Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Sometime in the future well will be buying a pontoon, my questions are ..What is the biggest size motor to go with that can pull the kids on a tube and not be a complete gas hog?

Is there any harm in leaving the boat in the lake for the summer,we plan on renting a dock on a small 1200 acre lake.

Are there any name brand motors to stay away from?

What has to be done to a motor over the summer months to keep her running as she should? april-october

2 stroke or four stroke motor?

Any opinions are greatly valued,thanks to all for the welcome and advise.

Welcome! I'm fairly new here myself, but you'll find this is a good crew with a wealth of knowledge. We've had a pontoon for several years, but I bought our first NEW pontoon this spring. I actually wish I'd asked more questions of this group prior to buying our new boat, but I took a lot from what I'd read here.

Everyone will tell you, go with the biggest motor you can afford. Our boat has a 60hp. I think that will be okay for pulling our little kids on a tube, but pretty sure I'll have to move to at least a 115 once the kids are older.

We left our last boat in the lake all summer long. No problems with doing that, although the toons do look a bit rough after a season. Some are more concerned about condition of the boat, but I don't worry too much about keeping the boat pristine.

I've used Stabil (marine) in my fuel, but the dealer I bought the new boat from suggested Startron. You add that to your fuel, and if you have a newer 4 stroke you shouldn't need much else.

4 stroke IMO, but some of the guys on here swear by the etecs. The 4 strokes are generally more quiet and better on fuel relative to 2 strokes...not sure how those factors compare to the etecs.

From what I've gathered I think most 4 stroke motors are really good these days. The two four strokes that seem to be favored are the Honda and the Yamaha. You'll hear some negative comments about Mercury, but generally most is positive. I have a Yamaha now and am happy so far. I had a Honda before and was very happy with that. I have a Mercury on my run about and have no complaints there either.

The only thing I'd change about my month old pontoon - entire floor in vinyl, not carpet.

PlaynDoc wrote:The only thing I'd change about my month old pontoon - entire floor in vinyl, not carpet.

I hear you playndoc... my son bought his boat a year before I bought mine and I was amazed at how dirty the carpet can get.. yes it can be cleaned but after seeing his boat, we ordered ours with a full vinyl floor. I power was it about twice a season.. almost looks new. One of the main reasons we opted for vinyl is because we spend 90% of our time fishing..lot of dropped nightcrawlers, stink bait, fish...not good for a carpeted deck.

we have a 22 ft tritoon with yamaha 150 HP four stroke,so get a 150 HP 4 stroke.. it will pull skiers and tubers just fine. Our boat fully loaded 8 adults 3/4 tank of gas and coolers and dogs we top out around 32-34mph. I wish we could afford a 250-300HP motor but that meant another 7-10 THOUSAND! dollars,a lot of bones for us.. plus I'd be laying down on the hammer more burning more gas,higher insurance costs and higher depreciation. We're slap happy with a 150 4-stroke Yamaha,the Yamaha's are bullet proof if properly maintained. Plus thanks to advice from the smart,kind wonderful folks on this forum I haggled the dealer 15% off MSRP. and how did I find out what MSRP on our boat was,I just asked the Vice president of the company.

Welcome my first question is this your first boat?

Performance of the different motors also depends on what size toon you get, 2 or logs ect. My 25' Tri-toon with a 115 is fast enough to give tubers a run and throw most of them off. Top speed varies between 25 and 29mph depending on load. With 4 adults, 2 teenagers and 2 kids under 8 we run between 25 and 26mph. 2 adults I can hit 29mph.

I still wish I had gone with a 150hp but it took us a bit over budget. What I have noticed is every year I get happier with the 115hp. We are on season 4 year 3 of owning our new toon and I am very happy with it. We have places for everyone to stretch out when there are 4 of us and a nice runway for the kids to jump off the front plus a place for everyone to sit when 12 people want to hit the lake.

Marv wrote:Sometime in the future well will be buying a pontoon, my questions are ..What is the biggest size motor to go with that can pull the kids on a tube and not be a complete gas hog?

1) Is there any harm in leaving the boat in the lake for the summer,we plan on renting a dock on a small 1200 acre lake.

2) Are there any name brand motors to stay away from?

3) What has to be done to a motor over the summer months to keep her running as she should? april-october

4) 2 stroke or four stroke motor?

Any opinions are greatly valued,thanks to all for the welcome and advise.

I'll add my 2 cents...
1) I'd be OK with that, but would check the bottom of the pontoons occasionally for growth and crud. Scrub as needed.
2) Not sure. I love my Yamaha 90HP 4-stroke
3) I follow the dealer's recommendations for service and fuel additives to the letter. It's 100 hours service, after the initial 10-15 hour breakin service and add ring-free and fuel conditioner to each tank of gas.
4) My preference is 4-stroke, but you'll probably get 2 different answers on this one.

Enjoy !! Mike

...continued

I agree with the vinyl floor rather than carpet.
I also agree with the larger motor instead of smaller. I have a 90 HP and for 6 hours of
"less than 4,000RPM cruising", i burned 8 gallons of fuel. But with the throttle WOT,
it tops out at 28 mph with 2 people on board.

If my boat were bigger than 20 feet or I carried a lot of people, I may want bigger than 90hp, but as an old fogie, I'm happy !!

Welcome to the club.

Ty all. And captain jack yeah basically it is. We bought a ski boat took it out and the hull filled up with water,they guy sold us a boat that was cracked bad under it. Second trip with that boat after it got sealed up the motor blew...So we pretty much said screw the boating ...The guy was a crook and we almost got into a fist fight..So that killed us on the whole boat scene. Well that was almost 3 years ago...So now we are pontoon shopping...well at this point we are collecting all the info we can..Will probably buy used....Might even be this fall before we can save the money to purchase...We are looking at $5000-$7000 to spend...And we know we want a 24 foot one...Motor i have no idea about. I would like something that could pull the kids, but not be a complete gas hog as we will be on this boat 2-3 times a week. The wife and i been doing nothing but reading on here. The wooden boat all spruced up is unreal btw...wow!

welcome the 150 is a good size. Especially since you mentioned fuel economy. Should be able to do it all with that unless you get a real heavy boat.
Nothing wrong with leving at the dock. Just clean the toons with a scotch brite pad or something similar every now an then. Make sure you have good fenders or what ever you use to keep it from banging into the dock. I picked up some tires an covered with heavy canvas. Looked neat an provided very good cushioning.

I am one of those two stroke guys you heard about. Longer season, less things to do far as winterizing,(once you winterize you are done for the season even if you have some nice days for boating, most don't want to go through the entire process just so they can go out) lighter per hp and almost as quiet as 4 stoke. My 150 is much quieter than my old 90, and the fuel consumption is really good on the newer motors. I was really surprised how quiet an fuel efficient they have become.

doc

Marv wrote:Sometime in the future well will be buying a pontoon, my questions are ..What is the biggest size motor to go with that can pull the kids on a tube and not be a complete gas hog?

get the biggest motor you can afford. That way when you are towing you'll be doing it at the "cruising" range of the motor and not at WOT. The motor doesn't work as hard and doesn't drink as much gas AND you still have plenty of reserve power for getting somewhere fast if you need to.

Is there any harm in leaving the boat in the lake for the summer,we plan on renting a dock on a small 1200 acre lake.

Get some scotch brite pads and when you go swimming give it a scrub down every once in a while. Keeps the crud off. My boat is in a slip all summer long (normally early may through late october) with no problems.

Are there any name brand motors to stay away from?

Just about all the new motors are pretty good. I don't know of a bad one.

What has to be done to a motor over the summer months to keep her running as she should? april-october

Two stroke. Make sure it has enough oil in the tank. Off season winterize it and change the impeller every couple years or so.

2 stroke or four stroke motor?

I've got a 2 stroke Yamaha (175 VMAX HPDI) I can't hear it when it is running. I have to go look at the pee hole and listen real close. I am thrilled with this motor. They say the four strokes are quieter which might be true (I don't know) I do know that the two strokes are lighter for the same HP

Thanks for all the replys

if you stick to that budget, you might see a boat with a "force" motor. i'd avoid that line. for a several year old motor i'd stick with a big name that still makes motors. you will also want to make sure you have a local mechanic that can work on that particular brand unless you plan to do the work yourself. in general, i'm happy with my honda, but there are only a few honda mechanics around here. fortunately, i do everything myself.