You Don’t Need a Heavy-Duty Truck to Tow a Small Boat to Bucksport

A customer walks onto the lot set on a Silverado 2500 HD, sure it’s the only truck that can safely pull their 18-foot bass boat down to Bucksport Marina for a weekend on the Waccamaw. They’re lined up to spend well past what the job asks. Most small boats don’t demand it.

The actual answer depends on three things: what your specific boat and loaded trailer really weigh, whether you’ve spec’d the right package on your truck, and whether you grasp that towing capacity and payload are two different numbers. Get those right, and the 2026 Chevrolet Colorado might be everything you need for the Bucksport ramp.

Is It True That You Need a Big Truck Just to Tow a Small Boat?

No, you don’t need a big truck for most recreational boats, and the numbers make the case, though the phrase doing the heavy lifting is ‘properly equipped,’ because the exact same 2026 Colorado swings from a modest rating to a strong one depending on one factory package.

The myth sticks around because “towing capacity” sounds like one fixed number. It isn’t. The number shifts with engine, cab configuration, drivetrain, and whether the truck left the factory with the right trailering package. A 2026 Colorado without the Advanced Trailering Package is rated at only 3,500 lbs. Add the package and that same Colorado jumps to 7,700 lbs. The gap explains why some Colorado owners reach the Bucksport ramp with no trouble. Others are underpowered and never realize it.

The table below sorts myth from reality for the boats and trucks folks around Horry County actually ask us about:

Matching the Right Truck to Your Boat and the Bucksport Ramp

Matching truck to boat comes down to loaded weight and launch conditions more than badge size, and Bucksport Marina makes a good test case, sitting just off Route 701 south of Conway on the Waccamaw River and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, with two free public boat ramps and a courtesy dock for staging while you park.

Take that as a practical note rather than scenery. A double-lane concrete ramp means you don’t have to back to the water’s edge and sit there, but you still need stable torque at low speed to control a loaded trailer on a wet grade.

The 2026 Silverado 1500 starts conversations at 9,500 lbs with its base 2.7L TurboMax four-cylinder, and climbs to 13,300 lbs with the 6.2L V8 or the 3.0L Duramax diesel and the Max Trailering Package. The result puts it solidly in range for pontoons on the heavier end (think a larger boat with dual outboards and a tandem-axle trailer) and leaves genuine reserve capacity. The Silverado 1500 is where we’d steer someone with a 22-foot tri-toon whose loaded rig approaches or exceeds the 5,000-lb mark, or anyone whose boating plans point toward something larger down the road.

For the typical local small-boat owner, the Colorado is genuinely capable. Chevrolet builds every 2026 Colorado with the same 2.7L TurboMax engine across all trims, making 310 hp and 430 lb-ft of torque. For a midsize truck, that’s real torque. With the Advanced Trailering Package installed, it handles bass boats, jon boats, and smaller pontoons without drama.

The Silverado 2500 HD rates up to 20,000 lbs conventional when properly equipped. It belongs on a job site pulling heavy equipment, or hauling a large fifth-wheel RV across a long interstate run. If your boat fits on a single-axle trailer and launches at Bucksport Marina, the HD is a tool you don’t need for this specific task.

The tradeoff, and we’ll give it to you straight. The Colorado saves you money and handles well around Conway and on US-501, but it’s a midsize truck. If your recreational life grows, say a bigger boat or a larger camper down the line, you may find yourself back on the lot. The Silverado 1500 asks more up front and burns more fuel on a round trip to the marina. What it gives you is headroom. Only you can make that call, based on your own boating plans, not us.

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So What Should You Actually Do Before You Tow?

Three quick checks handle it, and none of them takes long, maybe ten minutes total before you ever hitch up, yet skipping them is where trouble starts, so do them every haul and not just the first one.

Check the door-jamb label first. Chevrolet places a Trailering Information Label on the driver-side door jamb that gives your specific truck’s towing and payload limits. The brochure number is a ceiling across the lineup. Your label is the one that counts.

The second check is your loaded trailer weight. Get the whole combination on a scale, and you’ll see the actual gross trailer weight and tongue weight, since plenty of feed stores and freight yards around Horry County have drive-on scales. Tongue weight runs 10 to 15 percent of gross trailer weight, and that share counts against your truck’s payload, alongside every passenger and anything in the bed.

The third check is your package. If you’re in a Colorado and want the full 7,700-lb rating, confirm the Advanced Trailering Package, RPO ZL6, is on your build sheet. The package adds a heavy-duty receiver, a 7-pin sealed connector, and an integrated trailer brake controller. Without it, your WT or LT is rated at 3,500 lbs, and that’s the spec that catches people off guard.

On our end, when someone comes in asking about towing while they check what’s in stock, we walk them through the build sheet, confirm the trailering package status, and explain how payload and tongue weight interact. None of that is complicated. Just do it before the ramp.