Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Going to buy a 22' pontoon with 90hp Mercury. The slip I own is 24'. I know there has to be space between pontoon front and end/front of dock. So, will that work? Will I have the motor sticking out from under the overhang? If so, will that necessarily be bad for the motor or cause a problem? Any advice to a newbie will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Our 22ft boat lives in a 24ft deep slip the sunpad gets wet from the over hang roof,so I keep our cover on and spray water proofing on the cover twice a year. I also keep a cover on our motor to keep the sun from fading the cowling. Some of our marina neighbors put up a gutter to keep the heavy rain from pouring on their boats or those blue cheapo tarps.

I built my boathouse to fit a 24' boat. Unfortunately, some of the boat lengths are inaccurate when you hand the motor on the back. I do have a 4' overhang on the roof of the boathouse, but my new boat barely fits. I do have an engine cover to keep it dry in blowing rains.

You'll really need to get out the ole measuring tape.

I found out the hard way that 27' is not 27', because the manufacturer does not include the outboard when stating length overall.
I bit the bullet and had 4' added to the end of the slip. Cost me $2,700, but I think it was worth it to not have the motor always sticking out beyond the slip.

Length of pontoon boats are usually stated for the length of the pontoons itself not total overall length.

lol my marina has my 18 foot toon in a 32 foot slip (and 12 feet wide).
My boat looks like a dingy

katieclooney wrote:lol my marina has my 18 foot toon in a 32 foot slip (and 12 feet wide).
My boat looks like a dingy

My 20 foot pontoon is in a 36 foot slip, 13 feet wide. But it has a six foot platform build into the slip so I only have 30 foot of usable slip for the boat. I admit it makes my pontoon look small when compared to the boats around it.

I like it in that it is extremely easy to move into and out of the slip, even on windy days but I don't like it each month when I pay the slip rental fee.

I had the choice between this slip and a 20 foot, 10 foot wide slip. That would leave me less than six inches on the side when docked. The space between the different slip docks was less than 30 feet so I could imagine the fun of trying to dock on windy days with so little clearance available. Plus my motor would have stuck out in the water way that other boats needed to dock their boats as they came into the slip area.

So I bit the bullet and chose the larger space but I still wince each month when I see the slip fee hit my bank account.

We have a 16 wide by 38 slip for our 22 foot boat - was only one available, and waiting list for smaller slips at this marina can be years. We will have a lift (hopefully put in this week) for both boat and Sea Doo in same slip.

Ezgoing wrote:

katieclooney wrote:lol my marina has my 18 foot toon in a 32 foot slip (and 12 feet wide).
My boat looks like a dingy

My 20 foot pontoon is in a 36 foot slip, 13 feet wide. But it has a six foot platform build into the slip so I only have 30 foot of usable slip for the boat. I admit it makes my pontoon look small when compared to the boats around it.

I like it in that it is extremely easy to move into and out of the slip, even on windy days but I don't like it each month when I pay the slip rental fee.

I had the choice between this slip and a 20 foot, 10 foot wide slip. That would leave me less than six inches on the side when docked. The space between the different slip docks was less than 30 feet so I could imagine the fun of trying to dock on windy days with so little clearance available. Plus my motor would have stuck out in the water way that other boats needed to dock their boats as they came into the slip area.

So I bit the bullet and chose the larger space but I still wince each month when I see the slip fee hit my bank account.

True they are nicer to dock in. I lucked out because that is now my perm slip, regardless of size so I pay the 18 foot fee vs the 32 foot. Mine is on a channel tucked away so the water is always like glass. MUCH easier than my previous slip that was in a bay off a major lake.

katieclooney wrote:

Ezgoing wrote:

katieclooney wrote:lol my marina has my 18 foot toon in a 32 foot slip (and 12 feet wide).
My boat looks like a dingy

My 20 foot pontoon is in a 36 foot slip, 13 feet wide. But it has a six foot platform build into the slip so I only have 30 foot of usable slip for the boat. I admit it makes my pontoon look small when compared to the boats around it.

I like it in that it is extremely easy to move into and out of the slip, even on windy days but I don't like it each month when I pay the slip rental fee.

I had the choice between this slip and a 20 foot, 10 foot wide slip. That would leave me less than six inches on the side when docked. The space between the different slip docks was less than 30 feet so I could imagine the fun of trying to dock on windy days with so little clearance available. Plus my motor would have stuck out in the water way that other boats needed to dock their boats as they came into the slip area.

So I bit the bullet and chose the larger space but I still wince each month when I see the slip fee hit my bank account.

True they are nicer to dock in. I lucked out because that is now my perm slip, regardless of size so I pay the 18 foot fee vs the 32 foot. Mine is on a channel tucked away so the water is always like glass. MUCH easier than my previous slip that was in a bay off a major lake.

You are lucky. The marinas here have a take it or leave it attitude. They charge by the size of the slip and if you don't like it, don't lease. The manager told me that if you can't afford the toy you should not have bought it when I pointed out to him that what he was calling a 20 ft slip was too small for my boat and asked for a discount on the larger slip.

He only had three vacancies, a sail boat open slip, the so-called 20 ft slip and the 36 ft slip. I don't think it was 20 ft, since the end of my pontoon was outside the slip area and my pontoon is 20 ft.

The other marina on the lake has a long waiting list, as it is closer to where people live, so people prefer to keep their boats there.

GGALVIN wrote:Going to buy a 22' pontoon with 90hp Mercury. The slip I own is 24'. I know there has to be space between pontoon front and end/front of dock. So, will that work? Will I have the motor sticking out from under the overhang? If so, will that necessarily be bad for the motor or cause a problem? Any advice to a newbie will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

To answer your question, unless your roof is low I don't think it matters that much as long as your pontoon/motor is not in the way of other traffic.

The slip when I have my pontoon is so high that sun is on the seats a good part of the day and if the wind is blowing the rain will also get in. So I invested in a cheap pontoon cover that I keep on it when it is not being used.

It is not as pretty as the custom covers but it only cost $300 vs $1000 for a custom cover. Since it's main purpose is to keep the sun off the seats and to keep the ducks from leaving their calling cards it serves it purpose.

So if the motor is not in the traffic lane I would just get a cheap cover for it for the times it is not being used.

Of course if you own the slip it might be worth having the slip extended. If I owned my slip I would have the sides covered with a back door as well. I might have roll down covers installed if I wanted to fish it but if not I would have it made into a full enclosure.

This protects from the weather, the thieves and the "dock shooters" who don't seem to understand what their hooks do to your mooring lines, your hoses and wires when they become entangled in them. Especially when they yank and jerk on them, trying to recover their jigs and lures.

We own a 2-slip dock (1 slip has a lift) - both slips are 24' long. When I put the boat in the slip w/o the lift, the roof overhang covers the motor on our 22' boat. But when I'm on the lift, the motor sticks out because the lift is still swinging back when it comes in contact with the boat - the boat starts out touching the front of the slip but by the time the lift is up, the boat is back about a foot from the front of the slip. I keep just the motor cover on to prevent sun fade and to keep dirt daubers from making nests in the cowling. It took a few times to not get nervous pulling into the 10' wide slip but luckily we are in a cove so we don't always have much boat waves to deal with - sometimes its pretty windy, so that makes it a little more difficult. I just pop in and out of gear to go into the slip as slow as possible.