HI! Brand new here with a brand new Party Barge!

[Eat'n Float]

Hi everyone! We're new here. New pontoon. Heck new to boating period! Bought her on July 10 and so far have had two great, (mostly) gorgeous weekends. Have had a few minor mishaps: 1st day - maiden voyage - caught in a storm (lightning is not my favorite); 2nd day - daughter rushed by ambulance to ER for yellow jacket sting (she's fine); 3rd day - ripped the trailer lights off getting the boat out of the water AND the trailer ladder dented the truck. Let's hope the worst is past us! Oh - and we just got so lucky this week, and happened on an ad for a covered boat slip w/lift at a private home for a bargain basement price, taking possession this weekend! Yay us!

[HandymanHerb]

Welcome, Try to slow down breaking stuff and people, we want you to last a few more years, we all go through some stuff loading and launching but most of us try to spread it out a little LOL.

[dockholiday]

Welcome
Yep take it slow till you get the hang of it. If you use the lift (sounds like a great find) make sure your toons fits correctly on it.
Let see fire ext, life vests for everyone, current dnr sticker,horn, stay inside fence while underway, an no spitting on the sidewalk. Just don't want to add a ticket while you are learning, sort of messes up your day. Good luck an enjoy
doc

[smltooner]

Welcome to the club and to Smith Mtn Lake.
What part of the lake are you on.
We are on the Roanoke River at the Waterfront.
A word of advice, when you use the new lift, be sure to lower the bimini top.
You can't beat a SunTracker.

[badmoonrising]

Welcome !

[texaspontoon]

Welcome, I bought a new boat last year and put 200 hours on in one year. But I have the dents and scratches on the boat with failed trailer lights, nav lights and all sorts of little mishaps and issues to go with the 200 hours... so your not alone. (No yellow jacket stings though! OUCH!)

If you leave it at home w/ the cover on it and never use it...it will look great. However "stuff happens" when you actually hook it up to the truck and take it somewhere. We all just hope we make back witout any major mishaps!

But take it easy, enjoy your new ride/lifestyle and try to keep the boat on the trailer (mine fell off the bunks before I had the inside guide on pipes that go inside the trailer rails.) It dang near hit the ground but I was able to save it by putting it back into the water. (long story).

I also recently put 2 month old gas in my boat from some cans that apparently had some water and bad ju ju in the cans. Cost me $400 and an embarrassing tow from a SEA DOO boat back to the ramp. (little boat tows big pontoon boat...the stuff that dreams are made of!)

Enjoy your toon my brother! See if you can beat 200 hours in a year! If you do...I promise you will have 200 memories and 20 good stories to go with!

[ROLAND]

Chris / Teresa...

Welcome to the club... wow, sounds like you got off to a bit of a rough start, but it also sounds like your taking it all in stride. At least no one got hurt too bad... now that you got the rough stuff out of the way, just enjoy your time on the toon with the family. How bout some pics of the boat? And again, welcome!

[Eat'n Float]

Welcome to the club and to Smith Mtn Lake.
What part of the lake are you on.
We are on the Roanoke River at the Waterfront.
A word of advice, when you use the new lift, be sure to lower the bimini top.
You can't beat a SunTracker.

The slip we'll be renting is at R32A....on the big curve. Pretty darn excited about it. We've been lovin' the new lifestyle so far! Owning a pontoon has been a dream of ours for many many years. So great to finally see it realized!

BTW, this is the wife talking. I bought the boat as a surprise for the hubs. He had no idea, just came home from work one day and the kids and I were sitting in it in the driveway. Should've seen his face!

And so far most of the pics we've taken have been of family/friends, cliff jumping, tubing, etc. This weekend we will be sure to actually include the boat in some of our pics & will post!

[curtiscapk]

BTW, this is the wife talking. I bought the boat as a surprise for the hubs. He had no idea, just came home from work one day and the kids and I were sitting in it in the driveway. Should've seen his face!



CHRIST! that rocks!

[Bill1031]

Welcome! Ditto on what SML said about bimini. Great article in Laker a couple weeks ago about people raising boats and walking away and the boat goes thru the roof. That always makes me nervous. All it would take is some kid to flip the switch and would be a mess. Even if they went down with it, the lift when gets to bottom would start back up and there you go! One other thing is to keep your throwable next to you when underway. Big on that at the lake!
We are located at the bridge. We keep ours at Websters. Happy boating and we will keep our eyes out for you! (mean that in a good way ) Bill & Lynn

[HandymanHerb]

I forgot I haven't said that in a while, yes have a throw-able float with a line on it near the helm, leave enough line so you can reach 20 feet every way.

With the line on it you can pull them in and plus if you miss the throw the you can pull it back quick and throw again, so about 30 feet of light line of 1/8 or 3/16 inch.

Oh and to bad you didn't get pictures of the hubby coming home to that site, that had to make the whole family's day but what a happy surprise that had to be ,COOL

[margaritaman]

Chris,
You look like Jesse James in your picture except you are smiling and he has been crying since he got busted by his wife.

[Eat'n Float]

We always have the throwable. The cap'n actually sits on it. Good idea about attaching the line though, makes sense. I do have a pic of him walking up to his suprise in the driveway, will post it later.

[Eat'n Float]

Oh and about the "surprise." That week I thought I was going to throw up. I was so nervous!!

[Slow Rider]

Congrats on your new boat.!!!!!!.....have to ask...did you name her and do the ceremony???? Dont bring more bad luck, always name your vessel and pay respects...! There is a quick ceremony on-line...google commander Bob boat naming ceremony!
Now have some fun! We just got our boat 3 weeks ago and are lovin' her (Slow Rider)
Pontoons rock!!!