Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Congrats , I love my Southbay. Only problem I have is with the Bimini fitting a little loose which I will modify. Also my cover is pulling apart at the seams where the Bimini collars are sewn in. Neither worth the drive 3 hrs back to the dealer. Very well built boat.

I am trying to find out how to add the shorty tube and lifting strakes but no dealer in my area has been much help.

Contact the manufacture directly...they can do both of your mods for you in the off season, and will probably fix your issues too.

I have ,and they frown upon the added shorty tube. Not sure how I got this as an individual post. It was supposed to be a reply to the guy who bought a new Southbay , sorry.

As I recall, they dealer advised me against the short tube with my 150 saying that it would have little affect. You simply needed a larger engine to take advantage of it. I accepted the response at the time, and tucked it away for my next pontoon purchase that I need a bigger motor.

smoker62 wrote:I have ,and they frown upon the added shorty tube. Not sure how I got this as an individual post. It was supposed to be a reply to the guy who bought a new Southbay , sorry.

That's interesting, because the website still lists the BP1 option (shorty tube + strakes) for new toons

Jenkins wrote:As I recall, they dealer advised me against the short tube with my 150 saying that it would have little affect. You simply needed a larger engine to take advantage of it. I accepted the response at the time, and tucked it away for my next pontoon purchase that I need a bigger motor.

I have the BP1 pkg and love it. We have the 150hp merc and I can trim it so the front of the boat is actually to far up and interfers with my vision.
This is our 3rd toon and first tritoon and the difference is like night & day. The first thing that my wifs said to me on the water was, this really feels safe. It rides rock solid and there are a lot of big boats on Lake Lanier and I don't slow down for any of them and not a drop of water over the front. I have the strakes also.

ToonGuy wrote:

smoker62 wrote:I have ,and they frown upon the added shorty tube. Not sure how I got this as an individual post. It was supposed to be a reply to the guy who bought a new Southbay , sorry.

That's interesting, because the website still lists the BP1 option (shorty tube + strakes) for new toons

Sorry , should have clarified, he frowns as an after the fact add because of the warranty issue and the dealers installing them. From a performance standpoint he said with a 150 I would see mid to high 30's . Cornering would remain somewhat flat like the twin tube but straightline speed and stability would increase.

He also did not like the fact of adding strakes because of the warranty. There is no way for Southbay to know the field welder installing them.
I can see from a warranty standpoint their position behind that.

smoker62 wrote:

Sorry , should have clarified, he frowns as an after the fact add because of the warranty issue and the dealers installing them. From a performance standpoint he said with a 150 I would see mid to high 30's . Cornering would remain somewhat flat like the twin tube but straightline speed and stability would increase.

He also did not like the fact of adding strakes because of the warranty. There is no way for Southbay to know the field welder installing them.
I can see from a warranty standpoint their position behind that.

That's why I would take it directly to the factory. They can do the mods instead of the dealer, if it's what you really want it would be worth a few days and the drive...

ToonGuy wrote:

smoker62 wrote:

Sorry , should have clarified, he frowns as an after the fact add because of the warranty issue and the dealers installing them. From a performance standpoint he said with a 150 I would see mid to high 30's . Cornering would remain somewhat flat like the twin tube but straightline speed and stability would increase.

He also did not like the fact of adding strakes because of the warranty. There is no way for Southbay to know the field welder installing them.
I can see from a warranty standpoint their position behind that.

That's why I would take it directly to the factory. They can do the mods instead of the dealer, if it's what you really want it would be worth a few days and the drive...

Yeah, with what I would lose to go to trade or sell and rebuy for a true performance tri is not worth it. I am upgrading my 115 with 45 hrs on it to a 150 4 stroke for 4500 for the rest of this short season here in Wisco. I have an e-mail in to the factory to see about adding the sport tube and strakes this off season when they have some time. I will upgrade the steering myself as well over the winter layup. Not true tritoon speed and perf. but I think it will satisfy me pulling tubers for a few years.