Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hello All,

I am new to pontoon boat and I am in final discussions with a dealer for a new boat.

All else being the same, it comes down to 2 different decks formats. I would like your thoughts and expertise on the most useful and generally best enjoyed deck set up.

Mostly used for cruising, sunsets, enloying the mountain scenery.
I like to fish with my sons but nothing serious
I plan to keep the boat a long time.

My apolgies I have not been able to figure our how to post pics of the two formats.

*One is a cruiser, it is set up with couches along the outside perimeter with a captain chair at the helm coaches and a table and a good size storage area at the back end. (sweet water 2083 C3)

*The second is a cruiser/ fishing set up, It has couches on the sides, the captains chair at the helm (front is just the same as the cruiser) with the table and smaller coach in the aft but instead of a larger storage area at the back end, it was two additional captain seats for fishing. (Sweetwater 2086FCS)

I would appreciate your practical knowledge and experience on the water of what you consider the best deck format and why?

Thanks - Brian

Here what we did when we rebuilt our from a fish n fun to a sun n fun model, we left two fishing chairs up front and couches around the back, best of both worlds, put the tables in for entertaining and get them out of the way for fishing

My vote would be for the fishing deck. We can still cruise in comfort but we also like to fish. Our older boat has a couch across the back which only gets in the way and limits fishing to the front or trolling out the sides.

I have the cruise model and have fished off of it some. The thing I have always wondered about with the boat with the aft seats are can you really cast well there with the bimini top or is it in the way? Also, We always fish one person on the bow and one on the stern and sometimes one guy in the middle so I can't see ever sitting that close to someone else to fish. I think I'd rather have the two seats on the bow, but use removable pedestals so I could get rid of them when not in use (kind of like a bass boat has). The one thing you will notice about the cruise models is that there is no rod storage. I added rod holders to my ski tow bar, keeping them low enough that they don't interfere with a ski rope and I also have holder that straps around a cooler to hold 4 more rods upright. We do more cruising than fishing on the pontoon so I went with the cruiser.

How many people, on average, will be riding with you? If it is just you and your wife and another couple on occasion (or kid or two) then the fishing setup is fine. If you will typically have 5-6+ then I would vote for the cruise setup.

I have had 3 pontoon boats and all had the cruise setup but I don't fish out of the boat. We usually have at least 6-8 people on board 10+ times a summer.

I fish off of a cruising model. I have a decent amount of deck space off the bow outside the rails. One guy stands up front and I'll fish from the helm or out the side gate. I rarely fish off of the back because of the bimini and sun deck. We'll set up some poles off the back when trolling or catfishing. The only draw back is I've had my seats hooked a couple of times, but it wasn't a big deal. I don't particularly like to sit down when fishing so the cruising model works well.

Well this will confuse the issue,
" I " would go with the fishing set up! but that's the only set up I have ever used. it cruises good though.

As stated so far, it depends on how you're going to use it.

We fish a bunch, cruise a lot, and the "Fish & Cruise" setup of our Suncatcher FC22 works great.

We have the setup pictured on the left: http://www.suncatcherpontoons.com/v322-f-v22-f-pontoon




I posted some diagrams at viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20613

that gives you some ideas.

We can fish, cruise, bbq, pull a pull toy, and generally just have an all around good time with our setup.

I have the Sweetwater 240 DF love the setup. Forward as you pointed out are two upgraded captain chairs which blends in well with the couches for conversation if people are just relaxing.
There's an extra table setup as well and with the 27" tubes it's rated for 15 persons so plenty of party capacity.
No problem fishing, but then again I do a lot of slow trolling not much casting.
Still fishing is very doable, but surely you've got to watch out for the other person whenever two people are casting from the same end on any boat.
Sweetwater has some very nice fish and cruise layouts. Have a trolling motor forward so that takes up some room but haven't had a problem thus far.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19905

Lots of good videos located here of layouts:

http://www.nauticimagebank.com/?dir=201 ... WPE_240_DF

Note: still some older 2014 pictures showing the aft larger table setup.
The 2015 models have the smaller unit with the lift up door which gives you much more room. (Much improved for fishing)
I had a leg support installed on the lift which makes it plenty strong to use as a table.

I also have a fishing model 3 live wells, bait well, Humminbird finder/ploter, rod locker, Minn kota trolling motor with ipilot, and a great fishing buddy as seen on the last photo. But luxurious enough for a nice leisurely cruise, 2 of the fishing seats are reclining swivel buckets along with the helm seat, and also powerful enough to do water sports.

Check out the excursion x23 RFC I have it and love it. Plenty room for crushing. Rear two fishing seat, rod holder, live bate tackle center, changing room with pottie for the wife. Great set up