High sided bed not good for trailering boats.

[AhwatukeeDad]

Ford already has trailer backing assist.

What is really needed is a "summon to boat launch with trailer". When activated from the boat, it needs to pull out of the parking slot without clipping other vehicles with the trailer, patiently wait its turn while watching the other amateurs struggle to back trailers and launch or retrieve boats, pull around and align the trailer on the ramp, back the trailer down the ramp to the correct depth in the water, wait while I drive the boat on, and then pull forward up the ramp when I signal.

When launching the boat, its a little simpler, except for the daunting problem of finding a trailer parking slot at a crowded boat launch on the 4th of July.

Many humans experience a lot of frustration with the above tasks, so its a worthwhile AI challenge to be sure.

are you on Twitter? You should tweet to Elon on your boat launching needs. My Model 3 with FSD beta code will “come to me” in a parking lot from about 200 feet. It’s about 1/5 of the way to what you want. Smart Summon will go farther. In 2 years I suspect that summon to boat launch will be doable. The trailer reversing might be more difficult but the base functionality will be there.

 

[jboy210]

Almost all the public boat launch ramps in Minnesota are built by the state DNR. In my experience, they are pretty uniformly the same slope, so I imagine they have a standardized design they use. Any steeper and 2wd trucks and cars wouldn't be able to pull boats back up the wet ramp. My truck is pretty much the same size and wheelbase as the Cybertruck - a 4-door 3/4 ton with 6.5' bed, so I think the boat launching experience will be similar.

How tolerant of submersion are the Tesla EV components? Does the Cybertruck have a water-depth spec?

Battery is sealed and is already full of water (coolant), I have never heard of anyone having issues with the drive motors or other drive components having issues with water.

 

[Fishy Fish]

One of the things I do with my current truck is pulling boats on trailers. When it comes time to retrieve a boat at the launch, to get the trailer deep enough, the truck back tires need to be 6-8 inches in the water (at the launch I commonly use). To avoid having to take my shoes off and wade in the water (which will be ice cold in November), I open the back door of the truck and use the open door jamb to climb up into the front corner of the bed over the side. Then I can put the tailgate down and sit on the tailgate to step out on the tongue of the trailer, and wait there to connect the front of the boat to the winch when my partner drives the boat onto the trailer. All without even taking my shoes off.

Pulling the boat out with the Cybertruck's high sided-bed is going to mean wading in knee-deep water to connect the winch strap and pull the boat up tight on the trailer. Annoying.

This whole thread seems to be missing an obvious point. Unless you are towing sail boats or row boats, then you're better off driving a fossil powered truck to tow your fossil powered toys. Motorized boats and jet skis and quads and dirt bikes and side by sides and snowmobiles and lawnmowers have no emission control devices like catalytic convertors so the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe is like 10 times more polluting than what comes out of a pickup truck.

Driving an electric car is pointless if you are doing so to go and burn gas for fun and to pleasure oneself.

If you're only towing a couple times a year, drive a Model 3 and rent a gas truck when you need to tow your boats to store them for the long Minnesota Winter. Or better yet, if you're going to give up burning gas in your car, then give up burning gas for fun as well and find ways to derive pleasure without burning fossil fuels; like canoeing or hiking or biking.

 

[AhwatukeeDad]

Nairb,

huh?

 

[jboy210]

This whole thread seems to be missing an obvious point. Unless you are towing sail boats or row boats, then you're better off driving a fossil powered truck to tow your fossil powered toys. Motorized boats and jet skis and quads and dirt bikes and side by sides and snowmobiles and lawnmowers have no emission control devices like catalytic convertors so the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe is like 10 times more polluting than what comes out of a pickup truck.

Driving an electric car is pointless if you are doing so to go and burn gas for fun and to pleasure oneself.

If you're only towing a couple times a year, drive a Model 3 and rent a gas truck when you need to tow your boats to store them for the long Minnesota Winter. Or better yet, if you're going to give up burning gas in your car, then give up burning gas for fun as well and find ways to derive pleasure without burning fossil fuels; like canoeing or hiking or biking.

I disagree. People usually don't have a dedicated vehicle to towing boats or trailers. They buy a truck because it can do the towing AND be a vehicle that they can drive daily. Therefore, it does make sense to select a vehicle that can do both and EVs can be better than ICE, even in this dual use space.

Second, we are just at the start of the EV changeover. How many people were impressed with the EV ATV they drove into the truck bed at the unveiling. If these can compete with ICE power ATVs I predict a bright future for them because of less maintenance. Same for other pleasure craft all the way to electric airplanes.

 

[tyguy]

This whole thread seems to be missing an obvious point. Unless you are towing sail boats or row boats, then you're better off driving a fossil powered truck to tow your fossil powered toys. Motorized boats and jet skis and quads and dirt bikes and side by sides and snowmobiles and lawnmowers have no emission control devices like catalytic convertors so the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe is like 10 times more polluting than what comes out of a pickup truck.

Driving an electric car is pointless if you are doing so to go and burn gas for fun and to pleasure oneself.

If you're only towing a couple times a year, drive a Model 3 and rent a gas truck when you need to tow your boats to store them for the long Minnesota Winter. Or better yet, if you're going to give up burning gas in your car, then give up burning gas for fun as well and find ways to derive pleasure without burning fossil fuels; like canoeing or hiking or biking.

First, yes, motorized toys like boats and personal watercraft do have emissions control systems including catalytic converters. Even some lawn mowers do. Most toys sold today are 3 or 4 star emissions compliant.

Second, pleasuring myself doesn't involve my boat....well, usually.

Third, most rental companies don't allow you to tow with their trucks. You'd have to rent something from U-Haul or such, and those aren't exactly practical or convenient.

Fourth, people have toys that need to be towed and actually do other truck stuff. They're not mutually exclusive.

Fifth, why would you encourage people to pollute MORE just because they enjoy toys? Doesn't make sense.

Sixth, driving an electric vehicle is never pointless.

 

[keeney]

This whole thread seems to be missing an obvious point. Unless you are towing sail boats or row boats, then you're better off driving a fossil powered truck to tow your fossil powered toys. Motorized boats and jet skis and quads and dirt bikes and side by sides and snowmobiles and lawnmowers have no emission control devices like catalytic convertors so the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe is like 10 times more polluting than what comes out of a pickup truck.

Driving an electric car is pointless if you are doing so to go and burn gas for fun and to pleasure oneself.

If you're only towing a couple times a year, drive a Model 3 and rent a gas truck when you need to tow your boats to store them for the long Minnesota Winter. Or better yet, if you're going to give up burning gas in your car, then give up burning gas for fun as well and find ways to derive pleasure without burning fossil fuels; like canoeing or hiking or biking.

A: I admit it. I'm not really looking to buy an electric vehicle to cut emissions. I'm doing it because my old truck is nearing the end of its life and I want to replace it. If the EV is a better truck for the money, that's what I am going to buy. And that really is the tipping point that is going to save us - when EVs are the best financial choice, and have the function (range, payload, etc) that people need, then people will buy them.

B: Some boats actually do have catalytic converters these days (my biggest boat does). Modern gas-powered equipment do actually have some amount of emissions control designed into them. You can't even sell 2-cycle boats or jet skis anymore in many states. California passed emissions regulations for lawn mowers and a lot of other equipment like almost 40 years ago prompting a lot of things to have to be water-cooled instead of over-fuel-the-heck-out-of-it cooled.

C: Not sure how "better off" enters into it. I burn way more total fuel in my vehicles than in my boats. Cutting the emissions from my truck will make a significant reduction in total emissions even if I am still not all the way to zero,

 

[destructure00]

Or better yet, if you're going to give up burning gas in your car, then give up burning gas for fun as well and find ways to derive pleasure without burning fossil fuels; like canoeing or hiking or biking.

I drive a 3 but have a boat with a 502 big block and straight pipe exhaust. Isn't a partial reduction better than no reduction?

 

[Electruck]

This whole thread seems to be missing an obvious point. Unless you are towing sail boats or row boats, then you're better off driving a fossil powered truck to tow your fossil powered toys. Motorized boats and jet skis and quads and dirt bikes and side by sides and snowmobiles and lawnmowers have no emission control devices like catalytic convertors so the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe is like 10 times more polluting than what comes out of a pickup truck.

Driving an electric car is pointless if you are doing so to go and burn gas for fun and to pleasure oneself.

If you're only towing a couple times a year, drive a Model 3 and rent a gas truck when you need to tow your boats to store them for the long Minnesota Winter. Or better yet, if you're going to give up burning gas in your car, then give up burning gas for fun as well and find ways to derive pleasure without burning fossil fuels; like canoeing or hiking or biking.

Dude, we're in to the CTs for raw power n torque.

We pleasure ourselves in the woods around a camp fire with friends, running snowmobiles and dirt bikes and touring motorcycles.

Hybrids paid off all of our car loans and mortgages by not buying gas over the last 20 years. So, I run a 500cc 2 stroke dirt bike that smokes like a chain saw, and screams like a banshee? It's America.

 

[keeney]

Ironically, one of the things I will be hauling in my CT is the fuel for the ICE boats in a 55 gallon mobile transfer tank.
The ramp on the CT will work great for this frequent chore (the full tank weighs about 400 lbs).