Sydwayz

Actually, it's more than that.
YES, you need to be able to stop the whole getup in the event that the trailer brakes fail. But you can over spec a trailer's brakes and really have a well performing trailer brake setup with brakes on all axles and an EoH setup with in cab brake controller.

However, you can't expect to CONTROL a 9000 trailer in emergency/evasive maneuvers when you are towing with a 4500 Half-Ton truck. You need "ass" in the truck to make the trailer do what you want/need it do to. Else the trailer will whip the truck around wherever it wants to; along with your family inside.

PowerplayDave

Just bought a 17 ford f250 i looked at a bunch of trucks prices were just about the same for 1/2 ton and 3/4 tons. I got rid of a 7.3 f250 diesel and bought a gas this time almost 10 k less then diesel. I was nervous going with a gas motor but it has towed fine. 28ft enclosed car trailer with car tools spares around 10k pounds. Boat and trailer around 8k pounds. Boat tows mostly on flat land. Car trailer thru mountains and flats. maintains speed but there is more gear changes can cruise at 75mph it only got to 3rd gear once @3400rpm in the mountains. Mileage is not great towing around 10mpg empty around 14mpg. The 17 tows better then the 03 almost 0 sway with semis and wind gusts. Brakes are great and i have inside cab controller at it's lowest position. I had the brake controller completely off for a test and both loads were fine it didn't push the truck around under braking.

RollWithIt

Congrats on the new to you boat. I am sure you will enjoy it down in Florida. You can never go wrong with more tow vehicle, but will regret if if you go too light and need the extra truck. I found this out twice towing my 36 foot Baja. Once when I had to stop on a local highway when traffic was at a stand still and once when I had to do an emergency lane change on I 4 in Tampa due to a stopped vehicle that missed its exit. The semi truck in front of me had to do the same and that is what revealed the stopped car.

If you only need the truck for towing, you can definitely find some nice used diesel trucks in Florida. Anything built from about 03 up, 3500 or 2500, should do the trick. Diesel will pull better than gas but there are some bigger gassers like the old 8 liter chevy used.

Pete280

I picked up a 2002 F250 7.3 for the same purpose, I have a company car so the truck sits in the driveway 98% of the time, pulled my 32 Dakota with the wifes Yukon a couple times and that was enough.