Spring break in Charleston SC by way of towing 6500 lb travel trailer 500+ miles with 2022 PowerBoost F-150

[Eskram]

I might try renting something first and see what I can destroy with it. There are some nice beach parks nearby which could be a gentle introduction.

Anyway, jealous and that looks awesome.

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[Rockman5159]

Last week, we pulled the 6500 lb travel trailer the 500+ miles from Northern Virginia down to Charleston, SC for spring break with the Powerboost.

We started out on Friday (3/31) after the kids got out of school, and got a few hours of driving under our belt before stopping for the night at a Cracker Barrel south of Richmond. Apparently everybody is on the road on the Friday before spring break, so we mostly crawled down the highway for those first few hours. I was prepared to plug the trailer into the truck to get power that evening, but we ended up not needing it. On the plus side, we tended to get better towing mileage that night at 12mpg.

We finished the rest of southern Virginia, NC, and SC on Saturday April 1, through some rain and lots of strong wind. There was less traffic south of Richmond, so I could get up to 75 or more once the wind calmed down. Still, between the wind and the faster speeds, I spent that day in the 8-10mpg range. Also, we were amazed at the number of cars and trucks we saw with huge wheels like this:

That’s not something that we see much of in my area, so I’m guessing that it’s a regional thing.

We stayed the week at the KOA in Ladson, SC. It’s a serviceable enough campground to use as a base of operations for touring the attractions, but I’m not sure that I would recommend it if you’re planning on spending much time in the campground itself. Our site’s picnic table was squeezed in between our neighbor’s water and sewer lines, so it felt kind of cramped to be hanging out in the campground. But it had a pool and clean restrooms, so I’d rate it as “average.”

We toured the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, the SC Aquarium, Fort Sumter, the downtown historic area, Boone Hall Plantation, and spent a day at Folly Beach south of the city. Finding a space to park the 157” wheelbase truck on street parking can be challenging, so we parked in the city garage (on the top floor where there’s more room) near the aquarium when we drove into the city itself.

Unfortunately, my son stepped on a jellyfish while at the beach, so we spent part of Thursday at the local ER after his foot swelled up. After that, we decided to drive the whole 11 hours back all on Friday so that he could avoid an overnight in a walmart parking lot while hobbling around on crutches. We averaged about 8-9mpg going 75-80mph up to Richmond, and then slowed way down north of that (some parts of I-95 were signed for just 35mph), but got 12-13mpg as a result.

When towing, I generally kept the truck in tow/haul mode unless I was in stop & go traffic (when I shifted over to Normal to take advantage of coasting on electric power). Tow/haul mode seemed to get the best gas mileage when pulling a 3-ton wall. I tried locking out gears to keep the turbos from engaging too frequently, but when going 75mph they seemed to engage in every gear, so I ended up enabling all 10 gears for most of the trip. I also found that the automatic lane centering was really fighting the wind gusts, so I turned that off when towing. The cruise control, on the other hand, was really nice to have, especially when the traffic got more congested.

All in all, Charleston is a destination that I would recommend to tour, especially if you can reserve space in the other KOA campground near Charleston (the one closer to the beach).

Charleston SC is an awsome place to visit. So much to see and do. I live 85 mile North of Charleston and I worked in Charleston from 2002-2004 with amajor phone company while they were building the new bride. Glad to hear you had a great trip with your new truck!

 

[kevdog0710]

You pull a camper at 75-80mph?

 

[Aron]

You pull a camper at 75-80mph?

Not everywhere, but in the right conditions I will. I had to wait until the wind died down, and by that point the traffic was fairly light, the roads were straight, and the speed limit was 75mph. I think that I was keeping up with traffic at 78, if I remember correctly.

I try to find another RV or semi-truck that is going about the speed that I want to go, and stay behind them. I try to keep the passing to a minimum.

 

[Severdog]

We loved visiting Charleston when we lived "up north." Every two years the Cub Scouts would spend the weekend sleeping in the crew bunks & touring the Yorktown. With two boys, we went 3x. The Fighting Lady is a treasure.

I have the exact same truck (minus tow mirrors) and we have a "hankerin'" to travel with a camper. Thanks for the report!

 

[C_Harris]

Last week, we pulled the 6500 lb travel trailer the 500+ miles from Northern Virginia down to Charleston, SC for spring break with the Powerboost.

We started out on Friday (3/31) after the kids got out of school, and got a few hours of driving under our belt before stopping for the night at a Cracker Barrel south of Richmond. Apparently everybody is on the road on the Friday before spring break, so we mostly crawled down the highway for those first few hours. I was prepared to plug the trailer into the truck to get power that evening, but we ended up not needing it. On the plus side, we tended to get better towing mileage that night at 12mpg.

We finished the rest of southern Virginia, NC, and SC on Saturday April 1, through some rain and lots of strong wind. There was less traffic south of Richmond, so I could get up to 75 or more once the wind calmed down. Still, between the wind and the faster speeds, I spent that day in the 8-10mpg range. Also, we were amazed at the number of cars and trucks we saw with huge wheels like this:

That’s not something that we see much of in my area, so I’m guessing that it’s a regional thing.

We stayed the week at the KOA in Ladson, SC. It’s a serviceable enough campground to use as a base of operations for touring the attractions, but I’m not sure that I would recommend it if you’re planning on spending much time in the campground itself. Our site’s picnic table was squeezed in between our neighbor’s water and sewer lines, so it felt kind of cramped to be hanging out in the campground. But it had a pool and clean restrooms, so I’d rate it as “average.”

We toured the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, the SC Aquarium, Fort Sumter, the downtown historic area, Boone Hall Plantation, and spent a day at Folly Beach south of the city. Finding a space to park the 157” wheelbase truck on street parking can be challenging, so we parked in the city garage (on the top floor where there’s more room) near the aquarium when we drove into the city itself.

Unfortunately, my son stepped on a jellyfish while at the beach, so we spent part of Thursday at the local ER after his foot swelled up. After that, we decided to drive the whole 11 hours back all on Friday so that he could avoid an overnight in a walmart parking lot while hobbling around on crutches. We averaged about 8-9mpg going 75-80mph up to Richmond, and then slowed way down north of that (some parts of I-95 were signed for just 35mph), but got 12-13mpg as a result.

When towing, I generally kept the truck in tow/haul mode unless I was in stop & go traffic (when I shifted over to Normal to take advantage of coasting on electric power). Tow/haul mode seemed to get the best gas mileage when pulling a 3-ton wall. I tried locking out gears to keep the turbos from engaging too frequently, but when going 75mph they seemed to engage in every gear, so I ended up enabling all 10 gears for most of the trip. I also found that the automatic lane centering was really fighting the wind gusts, so I turned that off when towing. The cruise control, on the other hand, was really nice to have, especially when the traffic got more congested.

All in all, Charleston is a destination that I would recommend to tour, especially if you can reserve space in the other KOA campground near Charleston (the one closer to the beach).

Always go to the Mount Pleasant KOA! Much nicer part of town and still easy to get around to all the sights. Glad you enjoyed the city I now call home!

 

[Aron]

Always go to the Mount Pleasant KOA! Much nicer part of town and still easy to get around to all the sights. Glad you enjoyed the city I now call home!

We tried, but it was full. It was clear from the photos when we booked that the North Charleston KOA wasn't a gem, so we searched around for any other possibilities before deciding that it was that or nothing. It actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting from the photos, though it wasn't particularly close to anything that we wanted to see.

 

[HeadBanger]

Nice writeup! We have a small motorhome on the Mercedes chassis and pull a cargo trailer. Heavy traffic is horrible and we try to avoid the major interstates, especially around a large city. Too many idiots in a hurry.
Glad it all went well for ya!!

 

[Samson16]

Not everywhere, but in the right conditions I will. I had to wait until the wind died down, and by that point the traffic was fairly light, the roads were straight, and the speed limit was 75mph. I think that I was keeping up with traffic at 78, if I remember correctly.

I try to find another RV or semi-truck that is going about the speed that I want to go, and stay behind them. I try to keep the passing to a minimum.

Just tell them it's a civil engineer thing because you understand the roads

 

[XLT22]

Not everywhere, but in the right conditions I will. I had to wait until the wind died down, and by that point the traffic was fairly light, the roads were straight, and the speed limit was 75mph. I think that I was keeping up with traffic at 78, if I remember correctly.

I try to find another RV or semi-truck that is going about the speed that I want to go, and stay behind them. I try to keep the passing to a minimum.

There aren't any speed limits anywhere along I95 that are 75mph. Just a word of caution if you make that trip again, both NC and SC are beginning to police speeding tow vehicles very heavily this summer due to some high profile accidents, not to mention the 100+ miles of road construction. There are already some eye-watering tickets being written over the spring break period.

 

[Aron]

There aren't any speed limits anywhere along I95 that are 75mph. Just a word of caution if you make that trip again, both NC and SC are beginning to police speeding tow vehicles very heavily this summer due to some high profile accidents, not to mention the 100+ miles of road construction. There are already some eye-watering tickets being written over the spring break period.

Now that I think about it, you’re probably right. I normally have the cruise control set to 8mph above the speed limit, and while I thought I had turned that off for this trip, it may have reengaged (hence 78mph). Either way, I was slower than most other traffic; I certainly wasn’t passing many people.

In any case, I’m not going to be heading down that way again anytime soon, but I appreciate the warning to any others who may be coming behind me.

 

[SamEZ3]

Now that I think about it, you’re probably right. I normally have the cruise control set to 8mph above the speed limit, and while I thought I had turned that off for this trip, it may have reengaged (hence 78mph). Either way, I was slower than most other traffic; I certainly wasn’t passing many people.

In any case, I’m not going to be heading down that way again anytime soon, but I appreciate the warning to any others who may be coming behind me.

Hey I'm in Northern VA too (Ashburn). Most of my family is from Southern VA and Tidewater, so I frequent I95 a lot. Yeah it's crazy you doing 78 you're just keeping up with traffic at that point. Most big rigs seem to be pacing that along that stretch.

Thanks for sharing your towing experience, nice to hear what one should expect MPG wise. I wonder how that compares to the non-hybrid variants? Sorry to hear about the jellyfish encounter.

 

[Aron]

Hey I'm in Northern VA too (Ashburn). Most of my family is from Southern VA and Tidewater, so I frequent I95 a lot. Yeah it's crazy you doing 78 you're just keeping up with traffic at that point. Most big rigs seem to be pacing that along that stretch.

Thanks for sharing your towing experience, nice to hear what one should expect MPG wise. I wonder how that compares to the non-hybrid variants? Sorry to hear about the jellyfish encounter.

I'm in Ashburn, too! When towing a 3-ton wall down the highway at 70+ mph, the electric motor doesn't engage at all. It's basically just an ecoboost at that point, for all intents and purposes.

I've heard many people say that it doesn't matter which engine you have, you're going to get roughly the same mileage (8-12, depending upon conditions) pulling big RV trailers. That's matched my experience towing this trailer 30k miles over 7 years.

 

[SamEZ3]

I'm in Ashburn, too! When towing a 3-ton wall down the highway at 70+ mph, the electric motor doesn't engage at all. It's basically just an ecoboost at that point, for all intents and purposes.

I've heard many people say that it doesn't matter which engine you have, you're going to get roughly the same mileage (8-12, depending upon conditions) pulling big RV trailers. That's matched my experience towing this trailer 30k miles over 7 years.

Sweet about location! I'll send you a private message. Ahhh thanks for that info on MPGs.

 

[DANJENS]

Thanks for posting on the cool trip. Sorry to hear about your son.

As Jellyfish sting was mentioned in the OP. I will add this. Had a doctor friend tell me how his wife got stung while snorkeling and the local guide poured hot coffee on it and it relieved the pain. So my friend and I did a little research and found this......

From the Mayo CLinic

1. Carefully pluck visible tentacles with a fine tweezers.
2. Soak the skin in hot water. Use water that's 110 to 113 F (43 to 45 C). It should feel hot, not scalding. Keep the affected skin immersed or in a hot shower until the pain eases, which might be 20 to 45 minutes.
3. Apply 0.5% to 1% hydrocortisone cream or ointment twice a day to the affected skin.

Who knew hot water deactivated the venom of most jellyfish and it is a lot easer to apply than peanut butter......

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