Size Matters ?

[Willie12345]

Now that I'm retired I'll be looking to purchase a toon to use on several small lakes and a gentle flowing river where we will be living. There are only 4 of us in the family and two of them are dogs. While we will use the boat to entertain, that will only be on a few times a year. Most of the time, I'll use it for fishing with the dogs and my wife.

I'll need to be able to easily launch and trailer the toon all by myself without any help.

Some of the toons seem just too large for an old duffer like myself to launch and trailer.

Any suggestions on size limitations I should consider and type of trailer to consider ?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[HandymanHerb]

If your staying on small lakes you can go with a 20 footer, I launch mine all the time with no help, that still allows you plenty of room to entertain when you want, still be stable in rough water and small enough to fish from, for a trailer you want a float on with glides to help you load it, you can add them later if they don't come on the trailer.

[BobL]

#1 - What is your budget?

#2 - I would find which dealers in your area have a good reputation and what products they sell. After that, create a post on the manufacturers represented in your area and several will chime in with pros/cons of each.

#3 - Do you have a vehicle that can tow the boat right now?

#4 - I agree that a 20' is probably all you will need and it is a little easier to handle and a little easier to trailer.

#5 - I hesitate to say this because everyone always wants a bigger motor - always! With that being said and based on your description of what you are going to do with the boat, then a 50HP or 90HP is probably all you will need.

Of course once you get a 20' with a 50HP motor, you will start using the boat more then you will want to tow the grandkids on a tube or go faster or invite more people or .......

I started out with a 20' Bentley with the "big foot" motor package and it only took me 4 years to upgrade to a bigger boat and engine.

[Shopguy]

Voyager makes a nice fishing toon. My tritoon is 23 feet and isn't any different to load than a 19-20 footer. The upright guide boards in the middle of the trailer are really sweet. I had to add them myself and it don't matter how windy it is, if you can get the nose of the boat up to those boards your as good as on.
I've decided once the kids move on, I'd be happy with no less than 22 ft and 75-100 hp. I like to get where I'm going but I don't like to flog a motor wide open all the time.

I'd look at max seating capacity for your crew. If your max crew is 8 look for a boat that seats 10 (no need to be crowded) and always look for max power of the boat on the Coast Guard data plate and shoot for that. Don't mean you gotta use it.

[ROLAND]

Willie... I would suggest a 20 footer.... That's what we have and it's relatively easy to handle by myself... normally its just me and the wife ( and our pup Joey ), but there have been several occasions where we've had 7 to 8 people on the boat comfortably..... anymore than 8 though would be a stretch, at least on my boat. But they again my toon is rigged with fishing chairs up front and at the rear..... Good luck with your search...

[steveiam]

I agree with all the above but I am different in one area,
I have had my toon about two years now, and use it year 'round, mostly for fishing but we do pull the small grandkids on a tube, though not fast.
I have a 50 HP merc and am very happy with it, the use of fuel is minimal and keeps the operating cost down.
I also load and unload myself, I was able to make some mod's that helped a lot.

Welcome!

[wscruiser]

You story sounds like my wife and I. We had been in the market for a pontoon for the past year. We didn't want an ocean liner, wanted something easy to load and unload, something that could easily be towed by a full size truck or a small suv, something easy on fuel, something suitable for fishing or cruising, and we didn't want to have to sell an arm and leg to pay for it.

We researched the web, visited several dealers, attended boat shows and spoke with pontoon owners to try and find our ideal boat. A couple of months ago we purchased our pontoon. We bought a Qwest Adventure 7516 Sport Deluxe. The boat is 16 feet (actually 16.7) long and 7.5 wide. It is set up with 2 fishing chairs in the front and pontoon lounge chairs in the rear area. Ours is powered by a Mercury 30 hp motor. It isn't fast, but it runs fast enough for the average person. It gets excellent fuel mileage; last weekend we had 6 adults on board running at 3/4 throttle for 3 hours and only used 2 gallons of gas. If it is just my wife and I, a six gallon tank of fuel will last 3 fishing trips before we fill it up again.

We love the boat. It really has plenty of room for what you are wanting to do with it.

Look them up at http://www.apexmarineinc.com/index.html

If you like what you see and have more questions, I'll help you any way I can.

[g8tors09]

-If your doing it by yourself on a trailer stay smaller 20ft. Remember they don't call them barges for no reason. I have a 26ft and in order to keep it my wife makes me put it in the marina. It is a real PAIN to trailer in any current or wind.

[Bamaman]

Virtually all the major boat manufacturers have fishing pontoons, and they're very popular.

This time of the year, whatever boats sitting in dealerships are badly looking for a home. That means dealers should be looking to dump them on the retail market rather than to pay wholesale interest charges until Spring and advalorem taxes at year end.

A 20' fishing model pontoon would be preferable with a 70 hp or 75 hp motor, 25" pontoons and a wave shield underdeck. If you don't find what you're looking for, see if they can order it exactly as the boat would suit your needs. And vinyl flooring is very popular when they're going to be used fishing.

[MH Hawker]

When you go over 20 feet you go into a duel axle trailer and in most states it requires trailer brakes while that is not a big thing just some thing to consider with the extra maintenance and tire replacements.
With a good set of guides any length will go on very smoothly, I have 20 foot that I load and un load mine by my self all of the time by my self and have loaded several times in a 20 mph crosswind

[Ezgoing]

I just bought a 20' pontoon with a 40 Hp Mercury on it. It runs around 18 mph at WOT with my wife and I on it with full fishing gear and all the extras I added to it.

That is plenty fast for me, as I'm not one of those who spend all my time running up and down the lake, only spending a minute or two at each stop as I hunt for that perfect spot. Nor am I willing to pull skis nor tubes. With this engine I have the perfect excuse not to do it.

However for fishing make sure you buy at least a 24 v 75 # trolling motor. I initially bought a 12 v 45 # unit and it was not strong enough. Fortunately since I had it less than 30 days they allowed me to return it and buy a bigger unit.

It is easy to load and dock most of the time. I did have problems on an extremely windy day. It took me three attempts to get the pontoon onto the trailer. But everybody was having problems that day, even the bass boats.

I keep it at a slip as I like the ease of just walking onto the boat and going fishing. But I do pull it out once a month to clean it as it does get dirty fast.