who makes the best handling pontoon boat

[dockholiday]

good topic...........was wondering the same thing after we were talking adding a larger middle toon the other day. Never needed to do any whipping or short turns since I don't ski any more. Must have got it out of my system with the bow rider. Good to have a boat that can though.
Heck I was proud when I got a toon to go forty in a straight line. Even enjoyed the 2 log with a 90 before this one.
doc

[r.karjala]

We have 23.5 Premier Elite with 4.3L Volvo Penta and a 36" PTX.

We can run in the low 40's.

It is really cool to out run alot of boats on the ilake especially when it windy.

We boat in Kansas and wind is a way of life.

[Drago]

I find it interesting that no comparisons have been made with the JC Tritoons - classic tritoon hull with, I think a 36" center tube. I drove one when we were first looking at boats in 2007 and Jerry Rinker let me really work it over and I was rather amazed at how it banked in high speed hard turns. They are fairly heavy boats due to the .125" thick tube walls.

[robster]

I love the way our 22-foot Manitou Oasis VP tritoon with Yamaha 150 handles when pulling a tube or a skier, with 2 people on the boat and two adults in our 2-person towable our top speed is 32 mph and we have power assisted steering I can turn tight enough to pull the tubers over the wake the boat makes.

[playcat]

A lot depends on what your definition of "better handling" is. We mostly fish on our toon, and pull tubes around once in a while. I really like how my two pontoon Playcraft just about steers itself in long runs. It turns about as quick as a barge, but it handles great in tight spaces with the Duoprop drive; I can just about get it to turn in its own length around the docks, if i do my part.
If I towed more, I would definitely consider a Manitou SHP or Premier PTX or Avalon 5X7 package. For what I do my Playcraft suits us just fine. I'll likely get another Playcraft if I decide I need to get to the fishing spots faster.

[woolznaz]

Great thread. If you read the replies, it appears to be a very easy question to answer. If you have a Manitou SHP, then they clearly handle the best. If you have a Premier PTX, then there is no competition, they are the best. If you have a Bennington ESP, Bennington is the best, hands down.

That's kind of the way this thread reads. To me, what it tells me is that several manufacturers have taken pontoon technology to a new level, and the owners are loving them. I don't own any of the 3 brands above, but I can tell you this. The Bennington ESP is the reason I have a pontoon. A bored salesman at a boat show in January of 2008 took me for a ride on one of them. I had NO interest at all in one of those "old man" boats. I could not believe how that boat ran and handled. It just blew me away. When I stepped on board I was a 39 year old guy, when I got off the boat 15 minutes later I was a 65 year old guy because I wanted a pontoon soooooo badly! That feeling never went away because I could not forget that ride. The most practical, but boring (in my mind) boat ever made (a pontoon) was no longer boring. It took me a couple of years, but I got one.

Bennington's ESP is a slightly different approach with the elliptical shape. I like how they accomplish their great handling. I'm sure if that original ride would have been on a PTX or an SHP, the result would have been the same -- I would have wanted one!

My 2007 South Bay handles well and banks in the turns, but I would say it is not quite as nimble as the others. I would not have bought it, though, if it felt like the pontoons from the past. That was just not what I was after. I still wanted the ESP package by Bennington, but I could not pass up the deal on the repo'd South Bay. I'll have to say, I do love the boat!

Bottom line, it looks like we all love what pontoons have become. After having one, I now appreciate even the old style pontoons that handle like a house. You just cannot beat the practicality of a pontoon!

[Dunbar]

I find it interesting that no comparisons have been made with the JC Tritoons - classic tritoon hull with, I think a 36" center tube. I drove one when we were first looking at boats in 2007 and Jerry Rinker let me really work it over and I was rather amazed at how it banked in high speed hard turns. They are fairly heavy boats due to the .125" thick tube walls.

I have a 26' JC Tritoon with the Mercruiser 350Magnum and Bravo III outdrive. After reading about the hull configuration thats what I wanted. The center tube is 36" and longer than the outer 2. The outer two are shaped to work with the inner for performance. Its heavy and the 300hp only gets up to low 40's mph wise but I have no need to go faster anyway. We put 30 hours on the engine in Lake Superior last summer and might be hauling it back up this summer too.

I have not ridden in the other performance tunes listed but am super happy with my boat.

http://www.jcpontoon.com/hull.html

Dunbar

[layne4]

On the Playcraft side, I agree with Parker. I have not driven a Bennie, JC, Manitou, Premier, etc., but I can say on several occasions, I have pitched folks out of the seats and on to the floor in tight turns. My boat definetly banks and hooks up in turns.

[bes2767]

I had a 2007 Playcraft 2400 with 200hp Honda on it with the super lift option, and I was able to do a hard turn at full speed with no side hop. We just traded this boat in for a 2011 Playcraft 2300 with 250hp, and am anxous to see how well it will perform. What I love about the Playcraft's is the rough water handling capability. We run on the Mississippi River, and do encounter pretty good waves and whitecaps.
Bill

[Ray Jr.]

In the Pbd article it shows they wer not comparing apples to apples. The Manitou was a 22 foot angler model and the Premier was a 25 foot Grand Majestic model, the top speed was quite a bit better for the Manitou, Ill bet the 22 foot fishing Manitou was a fair amount lighter than the 25 foot Premier luxury cruiser.
With the higher top speed from the Manitou i would guess the Premier actualy handled better to get the close over all times.

Well It looks like Premier schooled em in this years shootout.

In last years the Manitou weighed in about 1000 lbs lighter than the Premier.
It was also Premiers first time at the shootout and they got beat by Manitou because Manitou took full advantage of the rules, as a former circle tracker I give Manitou full credit for doing so. Don't bring a knife to a gun fight. Premier didn't bring their A game last year.
But the Premier team didn't make that mistake this year, and cleaned up, reportedly winning by 10 seconds.

[fwood]

I've driven the PTX and SHP; they both handle exceptionally well. I think fit and finish is better with the Premier (seats and upholstery were SO nice!) and they do have a few features that I didn't find in other toons, but I bought the Manitou. The Premier dealer (salesman) was a snob and pushy and that was a major turnoff for me. If I had purchased a Premier, it would have not been there. Looked at the Bennies but the Admiral didn't like the colors and they didn't have layout we were looking for on hand.
Drove 300 miles to look at the Manitou and liked everything I saw. IMO the Manitou handles better than the PTX YMMV. I did not test drive both boats at the same time and the PTX was 25', the Manitou was 24'. Test PTX had a 250 SHO on it; SHP had a Etec 300.
I don't think you could go wrong with either boat.

[Ray Jr.]

Fwood I hear ya on salesman making the difference, when we were looking we were considering Southbay, Bennington and Premier. We also agree on the Premier being much more comfy seats,(our Grandson was with us and he even commented on them)
We really were turned off by the Bennington dealers attitude, and the Southbay dealer didn't return phone calls or e-mails, figured if he couldn't return calls before he had our money he really wouldn't give a shit about us after the sale.
The Premier dealer(Winnisquam Marine) on the other hand was great to deal with, not pushy, returned calls and e-mails, and had a great attitude, went out of his way to make things go smooth for us.
If they had been selling Manitou, Bennington, or Southbay we would probably have still bought from them. I honestly don't think you could go wrong with any of them.

[Leisure Kraft]

Has anybody driven all the performance pontoons? I have a Benny with ESP and think it handles really well, just wondering if manitou or premier handles any better?)

It's not like they include all pontoon boats in these "shootouts". We've got a Bennington here in our factory right now for repairs--somebody had dropped it from a truck and we're getting it repaired for them. But we're here kind of laughing at it since it's so much heavier than you'd ever expect in a pontoon boat. Everybody else tries to make pontoon boats focusing on them being lightweight and performance-driven.

To me, this is performance. It speaks for itself.



Do you realize that this boat's doing 53mph (GPS) just goofing off on Lake Tansi and Manitou is bragging about their 55mph in that shootout? Try challenging Leisure Kraft next time.

http://www.manitouboats.com/how-fast-is ... n-boat.php

[The_Hellbilly]

Do you realize that this boat's doing 53mph (GPS) just goofing off on Lake Tansi and Manitou is bragging about their 55mph in that shootout? Try challenging Leisure Kraft next time.

In your PROFESSIONAL opinion, how will the outside strakes on the outer toons affect turning? (or maybe it's effect, I never can remember )

[playcat]

Nice post, Mike! Sometimes the smaller builders get the dirty end of the stick becausethey don't spend the bucks in their magazine.
Email me when you get a chance...its in my PM if you forgot