Just Hi from a NEWBE

[sidewinder]

Just wanted to say HI to all. I have been trolling on this forum for about three months now and finally decided to jump in. The Wifey and I are homeless folks. We live full time in our Motorhome. North to Lake Erie in the Summer and South to Texas in the winter. I have a 20’ I/O runabout that has been in the family for 40 odd years. We have kept it in fair shape but it is time to move on so a Toon is in our future and I have been trying to gather as much info as possible prior to taking the plunge. Since I boat mostly in Long Point Bay (shallow water) but do go out onto Lake Erie (deep water) in Walleye season I have kind of decided on getting a Tritoon with at least a 115hp motor.
Anyway I will be trolling around and asking some pretty dumb questions so I ask for your patients while I learn.
Thanks Guys and Gals
Ron of Ron and Sharon

[margaritaman]

Welcome Ron, The ride on a pontoon will be very deferrent from your IO and you will enjoy it more while fising. Ask your questions and I am sure our panel of experts will be able to give you an answer.

[badmoonrising]

Welcome ! We went from a 21 ft v-hull to a 32 foot 'toon and wished we had decided to years ago, we love the 'toon. You will too.

[bassn386]

Welcome to the forum. There are some incredibly informed and talented people on this site (I happen to not be one of them).
We hated to give up our Four Winns 240 Horizon, but had many friends with mobility issues that could not easily climb aboard and I was starting to get to that point.
Although we don't fish off our Bennington, we love the room, ease of access and the ride. The lifting strakes allow me to get up on plane and skim across some of the bigger waves we get here at LOTO. I wish it would go a little faster (36 mph with about 6-8 aboard, 41 mph with the Missus & me and half a tank of fuel), but overall the only thing I would do differently is maybe go to a 300 hp, but then I'd bitch about the fuel consumption.
Try to ride on as many different manufacturers as you can. Go to the marina and ask boat owners for their impressions of their rides. Most of us are pretty friendly and just might offer you a ride.
Good luck!

[Liquid Asset]

Welcome to the site I'm new here also but been playing on my toon for a couple years now. A toon will be great compared to a run about. I boat with a few other friends but I am the only toon in the group. Needless to say everyone inevitably ends up on my boat when we are tied up. I support the tri toon decision and the big mtor too. Get the biggest motor you can afford the fisrt time round. Just because you have the power doen't mean you have to use it but it will be there when you want it !!!

, shaun

[ROLAND]

welcome to the group... and you won't be asking any stupid questions.... I used all those up when I joined 2 years ago..

[sidewinder]

Shawn, Roland, Ed, margaritaman and bassn386, Thanks for the welcome. I try not to be too anal when I am looking at trying something new but when I am spending some of my hard earned pay I do my best to get value for what I think I want. Sometimes I just don’t know what I want but with the help of you guy’s and this board I am starting to get my arms around a complex decision.
Thanks for bein there guys.
See you on the board
Ron

[Bamaman]

Well, you're looking at the right forum for value.

If you learn from this forum and purchase a pontoon/tritoon boat that's well suited for your specific needs, the boat will last many decades. Mine is 26 years old, and aging well with the original engine.

[captainjack]

Ron welcome when I bought mine I found a an artical on boat test my boat said the speed dif with a 300 from a 225 was .9 mph diff the dealer talked me into it for resale purposes but u appear to keep your stuff a long time. So I suggest water test an buy what you want/ need. An u can't go wrong with a tritoon an a yamaha!

[oldcoot]

Welcome, Ron....I accidently found this site a coupla months ago....had the 24ft Suntracker for 2yrs now, getting rid of an 18ft Four Winns runabout. Realized how stupid I was all these years and finally wised up...just don't ask the wife.
Look as much as you can and get rides where you can. To be honest...we had NEVER been on a pontoon boat until we went to look at the one we have. I wasn't even out of the truck when Jill jumped out and climbed up and said write the check.
We will never go to a different style of boat again.

[PlaynDoc]

Welcome to the forum... you'll get some great info here.... I haven't seen a question asked, that wasn't answered in a timely fashion... and the answers sound pretty convincing.... yet, there's no fear in posting differing opinions...

Also, I'd like to add.... this site is great compared to the Tundra site I use... this one loads fast, isn't full of a bunch of junk - icons/buttons/points - crap that has no bearing on why I use a forum.... Also, on that forum, if you enter anything that isn't G rated, you'll be tossed.... at least here there's a specific section for old, perverted - and young perverted - people to use!

[Leisure Kraft]

Just wanted to say HI to all. I have been trolling on this forum for about three months now and finally decided to jump in. The Wifey and I are homeless folks. We live full time in our Motorhome. North to Lake Erie in the Summer and South to Texas in the winter. I have a 20’ I/O runabout that has been in the family for 40 odd years. We have kept it in fair shape but it is time to move on so a Toon is in our future and I have been trying to gather as much info as possible prior to taking the plunge. Since I boat mostly in Long Point Bay (shallow water) but do go out onto Lake Erie (deep water) in Walleye season I have kind of decided on getting a Tritoon with at least a 115hp motor.
Anyway I will be trolling around and asking some pretty dumb questions so I ask for your patients while I learn.
Thanks Guys and Gals
Ron of Ron and Sharon

Welcome to the forums!

The next time you're re-positioning yourselves you might want to stop in to our factory/showroom. The link to our location in Tennessee ought to be in my signature--we make pontoon boats. It would be a little bit of a detour for you (east Tennessee) but not too much.

[sidewinder]

Thanks you all for the welcome. My eyes have been getting blurry from all the time I am spending reading on the forum. I am getting some great information. There are times I put on my BS filters but I just remind myself HEY your taking advice from Boaters and Fishermen that will at times S-T-R-E-T-C-H things just a little. But good stuff.
Michael, Thanks for the invite. I am not sure if we will be heading out of Texas in your direction this spring but if we do I will defiantly stop. I just love your website and the “build a boat feature”, a GREAT piece of marketing. When I get longing for a pontoon FIX, I go to your “Build a Pontoon” pages and look at building my dream “Toon”. Just like everyone in the North I am waiting for spring to make my final decision and purchase and I realize that now the pricing is better but I travel at 70, where ever it is 70 degrees you will find me so my options are limited right now.
Thanks ALL
Ron

[playcat]

Welcome! You hit the nail on the head when you said you need to decide what you want your boat to do...that will determine exactly what toon you need. When we looked at toons, we looked at smaller ones, but we had been out a few times on the one we bought, and its owner had his new Playcraft arrive before this one was sold...talk about right place at the right time!

Another cool thing about pontoons is how easy they are to modify or customize compared to conventional boats. The toon we bought was not exactly what we were looking for, but we made changes over time, and its getting closer!!