Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Have you hopped in your pontoon and taken a long trip or just went seeing the sights.
A few years ago in one of my boating magazines I read a story about a trip the author took in the Florida Keys in his bontoon.
He said at one point he was out of sight of land.

Someday this will be me!

http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2011/october/hurry.asp

That boat looks familiar! I have only done day trips in the pontoon. One was about 140 miles. Had to go through 3 locks. We left at 8am and got back at 2 am, the next morning, because of the time locking through. Very fun trip! We took our old Baja on our honeymoon. Went from Lock 13 to Lock 3 and up the St Croix river to Stillwater Mn. Took us 6 days and was about 800 miles. Fun Trip. I would like to do it again with the pontoon.

I ran my center console offshore from Panama City Beach, west to Destin, and returned by Intercoastal Waterway (aka "big ditch"). Maybe a little over 100 miles, 70 gallons of fuel, give or take. We probably lost sight of land a couple times, but no big deal, I've fished out further.

On a good day, I wouldn't hesitate to do it with my tritoon. Just have not had the chance yet. Maybe this June when we go back.

My Harris carries 50 gallons of fuel, so I'd gas up in Destin before the ride home.

At 7 to 8 miles offshore, you loose sight of the horizon. Maybe the tops of tall hotels, but that's about it. Past that you need a compass or GPS to get where you're going, and you need to communicate if you need help. The rest is planning and your boat handling ability. I used to always show my wife the compass heading to take us back to dry land in case something happened to me.

Thanks for the replies guys. Keep them coming. It's good to see we are using out pontoons for trips too.
It's encouraging me to set mines up for longer adventures.

So far about 30 miles on a one way trip when I bought the boat. Doing 130 round trip weekend trip next month, will include locking through the same dam twice and two nights of camping. My wife can't wait it's all I've talked about for months, she's over it. I have a 25 gallon and an auxiliary 18 gallon fuel tank. On my 30 mile trip I ran that distance upstream around 3/4 throttle and used about 10 gallons of gas.

We went the entire length of Pickwick Lake and back once--about 120 miles in one day. It was a glorious sunny day with the water looking like glass.

We still intend to trailer our boat to Chattanooga and run back downstream 200 miles to home. That's locking thru Nickajack, Guntersville and Wheeler Dams. Fortunately, Guntersville, AL is 1/2 way and they have a state park, Hampton Inn and Windham Hotel with dock facilities.

The Tennessee River is #1 in inland cruising in the U.S. with 650 miles of navigable water. We often see Great Loop travelers come through here for their big yearly meeting at Joe Wheeler State Park before their 5000 mile trek down the Tennessee-Tombigbee to Mobile from Pickwick.

About 3 yrs ago, I took the Chattahoochee River, from just below Columbus, GA, through one lock, to Lake Seminole, and return trip.

Last year, I took the Appalachicola River, from Lake Seminole to Appalachicola. From there, via intercoastal waterway to Panama City and back. Then, returned trip from Appalachicola to Lake Seminole.

It's time to start planning a Tennessee River trip......

Missouri River from Omaha NE to Sioux city Iowa 132 miles one way great trip.