Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I have noticed on other boating websites people seem to not have a clue
Of the capability of pontoon boats at all. It's funny in a way.
It always seems a new owner or somebody looking to buy ask a question and
The misinformation starts. It's kinda funny.
The pontoon boats of today are not the ones great grand dad used.

When I found this site I started a similar post, It was true then and it's true now. The advice and info on some sites is laughable.

I had a similar conversation with a neighbor this past week. He was talking about his Sunesta vs a Pontoon boat. He's got a 24 foot boat with a 350 in it and I told him a friend has a similar size tritoon with the same motor in it. When you really get down to it they basically run the same top end and the Pontoon is slightly more efficient on the lower to mid RPM range. You also get to use the full 8 1/2 foot width instead of having the boat taper, the tritoon takes rough water better, etc. The only real advantage his boat has is the performance but with some of the newer performance toon packages even that is being negated. Add to that the ease of upkeep with being able to just acid wash the toons and not have to worry about waxing gelcoat or gelcoat blistering it's pretty clear in that size application the tritoon is the better boat. There are applications where that isn't the case but for many boaters in the 20-24 foot open bow class the toon is actually a better fit and for about the same amount of money. On our lake you are seeing a ton more pontoons and tritoons coming on the lake than new v bottom runabouts.

Many bow riders will knock your teeth out in rough conditions, depending on the dead rise. Some guys I go to our big lake with often turn and go back when I have no issues, and mine is small.

ron nh wrote:Many bow riders will knock your teeth out in rough conditions, depending on the dead rise. Some guys I go to our big lake with often turn and go back when I have no issues, and mine is small.

Yeah, on Saturday here there were some pretty big boats out throwing good wakes. We were just scooting along around 16-20 mph and I watched quite a few bow riders have to drop off plane because it was too rough. Our old bow rider rode about as good as any in that 20ish foot class because it was so heavy and was basically built on a rough water hull with a bow rider cap, but there were still days they beat us up pretty good.

ron nh wrote: I have no issues, and mine is small.

OUCH!

After having lived 65 years, I have come to realize that most people don't just not have clue about just pontoon boats.

I have no issues, and mine is small.

and:

Ouch!

You REALLY know how to leave yourself "Wide Open" dontcha?