Pontoon boat owners
bpost
Member Posts: 32,669 ✭✭✭✭
I am still looking for my new to me airplane.
In the meantime I bought a older bass tracker II boat with trolling motor and 50 Merc on it. I went fishing yesterday, the first time on the water in about 10 years. Caught Crappie and had a great dinner for me and the new to me dog, Pia.
I have 20 years experience in Alaska waters but it is stale and almost useless in Ohio.
I am thinking a Sun Tracker Bass Buggy 16 XL would be perfect for me. The Bass tracker Boat I have now is a bit narrow and with my fused neck stability is an issue, I wear a life vest but I still don't think falling over board would be fun.
It seems the pontoon boat would be a lot better for my fishing in lakes and the Ohio river. I don't need to go fast, I need a stable boat I can handle, trailer and load myself.
What do you guys think of pontoon boats and will I be able to handle the 16'X8' wide toon boat myself?
Comments
"What do you guys think of pontoon boats and will I be able to handle the 16'X8' wide toon boat myself?"
You will most likly need a motor. Don
The Bass Tracker pontoons are nice boats. Two people are always better but I think you will be able to handle it fine and you will really like it.
Well, I have had a couple along with 2 ski boats. Yes, you can handle one as long as your docking station is a good one. BUT, I see Ohio River and to me that can be a tricky if not dangerous situation. Motor quits, better have something that can get you to shore. Those darn currents can be outright dangerous. When I was a boater the older I got I finally quit the rivers and stayed on the lakes. ymmv
I think your only real challenge loading alone will be wind. Loading and unloading is pretty simple unless it's windy.
The other thing is to be sure to buy a bunk style trailer, much more stable, and the toon won't slide. They have some s really cool toons set up for fishing on the market now.
Have a nice Crestliner 18' bass boat. When we buy a lake home it will get sold for a party pontoon .
My most common lake will be White Lake in Piketon OH. I used a backwater private ramp to make sure all was good to go. There is a very nice very wide public boat launch at the dam. Most fishermen use that to launch and load.
On this first real fishing outing my third cast got a nice tree snag, the fifth got Crappie in the boat. I agree the Mighty Ohio River can be an issue but I will have a kicker motor or a trolling motor if the main propulsion unit quits at a most inopportune time.
Thanks for all your input! I will check out a "bunker" style trailer as that is how I will transport it the 60 miles to the lake.
The Sun Tracker 16' bass pontoon seems like it is the way to go. With a 16' long 8' wide deck I could even sleep aboard and fish all night.
This is the boat I am looking at:
https://www.bassproboatingcenters.com/boats-for-sale/boatmodel/2021+sun+tracker+bass+buggy+16+xl+select-7915034.html
My suggestion is to rent. Sounds expensive when you look at the per day charge but it is a lot cheaper in the long run
ive owned a lot of boats from blue water to river skiffs. ive thought about buying a pontoon boat many times and wished i had, im a little old now. trailer loading should not be much of a problem if the wind is not howling. as long as you get close and get your winch line on the boat you will be good to go. skill and cunning overcomes ignorance and superstition every time.
That's a good looking boat Bruce. You will appreciate the boarding ladder too. The under deck trailers are a pain to get on the boat when it's out of the water.
I have to use a 6' step ladder to get in my big water boat, and it's something I need to address.
FCD,
I can't speak for other states, but in Michigan, power loading is verboten due to erosion.
... or airplanes, Dano.
As has been said bpost, I used to enjoy "fast". That was perhaps 20+ years ago. I'm more into comfort now. I liked the amount of storage in you linked model. You can never have too much storage.
Let us know what you buy.
I have a 20 foot pontoon and most pontoon boats now have very good trailers.With mine if I get even close to lined up and give it some throttle the trailer will guide the boat on.
I have a 20' Lund with a trailer that winches up under the deck.
Can set the pontoon in the yard and drive the trailer away.
I put in, in a lot of shallow landings, and if was one of those under the pontoon floats, I'd have to have the truck 50' into the lake.
No problem with my trailer.
I really enjoyed it, but, it was bought new, back in the 80's, and never been under roof.
Time for a complete rebuild. Old Mercury classic 50, from the 80's also, gave up it's ghost, after multiple rebuilds.
Plan on putting a new deck, carpet, chairs, and controls. And a new 4 stroke motor.
Man, I'm gonna be the bear from hell!
We have a 24' with a 115 HP Honda. Strictly family and in particular grandkid orientated. We live on a lake so it's "lift" accessible. Lots of fun.
It's kinda like this, for me
I see pontoon boats for sale or even free around here. It seems that if the motor goes, the boat is not worth much. Don
I don't own a pontoon boat but have been on lots of them with friends and family. The two main things that I would point out are to make sure you have plenty of engine. Pontoons have a lot of surface area for the wind to catch and if you get caught out in high winds it can take a lot of power to get to safety. Get the biggest engine that your boat is rated for nand get a four stroke. Suzuki used to have the highest horsepower to weight ratio. I've got an older DF140 on my 18' Lund and it's a rockstar engine.
The second point is concerning trailers. As has been mentioned, the bunk trailers are nice but the bunk trailers with vertical rollers that set just inside the pontoons are REAL nice. They make loading the boat, even in a crosswind, a snap.
My step-brother has a 24' pontoon boat set up really nice for fishing. He found a place on the deck centered and just forward of the console that had no aluminum supports under it and cut a 3' x 3' square hole in the deck and hinged it and added supports around the perimeter of the hole. When he finds a spot showing some fish he'll put the Bimini top up, open up his hatch, and then fish through the hole. That big platform draws fish from all around to hang out underneath it. He also added 'fish lights' under the boat for fishing at night. The fish are attracted to the light for some reason and he just catches the heck out of the catfish that way.
ETA, Speaking of enough engine, don't be this guy!! He's crazy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j136TTyG_E8
I think the lights draw skeeters and bugs, minnows eat bugs, big fish eat minnows.
I had a Crest pontoon for a while. I used to do the photo shoot for Crest’s catalog here in central Florida so the company gave me a great price on a pontoon. I agreed to let them use the pontoon in any boat show in the state of Florida so they gave me a really good deal. When I got ready to sell it the company bought it back from me. I also helped deliver some pontoons and I took one up in the Carolina’s to a lake that had some NASCAR drivers living on it. From what I was told they liked to race out on the lake as well as the track. The pontoon I delivered had a full blown 454 in it from the factory for Dale Jarrett. That boat would haul.
Days they will always remember.
My Dad had two pontoons as he got older. He loved to fish and age and a stroke were not going to stop him. The pontoons were just what the doctor ordered. I trailered those things around the midwest for almost 20 years just to keep Dad fishing.
Here is what I learned -
Stay away from Bass Tracker (Dad's first), they are cheap for a reason, their quality is lacking and their service department is worse.
Like it was mentioned earlier, get the biggest engine the boat will handle and is rated for. Dad's first 'toon was bought new with a mid size motor and we soon realized it was under powered. Then off to buy a bigger motor and try to sell or trade in the undersized unit
There are a lot of pontoon manufactures out there shop around, Dad's second one was a Sylvan and it was great.
Both toons were set up for fishing, complete with locators, live wells, trolling motors, anchor mates, etc.
Get the best trailer you can afford with road sized tires and surge brakes. Like I said I towed that boat around a lot of the midwest.
Running a pontoon does take a little practice as the wind and current will be like nothing you experienced in a small power boat. Take your time go slow and think ahead and you will be fine. Have someone who knows along with you the first few times to help out
Likemhot
likemhot, I have a Sylvan 8522 Mirage and PTS semi-tritoon with a 150 Yamaha. It is a Party Fish model but someone had special ordered it with one captain chair in front port and a bench in front starboard. It has both captain chairs in back along with a bench on the port side across from the helm. He wound up not taking it and I saw it. It was just what I was looking for to have a seat in front for fishing, but also a bench in front when cruising with family/friends. In October of that year I tried to buy it, but we couldn't agree on a number and then in January, they called and asked me if I was still interested in it. I lowered my offer by $1,000. It had a 115 Yamaha on it and I told them it was my final offer or $2,500 more for a 150 over the 115. Couple of days later they called and said they would do either one. I opted for the 150. We really enjoy the boat.
No way I can afford a Sylvan (top of the line) or other luxury boat and I don't want one. I think a lot has changed at Bass Tracker, the warranty is second to none for their products. I do not want carpet or a bunch of trinkets on board. I don't even want a stereo on it. The goal is a easy to handle simple stable boat.
I am getting the big motor and a trolling motor too as others have suggested. I would prefer a Yamaha motor but Mercury is neck and neck with them in 4-stroke boat motors so I suppose it will do just fine. I am * about maintenance, oil is cheap, motors are expensive!
I didn't think Sylvan would be considered a "top of the line" boat, but it is nice. My final offer was $30k for the 115, boat and a Bear Trailer or $32,500 for the 150, boat and Bear Trailer. I am definitely glad I opted for the 150. I do know all prices are up quite a bit if you can even find one of the low to moderate priced ones. Online, basically the only ones I see within two hundred miles of here are $40k and up without a trailer.
Face it, if you've got 20 years boating in Alaska, handling a pontoon boat will be easy.
I lived by the rule of 44, you will bust, lose or destroy 44 bucks worth of stuff every time you launched your boat, missing that for 10 trips did not negate the law. I had a lot of time in a Zodiak boat out of Seward until got my Alumaweld 21 foot boat that spent untold hundreds of hours in the Ketachmak bay area, Seldovioa, Halibut Cove, English Bay and the Bear Cove area. Many days were spent duck hunting on the Bradley Flats. Ah, the memories of a lifestyle words can not explain the grandeur of. I miss Alaska, not being there is too painful to explain.
We don't use ours for fishing, but have a 24' Bennington with a 300 HP Yamaha outboard.
Went from a 22' to the new 24' this spring as the elliptical center tube makes a big difference when running in swells. The lake is 25 miles north to south with navigable rivers feeding at a couple of points. A number of restaurants on the lake with docks. Nothing beats a destination dinner followed by an evening motor home.
Get as much boat as the money you want to spend will allow, IMO. We have been 15 miles from home and surprised by a windstorm on a number of occasions, and size, weight, and power is your best bet when weather hits.
Cannot comment on trailering. We moor ours at a local marina, and have them pull in and store it over the winter. They tell me it comes with a trailer, but I have not, and probably will never see it.
Brad Steele
We used to rent pontoon boats. The marina had it in the water, cleaned up, gased up and ready to go when we got there. Fish all day and return to the dock and then go home and forget about it. Don't need a truck or a trailer or any garage or cover to store it in.
Cheaper than buying one and you don't have to worry about having a stroke or throwing your back out trying to get it loaded on the trailer and washing the thing when you get home.
Pfffffffffft you people and your gas powered boats. You want something expensive? Try a sailboat!
I used to race a 54' Hunter down in Seward, me and my friend Mike would two-hand that big boat all over Resurrection Bay, and we won almost every race we entered. What a workout! A boat that size needs big sails and sheets, and while he steered, it was on me to haul them out of the locker and prepare to set them.
We got out past Cape Resurrection once into 30 foot swells, and were surfing that hull down the swell faces, burying the bow each time. Have you ever surfed a big sailboat? It never occurred to us that we weren't immortal. :-)
We'd explode the turning blocks on the rails from the tensions we were working with to get the correct sail shapes, and we'd just laugh and bolt in another.
I used to stand on the main sheets OUTSIDE the hull, between the toe of the genoa and the winch, trying to get the right shape to the sail, my feet and legs dipping into the water with each wave. I'd laugh and it never occurred to me to put on a life preserver.
Oh to be young and ignorant and immortal again! This isn't her but this is what she looked like. The "Bullet". Dayam, was she fast.
We bought a 2020 model this spring off the dealer floor with 8 hours on it. In to it for way less than what the build price is. Not quite half of what you state but closer to half than to 3/4. Interestingly, the 300 HP Yamaha burns less fuel than did the 175 HP we had on the 22 footer we traded in.
Probably a total of $ 5,000.00 a year for mooring and winter storage, but frankly we use it a lot more than if I was going to trailer it, and renting dock space is a lot cheaper than property tax for a place on the lake.
Now that the weather is becoming favorable, we will be spending 10+ hours a week on it. 100 - odd miles of shoreline to explore and the weekly dinner cruises.
In the current market, these things hold their value very well, mainly because there is a very limited supply of mid-level boats like this. No doubt this will change with the economy, but for now it is pretty much the most boat I would want to pay for, and it will probably be the last boat I buy.
Brad Steele
We had a 28' California Ranger, Nanuq, for around 15 years and there is much to be said for sailing. The hull design was a modified racing hull, and we could run circles around 30 - 35 footers in light air.
Had it up on Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho, and when the wind came up it was a mini inland sea. Got caught in heavy weather a few times coming south towards home. We never saw 30' swells, but did run it through 10'+ swells on a couple of occasions, and many were the times we were taking 2 - 3 feet of green water over the bow. Still love sailing, but it is far more limited than a power boat.
Brad Steele
Rather than buy a hole in the lake to throw money into, just hire a pro to take you fishing when you want to go.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
@Don McManus next time you're on Lake PO'R you should visit my ex girlfriend's cabin. My lovely 16' aluminum Grumman canoe is still sitting there by the dock. It's yours if you want it.
That is fine. My point was that one should get as much boat as they can for what they want to spend. Things can happen on the water at any time where bigger is better. We bought a previous year model off the floor because it was priced way under Bennington's build price and 40% under the original 2020 Dealer price. The 2021's had some nice features, but for what I wanted to pay, this was the best fit. The same applies regardless of budget, IMO.
Brad Steele
That's where I was headed when I started the discussion - there area lot of makes and models out there, I just don't believe, from my experiences, that Bass Tracker is a good choice. Every time I needed something it was always a major ordeal, a long wait and not done up to standards. Bottom line is choose wisely, it took me two times to get it right. Enjoy the water, Dad did up until his passing and I'm glad I was part of it.
likemhot
I have learned that the cost of something may or may not be related to quality today. Sun Tracker has 100% for sure the best warranty in the industry, so does Suzuki Boat motors. https://www.theboatdock.com/blog/sun-tracker-warranty/
Cars made in the 1980's- 90's are no indication of car quality today, things chage some for the better some worse.
I would love to live on a private lake, have a float equipped plane in a floating hangar, a 30' Tri-toon boat and a private beach with shooting range. That is not realistic.
I need a simple boat, small easy to handle, stable and one that can be fished from. I don't care about going fast, BTDT. Once I get another plane it will be a toss up as to which gets used when. If I fish 20 days a year from the boat seeing me invest 50K plus in luxury is a waste.
Sun Tracker warranties are real!