Pontoon Boats...

[Country cracker]

Do yourself a huge favor and get a deck boat. You have the same options as a pontoon but you have a fiberglass hull instead of 2 pontoons. You will be able to do more out of a deck boat and be able to pull a skier.

[jluv]

Buddy of mine has a pontoon with 3 pontoons on it and a pretty big motor. I think it's a 150 hp. Anyway, that thing will pull a skier all day and can easily throw you off a tube.

[dblack1]

There are a couple on the lake we visit with dual 250 and one with two 300's on the back.

The nicest one I've been on had a 250hp and moved pretty good. I've also been on a 29' with a I/O and it was by far the best riding rig.

[SSMAN]

Do yourself a huge favor and get a deck boat. You have the same options as a pontoon but you have a fiberglass hull instead of 2 pontoons. You will be able to do more out of a deck boat and be able to pull a skier.

Deck boats are nice. Pricy, but nice. They ride rough in bad weather too

[motoman]

Buddy of mine has a pontoon with 3 pontoons on it and a pretty big motor. I think it's a 150 hp. Anyway, that thing will pull a skier all day and can easily throw you off a tube.

Tritoons are becoming very popular especially with the newer middle V-hull design, which allows a tritoon to more stability, therefore allowing for much sharper turns.

[Fourx4Brad]

Shopping advice from a new to me used tri-toon owner

I did it similar to you.

Back in May when I started shopping for a new to me boat I rode on a few average pontoon boats with smaller motors and knew I would get bored with the Bass Pro like 50 hp cheaper and slower models. For a month I visited several dealers in the Dallas area and watched online websites. I wanted to buy one before the summer boating season started as I figured the prices would go up soon.


Vaughn Whittle of Whittle Boats (salesman and dealership owner) gave me these suggestions
1. Have a compression test done on the motor.
2. If you are a performance guy then look at the tri-toons with lifting strakes (tri-toons are more stable and lifting strakes are faster to get on plane).
3. Buy one with the largest HP motor you can afford as its more costly to upgrade motors after the sale once you get bored with the typical 50 hp.
3. Also look for one that has the aluminum underskin under the deck between the toons. If not as water splashes up underneath the deck and hits the cross supports and frame underneath it will be noisy and affect your top speed.


Back in May I bought a 2002 Bennington 2275 FSI (22 foot fish \ ski model) with a 2003 Mercury XR6 150hp (carbed 2 stroke). I got it at Whittle Boats for close to 17k. It came with a playpen cover (see pics below), new depth finder, new trailer tires, a fresh tune up (plugs, water impeller, lower gear oil change). With the sale I got a 90 day engine warranty and a new custom made canvas cover to protect the seats and internals during storage (no pictures available of the storage cover).


Pictures








We have been out every weekend since rain permitting. We typically start out at 6 AM fishing and when the bites die off we switch over to ski \ tubing. It will hit 35-38 on gps so ski \ tubing is decent.


My only minor complaints
You are correct that turns are slower as it plows thru the water. And the larger motor will drink gas like there's no end.

[4.6coupe]

^^^^^excellent post^^^^^. Looks like you got a good deal!!!!

[SSMAN]

I did it similar to you.

Back in May when I started shopping for a new to me boat I rode on a few average pontoon boats with smaller motors and knew I would get bored with the Bass Pro like 50 hp cheaper and slower models. For a month I visited several dealers in the Dallas area and watched online websites. I wanted to buy one before the summer boating season started as I figured the prices would go up soon.


Vaughn Whittle of Whittle Boats (salesman and dealership owner) gave me these suggestions
1. Have a compression test done on the motor.
2. If you are a performance guy then look at the tri-toons with lifting strakes (tri-toons are more stable and lifting strakes are faster to get on plane).
3. Buy one with the largest HP motor you can afford as its more costly to upgrade motors after the sale once you get bored with the typical 50 hp.
3. Also look for one that has the aluminum underskin under the deck between the toons. If not as water splashes up underneath the deck and hits the cross supports and frame underneath it will be noisy and affect your top speed.


Back in May I bought a 2002 Bennington 2275 FSI (22 foot fish \ ski model) with a 2003 Mercury XR6 150hp (carbed 2 stroke). I got it at Whittle Boats for close to 17k. It came with a playpen cover (see pics below), new depth finder, new trailer tires, a fresh tune up (plugs, water impeller, lower gear oil change). With the sale I got a 90 day engine warranty and a new custom made canvas cover to protect the seats and internals during storage (no pictures available of the storage cover).


Pictures








We have been out every weekend since rain permitting. We typically start out at 6 AM fishing and when the bites die off we switch over to ski \ tubing. It will hit 35-38 on gps so ski \ tubing is decent.


My only minor complaints
You are correct that turns are slower as it plows thru the water. And the larger motor will drink gas like there's no end.

Now you are shitting in high cotton ! Very nice.

[cde21]

Spend the extra coin and get a deck boat or a center console if you are wanting to striper fish. Get a pontoon if you plan on going out and drinking/partying, but if you plan on doing any type of fishing that doesn't involve you throwing an anchor or tying up, you will regret it! Speaking from experience.

[MustangPoser]

I like catching fishing, not frying my ass off at 2pm to catch a buzz, so I can't speak towards anything but fishing on boats.

I only fish Bass and occasionally catfish in freshwater, so I have a strong preference towards bass boats and center consoles (especially in the winter).

Fishing spawn from a pontoon would be a bitch, even fishing deeper water on a lake like fork would be a pain. But, I have catfished from a pontoon boat and it is is comfortable like fishing from the bank for cats. You can spread out, if it has a sink you don't have to fight the smell of stink bait and can eat some munchies.

I don't understand why you are concerned with cast netting from a pontoon boat? Unless your 4 foot tall your going to be clearing the side rails when you throw.

Honestly, if you can grab some shad close to the shore I'd prefer to get out of the boat and cast net, else your going to end up with all kinds of nastiness on the deck. I was cast netting in San Leon a few weeks ago and felt bad enough with how dirty the dock became.

[ceyko]

Yeah I hit a bunch of dealers yesterday afternoon and there is not much in stock that I'm interested new or used. The model I like has more open areas on the bow/stern for fishing, live wells and such. Most everything I'm finding, especially used or new in Lewisville is heavily seated and such. I LIKE those, but I know for a fact it is not going to work. Plus I noted you can buy seats afterwards - so if I decide to get more seats it won't be an issue. Mainly focusing on size of boat, fishing amenities and decent little motor on it now. The only thing I found was from North Texas Marine a 21' Fishing Barge - it's really nice, by my standards but only has a 60hp bigfoot on it. I'm staying with at least a 115, if the boat I like could handle a 150 I'd go with it.

Spend the extra coin and get a deck boat or a center console if you are wanting to striper fish. Get a pontoon if you plan on going out and drinking/partying, but if you plan on doing any type of fishing that doesn't involve you throwing an anchor or tying up, you will regret it! Speaking from experience.

I do realize I'm going to be missing out (trolling motor or not) on some opportunities when fishing with a boat like this one. I currently have a sufficient fishing boat for everything, but it sucks for everything else. Even the bay boats I wanted, are just not sufficient for the family side at this point and double the price of a basic pontoon with some upgrades.

Generally now I mainly have luck drift fishing with a drift sock. In my mind, I figured get a bigger drift sock and do the same thing. My current boat was going to get down riggers, which are doable with a pontoon too. Actually, down riggers will probably work better on the pontoon than my fishing boat.

This is also why I specifically chose Texoma too. It's equal distance/time (give or take a few miles) for Texoma, Lewisville, Lavon, and Ray Roberts for me. Texoma is just wide open so not as much wiggling has to be done and not as much of those small, heavily treed areas either. Just deeper fishing generally.

I like catching fishing, not frying my ass off at 2pm to catch a buzz, so I can't speak towards anything but fishing on boats.

I only fish Bass and occasionally catfish in freshwater, so I have a strong preference towards bass boats and center consoles (especially in the winter).

Fishing spawn from a pontoon would be a bitch, even fishing deeper water on a lake like fork would be a pain. But, I have catfished from a pontoon boat and it is is comfortable like fishing from the bank for cats. You can spread out, if it has a sink you don't have to fight the smell of stink bait and can eat some munchies.

I don't understand why you are concerned with cast netting from a pontoon boat? Unless your 4 foot tall your going to be clearing the side rails when you throw.

Honestly, if you can grab some shad close to the shore I'd prefer to get out of the boat and cast net, else your going to end up with all kinds of nastiness on the deck. I was cast netting in San Leon a few weeks ago and felt bad enough with how dirty the dock became.

In regards to shad, at Texoma even the guides are out there way early and generally I'm unaware of any banks that have luck. (I'm sure they are there, just have not found them yet. I never have much problem with that much of a mess though - so that's odd. Generally speaking, I have the best luck in 10-15' of water with lights on the water. Give 10 minutes, cast a few, give 10 minutes cast a few...etc...etc...etc. After picking the specific pontoon boat I want, it has small decks on the bow/stern - so casting is zero concern at this point. Plus live wells on each end to get them in (although I use a 5 gallon bucket with salt first)

My fishing "trips" generally are leave around 0200 saturday morning or just leave friday night. Get bait, fish, lunch, lounge/fish, fish, dinner and fish until whenever. Sleep on boat, get bait, rinse and repeat. That's another reason I like the pontoon idea. Get to have more people on board and can sleep better.

I can honestly say that while active, I don't drink much at all. i.e. maybe 1-2 beers all day long. Now when night comes and not moving anymore, I'll have a few more. Honestly, the game wardens are a bit too sneaky in my opinion and I don't trust having even "a few" while anchor fishing...etc Better safe than sorry all the way around. Fishing boats seem to be easy prey and always checked by them. Don't know if they don't have any say over the drunk recreational boats, but it's just not worth it while fishing. (Edit: Don't even have 1 beer while kids are on board. Now when the wife is driving....all bets are off)

[ceyko]

BTW, thanks for all the feedback from everyone though. At this point the wife and I are pretty well set on a fishing pontoon and I'll just have to make it work. I am interested in hearing the opinions still and so forth.

At this point I'm more researching rigging it with a grill, lights, a battery or two extra and all that sort of stuff.

[grove rat]

after this past weekend i am sold on pontoon boats. about 8 of us were on the water and we had a small pontoon along with 2 waverunners and we all had a great time. waverunners tagged along when the pontoon was in motion but once we picked out a cove & anchored we just tied them up to the side of the pontoon and relaxed on deck. try tying 2 pwc to someone's fancy wake boat and see if they flip out lol

i always thought they were an "old man boat" but after seeing how great a cheap pontoon and a couple of water skis work together i am sold

[Slow Five-O]

after this past weekend i am sold on pontoon boats. about 8 of us were on the water and we had a small pontoon along with 2 waverunners and we all had a great time. waverunners tagged along when the pontoon was in motion but once we picked out a cove & anchored we just tied them up to the side of the pontoon and relaxed on deck. try tying 2 pwc to someone's fancy wake boat and see if they flip out lol

i always thought they were an "old man boat" but after seeing how great a cheap pontoon and a couple of water skis work together i am sold

Just did this exact thing a couple weeks ago and has a blast. The pontoon had a ski bar for tubing. Would only go 20mph but still enough to have some fun on a tube. It also had a couple live wells for fishing. Just a fun all around boat imo.

[ceyko]

after this past weekend i am sold on pontoon boats. about 8 of us were on the water and we had a small pontoon along with 2 waverunners and we all had a great time. waverunners tagged along when the pontoon was in motion but once we picked out a cove & anchored we just tied them up to the side of the pontoon and relaxed on deck. try tying 2 pwc to someone's fancy wake boat and see if they flip out lol

i always thought they were an "old man boat" but after seeing how great a cheap pontoon and a couple of water skis work together i am sold

Too bad it's almost like you need 3 boats to do everything you want. The wife was thinking PWC as well in a few years.

I also thought it was an old man's boat until this year getting out on the lakes. Yeah, they are not as fast or good at any 1 particular thing as other boats. They are just versatile in my opinion. Put a decent motor on it and it's not so bad.

What cracks me up, is there are pontoons for sale 26+ foot boats, decked out with 50hp motors on them. On a bigger lake, that would would be an ass whoop. Those things probably weigh 4-5 thousand pounds easy - maybe 6 then all the other stuff. Probably top speed of 10 mph and in rough water 5 mph. The more decked out the boat is, the more it is going to weigh. Start needing those 200+ hp motors.