Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I've had my pontoon boat less than a month and I'm already thinking upgrades. That in itself probably isn't too crazy, but hear me out...

While looking for a used pontoon boat on Craigslist in early July, I came across a '93 Starcraft that had a 115hp Mercury. The boat was in pretty decent shape and we had actually planned on going up to the lake it was at and possibly purchasing it. That was until the seller called me at the last minute and told me they had just sold it to someone that offered them more than they were asking. Long story short, the guy that supposedly offered them more than they were asking ended up walking away from the deal and they still haven't sold the boat. Meanwhile, I ended up with a nicer boat AND trailer for the same price as this Starcraft. But...

My '99 Sun Tracker only has a 75hp motor to push this 25 foot monster. I haven't run any formal tests, but our boat ain't exactly a speed demon. I had some kids on a tube last weekend and at WOT they all looked super bored. I'm guessing top speed is around 18 mph (at most).

So I was just checking out Craigslist again today and noticed that same Starcraft pontoon is still on there, but the seller has now reduced it by $1,000 and is asking $4,000 for it. So here's the crazy part: What if I bought the Starcraft and switched its motor with mine and then tried to resell it? Would a '93 Starcraft with a 75hp Tracker/Mercury/Force engine be worth that MUCH less than one with a 115hp Mercury? This all assumes the 115hp motor is running well, which the seller assures me it is (I'll let my father-in-law be the judge though).

The owners say they are motivated to sell, so I could possibly get it for even less than $4,000. Am I crazy?

Here's a photo of the 115hp Mercury:

Did you use a GPS to determine your speed, 18mph seems rather slow for a 75hp, also pontoons boats are not speed demons anyways unless you have 3 toons and a 150hp or better.

My 30hp toon will get around 15mph GPS, have got max 17-18mph down river GPS..
[ with 2 people on board ]

Anyways is it going to be worth the troulbe, you are going to end up with a older motor and is 40hp more going to make a big difference, maybe maybe not, I don't know where you boat at but here in the west and southwest older 2 strokes are not allowed in many lakes now and in 2013 lake mead and this whole area of Nevada only 2 strokes newer than 2003 will only be allowed and all 4 strokes.. Just saying..

got a better deal than that...........just took my fathers 205 stratos to the dealer to sell. it has a 200hp on the back for 3500. can't remember the year believe around 90. One thing I know it has low hours since we only put about 4 hrs or so on it. Only problem is it is too much hp for your boats hp ratings. which is a no no. If you want something to pull the kids on think it runs 60 or so. It is only an hour or so away from you if you want to take a look let me know. Actually crossed my mind to put it on our buy an sell list in case some one might just want the motor for their toon.
doc

timmac wrote:Did you use a GPS to determine your speed, 18mph seems rather slow for a 75hp,

I don't know timmac.....remember he's pushing a pretty good size boat, 25 footer. I"ve got a new 75 4-stroke on a a smaller 20 footer and under "perfect" conditions with just me and the wife we get 25 mph ( by gps ) So a 75 pushing a 25 footer? 18 mph wouldn't surprise me.

ROLAND wrote:

timmac wrote:Did you use a GPS to determine your speed, 18mph seems rather slow for a 75hp,

I don't know timmac.....remember he's pushing a pretty good size boat, 25 footer. I"ve got a new 75 4-stroke on a a smaller 20 footer and under "perfect" conditions with just me and the wife we get 25 mph ( by gps ) So a 75 pushing a 25 footer? 18 mph wouldn't surprise me.

I have a GPS and was using it that day, but not at WOT. Father-in-law prefers to "cruise" around the lake, so I wasn't comfortable taking the revs all the way up with him on the boat. I'd estimate I had the throttle at about 80% or so when I was "cruising" last weekend and the GPS read 14 mph.