Hey guys!
Well summer's in full swing and its finally time for some fishing. The truck is the '07 in my sig and the load is a Proline 30 Express, plus a fuel tank and other misc. items. My guess is it weighs around 11000 lbs give or take, but I'll take it over the scales before we leave. Google maps says the trip is 1635 km one way.





I've made this haul with this truck three times already, but only once pulling this boat. At that time I had my 60 hp injectors but was running the stock tune. On flat ground I cruised at about 1000-1100 degrees EGT at 95-105 km/h, and it was all I could do to keep it under 1300 on any kind of hill. I know thats not too bad but I want to be careful. With this boat it seems like its more the wind resistance that bogs you down than the weight. I have two tow tunes, and the more aggressive one made 484 hp/917 ft-lbs. I haven't dyno'd on the smaller tune but it definitely lowers EGTs and barely smokes at all so thats the one I'm gonna go with. I got anywhere from 9-11 mpg pulling this, and I'm hoping the tuning will help with that as well. (My Dad's bone stock '11 megacab got around 12-14 pulling a 35' 5th wheel camper, and I'd like to not use more fuel than him but we'll see).
Anyway what I'd like is any tips you experienced haulers have. Anything at all, driving techniques, tire pressure advice, whatever. My trans still feels pretty solid, but I will be watching the gauge very closely as I'm a little concerned about it. Is there anything I can do when taking hills to save the tranny? I try to get it to shift into 3rd sooner rather than letting it bog down in 4th, that way I can keep the TC locked unless its a pretty major mountain.
Thanks for reading and maybe I'll post some fish pics later!

 

I usually try to run tunning with lower timing numbers for towing heavy. 60hp sticks are gunna push your stock turbo hard, make sure you've got a freshly cleaned air filter when you leave, it will help a little.

 

Yeah I should have done that but I'm about 500 km from destination right now so... But it seems to be doing ok. EGTs are definitely not lower than before tuning and mileage is no better but the power is really noticeable. Yeah I can tell my turbo is being all that it can be.

 

4 days of fishing and I don't have many great pics but I'll throw these up for now.

Overnighting in Burns Lake.



A few rockfish.



Added some chicken halibut and a coho. The salmon are pretty slow right now.



A new one for us this year. We saw a bunch of seabirds circling something and realized it was a "bait ball" of herring being pushed to the surface, probably by salmon. We missed them the first time we tried but the next day we got close enough to throw a cast net and pick up about 100-150 of them. So no more buying the little buggers for $8.95/pack of 10.



I'll get some better stuff up when I can, so far this year the biggest deal we've had is a 60 lb halibut.

 

That is is so cool...Seems like a darn good hoiday,you are having...

 

Some more pics.




Cousin with a red snapper.


100 lb halibut.




My Dad with a 33 lb spring salmon.

 

Holy crap those are big fish