You could get away with it, but...
There are many postings here and other sites about towing and generally there is always the same question, but there are always 2 answers. The first answer is yes, you can get away with it. That is assuming that you are always under ideal conditions. For example: a moderately steep boat ramp, maybe a little wet but not covered with slippery slime. Your tires are in above average condition, you don't have a lot of weight in the boat. Another thing is that I remove my boat from the water with the water ballast still in it, this adds about 1200 lbs. I have the drain open and the boat drains while we take down the rigging. Unless you are removing the water ballast prior to removing the boat take that weight into consideration. You could probably get away with towing with your vehicle 99% of the time. Is it the ideal or even maybe average choice? Probably not. What happens if conditions are not ideal? What happens if you ever drop the trailer tires off the edge of the ramp? There are a lot of things that could go wrong that would make you wish for another vehicle. If you can live with what you can get away with and roll the dice on the other things that might ruin your day then go for it. The other post from Dan about his little ranger pulling a 3500 lb boat is a perfect example. He is fine in normal conditions, but if he ever has an emergency situation with that boat behind him going down the high way he will be toast. That boat will over power that little truck just based on the weight difference between the two. Most people are only concerned with trailer towing weight. Just because a vehicle has a trailer towing capacity of say 4000 lbs does not mean that it is a very safe vehicle to tow a 4000 or even a 2500 lb boat. Those are just guidelines for the transmission and motor being able to handle pulling the weight, they don't take into consideration safety issues of what a heavy boat will do to you in any conditions that are not ideal, such as an emergency stop. The ideal tow vehicle for these boats is really a 1 ton to 3/4 ton 4x4 pickup with a class III hitch, a 4x4 Suburban, a 4x4 tahoe. (The key word here is ideal) Next down the line would be a 4x4 Explorer, Blazer, Durango, 1/2 ton 4x4 pick up. (pretty safe, will easily tow the boat) Below that would be small 4x4 truck like a ranger, AWD subaru wagon, dodge dakota (these are starting to get a bit iffy in any situation other than ideal and non emergency) anything smaller than the last group you are pushing your luck.
