My wife has been making pontoon boat noises lately. I'm more of a center console kinda guy, but I think that ship has sailed. Does anyone have any input on pontoons? The good, the bad, and the ugly? Favorite brands, dealers to avoid, etc. ..

Thanks a bunch!

Get a center console pontoon. Win Win.

Or what she wants and one of what you want.

They are fine for trolling, crappie fishing and such but they blow around real bad if you try to fish a bank for bass and such. It's hard to keep them on a straight line with a trolling motor if there's much wind. I've had two bass pro pontoon boats and they were fairly well made.

Happy wife happy life.

Oh I forgot. Getting one on a trailer in a cross breeze really sucks. The bunks are v shaped and you have to hit it just right.

PM CCbirddogman. He loves his..

Look into center console Tri-Hull's they ride nice and dry.

Prices of toons have skyrocketed! Wasn't that long ago you could get a brand new one for less than 1/2 the price of a bass boat. Saw one the other day with a 300 Merc on it at over $80K!

Tri Toon / triple tube.

Manitou
Harris
Bennington
JC
Barletta
Angler Qwest
G3 sun catcher

I loved mine..……..
Just make sure, it's not under powered...…..

If I had a gal that started to make pontoon boat noises I think I would buy her a treadmill. Just kidding. Don't know squat about boats. Family had a pontoon windsock once it was fun but unstable.

I can give you a great deal on a small I/O. I'm done.

Bennington? Someone getting boojey

Of course, it depends upon how big of a boat you need, where you want to run, what your usage will be, and how much you want to spend.

Mine is an old 25' two-log pontoon with a 115 hp motor and it only runs 27 mph wide open with 6 adults on board, or 25 mph towing a large "tube" with 3 adults on it. Same boat with 150-200 hp would scoot along at 35-45+ mph because it would lift the nosecones out of the water to reduce drag and plowing.

We are actually happy with ours because it was cheap, has a capacity of 14 people, lots of room for ice chests, gear and dogs - and 25 mph is a decent speed for tubing for the kids. I have never met anyone who thought that they had too much horsepower, but it can get expensive - fast.

We boat a lot, year 'round whenever a warm and sunny day comes around, so fuel consumption means something to me. Having a smaller motor that doesn't allow me to suck much gas even when I bury the throttle saves me money

Marc

The amount of money you spend directly correlates with how much motor you want.

We were looking to get one about a month ago. I was amazed at how expensive they are. Made the mistake of sitting in the $80k Ranger up at Cabelas and then nothing else compared. We started looking at the sun tracker line and by the time you put a trolling motor, fish finder, and TT&L you will be over 40 large. That’s for a 22’ sun tracker with a 150 on the back. Even used boats are pretty high... or at least it seems high to me. If you do buy one from bass pro/cabelas you won’t pick it up that day. Guy working there told us it’s about a 10 day process. We kinda put the breaks on for now, but still looking to score a nice used one. Good luck!

Bet that price increase is 100% motor related.

I say it depends on what you want to do out of a boat. In college we did a lot of anchor/tie up night fishing for catfish, I learned to love a boat I had previously thought was worthless, a pontoon boat. Like said above if you want to run a trolling motor all day and bas fish etc. its probably not the best option.

I saw a sweet pontoon at Lewisville last week at marina, it had (2) Mercury 250 on the back, I bet that thing hauls arse…….

Pontoons are great for people who live on the lake and have a dock.

All these posts and not a single mention of motorboating.....are we maturing?



By we I don't mean me

HE77 YES !!!!!!!

I've tried all day to come up with something positive to say in this thread but I just can't.

A pontoon is good for nothing.