Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hello All,

Looking for a little help with make/models of toons that were built with V8 (bigblock) I/O's ? I have been searching far and wide for used but they are few with prices all over the board. can anyone enlighten me with any years or brands that were reputable and "reasonably" priced? Anything I should steer clear of? I am a gearhead who loves to tinker so a project is also an option.

Thanks you!

KW

I know crest had some a while ago but playcraft is the one that comes to mind with big blocks. They had one with twins some time ago. The new outboards have really killed the I/O thing. Even cruisers are being powered by outboards. Many boats that would have had twin big blocks now have 1600 h.p. that's reliable and under warranty with running multiple outboards.

A friend had a South Bay with a big block about 10 years ago. There was no room to work anything. Pulling the motor was a pain and you had to do that to work on the motor, sea pump, starter, etc and even the bilge pump.

Thanks for the info, I was actually looking at Playcraft and tried contacting Jim Dorris for any info on years etc. Is it common that most V8's are tritoons? I also have read some about horse power ratings which I am assuming has alot to do with build quality to handle the extra..... is there a brand that also build with aluminum decks instead of wood? Apologies for all the questions, I'm coming from a history of jetboats

There are at least a couple of brands that build with aluminum decks. Veranda comes to mind. Don't assume that aluminum is better or stronger, etc. then wood. There's a reason the vast majority of pontoons are wood decks and it's not because wood is cheaper to build than aluminum.

Do yourself a favor and look for a high perfomance outboard tritoon.

They're so much easier to live with. And I know how to work on them--including pulling engines, etc.

I had I/O's for many years, and they're such a pain to deal with. I spent less in 28 years of Yamaha outboard maintenance/repairs than an average month spent keeping the I/O's going.

Yeah I'm gonna say if you can find a big block inboard pontoon, there's a pretty good chance the owner would be happy as hell to sell it to you.

kawilliams wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:28 am

Is it common that most V8's are tritoons?

I would say No. When tritoons gained in popularity, I/O's were on their way out. My neighbor had an I/O toon and he was relieved when he sold it. He immediately bought a tritoon with a 150 outboard.