Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hi there. New to the forum. Is there anyone from north of the 49th in here?

mypontoon wrote:Hi there. New to the forum. Is there anyone from north of the 49th in here?

Where's that?

Welcome.

I'm guessing Canada!

Yep, the 49th parallel is the border between the US and Canada above North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, etc. - or - viewed from the other side, the southern border of most of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, etc.

(I know how to spell British, honest I do.)

Ah, eye sea.... Canada... Mighty cold up there... seems like there'd be about 2 months of boating season...

do they attach skis to the underside of the pontoon logs for the other 10 months?

mypontoon wrote:Hi there. New to the forum. Is there anyone from north of the 49th in here?

check here I thought I saw some in Canada http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=295621

mypontoon wrote:Hi there. New to the forum. Is there anyone from north of the 49th in here?

I am not from North of the 49th. I am from the South West. South Western Ontario that is. We are south of Boise, Idaho and Boston, Mass. But we still have killer fishin off the North shore of Lake Erie.

I hear they have incredible boating up there--both months of the year.

And, very large mosquitos that almost require a pontoon boat just to make a landing.

It'd only be worth owning a boat if you were close to the border--where you could dip down to fill up your boat with U.S. budget gasoline at only $3.75 per gallon.

I absolutely adore the people in that part of Canada. I always got a kick about how they virtually never see American college basketball. But, they really follow professional hockey. And, they really say EH! at the end of their sentences.

I'm south of the 49 but still north of the border.

Bamaman wrote:It'd only be worth owning a boat if you were close to the border--where you could dip down to fill up your boat with U.S. budget gasoline at only $3.75 per gallon.

When your boating season is as short as ours, you don't mind splurging on $5/gallon ($1.32/litre) gas to see the water while it's wet!



LC.

Cool! Good to see some fellow kanucks! LOL

We get about 4 1/2 months out of our pontoon, and believe me, we make the most of them! She's in the water by end of May, and out end of September.

I envy all of you who can just go out whenever, any time of year. We love to just lounge in the sun and fish, watching all the gas-guzzling speed boaters go screaming by, and then back five minutes later for the next fill up!

You're right. We don't necessarily have to burn much fuel to have a great day.

We often just start our pontoon boat, back out of the boathouse, and run 1/2 mile out into the middle of the lake.

We'll just float around listening to the radio all day, or all night.

On windy days, we may have to start up the engine once per hour and reposition ourselves upwind.

Remember to keep a designated driver, however. We actually have State Marine Troopers with boats and breathilizers. DUI's also lose their auto drivers' licenses.

I manage to stretch my boating season a little longer. As soon as most of the ice is off the lake I drop the 14' aluminum pie plate even before the dock goes in. The larger fiberglass boats go in after the dock since they can't be beached. Now that I have a pontoon though I'm willing to beach it so it's going in as soon as the ice leaves. Then the boats stay in till usually late October/early November. Just gotta make sure to keep the motor's bottom ends in the water so they don't freeze and crack.

Cost of fuel also doesn't hurt with this pontoon (40 4-stroke EFI). A day on the water just drifting and cruising at hull speed burns a couple gallons. My 4.3L bowrider could come close to that if I kept it at hull speed just like the pontoon, but that's impossible to do. It's weird how what's boring on one boat is a blast on another. Then throw in the cost of operation and 99% of the time I end up on the pontoon, having more fun, at $10/day instead of the 50 mph boat at $100/day.


LC.