Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hi, new member here.

I've started researching pontoon boats and have some general questions. I will be buying used so I will need to know what to look out for. I currently have a small aluminum fishing boat but that is the extent of my boating experience other than trips with friends. I'm looking for a pontoon boat set up for fishing and general touring. I don't need to tow skiers and tubes although it would be nice to have that capability and to get across the lake faster.

I live in the Sierra Nevada foothills and most of the use will be small mountain lakes so I was figuring a smaller boat would be best for easier trailering and launching. I will only be going with a few people at a time. But I would like to occasionally explore the Sacramento Delta and go to larger lakes like Lake Tahoe so I'm considering a tritoon for increased stability. Most of the tritoons I see are 22'-24' and larger.

My main concern with a larger boat is getting up my driveway. I have a long narrow sloped driveway with a bank on one side and a drop-off on the other and an S turn with tight corners. I can get my small fishing boat up no problem and my friends used to keep their ski boat at my place but had to be careful coming up the driveway to keep the wheels from dropping off the corners. The trailers for the tritoon boats appear to have the wheels about 20' from the hitch so I'm concerned they won't be able to make it up my driveway.

Is there a way to calculate where the inside trailer wheels will track given the length from the hitch to the wheels? I don't want to buy a boat and not be able to get it up my driveway, and making it a requirement to try towing the boat up my driveway before buying will limit my choices.

Also, I'd like the ability to boat camp with one or two couples. Are there specific fishing barge floor plans to look for? It looks like most pedestal seats can be removed to create floor space.

Thanks for any input.

Well, I found an answer to part of the question. Someone has put together a calculator for just my problem:
https://toxiccelery.co.uk/Offtrack/Offtrack.html
It looks like I'd even have problems with a 16' pontoon boat. The good news is that a 22' doesn't make it much worse.

interesting question. How long is your tow vehicle?
I Pull a 22 ft tritoon and have an expedition that is very long, and it is the problem in some spots. More so than the trailer.

The narrow part is what kills you. There's a lake in the foothills here I don't bother going to anymore just because of the anxiety of meeting someone in one of the blind S curves where you need the whole road. Plus we bought a camper on another lake so stay on it now.

Having had both a pontoon and tritoon, get the tritoon if the budget allows.

As far as floor plans, if you're going to buy new you might be best off seeing what dealers are in your area and then checking the manufacturer floor plans to see what you like best. Off the top of my head I know Godfrey has some fishing plans in their Sweetwater line and Avalon has several. Avalon used to make a center console but don't think they do anymore. There was a 2019 Avalon center console model with a 200hp on it for sale here for $40k OBO with trailer a few months ago and I worked and worked on a friend to buy it and he didn't. He's looking at SeaArks but is thinking about buying a fishing pontoon and converting it to a tritoon.

riplipper wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 16, 2023 3:44 am

interesting question. How long is your tow vehicle?
I Pull a 22 ft tritoon and have an expedition that is very long, and it is the problem in some spots. More so than the trailer.

My current tow vehicle is a 2000 K3500 crew cab long bed so it is long (about 21') but that isn't the problem, it makes it up my driveway fine. My driveway has a nearly 180 degree corner that crosses a creek with a culvert. My main concern is less about obstructions and more about dropping a trailer wheel off the edge.

Steiner wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 16, 2023 6:31 am

The narrow part is what kills you. There's a lake in the foothills here I don't bother going to anymore just because of the anxiety of meeting someone in one of the blind S curves where you need the whole road. Plus we bought a camper on another lake so stay on it now.

Having had both a pontoon and tritoon, get the tritoon if the budget allows.

As far as floor plans, if you're going to buy new you might be best off seeing what dealers are in your area and then checking the manufacturer floor plans to see what you like best. Off the top of my head I know Godfrey has some fishing plans in their Sweetwater line and Avalon has several. Avalon used to make a center console but don't think they do anymore. There was a 2019 Avalon center console model with a 200hp on it for sale here for $40k OBO with trailer a few months ago and I worked and worked on a friend to buy it and he didn't. He's looking at SeaArks but is thinking about buying a fishing pontoon and converting it to a tritoon.

Playing around with the calculator I was surprised how little shortening the trailer hitch to wheel distance increased the radius the trailer followed. Going from a 22' boat to a 16' boat only increased the trailer inside wheel radius by 2' for my corner. Either way I need to sharpen my pencil for the corner in my driveway.

I won't be buying new (if I decide to take the plunge at all). I recently sold a car and was planning to use the money ($20K but I can increase it a little) for a pontoon boat unless I decide something else. Currently there is a 2017 Sun Tracker 22 XP3 tritoon (115 HP motor) with 100 hours on the motor advertised for $30K but I have this little issue with my driveway that I need to address first.

RKCRLR wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 16, 2023 9:46 am

Steiner wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 16, 2023 6:31 am

The narrow part is what kills you. There's a lake in the foothills here I don't bother going to anymore just because of the anxiety of meeting someone in one of the blind S curves where you need the whole road. Plus we bought a camper on another lake so stay on it now.

Having had both a pontoon and tritoon, get the tritoon if the budget allows.

As far as floor plans, if you're going to buy new you might be best off seeing what dealers are in your area and then checking the manufacturer floor plans to see what you like best. Off the top of my head I know Godfrey has some fishing plans in their Sweetwater line and Avalon has several. Avalon used to make a center console but don't think they do anymore. There was a 2019 Avalon center console model with a 200hp on it for sale here for $40k OBO with trailer a few months ago and I worked and worked on a friend to buy it and he didn't. He's looking at SeaArks but is thinking about buying a fishing pontoon and converting it to a tritoon.

Playing around with the calculator I was surprised how little shortening the trailer hitch to wheel distance increased the radius the trailer followed. Going from a 22' boat to a 16' boat only increased the trailer inside wheel radius by 2' for my corner. Either way I need to sharpen my pencil for the corner in my driveway.

I won't be buying new (if I decide to take the plunge at all). I recently sold a car and was planning to use the money ($20K but I can increase it a little) for a pontoon boat unless I decide something else. Currently there is a 2017 Sun Tracker 22 XP3 tritoon (115 HP motor) with 100 hours on the motor advertised for $30K but I have this little issue with my driveway that I need to address first.

I’d widen the “bridge” over the culvert a little bit; and get what I needed.

Rick McC. wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 19, 2023 6:38 pm

RKCRLR wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 16, 2023 9:46 am

Steiner wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 16, 2023 6:31 am

The narrow part is what kills you. There's a lake in the foothills here I don't bother going to anymore just because of the anxiety of meeting someone in one of the blind S curves where you need the whole road. Plus we bought a camper on another lake so stay on it now.

Having had both a pontoon and tritoon, get the tritoon if the budget allows.

As far as floor plans, if you're going to buy new you might be best off seeing what dealers are in your area and then checking the manufacturer floor plans to see what you like best. Off the top of my head I know Godfrey has some fishing plans in their Sweetwater line and Avalon has several. Avalon used to make a center console but don't think they do anymore. There was a 2019 Avalon center console model with a 200hp on it for sale here for $40k OBO with trailer a few months ago and I worked and worked on a friend to buy it and he didn't. He's looking at SeaArks but is thinking about buying a fishing pontoon and converting it to a tritoon.

Playing around with the calculator I was surprised how little shortening the trailer hitch to wheel distance increased the radius the trailer followed. Going from a 22' boat to a 16' boat only increased the trailer inside wheel radius by 2' for my corner. Either way I need to sharpen my pencil for the corner in my driveway.

I won't be buying new (if I decide to take the plunge at all). I recently sold a car and was planning to use the money ($20K but I can increase it a little) for a pontoon boat unless I decide something else. Currently there is a 2017 Sun Tracker 22 XP3 tritoon (115 HP motor) with 100 hours on the motor advertised for $30K but I have this little issue with my driveway that I need to address first.

I’d widen the “bridge” over the culvert a little bit; and get what I needed.

I'm considering doing that if I can get away without a grading permit. I figure about 4 hours with a small excavator and an extension for the culvert would do it. I have enough dirt around but may need a load of rock. I wouldn't make it part of the road but instead a shoulder that could be driven on. My main concern is they are picky in my area about disturbing a stream bed even though it is just a seasonal creek. Pulling a permit could snowball the project but not pulling one could cause problems in the future. I'd just need to take all of this into consideration when purchasing a boat.

As a side note the calculator seems to work. My neighbor came over with his boat trailer and drove up my driveway using all of the currently available shoulder. The inside boat trailer wheel had about a foot of clearance. I entered the dimensions for his setup into the calculator and it said he would have a foot of clearance. When I enter the dimensions in the calculator using the same route with my rig and a 22' boat on a trailer I get negative two feet of clearance in the inside trailer wheel.