Your Thoughts on Avalons GS Promo, LS, and Catalina Series

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Little_wiley
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 21, 2013 10:17 pm

Your Thoughts on Avalons GS Promo, LS, and Catalina Series

#1 Post by Little_wiley » Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:30 pm

I'm looking at getting an Avalon Quad Fish (Front and Rear Fishing Seats) pontoon boat for the family. I can see us easily having six to seven folks (200-250 lbs ea.) out on the boat at one time plus at least a couple of large coolers (Drinks in one, big Catfish in the other).

I'm looking at the GS, LS, and Catalina series of boats to choose from. The GS comes in a 23' version with loading doors on Left/Right and front. The LS comes in a 24' Version but only has loading doors on the Left and front. The Catalina come in a 25' Version with loading doors on both Left, Right, and Front.

Looking for others that have an Avalon Fishing model of similar size to tell me about your setup and what you think about it and the manufacturer. What configuration (Deck and Toon) do you have? 2) What options do you have you think you could/should have done without and 3) What available options you don't have that you wish you had got . Do you have Carpet, Vinyl, or one of the other available flooring options and how have they held up when it comes to cleaning after going out fishing?

What do you think about the fit, finish and workmanship.

Just looking to find out as much as I can to help me decide which of these will be the best choice for us.

Tks
Little_Wiley

Bamaman
Posts: 3679
Joined: Fri May 06, 2011 1:44 pm
Location: NW Alabama--Tennessee River

Re: Your Thoughts on Avalons GS Promo, LS, and Catalina Series

#2 Post by Bamaman » Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:56 pm

The Avalons are a very high quality pontoon boat, and they have very nice upholstery. As far as the seating and door arrangements, you'd just about have to climb into the different models to see what suits your needs best. If you're into fishing, the vinyl flooring is preferable (over carpet.)

I understand that you're going to be carrying pretty heavy passenger loads, but you don't say how much you'd like to spend, and what size motor you'd like to put on the boat. You'd do best to go a 22' or larger tritoon boat.

My boat is a 24' Bennington tritoon hull with lifting strakes and full underdeck sheeting. I have a Yamaha F150 4 stroke engine pushing a 15 pitch Reliance stainless steel propeller--good for 40 mph. The old saying is buy all the engine your boat will take, and all you can afford--it's right.

My boat has the optional extended rear deck, which is very preferable on any boat used in fishing. Some brands also have an extended bow deck which is nice. The Benningtons have an optional 1/2 front door that fits on top of a folded trolling motor. A very strong trolling motor is preferred--especially those with wireless remote controls.

If you have a boat show coming to your area, by all means get out there and see all the boats in your market and the features. And enjoy your search for that perfect boat that suits all your needs.
'12 Bennington 24' SSLX Yamaha 150

Little_wiley
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 21, 2013 10:17 pm

Re: Your Thoughts on Avalons GS Promo, LS, and Catalina Series

#3 Post by Little_wiley » Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:40 am

Bamaman,

Thanks for the response.

They just had a Boat show here in Jacksonville, Fla and the Wife and I went. There were only three pontoons at the show. There was a Avalon Catalina 24 cruiser/Entertainment one, a $78K Harris (Yea right), a Lowes Rear fish and that was it. I was surprised there wasn't a Bennington in sight even though I know there's a dealer in the area. The Wife liked the Avalon, quality, fit, finish, etc. The Lowes isn't in our opinion family friendly when it comes to poo time or just general changing clothes based on how the privacy curtain is designed into the vessel.

You are correct about the size. We are primarily looking at the 23-25' configurations and I would be looking to put at least 115hp or up on the business end.

The Avalon dealer that was at the show wanted to push us to a 23' GS Promo series with twin toons and a 70 or 90 HP engine. His thought from what I can tell was that because it was a fishing boat and not a cruiser why pay for the Catalina series fit/finish and the GS series also provided us a lower cost entry point even though we had not discussed cost as being an issue at the time. He felt that that would give us a 20-25 MPH speed and that was good enough. I don't plan on skiing or doing any other pulling but if weather comes in I would like to get on back to shore and not have to worry about can I get back before the weather hits me broadside.

I do question that dealers thought process just based on having 1250lbs of flesh, then fuel, coolers, ice, and fish (10 fish is easily 100lbs by themselves) all on the boat at one time. That also doesn't include all of the other items/weight you would find yourself having on the boat. A tritoon configuration would provide some additional buoyancy/weight capacity however and it would also assist us in getting the vessel up on plane quicker.

The Max Weight Capacity of a 25' twin toon Catalina series is 2505 lbs and the Max People Weight is 1850 lbs per the companies specs. The GS Promo series supports 2260/1600 respectively and the LS capacities are even lower than that of the GS Promo series. Having five folks totaling 1250lbs on the LS series ain't gonna happen and the difference between 1600 lbs capacity and 1250 lbs onboard is, when your out in the middle of a large body of water, cutting it close in my opinion.

Gonefishing
Posts: 637
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2012 5:56 pm

Re: Your Thoughts on Avalons GS Promo, LS, and Catalina Series

#4 Post by Gonefishing » Tue Jan 27, 2015 4:29 pm

If you have a dealer around that has SouthBay/excursion pontoons check them out. I have the excursion 23xrfc which is the rear fishing center. Has two fishing seat, live tank, tackle center and rod holder all in a very nice rear center station. Front hase rap around seats cross from helm is another wrap around seat behind it has a changing station. Front of the helm has a sink with fresh water tank and storage under the helm. Very please with it and have enjoyed it with the family.

Give them a look
Bob Jacksonville, Nc

2013 Excursion X23 RFC
2013 115 Yamaha
Pulled with a Ford King Ranch

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