Australia’s pick-up truck love affair to spawn larger trailer boats

According to Whittley Marine Group New Business Development Manager, Alan Whittley, a tow vehicle rated at 4.5 tonnes would make it easier to keep a boat road-legal once fuel and all the weekend’s needs were onboard compared with a smaller, more conventional 3.5-tonne-rated trade ute such as a Ford Ranger or Toyota HiLux.

Australians have warmed to right-hand-drive converted light trucks such as the RAM 1500 and the Chevrolet Silverado since their introduction in the wake of the demise of the local car manufacturing industry in 2017.

However, with the highly anticipated, right-hook-converted Ford F-150 also due for an Australian introduction later this year and priced well under rival offerings, the segment is expected to boom as buyers soak up as many as the market can produce.

The pick-up truck boom has given Whittley the confidence to announce it will soon produce an all-new model, the Whittley CR29, which is likely to become the largest boat that the Melbourne-based manufacturer has ever built.

“With these [4.5-tonne light trucks], people don’t have to worry about weight any more,” Whittley said.

“Before they had to be a bit careful about fuel and other stuff so that they weren’t overloading the boat, but with these utes, that’s no longer a problem.”

However, while Whittley said that light trucks would allow boat-builders to make ever-larger boats, a 2.5-metre limit on a boat’s beam to make it legal to tow on Australian roads would also limit what could be done.

“I’d love to build a boat with a 2.6-metre beam,” he said. “You can imagine how much extra space that [extra beam] would create in the back of a trailer boat, but yeah, we can’t.”

“The beauty of what we do with the boats we’re building … is the fact that you can tow it anywhere if you have a suitable tow vehicle.”

Ford has taken the game up to RAM and Chevrolet by announcing its entry-level Ford F-150 light truck will sell in Australia from a sharp $106,950 before on-road costs when it goes on sale later this year, undercutting rivals significantly.

All four variants of the Ford F-150 – entry-level XLT and range-topping Lariat in either short or long body styles – will be rated to tow 4.5 tonnes.

All four models will use a twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre EcoBoost petrol V6 engine producing 298kW3 and 678Nm and paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission in 4x4 Crew Cab configuration.

The Australian pick-up truck showroom will become even more crowded as Toyota tests the US-market Tacoma light truck ahead of an anticipated introduction here in 2024.

Wait times for converted light trucks have blown out to between three and six months as GM Special Vehicles, the Melbourne-based engineering group responsible for converting the US-market vehicles, struggles with the supply of particularly the Chevrolet Silverado.