Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I am pretty new to the boating world and am seeking some advice. My wife and I have three kids ranging from 18 months to 7 years so we decided a pontoon boat is the best fit for us. Last summer we bought a ragged old 1985 28' pontoon boat to see if we even liked it. The idea was to use it for a few years then upgrade. Turns out we loved being on the lake but hate the particular boat. We were left stranded and had to be towed in more times than not so we are thinking about upgrading sooner than later. We are on lake Texoma which is pretty large and can get rough at times so I want something that 1.) is large enough to handle the waves, 2.) moves at a decent speed so more of the lake is reachable, and 3.) has decent fuel capacity, again so we can explore more of the lake. The boat we are currently looking at is a 2010 Regency Edition Sun Tracker Party Barge 25 XP3. It is the nicest trim package Sun Tracker makes which my wife likes and it has 3 logs with lifting strakes which I like for the stability and speed and it has a 37 gallon fuel tank (25 gallons more than my current two red portable tanks) and an Optimax 150. Their website shows top speed to be 38-40 MPH. I would like to find something similar from other manufacturers so that we can do some comparison shopping. I want to be sure we aren't missing something by buying the first boat we see that we like. I would greatly appreciate suggestions for other similarly equipped boats that would satisfy the wish list above.

Thanks,

Kenny

Look into Premier pontoons, We absolutely love ours, well constructed, supper comfortable, and with the PTX performance package it handles like a dream, Takes the waves with no problem, and hauls the mail.

The Bennington ESP package and the Manitou SHP packages are similar to the Premier PTX and are also decent choices.
When we were toon shopping we looked at several others, But we went with the Premier for 2 reasons, First our Premier Dealer was great to deal with, the other dealers attitudes sucked, and the Premer had the most comfortable seating, and for spending a full day on the lake that is a big deal by the end of the day.
The construction of all 3 seamed to be very close, and the Premier had as good or better Warranty than the others, Premier also includes things like the Mooring cover and some other options/upgrades as std equipment, that other manufacturers will charge extra for.

http://pontoons.com/

Since you boat on Texoma you must be fairly close to Dallas. The big boat show is on 3-5 and 9-12 February if your interested. My experience from last year is there are usually 7 to 8 pontoon manufacturers there. Boat shows give you a great chance to comparison shop and get a "feel" for contruction and material quality as well as furniture/equipment layout.

+1 on going to the boat show. Maybe some of the dealers will have some year old new boats they're willing to deal on, or some late model/little used trade in's.

Whenever you get competitors under the same roof, often the prices will drop. You can also get all the major brands of boats side by side where you can make easy comparisons.

Bennington, Premier, Harris and Manitou are not the only manufacturers with high performance tritoons. There is a second tier that produce perfectly decent boats at far less money. I personally don't want to pay the price for pontoon furniture that's nicer than the furniture in my house.

My learned suggestions are to properly power your boat (not too small motor), get the size boat that suits your needs, and have a proper tow vehicle for such a long vehicle--preferably a pickup truck. Don't be afraid of buying a good used pontoon boat that suits your needs.

Pontoon boats are good for the long run, and with re-engining can easily be passed on to your children. My boat is 26 years old, and is still perfectly decent. They are expensive on front end, but really are strong value purchases due to long life.

Hmm. I saw a nice, clean used pontoon boat for sale, somewhere... Oh ya, its in my shed!

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2007- ... -101090215

Sorry, I just had too. Need to make room for Manny #2
Get the most ponies you can afford, skip the fancy accesories you'll never use and spend the money to Sharkhide or acrylic the pontoons. You won't regret it!
Good luck on your search!
Bryan

Thanks for the input. I will do some research on the other brands listed. We live in the OKC area but are planning to go to the Dallas boat show if we can find someone brave enough to keep the kids for the weekend.

Bryden24shp, I will check out your link.

The suntracker and bentley/encore would probably be the lowest priced for what you are looking for. 38 to 40 should be doable with the right prop and a 150 opti. On the bentley they install 2 strake per tube or six total on the tritoons. It really lifts the boat, the only downside is you have to slow down going into the turns because the strakes being on the outside dig into the water, no a big deal and better than paying 20k more for the shp ptx or other performance tubes on the high dollar boat. Sounds like you have a pretty good grasp on what you need and want. I would look into getting a double bimin since it is cheaper to do it at time of purchase rather than later.
Maybe a ski tow also to pull the kids.......best of luck

doc

Bryden (above) has a really prime piece of merchandise. Such high performance rigs are expensive used, but really expensive new. It's just about the best of the best--and properly kept out of the weather.

I also agree with what Doc's saying about second tier boats. They can do the job for far less money when purchased new. Unfortunately, used Bentley 243 tritoons (and other comparable boats) properly powered are few and far between on the used market. We'll see more used tri-toon high performance pontoons on the retail market in the future, however. Just keep your eyes open on the big internet sites.

Bryden24shp wrote:Get the most ponies you can afford, skip the fancy accesories you'll never use and spend the money to Sharkhide or acrylic the pontoons. You won't regret it!
Good luck on your search!
Bryan

I have to agree with this. I think far too often when people who are new to boating ( like me 2 years ago ) when we start out looking for a pontoon, we get overwhelmed with all that you can get on a boat....and naturally you want to get as many amenities as possible... but if you'll just back away from the shopping for a few days or a week or so, you may get your feet back on the ground and realize alot of what runs the boats price up is bells and whistles....bells and whistles that you really don't need...don't get me wrong, if you've got the money and you want them, then by all means get them... but I think alot of first time boaters who buy decked out toons end up with toons that have alot of bells and whistles they never use.... obviously this dosn't apply to everyone. I think the one of the biggest things is to get the max hp that your new boat can handle... we got lucky when we bought ours... I had no idea what I was doing, but thanks to my son's input and our boat dealer ( who used to be my neighbor ), I didn't over buy... got a toon that suits our needs fine.. mainly fishing.. would I like alittle more h.p... you betcha, but would have to have purchased a different toon since my boat is only rated for 70 horses ( even though mine has a 75 on it ). Guess what I'm saying is determine what you plan to use the toon for, and then buy one equipped for that purpose..... and if $ is no object... splurge splurge splurge!

I bought my first toon two years ago without much thought. I was looking for something fun to do with my wife and two young kids. I wanted to be able to cruise, fish and snorkel. It was a 24' Sun Tracker Party Barge with a 90 HP Merc. Within the first two months, I got a second bimini. This was greatest move on my part. We spent a lot of time on this rig; nearly every weekend. However, my wife kept checking the Internet and craved more luxurious toons.

About six months ago I stepped way up the line and got a new boat; 27' Avalon Ambassador with a 250 HP Verado. I wasn't familiar with Avalon before as there isn't a dealer in my area but my research revealed this company makes very nice and affordable boats. I was able to find a great deal. The first thing I did was add a second bimini. : ) My family and I can't get enough time on the boat. Pontoons are great!

The two tips I have are get a double bimini and as much HP as you can.

Good luck.

Since I have only been tooning for 2 years, I dont have alot of advise. What I do recomend is a tritoon if your lake is rough, and something I wish I could put on mine are biminis. And of course, all the HP you can get! Good luck whatever you get. JT

if you are interested in handling or more water sports than towing in a straight line, i'd recommend paying attention to the "hulls" of the boats. a lot of companies slap on 6 lifting strakes to 3 identical pontoons and call it a performance package. they will plane and increase speed, but they won't turn very well. there is a reason why people keep referring to the manitou (SHP), bennington (ESP), and premier (PTX) boats. they all use an asymmetrical design to achieve more v-hull type handling. i haven't seen the new harris model, so i can't comment on that brand.

We bought our toon after taking our 6 month old riding in our Baja sport boat; she bounced around like a ping-pong ball! Considering you have two young kids, a pontoon designed to bank/lean into turns may not be what you are looking for. Triple toons are the way to go in most cases if you are looking for a performance toon. My Playcraft rides very solidly on its two pontoons, even in ship wakes and running through a storm or two. I wish it were a bit faster, just to get more range out of it, but a 20 mph cruise and 30 top end is enough for now. My daughter plays with her dolls and even fished a few times without concern. She is six now, and spends most of her time in the water! Having an I/O enabled a full-width swim platform, and the kayak resides on the upper sundeck.

My advice is continue looking at how you intend to use your boat, including who will be riding in it, then make your choice. New is always nice, but used can be awesome, and a lot less money!

looks like you have a good idea what you need in terms of size, power, etc and folks here are giving you lots of good advice. We've had out toon for two years and here are come of my comments and advice based on our experience.

Don't drop below 25' since you have kids and likely will have their friends on the boat in the future. Also, look for a boat that has a pump out head if you'll be slipping the boat and at least make sure you can have a sport for a port-a-potti. Having the pump-out head on our boat is huge! especially since the water at our lake induces extreme shrinkage until well into June.

Get the double bimini up front. A ski locker in the third tune will come in handy! People will have different thoughts here, but the captains chairs are everyone's favorites on our boats, especially the kids, but you do give up some seating room since you lose the benches.

If the kids will be in the water a lot I think I would look for an IO that way you can get the full swim deck on the back-end. We have an outboard and once in a while I wonder if we should have gone with an IO for the full swim deck out back.

And be sure when comparing pricing that you compare apples to apples as much as possible. We found that our Premier didn't end up costing much more than a comparable Tracker would have cost by the time you added it all up. Based on dealers within a reasonable drive here Tracker would have been our second choice and we chose Premier mainly for two reasons - seating comfort and boat layout.

Kenny, We are goint ot the Atlanta boat show on Thursday and are planning on trading in our toon on a new one.
Did the dealer negotiate with you on the Regency and if so what did they want for the total package? We are planning on buying a tri toon with a 150hp motor and a trailer.

Thanks, from another Ken