Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

New member here. I am looking for my first boat. I have access to a shared beach with a dock and boat slip on Swain's Lake in Barrington, NH.

I'm trying to find a used pontoon boat and shopping off season to hopefully get a good deal. At this point I'm strongly considering going with a dealer just so that I at least have the assurance that I'm buying something with a good motor and not someone else's problem.

I'm looking at two boats at a local dealer who only sell Harris Flotbotes. From what I've read Harris is pretty much universally regarded as a good brand. I have no plans for water sports besides *maybe* hoping to tow a couple kids behind the boat on a tube or something. And at this point even that is not a must. Mostly I'm looking for an affordable way to get out on the lake for evening cruises with my wife and daughter and get friends out on the weekend.

My neighbor told me that I should be getting at least a 24' boat, but that seems awfully large and maybe larger than I really need. I'm thinking that a 20' or 22' would make more sense for me.

Here are two boats that I'm considering. Both seem a bit too expensive to me considering that they don't even come with a trailer. Please feel free to offer comments on these and any other buying advice. I'm looking for good value and don't need fancy bells and whistles. Not trying to impress anyone. But I also don't want a project boat or anything that is going to be nasty looking that friends won't even want to ride on.

Feel free to comment on these boats and offer any other "buying advice" for a newbie. For example, looking at this two boats I can't tell which one has a better layout. For example is it better to have the ladder at the rear rather than side?

2002 Harris 200 Super Sunliner w/Yamaha 50HP - $8995 http://nh.craigslist.org/bod/4759633688.html
2001 Harris 220 Super Sunliner w/Yamaha 60HP - $5995 http://nh.craigslist.org/bod/4759622835.html

Forget the 50 right off the bat, a 90 at lease, my 20 footer is a new boat with a 90 on it now, no speed demon but will do 22 mph with four in it

HandymanHerb wrote:Forget the 50 right off the bat, a 90 at lease, my 20 footer is a new boat with a 90 on it now, no speed demon but will do 22 mph with four in it

Really? Wow I didn't realize these were so underpowered. I see new boats listed with 25 and 40 HP. A 50 HP must at least be enough to putt putt around the lake. But I guess not big enough to tow anything at all. My neighbor has a 24' boat with a 50 HP two stroke on it. Swains lake isn't very big. About 350 acres.

This is the one other boat that they have right now and it is a 24' with a 90 HP. But it's also pushing a bigger boat. I don't really care for the layout of this one with the two chairs up front. Plus it looked worse in person.

2003 Harris 24' Pontoon Boat w/Yahama 90HP - $11495 http://nh.craigslist.org/bod/4766981137.html

+2 on the 90hp minimum. I prefer a rear-mounted ladder - so it isn't in the way when stowed. I would look for a 4-stroke motor as well.

When we were looking for our first boat a few years ago, I thought I would be happy with a 50hp motor -- man, how wrong I was after the first time I rode on a boat with one. I have a 90hp 4-stroke now and I can't wait till the day I can trade this boat in and get a tritoon with a 150hp.

Don't get in a hurry and look at all available boat options. The "right" boat will come along sooner or later.

Okay, so let's talk budget. I had been think that I'd really like to find something cheap enough so that I can pay cash and skip the financing. But I don't have that much cash! I had been thinking if I could find something that wasn't total junk for $5-6k that would be ideal. If I wait until after tax time maybe push that to $10k but that would be my absolute limit I think without financing. I doubt I can find anything with a good 4-stroke 90 HP motor for that budget.

90 HP seems like a lot of motor on a toon, but I guess I've never paid all that much attention.

Welcome to the club.

First boat, 350 acre lake, not looking to tow, and would like to pay cash then I would be fine with either engine option presented.

So the 22' does look rough and I would like to see the canvas personally and if it needs to be replaced. If it does need to be replaced, it isn't a deal breaker since you saved 2k on this choice over the 20'. However, what do those seats really look like? I haven't had to repair seats so I can't speak to costs incurred there. The two stroke is going to be louder compared to the 4 stroke but I can't guess what your tolerance would be to the differences. In my experience, when cruising the shoreline and taking in the view, it wasn't that much of a problem and could talk and hear the stereo fine with my old Merc at low rpm's.

I will heavily recommend a rear entry. You have access to the water at all times and what looks like a standup privacy area. Great place to store the piss bucket for those cold NH days when the females won't 'let it go' in the water if, that is, they would on a hot day. Also in my opinion I like bow space to stand outside of the playpen. It is a good place to keep the anchor handy while on the water, grab the post at the pier without leaning over the railing or seats, set or retrieve the anchor at your forward cleat, and a great place to sit with your feet in the water and pass the day while at anchor.

A couple last thoughts. I think it is commendable that you want to pay cash. If you find out that this boating thing isn't for you then you are not dreading that payment each month. Sell it, maybe at a few hundred dollar loss, and walk away. No bank to deal with getting the title clear. Secondly, if the boat market is good where you are, and you don't really like these two option, after the boat shows in spring some new/old stuff will come on the market.

Good luck

+3 on the 90hp minimum!

A couple of comments.

First off, I'd 2nd the 90hp recommendation.

I have a 22' G3 SunCatcher with a 90hp Yamaha 4 stroke.

It's nice to be able to move a decent speed when desired.

At a dealer, you're going to have a hard time finding a decent toon with a 90hp for as good a price as you can make in a private deal. That's just my opinion though so take it for what it's worth.

tooned_in.... first off, have fun boat shopping.... in your post you said that you saw a lot of boats advertised with 25 or 40 hp outboards... I'm sure you did, but remember one of the most expensive items on the boat is the motor... the smaller the motor, the cheaper the price, which of course makes the boat seem that much more attractive to a perspective buyer... Most people will tell you to get as much power as you can afford... I sorta agree, but not totally... having a big motor on the back end can sure be nice, but I always say determine how you plan to use your boat and then buy accordingly.... If you want to pull kids on a tube, I'd say a 90 hp is about as low as you want to go.... a 115 would be a tad bit better. I have neither.. my 20 footer is powered by a Yamaha 75 horse 4 stroke.. not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but fast enough for what we want to do - which is primarily fishing and sometimes just cruising the lake... you mentioned you might be interested in a 20 footer... just know that if you plan to take a lot of people out, you'll be cramped on a boat that size.. on my 20 footer about the most I've had on board ( and still been comfortable is 6 to 8 people.... any more than that and it's just too many.... if it's just going to be 3 or 4 people on most trips you'll be fine, but more than that I"d consider at least a 22 foot boat... whatever you buy, you're gonna have a blast.. good luck with it all.

While once on a budget when I purchased my first toon I know what u r talking about. Of course the bigger the motor the better. But if all u r going to do just putt around on the lake not going to be pulling adults on a tube and just want to have the all round fund of just being on the water I would go with the first one with the 50. It looks in better shape bothe seats and motor from the pics. Also I have a 23 foot with 115 Yamaha and unless I am pulling someone on a tube I am just cruising around at 10-15 going from one fishing spot to the other. A larger motor is nice just to have when in my area the weather starts to bad and u want to get to the dock a little faster. Just my 2 cents

Thanks. Lots of great advice here.

I'm not sure if I'm going to pull the trigger on either of those two boats that I posted. The 20' seems like too much $$ for a boat that is that much of a compromise with a small motor and only 20'. I'm thinking that the 22' has the better layout and will allow for more passengers, but definitely not thrilled with the idea of a 2-stoke and a small one at that. If I could get them under $5k then maybe it would be a good starter boat, but it seems too steep to me based on its condition.

Since I have about 6 months before boating season I don't need to be in a hurry with this. I wanted to buy in the off season to get a good deal, but I think I waited too long because now most boats are in storage for the year. But I'll keep looking.

I agree with everyone else, 90hp min. I had a 2013 20 ft Bennington with a 90 and would be ok for pulling small children but anything more than that would be not so fun for them. I now have a 2014 Bennington 21 with sps (3 toons) and a 150 yamaha. So if you want to do any type of water sports try to go as big as you can.
Good luck with your search.

Well I spent a little time looking today and it looks like 90 HP is out of the question unless I want to finance the boat purchase. Can't find anything currently listed for sell for less than $15k. Dang. It definitely gives me something to think about. But since I'm new to the whole boating game maybe I'll stick with a little putt putt for now and trade up down the road.

On the other hand I was looking at outboard prices online. Just looking at Yamaha for reference and it looks like a 50 HP is worth around $6k or so and a 90 HP is worth around $8.5k. So in theory bumping up to the bigger motor shouldn't cost me more than a couple of grand. Ideally maybe I'll come across and older boat that has been repowered with a bigger 90 HP motor.

That is sales price, not what you get if you want to sale it later, but you just started looking, so don't give up yet