Test Ride X25RF

[Drago]

We had the opportunity to spend some time today with Jerry Rinker of Rinker's Boat World doing test rides on some of the Excursion pontoon boats by Forest River.

For me, the model that really stood apart was the X25RF http://www.xcursionpontoon.com/X25RF.asp

It included the 3.0 Trifecta Performance Package, Rosewood Teak Vinyl. It did not have the in dash Humminbird color GPS (so no speedo).

The tubes are 25" with interior mounted smallish lifting strakes (4 total). The boat got on plane extremely fast with 1/4 tank of fuel and 5 adults aboard.

I gave the boat a fair workout and have to say it is extremely peppy and unbelievably nimble for a big pontoon boat. It banks tightly in hard powered turns to retrieve a downed skier or tuber quickly. The tilt actually has a real effect on the handling and attitude of the hull.

The throttle was very responsive to adjustments. The power hydraulic steering was simply a dream to use.

I found the Rosewood Teak Vinyl flooring to be much better than I had heard. It was not at all hot to the touch in full intense sunlight. It was not slippery when wet on bare feet. It is what most pontoon builders are using now and I would much recommend it over carpet.

The Yamaha 225 Super High Output motor was a bit loud at higher RPM but part of that could have been from the direct line of sight due to the rear seating layout. I did notice that the prop was a 15.5 pitch Yamaha Saltwater Series which I thought was a bit small for a 225HP outboard. I will admit I do not know the gear ratio on this brute of an engine. I never hit the rev limiter even though I ran it WOT a good bit. The conditions were strong north winds with lots of boat chop and sometimes 18" waves on Lake Conroe. Just guessing, I would say top end was near 50MPH.

I give this boat high marks on finish and build. The helm was laid out very nicely with analog gauges and plenty of switches for controls. A Mahogany woodgrain dash had a great look to it. Except for a speedo, this boat had it all.

[Capt Sully]

It's a nice pontoon and built by a very well known company. I have 2012 X23C model and have not had any problems at all. The Yamaha motor is smooth.

my floor plan,

floor plan.jpg (34.1 KiB) Viewed 3399 times

[Strake]

Nice review......

We have their other sister brand, Berkshire. Same Forest River Company..... A Warren Buffet company. We're very pleased with the quality of the workmanship and it's features too. They are all built in the same factory. Love having the power hydraulic steering. Makes it a breeze.

We factory ordered our boat last Sept and took delivery in mid Nov last year. Got the Yam F200 engine. Could take up to 300 hp, but it looked like the F200 was the best performance for the buck. Looking back, I should have at least asked my dealer to price it up with a Mercury as Forest River brands are partnered with Mercury and I could have likely gotten their 200, or higher HP WITH DTS for a lower price. No cables, it's drive by wire. We had this in our Sea Ray boat before and it's really nice feature. But I was only focused on having a Yamaha, which I'm extremely happy with.

Never want carpet again, after having their fake teak Vinyl..... Love the stuff. I added a piece to the in floor storage door to match the rest of the boat. My dealer got me a piece from Berkshire for no charge. Here's the pic:

[ron nh]

I have the exact same floor and it doesn't get hot, for those of you on the fence about vinyl.

[Gonefishing]

I have a 2013. 24 x RFC and love it. 115 Yamaha love the RFC plenty of rod storage tackle center and live bait center are all great ideals. Love it

[scott_farmer]

We bought our X-25RF with the 2.5 package and a Yamaha 150 from Rinker's in July. So far we love the boat. Performance is great for us. We can cruise around at 30-35mph depending on load, pull the kids on tubes with no issues, and run around Galveston bay with no issues. I looked at the 3.0 with the big motor, but it was just a tad [way] out of my price range.

There are some build quality issues that I'm dealing with, but these are minor cosmetic things. (screws pulled through one speaker, rub rail is coming loose around the inside curve near the transom, there is a bubble in the vinyl decking near the transom, some of the decals have bubbles or are starting to peel, horn/radio breaker went bad, screw on the anchor light came out). I also had some electrical problems with the trailer. So far the service dept at Rinker's has been stellar. The fixed all of the issues that I brought to their attention when I took the boat in for the 20 hour service and made a note of the vinyl bubble to see if it grows.

The Xcursion gave us the most options for the cost of all of the boats we looked at. We were seriously considering Avalon, Harris, Sylvan and Xcursion boats that were in our price range. We ended up with the Xcursion because it had all of the features of the others at a lower cost plus a few extras (in dash Humminbird, dual biminis, dual batteries with switch, shark hide, spare tire for the trailer, in helm sink [meh], stainless prop) plus I haven't really been able to find bad reviews on Rinker's. Our sales person Amy Hall was super friendly and responsive, and we met Jerry Rinker while we were there the first time and he was very friendly and helpful. The service dept took care of my warranty issues and 20 hour engine service with no issues and had us in and out from between Tuesday and Friday so we were back on the water for the holiday weekend.

[Drago]

Hey Scott,
Amy Hall was who launched and loaded the test boats last Sunday. Man, can that girl drive 'em and park 'em. You would never guess how old she is. Everyone thinks she is like 17 or so. I'm not telling What a cutie. Jerry and the entire family are great folks. Scary Jerry who is about 67 or so still races tri-hulls. The man is really scary when driving the boat. A few weeks ago he nearly bought the farm when he got run over and his boat dropped 60 feet in 45 seconds. Fortunately, he remained conscious and got pulled out. Took 'em 40 minutes to get hands on the boat even using side scan sonar. His son Chris also races but rarely beats Dad!

[Matt in Houston]

Scott,

Curious, whats your top speed (GPS) and RPM? Are you running the stock Yamaha Reliance 15 pitch prop?

[scott_farmer]

Matt, I've confirmed 34MPH with the wind at my back, just me and the wife and light gear on board, and both biminis folded down. We very consistently get 31 MPH with both biminis folded out, a full tank of gas and full of gear running around 5700-5800 RPM.

I was pulling 4 teenage tubers with 3 adults on board with both biminis up and hit 23 MPH briefly . Not sure on the RPMs, but that was WOT.

The boat runs very comfortably at 30-31 MPH at (guessing here) a bit over 5k rpm.

Pic of my prop attached. I don't know any details about it. I took the picture to look it up one day.

[scott_farmer]

I'll be out this weekend and I'll pay a bit more attention to my RPMs.

[Matt in Houston]

Thanks, that prop looks like the Solas Saturn, 14.5" diameter and 15 pitch.

In stock form, my boat was a 33 MPH boat at WOT but my RPM's were also low (5300' ish if I remember correctly). I raised the motor to the top hole and gained RPM and a solid 3 MPH. Fastest I've seen was 37 with the tops closed and 2 adults, 1/2 tank of fuel. I tend to think these boats come with the motor mounted a bit low but maybe they have changed that.

I ditched the Reliance prop in favor of the Enertia, which grips much better. The Reliance is a fast prop but it slips easily when you trim it out. I bet the Solas you have grips better than the Reliance.

Typically my boat is a solid 35 mph at WOT with both tops open and zipped together, 3/4 tank fuel, and 2 adults plus 1 kid. Made a nice difference!

I cruise around 3000-4000 RPM, depending on the mood and the company. I believe best fuel economy for the F150 Yamaha is at 3000 RPM. Probably around 4 to 4.5 MPG from what I have seen on the performance bulletins. I think at ~4000 RPM I am about 22-23 MPH GPS.

I also bought mine from Rinkers and had an awesome experience there. They are some great folks. My first service they picked up and delivered for free and installed my turbo swing for free.