Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

The wife and I finally bit the bullet and are upgrading our 2003 22' Fish & Cruise Pontoon to get a 2017 Lowe SD224 Deck Boat w/ 150HP Merc. Should allow us to pull skiiers/tubers behind the boat plus be a decent fishing boat. We'll have 2 fish finders (Humminbird) along with an Ipilot Link Minnkota trolling motor. We are picking it up in the next 10 days. We're excited to take her out on the water for a weekend

More pictures to follow when we get er!

good looking rig, very sleek... congratulations.

Very nice boat! I've been interested in these for a long time. Keep us posted when you get it on the water. In curious what the ride is like.

Sweet boat! I hope it meets all your needs and expectations!

Nice ride.

Very cool! I like the lounger set up for passengers that don't have poles in the water. Nice!!!

The weather wasn't really nice but we ended up putting 90 minutes on the new motor this weekend. ~60* temperatures, ~15MPH winds, and ~52* water temps. It wasn't really ideal but it went without a hitch and we caught some fish so that aint bad! We installed & networked a Helix 7, Helix 9, and have a Minnkota Terrova I Pilot Link installed. We're finishing the rigging in the next week or so with all of the pole holders so we'll snap photos once we get all of that complete. We're pretty happy with the way it's all panning out.

This boat has quite a bit more floor space and at least twice the storage of our old boat, plus twice the power. It handled far better than our old pontoon. There wasn't much traffic on the lake due to the weather but it seemed to cut through waves and wakes well. We had the boat up to 39MPH while breaking it in. We had 2 adults, 2 large dogs, a full gas tank, and a fair amount of gear/batteries onboard.

It appears to have more "V" to it than most deck boats, That should help with a better ride I would think.

That's the first deck boat I'd consider actually buying! I've actually never seen one setup for fishing like that, nice rig.

Our friends bought one last summer. Great boat. Rides well. Hits 42mph no problem.

[quote="ron nh"]It appears to have more "V" to it than most deck boats, That should help with a better ride I would think.[/quote]

It does have more "V" in the hull. I haven't rode on any other deckboats but it rides softer than many other boats I've ridden in at similar speeds.

We think we've got most of the rigging figured out. None of the fishing rigging impacts any other boating activities like towing a skiier so that's nice. Our goal was to have a minimal footprint but still get a fair amount of fishing functionality out of it. The amount of storage compartments this thing has is amazing. We didn't know how much storage we were missing out on with our last boat!

Very cool set up, congrats!

So I just bought a 2019 SD224, thanks for posting pics w the rigging set up. I have a very similar plan for mine. I've been a little frustrated w the lack of information out there on these rigs. Honestly this is one of the better reviews I've found regarding this model. Question for ya, where did you buy those rod holders attached to the ski bar and the ones along the side rails?? Were they expensive? Also your trolling motor, is it s 24v or 36v system? Are you happy w it? I'm looking to get the 60" Ulterra 36v but I wasn't sure if I'll be able to fit 3 batteries in the back storage spot. Your picture w the blue f150, are you running a 2 inch drop on your hitch receiver and is that the sweet spot for a level trailer? Sorry for all the questions, like I said it's been tough finding anyone else who has one of these so I thought I'd sign up for the forum and pick your brain. THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

ron nh wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 27, 2017 11:48 am

It appears to have more "V" to it than most deck boats, That should help with a better ride I would think.

I agree. When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought "uh oh", that thing is going to ride terrible and the OP is going to be disappointed coming from a Pontoon. I'm glad to hear the ride is decent, which is certainly not always the case with a "deck" boat.

It's also got a very distinctive look to it!

nice ride, I also thought...oh shit a pounding deck boat which I hate!

But no! It's more of an oversize bass boat, I hate a bass boat because all it is....is...well a bass boat.

Yours looks very interesting and comfortable, 40mph wow...how is spray and wave slap?

Again, great looking rig! Appears to be best of both worlds, how flat is the stern? Does it roll like a boat or jerk like a pontoon when sitting still, and waves hit from the sides?