Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I plan to study and figure out what I should be looking for for 2-3 months and buy a boat in the Fall when more people are getting rid of their boats. I look at Craig's List, but where should I be looking? Are there auction sites or boat specific sites? I live in the DFW, TX area.

I'd like a boat 20-24 ft and set it up for fishing with swivel chairs and a live well. My wife would like a place to relax and get some Sun. I'd like as large a diameter pontoon as possible. What year did most manufacturers increase the size? I'm open to rebuilding, but I will leave any motor work to a pro. I'm pretty handy with electrical and plan to add lights, upgrade the stereo, and add some other electrical stuff. I would replace the floor, seating, fence, and top as needed.

TIA

Check out boattrader.com That's the go to site for used (and new) boats.

Craigslist.com is always a good start.

Got a great deal on mine off of Craigslist this past spring. Seller didn’t put “pontoon” in the ad so he was getting no calls and I was able to talk him way down on a 2008 suntracker 21 with a 90 hp merc. It was kept indoors in near perfect condition.
Build your Craigslist search to contain many possible words like this: pontoon | barge | suntracker | suncatcher | “sun tracker” | “sun catcher” | Avalon | manatou. Etc etc.. save the search and use it each day morning/evening. I also use a google chrome Craigslist browser extension to keep my searches saved as I look for many things at once this way. It's called "Popup Notifications for Craigslist".

Also check Facebook marketplace as it's becoming really popular since you can kind of check out the seller before you contact them by looking at their public profile. Although, I haven't found the deals to be as good there. But I far prefer it to craigslist for selling stuff.

Searchtempest.com it is best search out there....beware tho'.....the rabbit hole can get deep

I'd road trip over to the nearest good size lake with a marina or two and check the docks for "for sale" sign. Maybe a marina bulletin board too. Maybe they're brokering used boats there too.

Any excuse to go look at boats!

There are two problems with Texas. #1 is that the state is so large and not every town has lakes.. And #2 is that it is a long way from Dallas to anywhere else.

Center your search on Texas, Eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas.