Wet carpet and Towing

[sugarloafur]

My '94 Cherokee as very wet carpet. It got wet once and I'm not even sure how. It's so obsorbed that it's rusting the floor. Any suggestions? Do I take up the carpet, paint the floor, and put new carpet in? Any alternatives?

Also, it's getting close to boating season here in Maine and I'm wondering how much of a load I should trust on my Jeep. My boat and trailer together weight close to 3 tons. I have a 2" receiver with the 4.0L engine 5 speed. The trip from here to there is less than 3 miles on relatively flat back roads.
Thanks.

[MagicRat]

Its best to remove the seats, console, door trim and pull out the carpet. Leave the carpet underpad to dry in the sun for a few days...soaked underpad is a bitch to dry......
Get in the jeep and have someone spray particular areas with a garden hose to find a place for water to get in, then seal the area. Often the air ducts and windshield are favourites.
As for the floor, scrape or wire brush the areas down to the bare metal. Pick up some POR-15 and paint the rust or use some rust inhibiting, rust proofing spray on the bare patches (something that stays a bit sticky/greasy is good)

As for towing.........Cherokees are poor tow vehicles. They are generally too short and light for safe towing for anything more than 2000 lbs.

Lots of people tow heavier loads, and I personally have towed 4500 lbs with mine (when I was young and foolish) .....but it is not safe. The Cherokee simply cannot stop or manuever any kind of heavier trailer fast enough in an emergency situation.

So if your boat and trailer does weigh upwards of 6000 lbs.....I am sure your Cherokee can tow it a few miles, but at a great risk.
Any kind of incident may easily result in a serious accident, injury or worse. Is it worth the risk?

[sugarloafur]

Thanks you for the feedback, I'll attack the wet carpet this summer. I have friends who can tow the boat for me, so that's not a huge deal.