Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

A friend of mine just got his new to him boat after shopping around for almost a year. When I decided I wanted a new Pontoon, I started looking on a Tuesday and signed the paperwork the next Monday (six days). My Sea Ray before that was about three weeks from the start of the search until I signed the papers.

I can't imagine spending much more time than that shopping for anything. Heck, on July 1st, I decided I wanted to buy a new house. Signed the contract on July 14th! Of course, I do have one advantage because I'm not married, so I don't have anyone else involved in decisions of major purchases! Maybe I'm just a bit impulsive!

So how long did you spend shopping for your boat???

Once I decided on a pontoon boat I did research for about a month and then took about a week to go to various dealers, look at brands and negotiate.
Signed my paperwork this past Saturday. Not the cheapest but had almost exactly what I wanted.

about 2-1/2 years

all together I probably boat shopped for about a month. But I started out with the plan to buy a bass boat.. after a couple of week ends looking at bass rigs, I was "nudged" to look at pontoons set up for fishing.. If I remember correctly it was about 2 weeks after I started looking at pontoons before I pulled the trigger..

Same here, planned on a bass boat but realized a pontoon was a better idea. It was the summer of 2015 and I saw a lot of pontoons in miserable shape for the $8500 that I had to spend. Saw mine on craigslist in excellent shape and less than 100 hours, checked NADA value 16000$ at the time and made the call. The boat was sold, I put a bit of a personal touch by telling him of my lousy search, the fact that I just got married and live on the river. Next day, done deal.

Mine was already on a sling in the boathouse of a home the we bought in January.

Our new home was previously used as a "weekender" for two family's. When they sold it to us, they wanted to just leave behind everything on the property including the pontoon boat with trailer. tube and different sized water skis, peddle boat, six rod/reels,riding mower and other yard equipment.

I did not want to hurt their feelings by declining the offer..........

Now I have to force myself to wait until after work to take the boat out. My wife and I have a small wholesale business, so some days the office is only 25' x 8'

Thats the job i need

16 hours.....it is our 7th boat and we knew exactly what we wanted. Going from a 25 ft Cobalt to a pontoon.....gotta make some changes as you get a little older and love the Playcraft step built into the pontoon.

How long did I shop for my Toon ? think it was about an hour. I was walking around inside bass pro shops being overwhelmed by how ridiculous that store is and found myself in the boat department. the rest is History.

We probably all know a guy with infinite patience who will wait forever for the perfect deal. Or the guy who walks around with a fat roll of cash in his pocket so he can pounce on a deal when he finds it (usually when NOT looking).
For the rest of us--if we're honest--there really isn't enough difference between a "great" deal and a "so-so" deal to be worth all the effort & frustration.

I sold my center console in the summer of 2013 and was jonesing for a new boat immediately. I started looking and waited until the boat show in Atlanta so I'd have a better idea of the big bucks I was about to spend. Ordered the boat in late February. Got it just before Memorial Day in 2014.

One day.