Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

WOW,I've been searching the net the last few days,reading hundreds of questions and thousands of responses on many forums past and present about pontoon boats."I'm very bored".It seems we are the red headed step child of the boating world.all the misinformation and ridicule is amazing.I haven't bought my boat yet but feeling the class war already.When I pull in to dock in Boston and hit the town will there be seperate water fountains for me/us? Has anyone been the victim of boat snobbery? Now I really don't give a shit what anyone thinks of me a boat is a different story. how about some respect for the pontoon. there's not a boat built with more versitilty. I've never felt the ridicule in a bass boat,mabe they just assumed I was a hillbilly.

Move down south where pontoon boats are treated like royalty ..

Guess it all depends on the body of water.... The lake we live on is dominated by pontoons and the marina we slip in is also dominated by pontoons so I can't say I've been subjected to any real "boat snobbery" as of yet.... At the gas pump my descent docking skills & credit card gets me all the respect I need from the gas jockeys....

every day the temp drops I think of moving.Kids are done with school in a couple of years maybe then I can go back and forth.

In the last 5yrs my local lake has been taken over by pontoons. They are less expensive than a fiberglass boat and like you said are way more versatile. Its funny because everyone of my buddies that have fiberglass boats cannot wait to get in my boat once we tie up... funny how that works.

I can relate to it. We used to run around with the big boys all the time. We did the Poker Runs, Shoot Outs ect. When the price of fuel, repair costs and kids college costs hit, it was time to sell the big boat and re-evaluate things. The crowd we hung with changed. No more invites to races, no calls to ask to work the dry pits. when we would go out no one would tie up with us. Because they were intimidated to tie up to a chuck of aluminum, we would get "the wave" and that's about it. Especially down at the LotO.
But I invited some Ole Buddies and their wives out a few years ago. They loved the pontoon boat. So much that 2 bought pontoons and one of them sold his 40 Skater, because they use the pontoon more. Plus putting $100 of fuel in the tank instead of $800 for a weekend and the lower insurance cost, just makes sense. And I think its getting better, we have more pontoons floating than fiberglass in our marina too, anymore. And yep, the when we are out, everyone comes over to our pontoons to lounge around in. It is funny!
However, on he other hand, I used to always hear " Oh, there's a BajaBoy or look... Big boat-Little dick syndrome? It went both ways.
But ya, it was out there. Hey, we are all boaters, no matter what we float in, or on. If I see a boater in distress, I'll stop and give whatever help I can. I don't care if your in a $125 canoe or a $850,000 1500 HP MTI, We are all boaters and deserve the same respect.

Most people around here are pretty decent. There was one guy who called my toon a piece of plywood with a motor. But other than that, they raft up with me, and treat us pretty well. JT

i have never ran into that how ever 99 % of the boats at my lake are toons.

My lake is 50 / 50 pontoons & fiberglass so we don't see that stigma here. But, I could very well see that on larger bodies of water...
Many years ago I used to launch my 17ft runabout at some of the ramps in lower Delaware.. I would get looks from guys because I had the smallest, oldest boat at the ramp. Bottom line there are *ssholes everywhere.

15-20 years ago on the Upper Chesapeake you didn't see many 'toons. People would say all kinds of shit about them. These days, there are more 'toons then ever. The guys spending $800 on gas a weekend are jealous I spend 1/3 that for the entire season. The guys with huge cruisers rarely leave dock. And yes, women LOVE pontoons, all it takes is an invite on board and they are hooked. I got my wife's cousin to sell his this season and he's buying a 'toon as well.

This is our first year on the water, everyone has been helpful friendly at the launch ramps and out on the Rock and Illinois river everyone in all sorts of pleasure craft. I was flattered when I was asked for advice on the ramp on my 5th launch but between scouring the internet and backing up wagons and trailers for half a century I guess I look like I know what I am doing. I haven't seen any snobbery but then I haven't been looking for it.

Screw em. I stopped giving a damn about what people thought about things years ago. Different strokes for different folks. I also ride a Harley and have see a lot of ya riding buddies give crap to folks who ride Hondas. Silly. Stupid. Makes you look like a dick.
Our lake is a pontoon heavy lake. Others here in the state are dominated by the big twin screw cruisers. Point is, it's all boating regardless of what you float in or on. Live and let live. There are assholes everywhere in all kinds of recreational activities. Like I said, screw em.lol

evinrude2stroke wrote: Bottom line there are *ssholes everywhere.

True That!

I'm convinced that 98% of people are good folks.

The other 2% are "Sorry" and are the ones we get aggravated with 98% of the time.


For 35 years I had a small 14' Lowe Shallow V. When I sold it this year I had a Honda 7.5hp motor on it.
Got $1000 for boat, motor, tilt-trailer, trolling motor and oars. *Note: that little Honda had a charging port on the side of it that would keep the trolling motor battery charged. Fished an entire week one time on the 4 gallons of gas and the use of the trolling motor. All in all an economical boat to operate.

Frequently, a buddy and I would go fishing in it over the decades.
It wasn't much of a boat, but floated, didn't leak, and was paid for.
Got jeered at one time by a guy with a really nice bass boat.
Ticked him off as we bypassed the 2 hour wait at the ramp by picking the boat up off the trailer, toting it down to the water, sliding it in, loading in the cooler and other gear and had a stringer full of fish before Mr. Bassboat ever got in the water.

This year we bought the Toon. On average we've made 5 days at the lake every two weeks all summer long. Everyone we've had out on the boat has enjoyed a great cruise, some good fishing, some good tubing and an all around good time.

I don't think there's been any "Boat Snobs" but there's sure been a lot of "Toon Envy".

All in all, We've been very happy with our toon.

Anyone who thinks I should have something else can simply pony up the money and give me whatever it is they prefer.

Cause if they ain't paying the tab, I don't have to listen to the gab!

Come to the sandbar up on Newfound any weekend Ron. Toons outnumber the fiberglass boats 2 to 1 and we're the picture of envy as soon as we stoke up the grill at lunch time.

when I bought my toon about 4 years ago there might have been 2 or 3 of us that had toons on the lake we use.. today, even though bass boats still dominate, we see a lot more toons on the lake... and I gotta say most of the bass boat guys are pretty nice about the pontoons.. in fact when I was getting ready to back my boat down the launch yesterday, one came over to me and complimented us on how nice he thought our "fishing toon" was... said he was considering buying one to take his family out since his 250 hp bass boat didn't really make for a good family boat.....