Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Alrite im new to the forum. its seems pretty great. But I need to know some facts. Pontoon boat and great lakes or ocean. give me all the info you can on this. Thanks

Not made for big open water, you want at least a 24 in the big lakes, but the great lakes and the ocean are to rough for a pontoon

I bought an Avalon Pontoon after weeks of searching. This article amazed me. I live inland, and don't know if I would ever take my pontoon on the Ocean, but this article helped me make my decision. Hope this helps

http://www.avalonpontoons.com/PDFs/AVAL ... ROPS02.pdf

President and CEO Jim
Wolf of Avalon & Tahoe
Manufacturing Inc. decided
to start making long-distance
voyages over rough seas on
Avalon pontoon boats. It
started with a trip from Baltimore to the
Florida Keys during the hurricane season
in fall 2004. That was followed by a trip
from Chicago to Mackinac Island, Mich.,
traveling the entire length of Lake
Michigan, and the crew made a journey
down the Mississippi River a few months
later. The most recent was a trip from Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla., to the Bimini Islands in
the Bermuda Triangle. All trips were
made to test and prove the durability of
Avalon pontoons.
The challenging Bimini expedition was
made on a 27-foot Avalon boat, and
proved to be one of the most adventurous
trips Wolf had ever taken. “The seas definitely
were not the best,” he admits, “but,
we just wanted to show that our products
will hold up in adverse conditions.”
“The day before we left for Bimini,
there were 15- to 20-foot waves, and even
cruise ships were returning to port.
Fortunately, the seas calmed down

Agree with Herb, especially the great lakes, as they have a tendency to blow up big churning swells that will swamp a pontoon with little warning, and are often too rough in general. Two footers are a challenge in any water just from wakes, as these boats lack the depth of free board to keep the water out. The railing and fence doesn't count as free board...water is powerful, and can crush most pontoon fences.

There are many areas of "protected" salt water you can enjoy, but not open ocean beyond those protections. If a big wave catches you abeam, it could easily flip you over, as it will crash THROUGH your boat, not just go under. My boat is bigger than most, and I've stuffed mine a couple times in barge wakes (my fault, not theirs, as I let myself get caught in a bad position).

Having said that, I have taken a rental all the way around Fort Myers Beach (cool estuary behind it) and made the run across to Sanibel Island. This is protected water and it was a fairly calm day with the wind out of the east. The dolphins that escorted us were awesome!

EDIT: In reference to the Avalon article, it doesn't say how much motor the boat had for those trips, and only the Bimini Island trip states the boat was 27' (so I'd assume a big motor or stern drive). They don't say how long they were on the water, nor what the conditions were, and I'd bet they had a chase boat, just because generally you don't put the top brass of a large firm out there without support. I'm not convinced one would attempt those same waters in a 16' 75-hp two-toon boat. I built mine for long cruising, and it would have to be ideal conditions for me to risk my boat and people in those waters. There is a vast difference between enjoying a trip and surviving one.

Yep, although it's possible on a day with calm seas to take a pontoon anywhere, I wouldn't want to relive this incident:

http://pontoonforums.com/viewtopic.php? ... ting+rough

This was with a 32 footer, had we been in a smaller pontoon, we'd have gotten our asses kicked/overturned.

Wow bad moon rising. Looked horrible. How bad did the boat handle this? How fast were you going. Thanks

The boat handled it rather well actually. Enough for my wife to sit back and take all those pics. Had I turned at all we would have flipped over though. I was going about 10 mph.

From what I understand, on the west coast the Coast Guard may actually send you back to shore if you are in open ocean in a pontoon boat, depending on conditions.