2019 Yukon SLT off boonvilleautosales.com to tow my tri-toon

writing this up now that i have a full summer on the lake behind me instead of just the excitement of the buy. we keep a place near the lake of the ozarks and drive over from overland park most weekends may through september. i just moved up to a tri-toon pontoon, a 24 footer, and my old crossover was flat out not enough truck to pull it up the ramp and haul the family and all the coolers and tubes on top of it. i needed a real tow vehicle.

i wanted a full size SUV so we could seat everybody and still pull the boat, and i wanted low miles because this thing has to do highway pulls to the lake for years. the dealers around kansas city wanted stupid money for a clean Yukon or Tahoe with under 70k on it. a buddy at my dock told me he had bought a truck off boonvilleautosales.com and had it shipped and it came exactly as listed, so i started watching what they had.

found a 2019 GMC Yukon SLT, 5.3 V8, 4x4, 61k miles, one owner, out of central missouri. the asking was about 9 grand under what the same truck with more miles was bringing at the lots by me. i figured there was a catch somewhere so i called the boonville lot to dig.

the guy that picked up actually knew the truck. told me straight it did not have a trailer brake controller wired in, that it had the factory tow package and the hitch and the 3.42 rear but not the controller, and that one of the rear wiper blades was shot. said the frame was clean, no rust, southern missouri truck its whole life, carfax clean with the one owner. then he sent me about 50 photos and a walkaround video, a cold start, and he got down and showed me the frame rails and the hitch on camera so i could see there was no rot and no cracked welds.

here is what sold me. i was not going to drive to missouri on a hope, so i paid a mobile guy near columbia 150 bucks to go put hands on it and scan it. he came back and it was about like they said, no controller, a worn wiper, otherwise clean and the codes were all clear. that was the whole list.

bought it. boonville auto sales did the paperwork and i had a clean kansas title in hand about ten days after the money cleared. had it shipped up on an open trailer for 500. added a brake controller myself for 130 bucks and a couple hours, put a wiper on it, and it has towed the tri-toon to the ramp every weekend since.

anybody else running a lake tow rig they bought off that central missouri lot? curious how theyre holding up for the rest of you.

not dumb at all, and good on you for wanting the boat to hold you back on a grade instead of the other way around. the simple rule is find the loaded weight of your boat plus trailer, then buy a tow vehicle whose rating has a real cushion over that. do not shop right at the number. for a single pontoon on a bunk trailer a half ton SUV or truck with the factory tow package is plenty, you do not need a diesel or a three quarter ton to pull a pontoon.

the piece people skip is the trailer brake controller. if your trailer has electric brakes, and most boat trailers over a certain size do, you want a controller wired into the tow vehicle so the trailer helps stop you at the ramp and on a downhill. mine did not have one from the factory, i added it for about 130 bucks in parts and an afternoon. that is the difference between confident and white knuckle on the hills to stockton.

on buying one off a lot you cannot walk up to, here is what i did and it worked. get the seller to send you photos and a walkaround video, then pay a mobile mechanic near the lot to go put hands on it and scan it before you send a dime. mine cost 150 bucks near columbia and it caught nothing scary, which is exactly what you want to hear. the boonville lot had zero problem letting me send my own guy, which told me they were not hiding anything.

you will be fine krista. match the rating with a cushion, get the controller sorted, and pay for a set of eyes on it before you buy.

quick check in. pulled the boat up to the lake one last time to get it shrink wrapped and put away for winter and the Yukon did not blink, even loaded with the family and all the gear we had not hauled home yet. the brake controller i added has been flawless, backing a tri-toon down a wet ramp is a whole different thing when the trailer helps you stop.

put the wiper on the first weekend and that was the last item on the list from the buy. everything else has been exactly what they said it was. averaging around 17 empty on the highway and mid teens pulling the boat, which for a full size V8 SUV i am plenty happy with.

brad i took your advice and got the underside and the trailer frame coated before it went into storage. couple guys messaged me asking how often boonville auto sales posts new SUVs, and from what i can tell their inventory turns over a few times a week, so check the missouri river lot often if you are hunting a certain tow rig.

UPDATE into the new boating season now, so figured id close the loop for anybody still weighing a tow rig off the boonville lot. pulled the tri-toon out of storage, back on the water at the lake of the ozarks the first warm weekend, and the Yukon towed it up the ramp like the boat is not even there.

total unplanned repairs since the buy is zero. the only money i have put in was the brake controller and the wiper that i knew about going in, plus normal oil changes. runs cool, tows flat, seats the whole family with the boat behind it, which is exactly the truck i went looking for.

if you are budgeting a used tow rig, plan for a controller if it does not have one, a set of tires down the road, and normal fluids, and you will be in good shape on a clean low mile one. mine came off boonvilleautosales.com straight and titled and it has earned its keep every weekend on the water since. worth a look if you are hunting a lake tow rig out of the middle of the country.