Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Good evening! I am thrilled I found this forum and I want to eventually gain the knowledge that all of you do and I thank you all in advance.

We are shopping for a pontoon boat in the neighborhood of $25k, 20-22 feet and at least a 115 hp engine. We have really been drawn to Sylvan but am open to others. Anyway a new Sylvan fitting our needs with a trailer will be around $33k

I visited my local dealer today and they have a 2012 Mirage 8522 LZ that was traded in yesterday. It has the RPT tubes, 115 hp engine, changing room, trailer, bimini top, playpen cover, two tables and an upgraded radio. The dealer will not budge on price and he is at $25,000.

Does anyone know if this is fair deal or are there other quality lines we should be looking at?

Thanks again in advance!

Well welcome to the forum. We're not full of knowledge--mostly BS. You never know what you're going to read on here that's true.

I would just say get out and look at every available new and used boat in your general retail market. I'm a big fan of Boattrader.com and filtering it for a 50 mile radius. It's pretty easy to figure out who's willing to wheel and deal, and compete for your business with a fair price.

That used pontoon with the 115 hp sounds like a fair deal @ $25K. You might want to price out a new one just like it for relativity. I'm not familiar with that brand.

Whatever you do, don't bother looking at pontoons with 115 hp or larger if they don't have lifting strakes on the hull. Strakes are good for +5 mph and better fuel economy. And boats that can get the nosecones out of the water are just more seaworthy. I prefer 22' to 24' longer hulls for better ride and not much difference in the cost vs. a 20' boat.

And like they all say: You're going to spend 110% or more of your budget, and buy the biggest engine on front end that you can afford.

Lots of advice here...you get to decide wheter its good or not!!
Boattrader is a great way to find comparable boats and compare prices. Doesnt hurt to show a dealer that seems to be asking above market.
Another thing to remember is all markets are local; some boats are in high demand in certain areas, yet could sell for a lot less in others. Pontoons are hot commodities around Virginia lakes and rivers, not so much on the Chesapeake Bay. BIG price differences for the same boats in each area.

I agree with everything said above. I always make sure that no matter what kind of boat it is, have the max hp that it's rated for. You're on the right track wanting the 115 hp or more on a 22' or larger. Strakes would be a big deal for me as well if i was buying a new or nearly new pontoon. If a 1 or 2 year old pontoon was within a few thousand of a new one, i would probably go new.

Demand around central NC is huge for newer pontoons with 4 strokes as well. If you do want to buy used you have to MOVE. I was able to get mine by being the first caller by a matter of minutes and being on craigslist and boat trader constantly for weeks. They last about a day around here if they're nice and then they're gone. It was also hard to find a used pontoon that had the max hp motor on the back.

Welcome!

No matter what pontoon you decide to go with..........its most important that you quickly post the

Welcome, Lots of info to be found here. Where will you be using your toon? also what make is your motor?
The NADA for your boat is around $17,000 w/o the motor. Add the retail for the motor & trailer, $25,000 sounds like an decent price. I would definitely price around just to sure and feel good about the purchase. Then again if your good with that and you want to get out there by Memorial Day I say snatch it up.

Welcome!

If you are new to Toons I think you find it changes the way you are able to enjoy boating-
Good times!

Thanks all!

The engine is a Yamaha 115 hp outboard. Yes this will be out first pontoon however we rented two last summer for a few days and absolutely fell in love with them.

We have been seasonal campers with our travel trailer and once we buy the boat we have to get rid of the trailer. Cannot afford both but we have been camping for 5 years now and it's time to boat!

Our kids are 7 and 5 and I would imagine we would have another family with us almost every weekend!

What are hours, warranty etc. Warranty is particularly important on the engine. Check to see if the original owner got an extended factory warranty -sometimes two additional years.

I think that seems t be a fair price for the boat. I base this completely on my hunting for boats when I was purchasing plus looking at new boats every time I go by the dealer.

I don't know a whole lot about Sylvan, but the ones I have seen are beautiful. Yamaha is about as good as it gets engine wise. With the 115 and RPT tubes you should be hitting 25 plus mph

Bottomline if you like the layout and design of the boat and the price is acceptable, then I think you are making a good choice. If the identical boat new is 33000, then 25K for a one year old boat sounds fair.

Looks like the dealer emailed me late this afternoon and offered me the used one for $23,900 which I think is very fair. He seems to think with the 115hp, RPT tubes and the skin on the bottom of the boat we should hit mid to upper 30's.

It was interesting last year we rented a 24 foot pontoon with a 115 on it and 9 people aboard and it yanked me up on skis and I weigh about 185. So 2 feet less, RPT tubes and skin underneath I have to imagine we will be in the mid 30"s as far as speed. Much less than my friends Yamaha Jet Boat hitting 55+.

Jump on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But definitely inquire about the Hours & warranties..

Just received the final answer from the dealer and he said the engine has 24 hours on it. Is this really low or about where it should be for a 2012?

In addition he also said they were "low speed" hours. How would he know that?

Outboard engines are not really broken in @ 24 hrs. That's very good.

The scanner he plugged into the engine tells by rpm range how many hours have been run. For example, 1000-1999 rpm's., 2000-2999 rpm's, . . . . . 5,000-5999 rpm's will have the number of hours within that range showing on the scanner readout. He's telling you the engine's been run lightly, and not run in the upper rpm ranges.

Go for it.

Ok getting ready to finalize the deal with the dealer today on this boat. However, in my research I am seeing many people saying the Sylvan RPT tubes have many problems as they crack on the seems, take on water and some have even partially sank. Knowing this is a 2012 that someone bought last year and already traded it in, is there any way for me to tell if this is the reason for the trade? I am wondering if they had so many issues that they just got rid of it and not sure how I would know that.

Just don't want to inherit a problem boat.

Thanks!

You should be able to tell if they had problems with the logs/tubes by looking at the seams. Other than that, just have everything checked over well, and you are taking a very low, calculated risk. Could you spring a leak in a few weeks, or even the first time you're on the lake, sure, but you could also do that on a brand new boat. The difference, warranty, I know. See if the stealership will give you any warrant at all on the boat, which should include the tubes. If so, then make sure you check them several times within that warranty period for leaks.