Picked this baby up about a month ago, just now getting around to sharing:




It's a 20' Hydra-Sports bay boat with a 150hp BRP Johnson 2-stroke. Weighs in with a dry weight of 3500 lbs. Add the trailer, motor, and fuel, it's a total package of around 4500 lbs. Surprisingly, the truck yanks it around with seemingly little effort, despite being a V6 4x2. I've taken the boat out 3 weekends in a row since I got it, and I haven't had a traction issue at the ramp either, even at low tide. The boat is definitely not light, and I'm not going to be going anywhere super fast while towing it, but the truck is definitely the one in charge while towing. I'm very impressed with the 3.7L (in case anyone cares about it anymore )

After towing it a few times, I got tired of not being able to see a thing around the boat, so I installed a set of OEM towing mirrors. Now I know it may seem silly (and ironic) to put towing mirrors on a truck with a V6, but I decided visibility has nothing to do with engine size, so I went for it. And these things are awesome. Power, heat, turn signal, and puddle lamps are all fully functional. One of the best things I ever did to the truck. I was planning to do a write up, but I ended up installing them at night, so if anyone plans to do this and needs some help, feel free to PM me. Once you spend an hour doing one, the second one only takes ten minutes



And finally, 1" rear blocks are on! I finally got rid of the sag in the rear end. A shout out to KMAC for pointing it out so that it bugged me every time I looked at the truck I went with a 1" instead of a 1-1/4" because I got the blocks and u-bolts for free from a local 4x4 shop. I think it turned out great. No more sag!






Would I rather have a V8 4x4? Yes. Do I love this truck, and does it do everything I need it to do? Absolutely. I may hold onto her for awhile.

 

Yay! Shoutout A proper stance now! glad you got the blocks and that you like them. It looks dead level, but has a tiny touch of rake when you really stare at it, so I other words, perfect.

Good looking boat too and I'm glad that the truck does a good job lugging it around.

 

Thanks man, I'm really pleased with the stance. Sometimes it's dead level, sometimes it has a hint of rake, depending on where I'm parked. It's close enough to perfect for me.

What really convinced me to finally put the blocks in was when I first hitched this boat to it and the rear sank even more. It was not pretty. With the blocks, the tongue weight doesn't seem to squash the truck so much. It looks like a much more respectable setup.

The truck does handle the boat well, although I wouldn't want to tow much more than this with this engine. It tows like a champ until I hit a hill or a bridge

 

Ye got about a perfect setup there John! Truck, boat, near water, ye better just stay put!

 

Oh boy, yeah, I can see towing-squat pushing you over the limit haha.

Hey, it's kinda like when a kid says "hey mom, it hurts when I do this." "Well then stop doing that!" Just avoid hills and bridges

 

The 3.7L is the most underrated engine in the lineup. And the most bulletproof. We never see one in our shop except for normal service. I owned one for a year and I'm still kicking myself for getting rid of it for a Focus.

 

What I think is comical is back in the mid to late seventies a 302 in the 150's made maybe 130 hp and if you got a 351 you had maybe 150 hp and people are complaining about 300 hp in the 3.7 v-6

 

It's not HP, it's torque that counts in a truck.

 

I'm interested in adding tow mirrors to my truck as well, so it would be nice to see how someone else did it. It seems pretty simple, but I always like to look for help before tackling anything like that. Did you get your mirrors from a dealer? I'm just curious about what kind of price I am looking at. I have found a 'new' pair for 360$ CDN (take offs).

 

I know, but back then those engine were equally anemic on torque. The modern 2.0 N/A 4 banger in the focus has more hp and tq than the 302 did from back then.

 

Tascaparts.com (all OEM parts) has(d) them priced at $320 per pair plus shipping, I think. Could be more now, and I could be remembering the wrong price.

 

I hope it does prove to be bulletproof. I'm quite fond of the truck now, so I'm gonna keep it around awhile.

I found mine on Amazon through a vendor called AutoandArt. They are direct OEM replacements, and I paid $287 USD for them, shipping included. Installation of the mirrors themselves is not hard at all. It's just 3 nuts and one electrical plug (they are a direct plug & play). The hard part is taking the whole door panel off, and putting it back on, which is a bit tedious and time consuming. I believe there is a detailed write-up or video floating around the forums here somewhere, I'll see if I can find it for you (or perhaps MGD will chime in, since he is the search master )

Yeah this thing has plenty of horsepower. It seems to hide in the upper RPMs, so you have to bury your foot to dig it out, but it's definitely there. It certainly feels a good bit stronger than my old '00 5.4 2V - don't get me wrong, I LOVED that truck, but the 5.4 was pretty underwhelming (at least in my experience). I will admit the 3.7 is a little weak in the torque department compared to the other current engine options, but it gets the job done. I have the 3.73 rear end, so I am glad that is there to help. Luckily I don't drive around like I'm in a hurry anyway, so none of this is really a big deal. To me, the engine doesn't make or break the truck; it's the overall driving experience, including interior, exterior, and powertrain, which is why I always end up in a Ford.

I was VERY skeptical of the V6 at first, almost reluctant, in fact, but it has been good to me so far.

 

You got that right! Thanks If I ever move, it'll just be closer to the coast!

 

as iv said before I pull car trailer and campers with me ex cab 3.7. biggest load was a 27 foot 5th wheel that was right on 7000 lbs. was it to much for the truck well rating yes would it pull it and stop fine yes would I pull it though northen ont well **** not. but I have pulled my 5500 24 footer thought northen ont and it was fine.

 

While I do share your confidence in the 3.7's capabilities, I wouldn't want to tow much more than this boat with this engine. It does the job well, and I am satisfied with it, but I think more than 5k pounds behind this thing would be pushing it. As another member here (wittom) said in a previous write-up regarding the 3.7, it's a very capable V6, but it's no V8. However, I'm sure it could put up a good fight against a few of the smaller V8s on the market. It can definitely hold its own in a full size truck to a certain extent.