Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Every winter when it's 5 below up here I start looking at all the manufacturers again, They're changing so fast year to year. Most builders now have at least 1 line over 100k. I saw that Berkshire, so I assume there other 2 brands, use a composite decking that's tougher and lighter than wood or aluminum. The competition drives the innovations after being stagnant really through the 60's through the 90's. It's great except that you'll want to trade in every 3 years.

Ya know?

Some of the newer stuff looks pretty neat......but I like my paid for pontoon.

That's a feature that is pretty neat to have all on its own.

[quote="NonHyphenAmerican"]Ya know?

Some of the newer stuff looks pretty neat......but I like my paid for pontoon.

That's a feature that is pretty neat to have all on its own.[/quote]


I'm with you.. at the beginning of each season I think man I'd like to have a new tri toon with a 250 on the back end... then I realize that I can pull the fish out of the lake just as easily on my 8 year boat as well as I could a brand new one... Have really enjoyed my ol toon.

Ha!!!! I'll be taking my old Kayot out for its first fishing trip later this week....the only "furniture" it has are camp chairs and a comfortable "desk chair" that swivels and rocks....it's gonna be my "casting deck chair"...today I'll be wiring in my new running/anchor lights I picked up for under $20...

I know, I look at the new stuff every year in the winter, Then by boating season It never enters my mind. When I'm out alone I really appreciate my boat. It just gets so friggen cold for so friggen long you have to find something to keep you thinking about spring. I'll still probably go to the Boston boat show and be tempted again.

I agree, the new stuff looks great. However, for $50-$100,000 I can make a LOT of upgrades to my old workhorse.

When we bought our first "new-to-me" pontoon about 4 years ago, we knew it was just our "learner" boat to see if we even liked owning a pontoon. And I have to say, we've loved every minute of it. But now that we've had it a few years and been around other pontoon/tritoons, we now know we want a tritoon with a 150hp. I have a certain floorplan and trim-level that I want, so I'm willing to hold out till I can actually afford the new boat (and it will be a new boat this time). Since this will probably be my "forever" boat (unless I win the lottery), I want to make sure I get what I actually want, and not just settle. We have a current boat, so it's not like we are just stuck at the dock. We can still get out and go to the local sandy beaches and be with friends (it just takes us a lot longer to get there right now with just a 90hp) and we have to be very careful when strong winds blow up whitecaps or busy holiday weekends when the big boats are creating massive waves (I just have to slow way down and trim the motor way up to get the bow up as high as I can to prevent any waves over the bow). And we still go to the boat show in Tulsa every year and I compare features between the brands that my local dealers sell - I even look at things as far as "where does the GPS/Fishfinder mount". That's one thing I haven't liked about the Benningtons I've looked at -- it's mounted lower than the steering wheel and off to the side. I like it up higher so I can see the detailed map of the channel and depth -- and it will be even more important when I'm able to do 40mph compared to the 15-16mph I cruise at now (at that speed, I've got time to react to the changes in the channel). So I'll continue to watch the new boats come out, till that one day when I can finally get one.