Bamaman wrote: And remember that if you buy 100 miles away, any warranty work will require driving 600 miles back and forth before it's home.
On the flip side, don't let the absence of a local dealer keep you out of a boat that's right for you.
I bought my boat in Northern Indiana (Casey's Cove Marina on Crooked Lake in Angola Indiana. Great people to work with) and I live in Southern Indiana. They were not the closest Manitou dealer but they had the best price (by a few hundred over the next cheapest and by a four thousand over the closest dealer).
Round trip distance: 484 miles.
Went up there to order the boat.
Went up there to pick up the boat.
Went up there to have a few parts installed that weren't in yet at delivery time. (I added a dual battery system)
Last time I was up there was in 2007. The year I bought the boat. NO warranty issues whatsoever.
Pontoons are remarkably easy boats to work on. Most of the problems you will encounter will be motor related and almost all the motor manufacturers have service centers just about everywhere. (Yamaha had 2 five star service providers within 3 miles of my lake)
So once you've bought the bought the original selling dealer really isn't all that important.
The money I saved on the purchase bought all my toys and the gas for the first three years.