Pontoon Popularity

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ROLAND · #1 Post by **ROLAND** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:17 am

Have you all noticed an increase in popularity in pontoon boats in your area? I bought mine about 2 years ago and if memory serves me correctly, there were normally 1 or 2 pontoon boats including mine at the launch that we normally use. Today the wife and I took the boat out for a little fishing and we both noticed the # of pontoon trailers parked in the lot. When we got back to the launch around 8 tonight there were 4 pontoon boats and only 2 bass rigs waiting to load up. Maybe there were that many 2 years ago and I just never noticed them, but it sure seems like there are more and more pontoons on the water these days.... and again guys, thanks for the help last year with my fear of loading the boat on the trailer... this season, only had one time where it took me a second attempt to get it loaded...every other time we've gotten the boat loaded on the very first time... To some of you that may not seem like a big deal, but my first year it was taking me 3 and 4 times each trip out to get the boat loaded... I really thought I had made a mistake buying it.... but between you guys giving me great advice on loading, and my wife standing at the trailer pointing left or right... no problem anymore.....

Bamaman · #2 Post by **Bamaman** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 4:50 am

For the first time, pontoon boats have overtaken fiberglass boats in retail sales. And, Bennington is now Yamaha's single largest outboard customer.

My lake is full of 15 to 20 year old pontoon boats kept in boathouses. Because the old boats have been kept dry and out of the water, they're still serviceable--and nobody's trading or selling them. We have few, modern tritoons with larger engines on our lake.

Since aluminum boats never rot, they have a very long life span and are great values in recreation.

Most of our lake's newer boats are inboard outboards used for pulling big tubes. The Working Man doesn't seem to be buying many high line bassboats, as they just cost so much. I'm also seeing a new trend of Sundowner type boats slung out of the water in boathouses that must cost about as much as the boats.

But people just keep trucking along in their pontoons for Sunday afternoon cruises.

rbiederwolf · #3 Post by **rbiederwolf** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 6:02 am

I am down in South Florida, and 5 years ago you would be hard pressed to find any pontoons. Now you see them regularly. Alot of the guys that I know that bought boats thinking they would spend alot of time fishing in the ocean have found they dont do that much, and they are trading in for pontoons to just hit the sandbars and booze cruise.

GregF · #4 Post by **GregF** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 7:33 am

26 years ago when I bought my Harris there were some pontoons around but they were 40 HP or less, usually with hard tops. I put a 75 on mine and got a lot of looks when I was blowing buy them. Now most have 150s but seeing a 200 on a toon is not rare and there are a lot more toons buzzing around. The most popular new brand is the one the guy up at the end of the road is selling. It used to be Crest, now it is Bennington.

kimbercarry · #5 Post by **kimbercarry** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 7:47 am

Mostly pontoon's at our Marina and the manager says she gets 7 or 8 calls wanting to know if she knows of any for sale.

Doctordeere · #6 Post by **Doctordeere** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:07 am

Not only are they gaining in popularity, they're holding their values better than ever. I sold my '98 Smokercraft 24' around six or seven years ago for what I considered a great price. Dude who bought it recently sold it... for more than I sold it for back then. That's why we bought new this year - there just didn't seem to be a beneficial price difference between one three years old and a brand new one.

#7 Post by **badmoonrising** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:02 am

10-15 years ago, 'toons were non existent on the bay. Now they are everywhere. Our local boating paper's editor said pontoon sales rival any other type of vessel, have been for a few years.

gramps · #8 Post by **gramps** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 1:32 pm

At the Atlanta boat show this year, it seems as if every other boat was a toon.

bassn386 · #9 Post by **bassn386** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 2:15 pm

Pretty much the same thing at our end of Lake of the Ozarks. Seems like I'm seeing at least a 2 or 3:1 ration of pontoons over fiberglass.
As someone else said, they represent an excellent value and you can get into one fairly inexpensively if you watch what you put on one.
I'm also seeing a lot more triple logs. Everyone who rides on ours comments on the great ride. I know part of that is the third log and part is the 25' logs.

timmac · #10 Post by **timmac** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 3:32 pm

Not to mention there is now 3 songs about pontoon boats..

evinrude2stroke · #11 Post by **evinrude2stroke** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:35 pm

Back in 2006 when I bought mine there were only about 4-5 more in my marina, by 2009 they made up half the boats in my marina. Now they make up almost half the boats on my lake. I think the stigma that went along with pontoons is gone and a lot more people realize that they are great family boats. A couple of years ago a work colleague that lives near me began looking into getting a boat, when I mentioned a pontoon he thought I was crazy. Three kids and a 21ft Sun Tracker (fishing model) later, he is out on the lake more than me.

LocoCoco · #12 Post by **LocoCoco** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:41 am

While they've always been popular on small lakes around here, they've recently exploded in numbers.

I heard a marina owner around here said he's starting to have problems with space. More and more of his tenants are switching to pontoons, and the marina wasn't designed for the average boat measuring an 8-8.5' beam.

LC.

Bryden24shp · #13 Post by **Bryden24shp** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:28 pm

bassn386 wrote:Pretty much the same thing at our end of Lake of the Ozarks. Seems like I'm seeing at least a 2 or 3:1 ration of pontoons over fiberglass.
As someone else said, they represent an excellent value and you can get into one fairly inexpensively if you watch what you put on one.
I'm also seeing a lot more triple logs. Everyone who rides on ours comments on the great ride. I know part of that is the third log and part is the 25' logs.

Yep, the weekends at the lake are getting more "pontoon friendly' all the time. All the big boats with mega motors are for sale. I think one reason is because us 'Baja Boomers' are now Grandparents and just slowed down alittle after realizing our new pontoons can deliver almost the same performance as our old powerboats did, more comfortably and economically.
I do not see another powerboat in my future. This Premier will be my last! We love it! Most comfortable boat I have ever owned! Its a Cadillac compared to my Baja's and the old Manitou!

slingshot · #14 Post by **slingshot** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:50 pm

I think that many years ago a pontoon boat was basically a flat deck and some sofas capable of handling 25 hp to maybe 50 hp. That had limited appeal aimed only at the geriatric crowd. Today, as we all know, there are dozens of configurations of deck layout and enough HP to go 100 mph if ya want to. That opened up the market to a much larger crowd now.

bigern76 · #15 Post by **bigern76** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 4:12 pm

I hadn't been out on the water much in a while till 2 weekends ago and I have never seen so many pontoons! I was looking at a new bennington and the salesman said they were sell 3-4 per week. I had no idea!!

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