The GMC Sierra HD is an excellent vehicle for pulling a boat. Its substantial towing muscle makes it more than capable of towing a wide range of boats for long distances so comfortably that you might forget there’s a boat behind you. The Denali trim ensures premium comfort while performing said towing. However, one Sierra HD Denali driver appeared to get too ambitious with his truck’s capabilities. Check out the incident in the video below.
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Unfortunately, the video is too short to tell us the whole story. It starts out with a T1 GMC Sierra HD Denali powered by a Duramax diesel engine being pulled out of the water by another vehicle, and it looks like it was in there pretty deep. Once the truck is extracted, the driver nonchalantly exits the vehicle with admirable confidence, checking the trailer and seemingly ignoring the water pouring out of the truck’s cab.
We don’t know what happens from there, but it can’t be good. The sheer volume of water that floods out of the cabin implies that the truck was much deeper underwater than what it can realistically handle. Even if it were a more off-road-oriented variant like the Sierra HD AT4X, there’s only so much that bigger tires and taller ground clearance can do to mitigate this level of flooding.
Oddly, this isn’t the first or even the second time we’ve witnessed a white GMC Sierra HD Denali go swimming. Last year, we showed you a video of a Ford Super Duty pulling a GMC Sierra HD Denali very similar to this one out of a lake. Back in 2021, we witnessed another similar Sierra HD Denali embarrass itself by going swimming after slipping off of a boat launch ramp.
We don’t know who needs to hear this, but please do not drive your GMC Sierra HD Denali in a lake. It keeps happening, and we at GM Authority can’t seem to find a way to prevent this persistent problem. You don’t want to have to call your buddy with a Ford to come rescue you from a lake.
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It keeps happening because, like many Hummer EV owners, many of these are owned by folks with mashed potatoes for brains.
Has a cool truck and boat but no idea how to handle it. Too bad everyone didn’t get to grow up out in farm country.
Learned to drive pretty young out in the field in my dad’s 61 Ford pickup with a 3 on the tree. I could barely see over the wheel when I pushed in the clutch. When it came time to get my license I was good to go.
An expensive truck becomes even more expensive. Expensive insurance becomes even more expensive.
Arkansas ?
most folks in arkansas can’t afford this truck so much more likely the fools in california or new york.
$80k truck. 80 IQ driver .
Likely has the truck and boat financed on “How much will my payments be?” with the longest terms he could get.
He’s completely SOL and stuck in a bad financial corner now.
Who is the submarine commander?
It will be OK just as long as they got the underwater option only Kidding what a shame
“You don’t want to have to call your buddy with a Ford to come rescue you from a lake.”
Being rescued by a Ford is least of your worries. In this region, drop your vehicle in a lake and you’re getting a 5-6 figure DNR fine, plus the tow bill (divers if needed), plus a good chance of insurance not covering anything. Including your ruined truck with years of payments left. Be careful out there, water does not forgive mistakes.
Edit: 4-5 figure DNR fine. Still substantial.
I wonder if it was freshwater or from a coastal saltwater dock?
I wouldn’t want to buy it used from either scenario but if it was fresh water exchanging a few electronic assemblies and replacing wet carpeting and the lower seating components the owner probably could get by with a few years of use. Salt water, forget it. Saltwater even attacks the aluminum suspension structure and every nook & cranny of the body panels.
I have 2025 2500 HD Denali. With a trailer connected every time I stop the truck it automatically puts the parking brake on. After watching Broncos Guru You tube channel where they show how slippery some of the Florida boat ramps are it does seem possible. Also seems they don’t know what 4WD is.
I had a 2014 Sierra. Brakes were not sufficient at low rpm to stop a heavy trailer from pulling me backwards while on a hill or ramp. Twice the dealer said there was no problem. Eventually there was a recall on vacuum booster and problem solved!
People in California and New York subsidize the welfare state of Arkansas. Maybe we are fools but we are wealthy fools!
Everything is relative, I know people in southern Kalifornia with jobs that pay twice as much as my free red state but that’s not the whole story. Their mortgage and taxes are triple what mine are, their gas and utilities are triple mine and they live under oppressive Dim government with fewer personal rights. I wouldn’t trade with them, ever. Just sayin
I’m not a boater but I can imagine that there’s probably slick moss on that ramp below the water line, no way I’m getting all 4 tires in the moss.
One thing that didn’t come up was that a lot of these low information types are MAGA types too. Believe everything the Loose Cannon ( Emperor) tells them. There is no hope for them….let them be.
LOL we MAGA types grew up out in the country around ranching, farming, and construction. Started on garden tractors before age 10 and progressed to driving trucks and tractors off road by age 15. Most of us can handle something simple like this in our sleep. Difficult is backing a hay wagon stacked 10 feet high into a narrow barn door through the mud with an old WD-45 or JD 630 or Farmall M. Great memories, the really hard part was throwing and stacking the bales up in the lofts.
Brilliant Earl. Cannot fix stupid. Impossible to argue with a stupid person.
Backs in to dam fast. Well I have big mud tires no problem ! Can’t fix stupid !!!
When you lease a vehicle, you just don’t care.