Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

So with the research I've gotten to understand so far if I were to get a pontoon with lifting strakes and a 115 it should go similar in speed to a tritoon with 150? I believe the ride would be better in the tritoon for an added expense correct? Approimately how much? Or is it more just performance when tubing or waterskiing? Will the tritoon handle much better in rougher water than the straked pontoon or is that something not so noticable? My floor layout of a 22' toon I got a good idea of what I want, its the hull I really don't know. Preferably I would like to spend 30k or less and i don't know if that if possible with a 150 tritoon. If money wasn't an object I wouldn't be asking this question I would just get the tritoon and probably more fun stuff! Thanks for your opinions

DB:
A two toon boat with a 115 and strakes would run probably 5 mph or more than the same boat without strakes since the nosecones would be out of the water. It would also use less gas and be more seaworthy. You can read on this website and on engine manufacturers' websites what speeds are being experienced with a boat equipped like that.

A tritoon without strakes will plow through the water, but it'll handle better than the two toon and carry heavier loads. If the boat is going to be into watersports of any kind or if you want a good, effortless cruise, strakes are mandatory.

If you're interested in spec'ing one out both ways, go to BenningtonMarine.com and spec one out in their "build section." It tells how much optional their strakes and tri hulls are. Just don't take the MSRP as gospel, as there are large markups in the MSRP. Their lifting strakes are $644 MSRP for 2 toons and their Express tritoon package is $1860, which includes middle toon strakes and underskinning.

Getting a boat with a $13K 150 hp four stroke and $3K trailer would be difficult for $30k. That's why a 115 hp and strakes might be a compromise that'd do what you need to do for the price you need. Underskinning is also a highly desirable option. Some manufacturers offer a 3/4 length center toon like Bennington's Express Performance package, and it'll give you 90% of the performance and benefits of a full tritoon for 1/2 the price.

And when shopping boats, always go onto IBoats.com and especially Boattraders.com to see which dealers in your area are willing to compete for your business with fair prices and willing to deal. And don't get hung up on any specific brand.

Thanks for the info Bamamn

I am not really hung up on a brand more just looking at pricing cause at 30k or less things will still be very comfortable around here. I do realize bennington is one of the top sellers and are very nice toons I just need to make things right on the dollar end of it. I like what you said about the 2 toons vs. 3 toons and I definately would put lifting strakes on a 2 toon and also underskin it. i don't think I will be doing a ton of watersports just some occasional tubing with the kids so maybe focusing more on a straked 2 toon would be my cup of tea. It would be worth pricing out a tritoon with that 3/4 center toon but I don't think I will get my hopes up on this option

I have a two toon with a 90 Yamaha that pushes it to 24 with 4 adults at wot. A 115 set up right will give you a couple of more mph. The thing is that i don't run it that hard 99% of the time. It cruises along just fine for us at 3600 rpms or about 17 mph. We boat on a big lake with 40ft cabin cruisers and cigarette boats and sometimes wind whipped chop. Last 4th of July we stayed at the lake for a week and ran the toon every day and only gassed up once. At $4.00 a gal my little 23 gal tank is pretty cheap when I look at some of the big motor tritoons and their 50 gal tanks.
While the extra speed and towing would be nice I am very happy with my little gas sipper when I pull up to the gas dock.

There is no comparison between a two tube and a tritoon period - speed, performance, etc etc etc even with the same engine let alone a larger one on the tritoon

A tritoon from an all around boating point of view, is far better than any two tube with or without lifting strakes.

What you should decide is do you NEED a tritoon. How do you decide - easy, if you boat in any area that may have the potential for large wakes or waves (large being anything over 1 foot) you will want a tritoon. Elsewise you will be burying the nose and flooding the deck. Lifting strakes on a two tube will help plane it up some, but you need the extra FLOATATION provided by the center pontoon on a tritoon.

From a speed and handling point of view, I think a two tube with strakes is close to as good as a tritoon. Thus on a flat calm day and no potential for boat wakes, a two tube with strakes will work well. But from an all around boating point of view a tritoon is as close as you can get to a v hull boat, while still having pontoons.

I know because I have had both and I would never even consider a two tube again, from a safety point of view as much as anything else, unless all you do is boat on mostly calm water at slow to medium speeds.

To be fair about the debate on two toon vs Tritoon you need to learn your toons capabilities as I have seen several tritoons on Texoma come back to the dock with wet front decks and even a bent front fence.
Sure you can operate in larger wakes or big chop better with a Tritoon than a twin toon but don't get a false sense of security with a Tritoon and try to take on 4 ft wakes head on. Or bridge rollers that are wider between the tops than your toon is long.

I'm on my third pontoon boat and had a nice Ranger 692 Fisherman in between. I bought my current toon new and thought it would be fine for my lake (21,000 acres with a lot of boat traffic) with two 25" tubes. It was OK but I was not satisfied with how it handled rough water and how lot it sat in the water at the rear with a load. My dealer worked with me to get the third 25" tube installed and it is a totally different boat. I do not have strakes but do have underskinning. The boat floats higher in the water, the deck doesn't flex like it originally did in rough water, and I actually gained 2 mph top speed. It does not plow like it did with two tubes.

I would highly recommend a tritoon if you can swing it, especially if you will be on anything other than a small body of water or relatively calm water. You will never regret it.

Bamaman wrote:DB:
A two toon boat with a 115 and strakes would run probably 5 mph or more than the same boat without strakes since the nosecones would be out of the water.

I dont agree here, the difference is greater. For comparison, my straked 90 runs a consistant 35MPH (faster with a speed prop) with a full tank while the exact same boat minus the strakes is going about 24MPH. These numbers are GPS. Also in my opinion if the test were done with a larger motor, I would expect the difference to widen.

The key to straked 2 log boats is to not get one any longer than 21 feet and I was told this by the dealer. The strakes work best on smaller boats and are far less effective on larger ones which was one of the reasons ST no longer offers them. Lastly I have yet to see a NON straked boat with the cones and some of the log totally out of the water. When my boat is on plane, the front 6 feet of the logs do not even touch the water.

My next boat I hope is going to be a ST XP3 which can be had for 30K and thats only a couple model years old. I saw some good deals on these at Springfield Bass Pro recently.


Is that GPS or speedo speed? No disrespect but 35 with a 90 don't sound right to me.

wrd1972 wrote:

Bamaman wrote:DB:
A two toon boat with a 115 and strakes would run probably 5 mph or more than the same boat without strakes since the nosecones would be out of the water.

I dont agree here, the difference is greater. For comparison, my straked 90 runs a consistant 35MPH (faster with a speed prop) with a full tank while the exact same boat minus the strakes is going about 24MPH. These numbers are GPS. Also in my opinion if the test were done with a larger motor, I would expect the difference to widen.

The key to straked 2 log boats is to not get one any longer than 21 feet and I was told this by the dealer. The strakes work best on smaller boats and are far less effective on larger ones which was one of the reasons ST no longer offers them. Lastly I have yet to see a NON straked boat with the cones and some of the log totally out of the water. When my boat is on plane, the front 6 feet of the logs do not even touch the water.

My next boat I hope is going to be a ST XP3 which can be had for 30K and thats only a couple model years old. I saw some good deals on these at Springfield Bass Pro recently.

What I was saying is what Bennington says in their literature. Strakes' benefits could be more or less in any given boat's situation.

But your pontoon boat is abnormally fast, and that's from the different design of the now discontinued NV Suntracker toons. Say what you will, but lifting strakes will keep on being on longer boats because that's what the buying public wants. Most shorter boats don't have the horsepower that strakes need--90 hp or larger.

As someone that has one conventional pontoon and one straked tritoon, there is a big difference in the way the two run out. My old boat with the 115 hp 2 stroke accelerates like a bass boat, but will suddenly go no faster. It's like you hit a mph brick wall. The new tritoon gets up to 30 mph, and wind suddenly lifts the hull like a tunnel hull boat--and it's got another 10 mph.

I actually like the ride of the old style 2 toon boat better, as it doesn't bob around as much as the more buoyant tritoon. But the 2 toon boat handles like a pig in a tight turn. You just won't find anyone with a tritoon w/strakes that wants to go back to a regular pontoon.

I found this explanation of pontoon lifting strakes to be pretty helpful http://www.cypresscaypontoons.com/performance/ in understanding the basic benefits.