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Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 9:24 pm
by SpeedBoater99
Looking for feedback on the Starcraft SLS-3. We are new to pontoons but have had many boats.

This is the boat we are looking at. They said they could put any size Yamaha 150 to 250hp on this model. We were going to stick with the 150 as it doesn't look like the 200 is much quicker and the 250 is a big price jump. Anyone here have this model? They also have a new updated 2019 but again the price is a pretty big jump

I think this should make a link, its the last boat.

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:20 am
by riplipper
You will never, ever! regret having more HP. When you want or need it, its great to have it.
And more HP NEVER hurt resale value, only help.

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:00 am
by jadeboy
Buy the 250

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:59 am
by Marc K
That’s the age-old question that is so hard to advise someone else about! I would assume that 150 hp will get you some good speed?

Starcraft makes a nice boat!

Marc

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:49 am
by steve1313
jadeboy wrote:
Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:00 am
Buy the 250
+1

"I've got too much horsepower" - said nobody ever!

But I also understand budgets, so do what best suits your needs.

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:23 am
by BobL
SpeedBoater99 wrote:
Mon Nov 05, 2018 9:24 pm
Given your user name, I think we know the answer to your dilemma already :biggrin2 .

What type of water are you on? BIg water? River? All of the above?

I have a 150 on a 23' and very happy with the speed but my home lake is 1 mile wide and 10 miles long. I can't go anywhere else so hauling butt is not necessary for me. If you are on big water that can get rough or you are trying to out run storms then I would go bigger than 150 if I had the bucks to spend.

The dealer web site is a bit confusing. If I am looking at the link correctly, it shows two SLS-3 2019 boats. One shows $62k but it does not list the size of the motor. The other SLS-3 shows $55k with a 200 on it. You may not want to discuss $$ but what is the true negotiated difference in the one with 150, 200, and 250?

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:39 pm
by Bamaman
There is a big price differential between outboard motors that are purchased with the boat hull versus an engine purchased directly from Yamaha for retail sale. Manufacturers purchase outboards in volume, and they get a big cut in price on the motors. I would prefer to buy from a dealer that passes the lower price on to me, the retail customer, with a motor that comes with the hull.

As far as a difference in prices between a Yamaha 150 and Yamaha 250: A typical list price of a 150 hp is just under $16K, and can be bought around $12.5K. The 250 hp lists for about $24.5K and can be bought online for $19K. So there's about a $6500 difference in price. While the 150 hp can be run with SeaStar steering, the 250 hp is going to require a power steering assist option which can run as much as $3K installed.

Dealers are suffering right now with the unavailability of 150 hp and larger outboards--all brands. Manufacturing changes are part of the problem, but we just went through the third major hurricane in The Gulf and the Caribbean in the last year. There are most often long waiting lists to purchase large outboards. And many, many boats have been made with no motor available for them. In other words, the retail market is all screwed up, and may be this way for another year.

I was one of the original Yamaha outboard owners in 1985, and have had them ever since. My 23' Bennington has a F150 and it's a fine motor. But if I was going to be purchasing a new tritoon, especially one with a high performance hull, it would have the new four stroke Mercury V-8 250 hp--$16,800 at my local dealer. It's simply a hoss, and Mercury motors horsepower by horsepower are sold to their dealers for retail stock substantially cheaper than Yamaha sells its motors. Mercury's 150 FourStroke is up in price to $11K locally, still $1,500 less than Yamaha. (All these price numbers are approximate.)

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 2:07 pm
by SpeedBoater99
I'm looking at a 2018 model thats been deeply discounted. Also looking at about $6,000 to upgrade to the 250hp. Both motors they have in stock, they showed me the motors stacked up in crates and they have a ton.

I'm mostly just cruising around smaller lakes but visit Pickwick a few times each summer.

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 3:33 pm
by riplipper
FYI, my new Harris tri toon was listed ballpark $62k with 200 Verado. They went down to 51k before I even climbed on the boat to look at it. This was my first pontoon purchase so I was amazed at how jacked up their pricing is. There must be a ton of wiggle room on these things. If the dealer has so many motors, you may want to look at a 200 vs 250. Should be a big difference in price, a small performance over the 150 but still very noticeable.

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 6:00 pm
by Marc K
Only you can say what the extra $6K means to you, but as a percentage of the total....... is it really that much more? It has been my experience that a few years down the road, we tend to forget what we paid, but we never forget if we are satisfied.

FWIW, I would go 150-200. I'm a guy who is quite happy with my old pontoon boat that tops out at 25-26 mph, after coming from a world where 50 mph was a laughable "slow dog" boat. So my view is waaaaay different than what most people here feel.

It always boils down to "how fast do I want to go and how much money will I spend to get there?" Been there, done that.......

Marc

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:31 am
by SpeedBoater99
What about the boat? Lots of opinions on the motor size but Starcraft looks to be a pretty nice boat for the money. Much better pricing than I've seen on some of the other well known brands like Bennington?

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2018 10:55 am
by willy13
In my opinion, all brands are great, as long as the pontoons don't leak. :lol3 Half joking, half serious. If the layout works for you and you like the dealer, they are all good. I am guessing its a huge dealer for them to have that many Yamaha outboards sitting in crates. Unless Yamaha finally caught up, its been rediculous finding a loose outboard 200hp plus.

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2018 6:57 pm
by Bamaman
SpeedBoater99 wrote:
Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:31 am
What about the boat? Lots of opinions on the motor size but Starcraft looks to be a pretty nice boat for the money. Much better pricing than I've seen on some of the other well known brands like Bennington?
My Bennington S model triton with the F150 was cheaper than Tracker's comparable model--given their one price marketing ploy.

If I'm going to put $20K into a big motor, it's going to have a first class hull underneath it. Still my favorites are Bennington, Manitou, Premier and Harris. But there are a number of other perfectly nice brands on the retail market. The trick is figuring out what dealers are willing to compete for your business with a fair price.

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 12:17 pm
by Night Train 3
I just bought a SLS 3 with the SHO 250. Buy once cry once

Re: Starcraft SLS-3 pontoon shopping advice

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 2:12 pm
by SpeedBoater99
Still trying to make a final decision. They also have several of the new Mercury outboards in stock in both the v6 200/225hp and the new 250 V8 version. Anyone here have experience with the new V8 Mercury vs. the Yamaha 250 SHO on a pontoon? The 250 is white which looks pretty cool with the white SLS-3. They have over a hundred pontoons so its been quite a time trying to narrow down which ones are our favorites.