Just now, J Francho said:

You can add a transmission cooler.  They aren't horribly expensive.  I highly recommend you do it.

That's something I'm looking into now and may be something I do in the spring.  I'm not HORRIBLY concerned about it right now since I only live about 5 miles from the lake.

Then you might not even need it.  I tow through rolling hills, long distance.  It's a must have.

Yea.  That is my thought.  Thanks for all of your input on this.  It's been really helpful.

6 minutes ago, WRB said:

The issue isn't towing the boat and trailer it's stopping the both vehicles in a emergency. 2,000 lbs is the minimum 2" ball size hitch class for use with single axle trailers. Your boat and trailer should be set up with about 100-150 lbs of hitch weight to be safe. 

As mentioned discuss your towing plans with the dealer, some smaller SUV vehicles void the warranty with towing boats, Honda Pilot for example will not cover towing OK with a Toyota 4 Runner.

Tom

He won't have any problem stopping that rig with that vehicle.  I towed a similar rig with a bit smaller Cherokee without any issue.  The Patriot he originally envisioned, now that might not be too safe.

9 hours ago, HardcoreBassin said:

I wanted a tow package, but we were looking for a used vehicle, and unfortunately a lot of them did not have tow packages on them.  Most that did had a lot of additional options on them which made the price higher than we wanted to pay.  So I was hunting for a vehicle that would be capable without a tow package.  I didn't think it would be as difficult to find something as it was.  I was used to a truck which you could buy an absolute base model and still have 7500lbs of towing capacity.  Thankfully, the Explorer worked out.

Makes sense, thanks.

7 hours ago, J Francho said:

You can add a transmission cooler.  They aren't horribly expensive.  I highly recommend you do it.

You can, but there's a lot more than that to some towing packages, especially with smaller SUVs.

12 hours ago, Further North said:

You can, but there's a lot more than that to some towing packages, especially with smaller SUVs.

Oh sure, but the meat and potatoes is the hitch and the cooler.  On my truck there is also different brakes, rear strut upgrade, heavier leaf springs, and beefier anti sway bar up front.  I also get a nice outlet for lights, on a separate circuit with it's own fuse.  I wouldn't call an Explorer a "smaller SUV" either.

4 hours ago, J Francho said:

I wouldn't call an Explorer a "smaller SUV" either.

Me either - poor communication on my part - I meant more like the Escape-sized SUVs.

On the Escape they do some of what was done with your truck, abut also add a sensor to the traction control/ABS system that acts as an anti sway device.  It's also on a lot of their bigger vehicles, all the way to the F-Series trucks.

It works amazingly well.

I have that too.  If disable it, and leave the diff in auto lock, I leave cool posi trails, lol.

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

I have that too.  If disable it, and leave the diff in auto lock, I leave cool posi trails, lol.

I remember those...er...watching others do them, of course.