Looking at Sweetwater 2086FCS

[Melnic]

Hello all,
Family had a Four Winns 245 cuddy for about 8 years and sold it 2 years ago cause kids could not fit to fish on it and usage droped. Sold while it was still in good shape. Now we have waterfront vacation property on the coast and looking at a Sweetwater 2086 FCS.
IT has benches in the front and 2 fishing chairs and rod locker at the back.
Max is 90HP and dealer has a 90 Yamaha Four Stroke in the one we are looking at.
Small handfull of Pontoon dealers where we are (Ocean City MD) and this layout seems the best for us.
They said they can add a ski tow onto the back and I'm hoping 90HP is enough to pull a skiier.
If not, then tubing will be fine. Mostly want to fish and cruise to dining spots.
Dealer has a price marked and I'm expecting to widdle him down some. I did not see any "no haggle price" signage there.
Thx for any advise.

[RcgTexas]

First Let me say welcome! Boat looks good!

Now for the bad part. is it a tritoon? and a two toon boat with a ninety wont do you right skiing.( My opinion)

Personally if I wanted to tow tubes and skis' I'd go with a tri toon and at least a 140! but lets see what others say.

[OK Toon]

Tubing will be fine with a 90hp (not great though), but skiing will pretty much be out of the question. Guestimating speed will be around 20-22 unless the toons have lifting strakes.

Sweetwater is a nice boat though. My neighbor has a nice 24' Tritoon with a 150 hanging off the back. That one could be used for skiing and it even has the ski bar on the back.

[C_M_25]

I have almost that exact boat. I have the sweetwater 2086 sw with 90 hp yamaha 4 stroke. Let me tell ya. You get a lot of boat for your money on this one. At WOT with just my wife and me, I can get up to 27 mph. Of course, that is just from the speedometer, so there is no telling how accurate that thing is. I have never tried to pull a tuber or skier with it, but I imagine it wouldn't be as good as you would think. As soon as we add two more people, we drop to about 22 mph at WOT. I think you get enough oomph from the 90 to pull a skier up, but I don't know if you can keep them up. A tube wouldn't be bad on flat waters I think.

We try to go out every week, and I use it mainly for fishing, and we'll just hang out and relax during the day. We only have to fill up about once every 3-4 weeks, and the fuel gauge never gets below half a tank.

I will say that mine came with a single axle bear trailer. It is pretty good, but they had a bad batch of tires recently. One of mine rotted after just a few weeks of owning it. They were very good people to work with though. They sent two new tires free of charge. I would just keep a close eye on that.

My biggest regret is not getting the boat with the fishing seats, and if you are going to do that, I would go ahead and get a trolling motor mounted as this thing is really hard to position in any wind/current.

[Gonefishing]

Nice looks great. I think tubing will be fine but sking might have a problem. Buy you will enjoy the ride and fishing

[Melnic]

Thx for the eye opening.
My memory fades but I thought I recall we'd target about 17mph with the Four Winns. It had incredible hole shot waaaay more than what I needed to get up. Of our family, I"m the heaviest at 170lbs so It may be a challenge.
I'm planning to get the tow bar for the tube anyway so if it won't pull skiier then no big deal. I kept the tube (sit in tube that looks like a speed boat) and skiis and tow lines so my only expense is the tow bar.
Not planning to get a trailer though cause we will have a lift at the house. but may keep eye out for a used one.
I"ll have to ask about a trolling motor mount. We plan to anchor or drift for flounder.

[RcgTexas]

Might look at something like this,http://www.wanganchor.com/
A power pole is good but expensive.

I have a troll motor and one of these and I can stick it and not disturb the fish in a shallow area.

[crookedlaker]

I have a similar boat with a 90 merc
no problem getting a skier up but I have to keep it hammered to keep it at a good ski speed
works for us as we only pull a skier 3-4 times a year
same with tubing, really have to work the motor for a good ride

if you are into water sports go larger on the motor.

[COTTS4x4]

Just so you know on the tow bar that comes on the Sweetwater, it says right on the tow bar not to pull a tube with it... Its too heavy. You'll need a bridle to connect to the lift points on the rear of the toons if you want to pull a tube.