 1600lb respectively. I would assume that full load approaches 9000lbs (give or take). There are a few SUVs that are rated over 9000lb (Hummer at 10,000, Expedition at 9,600, Sequoia at 9,520). I know that there are other factors involved other than towing capacity, but I'm not sure if people have real world experience using these vehicles to tow a boat that heavy. Are these cutting it too close, or do I just need to get a 3/4 ton truck. I'm hoping for an SUV, as I will use that more in general than a truck.

Thanks for the help.

You need a 3/4 or 1 ton. I pulled my R7 for a year with a 1/2 ton Yukon Denali. Plenty of power. Upgraded (Brembo) brakes helped. But the few times I had to stop harder than I wished, I could tell that, even with good trailer brakes, the boat was pushing the rear around - not a great feeling. Pulling with a 3/4 diesel has been so much safer and easier. Even with full luggage in the bed, full fuel in the boat, fresh water, gear, etc. I tow for multiple hours at a time, often.

You're looking at 6500lb for the boat, 80 gal of gas is another 500lb, plus figure a couple hundred pounds of stuff in the boat. Add 1500lb for a trailer, and you're at 8500-9000lb. It feels like 3/4 ton territory to me, and your mileage will be a lot better with a diesel. I'd also look at electric over hydraulic brakes on the trailer (too heavy for surge brakes, in my opinion) and a good brake controller for comfortable towing.

9,000 lbs with 10% on the tongue is 900 lbs on the receiver hitch. RAM trucks recommends a weight distributing hitch for anything over 5,000 lbs and says the max tongue weight on a Class IV receiver is 1,100 lbs. I'd get a 3/4T truck to pull your boat. PS I hope your user name isn't related to a condition you have

jhnmdahl wrote: Tue May 12, 2026 1:42 pm I'd also look at electric over hydraulic brakes on the trailer (too heavy for surge brakes, in my opinion) and a good brake controller for comfortable towing.

+1

EOH brakes are game-changing.

How far and how often? I tow our R5 occasionally with a 20 Ram 1500 ecodiesel when we take our boat to a different lake or bring it home for service but my boat mainly stays at the marina minus 2-4 trips out a year (<200 miles Pennsylvania/MD Hills). Truck has similar tow capacity to the vehicles you mention on paper. I have extensive experience towing all types of equipment and trailers with different vehicles-for reference. While I do not have any issues with my setup, fully loaded (coolers, kids, boat full of fuel, water tank, floats, rods etc etc) i wouldn't want to be doing it constantly. Power isn't a big problem (even with the anemic ecodiesel)... stopping isn't really an issue either my trailer is hyd surge- not the best or smoothest as others mentioned but it works OK. The big thing that brakes and HP dont account for -is the weight vs aerodynamics with that size boat behind you. You know its there for sure, especially passing tractor trailers or in a crosswind and my boat/trailer is probably 1/2 ton lighter than yours and several feet of wind resistance less. 3/4 ton all day for capacity, comfort and safety. If you're towing 50 miles twice a year you will probably get away with it and be OK.

Maybe try and rent one of those vehicles before buying and go for a spin?
Safe travels & good luck!!!

Great question went through this firsthand when I moved to Ireland with my 220 two years ago. The boat was easy to import, but the tow vehicle was a different matter. VRT is required for any imported vehicle and it is based on the OMSP (Revenue's valuation of the price the car would fetch in Ireland), NOT the price you paid for it so even getting a good deal in the UK won't help you here. The rate is based on CO2 emissions, ranging from 7% to 41% of the OMSP, and there's also a NOx levy added on (this applies to all non-electric cars, but it hits diesels the hardest).
I used one of the online VRT-by-reg calculators to get an estimate before importing my Touareg it’s free and gives you the full breakdown (VRT