Pontoon boats

[Sea Fox]

We used a friends boat and decided that we wanted one. Im looking for tips on brands, size, motors and trailers. I will be trailering it and I think I want the fishing model. Thanks, SF.

[Dubble Trubble]

Got a spare Hot Tub? I saw this one somewhere around Wakulla county...



I think this one even has a head. Notice the guy on the left....


Hooked

[fish on!!]

Have you looked into the deck boats? My brother-in-law has a 22' hurricane and it works great on the flats, lake whatever. It is substantially heavier than a pontoon boat though.

[Sea Fox]

Hooked, that never even crossed my mind. But its got possibilities. fish, the deck boats are heavy and I wondered how they would do in the bay. This weekend I want buy one I will be looking a layouts and options. I will most likely get a used one, but Im not familiar with pontoon or deck boats.

[leonreno]

Do some searches on this site for pontoon and deck boats and you will get a lot of information. We were considering them but decided against them, but they can be a good choice if you know their limitations. Their pluses are they handle a lot of people and are great family boats. They get good gas milage and do not require a lot of power (pontoon boats here not deck boats.) The benefit of the deck boat is a better and faster ride with the downside being it needs more power and gas. The downside to pontoon boats is when the going gets rought you can be in trouble due to slow speed and waves coming over the bow. Pontoon boats do not ride up and over waves quite as well as regular hull boats. There are pontoons with a third pontoon in the front middle that help with this though. I would prefer a deck boat, but the one thing its not is a great fishing boat, it is a good fishing boat and great family boat, but we do more fishing than family boating so we choose not to get a deck boat. Also most deck boats are made for freshwater so they may need a lot more maintenance in saltwater. But if you will only fish on great weather days and need extra room then they can be good for that but also consider a large Carolina Skiff type boat also.

[seatrout99]

We had a 20 ft Lowe with a 40 HP Rude. Sold it a few months ago, and I do miss it. Great for the flats, especially trout fishing and scalloping with the kids. Not too heavy to tow.

[Two Can]

A buddy and I have owned both pontoon boats and deck boats. The deck boat had a tendency to nose into oncoming waves in the flats unless you kept it the nose powered up. It was really bad about taking on water over the front. The buddy now has sold the deck boat and has a new 20' G3 pontoon boat. The pontoons rode into and over oncoming waves much better than the deck boat. I waited to see how his deck boat handled before making my decision to sell my 20' pontoon boat. I still have my pontoon boat.

My 20' pontoon is powered by a 70hp Yamaha. My buddy has a 60hp Yamaha on his new pontoon boat and it runs very well. Both our engines give us good gas mileage so long as we don't run them at WOT.

[Sea Fox]

Thanks for the replys, I went with a 24ft bently fish model with a 90hp. Its an 06 that the dealer was willing to deal on. I have 4 kids and they always have friends so the extra room is nice. SF.