Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

most of the 'toons in the 18' - 20' range i've seen so far come equipped with a 50 hp outboard. the last thing i want to do is lay out good money and then find out i'm underpowered. would a 75 be better? is a 90 too much?

Big O wrote:most of the 'toons in the 18' - 20' range i've seen so far come equipped with a 50 hp outboard. the last thing i want to do is lay out good money and then find out i'm underpowered. would a 75 be better? is a 90 too much?

I would just go with the max hp rating for the boat. Better and cheaper to get it from the start, than trying to sell a 50hp and then swapping.
doc

A friend just bought a new 18' Tracker with a 60 4stk bigfoot. He can keep up with my 22 and 90 at about 23 lightly loaded to around 18 with 5 on board.

I would get at least a 90 on a 20 and no less than 60 on an 18. You can't go wrong going with max power

I have the 50 hp Honda on my 18 ft, 18 mph top speed. It's rated for a 75 hp. The 75 weighs almost double what the 50 weighs and costs another $1700 more. The 90 hp weighs the same as the 75hp and costs only another $600 more.

If I could do it over I would have went with a 20 ft and the 90 hp. Although the 50hp is very fuel efficient.

I would have to agree with others, in that you want to get the most power that your boat can handle, or you can afford. That being said, my 26' Islander is rated for 125hp. and I have a 90hp Mercury. The 90 pushes the boat fine up to about 20 mph w/ 6 people and lots of beer. I would think a 90 on a 18-20 footer would be great.

If it's in your budget get the 90. We are happy with our 50, but bigger and faster are always better. We cruise and tube off the 50 with the most fun happening in the turns and whipping the tube around. We stepped up from a 9.9 so the 50 is like a rocket to us.

anyone run a 115 or bigger on pontoon? what mph it get?

i have a 115 4 stroker Mer on my 24 Sanpan with 2 tubes. I get around 25ish, max 28

craigb wrote:anyone run a 115 or bigger on pontoon? what mph it get?

If you have a big enough toon and three logs you can run over 200 HP on a toon. It all depends on the set-up. Most 24' 2 log boats will carry a 115-135 HP max rating. My Bentley is rated for 135 HP as stock.

I have a 115 on my 21' three toon voyager and it runs plenty fast for me! I dont remember what my top speed was but I cant imagine needing more speed out of a floating dock!

Think the drag factor is about as important as hp. My old toon 2 log would literally throw you on you face if you were standing when I pulled back on the throttle. First time I came in to the dock on the tri toon (about the same as I did with the two log) it just kept going and had to jump on the reverse as hard as I could to keep from running through the dock. Basically if you want speed get the tri toon,
if not just sit back and enjoy the cruise, I did for well over 10 years with the two log sanpan with a 90. Just running a 150 (rated for 200) I get 40mph but most cruising is in the high 20's or low 30's.
doc

I agree with the others....get the most power you can afford. I bought a used Lowe 20ft with a Mercury 4 stoke 60. My max speed is about 17mph with just me on board. My kid can ski behind it....i can too but it is really boring.

Tubing is pretty boring too and if i turn any the drag really slows it down.

I'd like to upgrade to a 90, but i paid 8700 for the boat and motor....both of which were 3 years old and in like new condition, and it would cost me about 7000 just for a new 90. Not sure what i would sell the used 60 for.

Big O,

I agree with doc. I've seen way too many toons for sale in the classifieds with 50 hp motors on them. Dealers spec them out that way to look affordable for finanancing, but you get into any kind of headwind with a load on the 'toon and you won't be going anywhere.