Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Greetings to the forum,

Our family and friends have been boating for about 11 years with our 1990 Four Winns Horizon 200. It has been pretty much a reliable boat providing the battery is fully charged and the right mechanic services it. My experience, therefore, is limited to a runabout with V hull, power steering and a 5L V8. We are now looking seriously at selling the old girl and getting a new pontoon or deck boat. We took a test ride on a tri toon Harris FloteBote with a 150 HP outboard and were impressed with the performance but not so much the experience of no cockpit to avoid the wind in our faces. I suspect for most people it's good to get somewhere fast but not entirely comfortable in an open barge. Still, we want the power for those times we can pull the young ones around in a toy, water skis or wake board. Otherwise, as we approach those golden years, I"m looking forward to a slow-lane lifestyle. I would love it if folks here on the forum could provide a few suggestions as to how we should equip our new pontoon or deck boat. While I was impressed with the Harris stability and performance, I did NOT find the hydraulic steering to my liking. IT really took some effort to turn the wheel. Do they make power steering for these beasts? Also, what are "strakes"? and why do I need them. Further, our list of contenders includes Harris Sunliner 24 (with Captain Chairs for fishing , Hurricane Fun Deck of similar length and maybe the Bennington. All would need at least a 150 hp outboard.

Regards,
the Jointventure gang

Welcome! I just recently (3 weeks) went from a Sea Ray 240 Sundeck to a Bennington 25ft. Tri-toon and love it. We do have a small windshield but nothing like the Sea Ray but I find that it doesn't bother me as I usually drove the Sea Ray looking over tHe windshield. Lifting strakes are angular long pieces of aluminum welded to the sides of the log floats on a toon (somtimes on the inside only and some on the outside also) and they help the toon come on plane quicker and at a lower speed and, IMHO are a good thing to have.
Good luck!
Jack

Welcome

Greetings, Jointventure,

I'm reasonably new to the forum myself. But I've found there's some great people in here. I just bought a
new Berkshire CL210 LTD 21ft pontoon boat. Berkshire is made by Forest River Marine, a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

I can only dream of having a 150hp on a pontoon boat.

My boat came with a Merc 60hp Bigfoot.

I'm sure others will chime in here but I don't think you could go wrong with a Harris or a Bennington.

Welcome!!

Hello Jointventure - I have a 2012 Bennington 25 Foot RCW LTD (Eliptical Pontoons) with a Yamaha 150HP and love it. I believe we may be on the same lake. Lake Wallenpaupack has been great for us. If you are interested in the Bennington come over to Lighthouse Harbor Marina and see Bobby. He was great to deal with along with his boss Kevin.

If you want to talk one on one at the lake PM me and we can set something up.

Eric

jointventure wrote:Greetings to the forum,

Our family and friends have been boating for about 11 years with our 1990 Four Winns Horizon 200. It has been pretty much a reliable boat providing the battery is fully charged and the right mechanic services it. My experience, therefore, is limited to a runabout with V hull, power steering and a 5L V8. We are now looking seriously at selling the old girl and getting a new pontoon or deck boat. We took a test ride on a tri toon Harris FloteBote with a 150 HP outboard and were impressed with the performance but not so much the experience of no cockpit to avoid the wind in our faces. I suspect for most people it's good to get somewhere fast but not entirely comfortable in an open barge. Still, we want the power for those times we can pull the young ones around in a toy, water skis or wake board. Otherwise, as we approach those golden years, I"m looking forward to a slow-lane lifestyle. I would love it if folks here on the forum could provide a few suggestions as to how we should equip our new pontoon or deck boat. While I was impressed with the Harris stability and performance, I did NOT find the hydraulic steering to my liking. IT really took some effort to turn the wheel. Do they make power steering for these beasts? Also, what are "strakes"? and why do I need them. Further, our list of contenders includes Harris Sunliner 24 (with Captain Chairs for fishing , Hurricane Fun Deck of similar length and maybe the Bennington. All would need at least a 150 hp outboard.

Regards,
the Jointventure gang

Thanks everyone for your welcoming words! Looks like we have two "Yes's" for Bennington.

Jointventure

jointventure wrote:Thanks everyone for your welcoming words! Looks like we have two "Yes's" for Bennington.

Jointventure

If you decide to go with a bennington, you won't be disappointed... well built boats..... but having said that I believe if you stay with most of the "major" manufacturers, you'll be just fine.... We've got a small 20 foot benny that we use for fishing and absolutely love it.....

I just purchased a new Bennington 24' SSLX with Yamaha 150 hp and SeaStar steering. It runs 40 mph, and does anything my family needs. You're an experienced boater and it sounds as if you have specific needs/wants.

SeaStar hydraulic steering is usually put on 150 hp outboards, and it steers easily enough up to 4000 rpm's. If you're wanting effortless steering, a Teleflex power steering pump can be added to SeaStar for approximately $2K. P/S is needed on any really high horsepower pontoon/tritoon (over 150 hp.)

Strakes look like aluminum angle iron running the length of the toons. Their purpose is to get the nosecones out of the water for speed and efficiency. Any pontoon/tritoon with 115 hp or more should have'em.

My old twin toon pontoon boat handles like a pig when up to speed.
Tritoons handle so much better, and have superior ride quality. Resale values of popular brand tritoons are great. If water sports and fast cruising is going to be done, tritoons are the only way to go.

The Harris that you've been looking at is a high quality boat, and they're a pretty conservative company. I consider Bennington, Premier and Manitou to be highly desirable brands, but there are many, many great pontoon/tritoon brands. Always try to buy a boat close to home--if possible.

As far as the wind: I enjoy it.

Hi Bamaman!

Thanks for your reply! Your comments and thoughts are very much appreciated. It just so happens that a nearby dealer quoted me a price for the 2013 version of your boat. Bottom line is the number was doable for us. Can you tell me what "steered" you to that particular model? Did you happen to see, feel, touch at your dealer before you purchased? Did you get to test drive a similar boat before you took the plunge? Having owned it for a while, what are some of the "likes" and "don't likes" (if any) and what would you have done different in the purchase if you had the chance? Informing my salesman of my basic wants, I had him write up a boat with 150 HP OB and three tubes. He quoted me on the "Express" tube that I was told is not a full length tube. Also, I'm wondering for such a big boat, would 175 HP possibly be a better choice. (I read somewhere that you should buy the biggest motor you can afford.)

Regards,
Jointventurel

jointventure: We love our Benny except for a couple of minor issues which I won't go into here. They don't affect the performance, only the Admiral and I know about them.
Bennington probably has the most customer configurable boat of any of the manufacturers, so if you are going to spend that kind of money, get it the way you want, not just what the dealer happens to have on the showroom floor.
A couple of items to consider:
1. Underskinning (everyone of this forum will tell you it helps). It comes with the ESP package on Bennington, they call it waveshield.
2. Rough water package. Not that expensive for the Bennington
3. The biggest motor you can afford that will fit on the boat you are considering. It's been said here ad infinitum that nobody wishes they had a smaller motor.
4. On the Benny, the ESP package, which I believe includes the strakes.

Best of luck and welcome!