Took the toon out for one last ride yesterday...

[playcat]

Just might need a better tow vehicle. My Yukon XL is rated to tow 8800, that ride looks closer to 10K.

big rig.jpg (72.97 KiB) Viewed 1848 times

Here's mine with the barge behind it; longer. but a lot lighter than yours!

[serpa4]

Keep us informed. I almost bought a cruiser for the same reason, faster, beds, toilet, generator and A/C. Sounds nice. I remember my last I/O 23' open bow and it's maintenance. I still like to look at those cruisers all the time, sleeping on board would be nice.

[woolznaz]

Enjoy the new boat. The problem with boats..... you need at least 4 of them to cover all the bases. I had a 29' Chaparral cruiser that I loved, but now have the toon that is just a better fit for the way we use a boat now. Someday, maybe a cruiser will be just the right fit again. Have fun with her!

[badmoonrising]

sleeping on board would be nice.

That's why the Party Cruiser is perfect. Sleeps 6, have: shower, head, sink. stove, generator, fridge, galley. etc. I have everything a cruiser does, except the staggering fuel bill.

[STEVEBRENDA]

That's why the Party Cruiser is perfect. Sleeps 6, have: shower, head, sink. stove, generator, fridge, galley. etc. I have everything a cruiser does, except the staggering fuel bill.

Hour by hour the Party Cruiser is probably more effcient, but the cruser may be as efficient on a per mile basis. Really, a pontoon is not very efficeint.

[GregF]

There are different kinds of cruisers. If you are talking about a displacement hull diesel trawler, they are relatively cheap to run. If you are talking about a planing hull with a couple of big V-8s they are far from cheap to run. My ex has a 38' Bayliner and if the CG aux wasn't buying her gas she wouldn't get out much at all.

[badmoonrising]

The subject of this thread appears to be a gas powered cruiser. My fuel bill averages under $400 a season...lol

[GregF]

I probably burned 350 gallons last year but that is well over 300 hours on the meter.
I am tracking it better now.
I topped up my cans today (5). I am averaging 1.05 GPH (97 hours, 102 gallons of gas since I put on the Yamaha)
It was $3.57 today. The high was $3.94 in April.

[jlbutl]

Why oh why did you all let me buy such a huge beast!

Ok, been a busy summer, but here is the update on the new ride.

Took the cruiser out for its first voyage on Memorial Day Weekend. Left from a little marina close to my home and ran ~18 miles to another marina out in the inter-coastal close to Pensacola where I was picking up passengers and spending the night. I also took the opportunity to fill up since I wasn't sure on what my fuel consumption would be. We then motored over to the sound side of Pensacola Beach and played in the water and on the boardwalk, which made for a nice afternoon/evening.

That night, we slept (or tried to) 4 adults and two teenage girls aboard. Needless to say, I won't be doing that again. The little cabin in the back isn't conducive to sleeping adults of my size, and the v berth was too short so my legs hung off the end. The other two adults slept topside under the full cabin enclosure and we left the cabin door open with the A/C going and a fan blowing cool air up to them. That also didn't work well as it was freezing below and too hot up top.

Next morning after breakfast and getting everything stowed, we headed down the inter-coastal to Destin where we like to hang out on Crab Island. That was ~38 miles of near full throttle just to maintain plane with everyone plus all the gear on board and took us about 2 hours to get there. We hung out and played for an hour or so, well the passengers did, I was too busy trying to keep the anchor set with the wind and current. We also had some rogue waves come by and caught my wife on board, man I thought she was going to lose it as that narrow beam, tall cruiser was rolling at least 10-12 degrees. After an hour or so, we motored over to a marina and filled up (again) and set off for home at a slow pace so the ladies could prepare lunch below. I found out quickly that you can't motor along in the inter-coastal and expect the ladies to be able to work below. We finally had to pull off to the side in a little protected cove and finish up lunch due to all the boats passing us and causing our craft to pitch and roll all over the place.

After lunch, we continued heading back toward the marina where we stayed the night before. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up and was pushing 4-5 foot waves almost due west (I was heading east) which caused not only a rough ride home but also a longer run to get back. After filling up (again) at the marina and dropping off my passengers, I continued the trip back to the marina close to my home.

Total Fuel Cost for 2 days on the water: $540
Hours of actual enjoyment on the boat: ~3


And that was just the kick off for the boating season, its been a fiasco most of the time, including having to get a bigger truck to pull it, the wife, daughter and I not being able to launch/load by ourselves, etc.

End result now that summer is gone, the Admiral is not happy, the daughter is not happy, the friends (regular companions) aren't happy and most important, I'm not happy. Now we're looking at options to trade this one in and get something new. Thinking of a Manitou Oasis this go round. That would make everyone happy with space, etc and me happy with performance.

Thoughts?

[Just Laxin]

Thoughts you say,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,time for a new Tri-Toon

[playcat]

Notice the difference between older cruisers and today's express models? Today's smaller express cruisers are narrow for towing, top heavy to squeeze in as much interior space as possible (especially headroom) and with so little boat in the water, they are mostly heavy underpowered messes that roll like pigs.
We looked at cruisers before we sold our Baja sportboat, and have never regretted buying a toon...only regret we have is the mechanic we employed to maintain it!!!

[Axtellboy]

(First Post- I've been lurking here regularly since buying my tri-toon in July.)

Great update post (although I'm sorry for your less-than-ideal experiences this summer)!

We've been absolutely loving our pontoon on Grand Lake since we bought it last July (in fact, my 8 year old is singing the "Pontoon Song" as I type this). But, although I have no plans to sell the 'toon, my eyes have "been wondering," as I fantasize about adding a cruiser or a small/medium size Baja to the dock. But, in reality, I think a pontoon suits us perfectly. We can cruise at 30 mph when we want to do that, putter around at 10 mph when we want to do that, and drift and relax when we want to do that. And we don't need to worry (hopefully) about "freshening up" an engine (or engines) at short intervals. Sometimes it's beneficial to hear about the "wonderings" of others, to remind us of why we should "stay 'tooned."

[jlbutl]

@ Axtellboy

Yeah, my advice would be to stick with the pontoon. I had been complaining about the lack of enclosure on my toon (should've bought it when I ordered the toon) and wanted to try camping out. It was going to cost ~5k for the enclosure, plus the installation fees from the dealer and then we'd just be sheltered from rain/wind/etc. Well, for a decent night sleep here in sunny ole Florida, I really wanted air conditioning too. I figured it would be cheaper in the long run to upgrade to the cruiser and get all the nice little "extras" and that would make me happy, boy was I wrong.

Lessons I learned...

1) I will probably *never* sleep on a boat again (cruise ships excluded). My poor old back misses my temperpedic and on the boat I get hardly any rest.

2) My pontoon was not performing properly and I should have gotten it checked. I kept complaining that my "cruise" was only 13mph when everyone else said my 22ft tracker with the 90hp should have be running in the 20's and the manufacturer listed top speed around 30. Thinking a larger boat with a larger, although single, engine would be faster was a incorrect.

3) There is *much* more room for folks to party/play on a pontoon than on a cruiser. Even though my new boat is yacht certified (can carry as many people as I have life jackets for) it wasn't comfortable with just 6 aboard, where I used to take 14 on the pontoon and not feel as crowded as on the cruiser.

4) Fuel consumption dictates just how many times you're willing to take a boat out. On the pontoon, I could fill up for 150 or so and run it for 4-5 trips at least, so we used to put it in the water on weeknights, weekends, whenever. On the cruiser, I can fill up for 360 or so and run it about 4-5 hours.... Heck we even made the same trip mentioned above on the pontoon once, and still had a 1/4 tank left in the pontoon, so that should give you a good indicator of the savings difference.

5) And finally, the grass may be greener on the other side, but it tastes funny....

I hope this helps some of you who may be thinking of a cruiser.

[waterlab]

Thanks for the follow-up jlbutl, it's nice to see someone follow-up on a previous review to let others know what they learn or experience. I learned that years back when I went with a freind on his 32' sailboat from just south of Albany NY down to Ny city and back, at that time I thought about getting a large sailboat and spending lots of time on the water. That trip changed my mind quickly. Love playing on the water all day but when it comes time for dinner and sleep I want more, room to prepare a good meal, my large screen TV, and a comfortable place to rest these 60 year old tree climbing bones(35 years). I'll stick to renting some lake house where ever we may be

[Bamaman]

I was out on the Tennessee River last week, and a 147' Christensen yacht was tied up at our local country/yacht club. The boat has a pair of 2000 hp 12 cylinder diesels and a 4000 mile range. It has a 28' beam and the bow is 15' out of the water. The hull displaces over 600 tons--over 10 times that of a 53' Hatteras.

The problem is that the owner's just completed his 28,000 square foot lake house on over 1000' of lake frontage, and he's never built the docks to hold his little boat. He has to have a licensed boat captain and a couple of deck hands. Oh, and a cook.