Pontoon Boats...

[ceyko]

Okay, as some may remember I asked about boats awhile ago. I got as informed as I could and bought a boat.

*I* really do dig the boat. It's a 16' Deep V boat with a 60HP Merc. Generally does everything I want to, but I'm figuring out it's too small to have more social fun with it. Plus with the small motor it sometimes won't go on plane with 3 adults, gear and large coolers. Which REALLY sucks when Texoma has rough waters or there is a ton of pleasure boats out there.

Also, I'm always paranoid about my 3 year olds going overboard when cruising at 30+ mph and when hitting rough water they tend to bounce around too much. The pontoons have those nice railings.

I'm currently looking at 22' pontoon boats with fishing area and going to leave it in a slip.

Has anyone done fishing out of a pontoon? This will be Texoma and I'm addicted to striper fishing. My #1 concern is using a cast net for shad. Past that trolling is going to be interesting since everything is on the stern and the motor will be on the bow...etc

I did rent one this weekend to make sure it's something I'll enjoy. It had no fishing areas and such. I do know for a fact I'll require a 115-150 hp motor without a doubt. (rented a 22' with a 50hp it was terrible)

Right now the specific one is this one...

http://www.suncatcherpontoons.com/x322-fc-x22-fc

...but I'm not TOO picky. I did notice there is not such thing as a sharp turn in them.

Looking for general feedback and ideas. I'm going to take a loss on the 16' if I do it, but am willing to do so.

[Ted]

My brother-in-law did ALOT of striper fishing of his pontoon boat when they lived on Cedar Creek. It had plenty of room to move around on for 4 people and 4 fishing poles.

[lee earley]

My dad has one and loves it. He fishes, tubes, and just a good general boat.

[ceyko]

My brother-in-law did ALOT of striper fishing of his pontoon boat when they lived on Cedar Creek. It had plenty of room to move around on for 4 people and 4 fishing poles.

4 poles 4 people? If there are 4 people fishing on my boat there better be 12 lines in the water at least.

That's good to know though. The romping room is very nice. Plus plenty of cooler space.

Does make thing interesting when 2 or more get something...

[Ruffdaddy]

For the price, nothin beats a pontoon....well that is if you like to party. I love pontoon boats.

[ceyko]

For the price, nothin beats a pontoon....well that is if you like to party. I love pontoon boats.

There is that aspect too. Camping/partying...etc. heh, some of them pontoons are not cheap either (at least to me 80K is not cheap), and you can get faster/etc boats in the 20-40K range, but hell some have damned toilets on them in that range and sinks.

[Ruffdaddy]

And at 22', unless you go with more than 115hp, you should have no concerns with your kid falling out at 30mph...lol

[ceyko]

And at 22', unless you go with more than 115hp, you should have no concerns with your kid falling out at 30mph...lol

Concur, yesterday I watched them -fall- all over the place and I may have swerved around to encourage it - but not once was there a concern of going overboard. (more concerned about freak thing and hitting them with prop to be honest)

[Ruffdaddy]

The 70K+ pontoons are the luxury, tritoon versions that will hit decent speeds. But yeah there is a wide spread of prices there.

Buy used!

My parents just picked up a bennington, and they have the small changing room that folds out in the back. You can throw a small toilet in there and be good!

[ceyko]

I am looking at new and used. In my experience so far the less than 8ish year old boats (oldest I'm willing to go on motor), there is not a big savings like there is in a lot of other boats.

[Treybiz]

If you leave it in a slip long term without a lift prepare to do some cleaning and more maintenance than if you were trailering every weekend. We left our fish and ski in a slip without a lift for one spring and summer while they were re-doing the ramp in our neighborhood. I spent three solid days with dad, scrubbing and power washing the hull. I think the pontoons do better in the water long term than a fiberglass hull but I've been wrong before.

[SSMAN]

Only boat I would buy is a pontoon. They do catch a lot of wind while fishing. Should not be too much of an issue striper fishing

[motoman]

Pontoon fishing is some of the most comfortable fishing i've ever done.

[ceyko]

Good feedback.

Treybiz, I wondered about that myself. I fish in Marinas and sometimes off the slips/docks and saw some boats in pretty bad shape too. Pontoons just look messy, not really bad - but I figured I'd have to drag it out eventually for pontoon maintenance.

I'm looking at a used boat this afternoon that I just found, it's light enough for my tow vehicle so that'll make it simple.

[SSMAN]

Make sure the trailer is included, you would be surprised how many are without the trailer.