Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I'm looking at these Avalon Pontoons down at our local dealer and I'm trying to get some reviews from people who have experience with them.

We mostly like the one at the very bottom of the page on their website: Avalon Pontoons

Its called a Deco Ambassador. I've never had a pontoon just jetskis and a deckboat so I don't really know what to look for. We have a big family and like to entertain but would this work well to pull a tube like our deckboat? I don't really know much about Avalon

I don't know much about Avalon either, but before you make a decision look at everything you can. I must have visited 4 or 5 different places in the Houston area before I decided on my 25' Xcursion. It just had better features for less money, and it looks and feels quality.

Rinker's Boat World is where I got the Xcursion and they used to sell Avalons too because I saw one on their website. When I asked the sales manager why they only had 1 Avalon in stock, he said they decided to drop the product and focus on Xcursion because they seemed to sell much better. If this is the whole story, I have no idea.

Good luck!

What I CAN tell you (Avalon and Tahoe are the same company): They have absolutely the best customer service I have ever seen. Voltage gauge quit - they sent me a new one - no questions asked, free. Leaking around the front fishing seats - they sent me four tubes of premium silicone caulk - free, no questions asked. When that still didn't solve the problem, they sent free - aluminum to underskin that area of the deck. Problem solved.

Tahoe is a top line boat. Their dealer base is just not as good as some of the other manufacturers. The largest pontoon boat dealer anywhere is a Tahoe dealer--T&M Marine north of Minneapolis. They stock hundreds of pontoons. I'd like to see how large they'd be if they were closer to the middle of the U.S. population.

It's according to what model you buy. Our family( inlaws) have a low end 22' .It's poorly built from top
to bottom but gets them around. The high end models seem fine. They are more floating living rooms.
Don't expect great performance out of them. Don't like the seat framing but I heard it has changed for
2015. It's really based on what your goals are-

Bamaman wrote:Tahoe is a top line boat. Their dealer base is just not as good as some of the other manufacturers. The largest pontoon boat dealer anywhere is a Tahoe dealer--T&M Marine north of Minneapolis. They stock hundreds of pontoons. I'd like to see how large they'd be if they were closer to the middle of the U.S. population.

I drove 1,100 miles each way to buy my Tahoe from T&M. They're great at selling. Do not expect ANYTHING as far as after-sale support. They just don't do that. Oh, and they have no problem selling you a trailer that is illegal. The trailer they sold me (which they make themselves) had no brakes (required on boats over 3,000 pounds - even in Minnesota), and the axle trailing arm BENT on the tow home. My boat weighs over 3,000 pounds without the motor. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Did I say it was also illegal? Bastages.

If you buy from them, buy your trailer somewhere else, get the boat, and RUN. And: They set my trailer up with ZERO tongue weight. I didn't know - they hooked it up for me. Geez, was it squirrely getting it home!

I would advise anyone before deciding on an Avalon pontoon, check with any other manufacturer. My son recently was caught in a severe storm and had damage. His insurance company immediately sent him a check for the repairs. Do not buy from Boat Dock Sales and Service in Lexington, NC. They have the sorriest customer service in the world. I was told that his parts to repair his pontoon had been ordered from Avalon. After several phone calls to both the dealer and the manufacturer, his parts had never been ordered! The dealer called me on 07/14/15 and said it would be another 2-3 weeks before his parts would come in. I talked with a supervisor at Avalon on 07/14/15 and he told me the parts had never been ordered. They were waiting for a credit card number from their dealer before shipping the parts. If High Rock Boat Dock did not want to do the repairs, if they did not have the ability to do the repairs or did not have the money to order the parts, they should have told us rather than lie. His pontoon had been at the dealer for several weeks before they popped up and told us it would be another 2-3 weeks.

Carole wrote:I would advise anyone before deciding on an Avalon pontoon, check with any other manufacturer.

Don't blame horrible service on the manufacturer! Avalon is absolutely incredible for service! You should be standing out in front of the dealer with a banner, pointing out how terrible THEIR service is.

BobG. I'm glad you had good service with Avalon but I can tell you personally, Dalton Sheldon, parts service manager for Avalon, does not return calls and does not answer emails. The only person at Avalon that I talked with and returned my call was Jim Wolf. He apologized for Avalon and was more than willing to get the parts out faster than 2-3 weeks. It is just a shame that he had to stand up and do what Mr. Sheldon should have. By the way, Boat Dock Sales and Service is going to get some free advertisement by the way of banners hanging on my son's pontoon while boating on High Rock Lake in Lexington, NC.

Carole wrote:BobG. I'm glad you had good service with Avalon but I can tell you personally, Dalton Sheldon, parts service manager for Avalon, does not return calls and does not answer emails.

Wow, I wonder if he's on vacation? I've never had anything but excellent responses from Dalton!

A little late to the party, but ....

Bravo2, as you can see, the old retail adage is still true: "It takes 10 satisfied customers to undo the damage that one unsatisfied customer will do". Just mention a boat brand and you will get a cacophony of responses that have to do with a specific dealer or a specific circumstance, and very little to do with the brand.

Fasttoons reports that the lower end of their lines are cheaply made. Has nothing to do with you since you're looking at the upper end, but I have to take issue with that anyway. (Sorry about the thread hijack!) We bought a leftover 2013 LS 2500 in 2014, (which is their entry level toon), and I couldn't be happier. Basically, a toon is two or three aluminum tubes and a deck. In car jargon, everything else is a "bolt on". And both those items have a lifetime guarantee. That's right. The deck on an Avalon has a lifetime guarantee.

The seat framing that fasttoons refers to is (on my 2013 LS series!), all aluminum. So zero rot. Even the seat base faces are carpet glued to aluminum. In agreement with him, I'd have preferred a slightly different support configuration that allows my "over the top tool box" to go under a seat a little easier, but in the end, I love the "no rot" option.

Just so's you know and by way of a disclaimer, we've only owned our LS 2500 for a year now. But we have had a few issues that were taken care of in a timely fashion by both Avalon and Source 1 Marine in Hudson, Fl. After a few more seasons perhaps my opinion will change, but for now, we're quite happy with Avalon and our dealer.

Just bought a Tahoe Cascade at the Philly boat show on Sunday.
I like lifetime toon/deck warranty.
The seat design allows for seats to air out.
The walls seemed pretty sturdy.

My only beef is with the helmstand design.
There is 0 under the steering wheel leg room.

I'm looking to upgrade to a different helmstand that has a bit more legroom
although not much.
That's the one design flaw I saw.