Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hi everyone. I'm a small boat sailer who has an opportunity to purchase my first motor-powered craft: 2011 Sylvan 8520 cruise RPT w/ 2011 90hp Mercury 4-stroke. I'm trying to learn about it as fast as possible, but thought perhaps the folks here could give me some pointers on what to look for or avoid.

The boat has been used for cruising on a very quiet lake, and I assume it has the first version of the RPT pontoons, but will learn more shortly. It's kept on a boat lift, and stored on a trailer off-season. It appears to be in great condition cosmetically, but I haven't seen the service records or taken it out yet for a ride. I'll be going out for a test run with someone that has experience with pontoon boats so that'll help, and I hope to speak with the servicing dealer. Our intended use is strictly as a cruising boat on quiet water.

Any advice on what to look for? Are the original RPTs OK if the boat hasn't been abused in big water? It's priced in the range of the NADA values, but final pricing is TBD. Private sale.

Thank you very much.

Welcome! I don't really know that much about the RPT toons, but I know there are issues so I'd recommend doing a search here to see what you can find. Others may chime in too. Give us a bit more information about how you want to use the boat, type of lake, typical passenger load, etc. and we can offer more insight.

Hi. We'd just be using the boat to cruise a quiet lake. It has a ski tow attachment but I don't expect to use it.