How much HP is enough?

[Tully]

I have a 24' with a 60 hp 4 stroke on it and I'm happy with it. I guess that's why they make different hp engines, huh?

I retired and built a house on the lake...I don't do anything quickly.

[HandymanHerb]

Just enough to keep you happy is all you need

[jafo9]

We went through a very similar situation when we bought our lake house. We got a 22ft 2 log Sun Tracker with the 3.0L I/O included in the deal. We were into jet skis but had never owned a boat. I would have never considered a pontoon, but as i said, it came with the house. We quickly realized we loved having a pontoon for the same reasons you mentioned. They have a tremendous amount of space vs. a traditional v-hull of equal length. we had already learned to wakeboard, double ski, kneeboard, etc., so we did all those things behind the Sun Tracker. While being functional, it was fairly limited and under powered. We quickly moved up to our current pontoon (see sig). Night and day difference for water sports. Our 225 was more than adequate for for getting up wake boarders and double skiers. The biggest problem for wake boarding is that there is not much of a wake and you really can't do much to shape it or increase it. All the ads you see show boarders doing inverts behind their pontoons. Those are pro level boarders who can do the same inverts behind a wave runner. The novice/intermediate boarder can't do much with a pontoon wake. We would pull a huge 5 man tube loaded with kids with no problem. Even with the PTX on the premier and hydraulic steering, it was hard to really sling the tube around. After 2 summers with the Premier as the primary tow boat, we bought an inboard towboat. Again, night and day difference in water sports. I really can't think of anything that the Premier does better for water sports vs. our MasterCraft. This was highlighted this summer when we had to take the MC in for repair and went back to using the Premier as our towboat. By this time we had all gotten into slalom skiing, so I can attest that a 225 will pull up a 225lb guy (me) on a single ski. If I were buying new, however, I'd hang a minimum of 250hp and would really prefer 300hp for the Premier. Fully loaded with 3 families and the bimini deployed, i'm struggling to hit 36-37 wot.

Please don't take this as pontoon bashing, as we love ours dearly. When I mentioned selling the pontoon this summer, my wife gave an immediate veto to that idea. There really is no better way to brings tons of people, dogs, gear, beverages, etc., and still have plenty of room. Not to mention the convenience of a "potty" and enormous bimini vs. what usually comes on typical v-hulls.

My point is that before you spend a fortune on a 300hp OB, you may find that if you take sports out of the duty of the pontoon, you could realistically drop into the 115hp range and use the price differential to pick up a used inboard as a towboat.

good luck.

[dodger]

I'm suggesting something different.

Keep the glass boat for fun, and get a pontoon as the people hauler.

We have had this for the last 2 years and it works great. We use the pontoon as the island for those that want to relax and the Mastercraft is the go out and have fun. Now the pontoon went fast enough to pull a skier of your size. But we could only have 3 other adults on it to make it fun and have hole shot. With a full load, we could pull a tube that made the little ones happy.

We just traded in that pontoon and for a Bennington with triple SPS tubes with rear loungers. It will have a 150 Yamaha. It will be a little longer and heavier than the previous one but will be within our lift limits with a full tank of gas. That is one reason we didn't go bigger. We didn't want to have to buy a different lift. Plus, for us, this should fit our needs.

Would be have liked something with more HP, yes, but, we had a budget and this worked for us. If you have a larger budget than we did, go for more HP, but there is a lot steeper price to go that way if you haven't been looking yet. We always pay cash for toys, even our cars. Then they still have some value when you sell or trade them in.

We wanted it to be legal to have 12 people on the pontoon, this one will be for 13. We wanted the rear extended swim deck, in floor storage, all vinyl floor. We are also getting a power bimini as there are a couple of low bridges to get from lake to lake. But also wanted to have fun so wanted at least a 150 hp motor. We are moving up from a 115 Yamaha. We tried out a comparable toon and with GPS it was 38mph with three people on rough water and a full tank of gas. For us, that will be ok. With a full load we will be about 30 and that will be ok as well, depends on how much other stuff is on the toon as well, haha. This one will also have Sea Star steering, the old one had Bay Star so that will be better when doing more turning when pulling tubes.

But, we will still keep the Mastercraft for the wake boarding, three of the family are really getting the hang of it. And pontoons don't put out anywhere near the wake that they like to jump off of.

[suncruiser202]

I agree with Dodger , Crownline are very nice boats and my buddy owns the same boat you have , that's a great all around ski boat . don't get rid of it . Especially since you have a lake home ( no hauling it )

Get a lower priced pontoon for relaxing and keep the speed boat and dock up to it when your out with friends and taking a break