wanna be pontooner in canada

[stillthinkin]

Hello, I'm looking at buying a lightly used pontoon for the family. I have a number of questions.
1.I am trying to decide between tri-toon vs pontoon.
2. Have decided on at least a 22 footer but have seen a fair amount of 24 footers.
3. Which engine do I want? I have a young family, twins are 5 and the little guy is almost 3, Id like to
be able to achieve at least 35 miles per hour. My wife is fairly small and would liketo water ski.
4. I've found a few two log pontoons 24 footers with 4.3L inboards(190 hp). A few 22 footers with 3.0L(135 hp) one of which is a tritoon. As well as a few pontoons with 90 and 115 horse outboards.

Any suggestions on which design and powerplant I should choose?

Hello to everyone and thanks for any input.

Mike.

[HandymanHerb]

Welcome , I'll let the other guys fill you in on toon that will do 35, mine will only do that on the trailer

[Ray Jr.]

Welcome lots of great guys here with a bunch of knowledge.
I would recommend a performance tripple toon, like the Premier PTX, Bennington ESP, or Manitou SHP, with 150 hp or more should do everything you are looking to do.
My 22 foot Premeir PTX with 150 Optimax does 35 with a light load and slight chop, hauls tubes and skiers great turns like a dream and rides unbelievably smooth.

If looking for a slightly used toon check out rental fleets, our dealer sells off the rentals every year, you get full as new warranty, great as new financing rates, and a good price. We are very happy with ours.

[rsmith]

yup, I think Ray is pretty much right one. And I would go for a 24-25ft boat, the extra couple feet really makes a difference and I would think with three little ones on board you'll appreciate the difference.

If you really want to ski and can afford it you may even want to go with something more like 200hp, as everyone will tell you. Put the most motor on back as you can afford. After all, you can always throttle a big motor back and we haven't seen anyone complain about too much power.