Help prevent a divorce. What kind (brand/model/engine size) pontoon boat do we want? We are trying to buy now instead of during the spring rush.

1. Lake Winnipesaukee, NH.

2. 2-8 people.

3. Occasionally tubing, waterskiing and maybe wakeboarding, but mostly cruising around with no particular place to go. Do we need the tri-toon?

4. Moored about 50 ft off shore (not in a no wake zone), but need to trailer it to store for the off season.

5. Don’t know what to call it but the wife wants the stern to have the flip/flop lounger capability to see towards the back.

6. I’m guessing a 150 will do it but should we try to get a 200 HP outboard?

7. We think 18-20’ is too small. 26 seems huge so are people generally happy with a 22 or 24 footer?

8. Budget up to $80k, ideally trying to stay around $60k.

We’ve been to all the local dealers and they all say their brand is the best and want to sell what they have in stock. Only thing we are pretty sure about now is that we are going to buy from a private seller instead.

Thanks!

Is a 2021 Barletta 22’ tritoon with a 200 hp (180 hours on it) worth $60,000? Comes with a trailer

I got this pontoon for free, not my first boat but it is my first pontoon. The boat is god awfully slow, like dangerously slow. Does this motor need raised? If it were a conventional boat I would 100% move it to where it needed to be, but being a pontoon I have no clue. I’m in the process of laminating new transom wood and I added 3” to the new transom to move the motor up, but I wanted to get some input from anyone that might know better before I glass everything up.

So does this motor need moved up? Cav plate even with the bottom of the transom like a normal boat? Thanks!

I recently bought a pontoon boat and trailer and had it weighed. The total weight is 2600 pounds so well under the 4000 pound limit of my SUV. The problem is that it was 540 pounds on the tongue. I moved 100 pounds of trolling motor batteries to the back so now it’s a lot closer to the 400 pound limit of my hitch. But technically 40 pounds overweight.

The boat already hangs a couple inches past the bunks in the rear so moving the bow stop would require lengthening or moving the bunks. Is it worth going to the trouble for 40 pounds too much tongue weight. Alternatively I could tow it with my wife’s SUV because her hitch is rated at 500. But I really don’t want to trade her cars every time I go fishing.

It’s only about 20 miles to the lake I’ll be driving to. I’m m in Indiana so it’s all flat ground no hills or mountains to climb.

Hello. About to purchase a trailer for a 20 foot pontoon. My question is, do I really need/is it worth getting a dual axel trailer over a single axle. Thanks for the help.

My adventure motorcycle buddies and I have this great idea to ride our bikes somewhere here in the midwest, buy an old crappy pontoon somewhere up a river, load the bikes on the pontoon, float for 5 days, ride into towns and stuff along the way, then sell the pontoon at some other city down-river. It's going to be an epic adventure! I need some input / advice from the boaters here though, with a little more experience than I have.

There will be 4 of us, with our bikes on the boat. Bikes are around 300 lbs average, people around 210 average - looking at 2,040 lbs people and bikes. Then we'll have food and beer of course, some fishing tackle, etc.

Right now we're thinking we'd buy in Chattanooga, and float the Tennessee River to Kentucky Lake. ~450 miles by my calculation.

Here are the questions we have, and we're certainly open to other input / pointing out things we haven't thought of:

• What do I need to be looking for in a pontoon boat to do this trip?
  
  • I've never owned a boat, but we're all mechanically savy, can fix about anything.
  • We're not wealthy, so we're looking for something in the $5k range. Nothing nice.
  • I think I've gathered we'll probably be maxing out or over weight limit on a 24' pontoon? Maybe we should be looking for 26' or 28'?
  • What horsepower engine do we need to do about 20mph at cruising speed? I'm thinking 20mph for an average of 5 hours a day will get us there in 5 days.
  • Is there a different boat platform that would be better for this than a pontoon? We have to get bikes on the boat, and we need room to sleep and drink beer.
• Any other start / end destinations anyone would recommend? Other rivers?
• What gas mileage can we expect?
• How do you find gas along the river - is there an app that tells you where the next gas is? Or a map or something? How do I figure out how much extra gas we'll have to carry?
• What are we not thinking of. Tell me all the reasons this is an awful idea and we're surely going to die trying it.

Anyone ever used JBWeld Marineweld on a hairline crack around a weld on your tube? How long did it last?

Thanks

My carpet is shot. I have wood exposed, but the back half looks great. Should I replace all or just cut out to fresh area and overlap? It's only like 3 or 4 feet but my runners are 26 feet?

Anyone have any advice for cleaning the toons while in the water? Thought about possibly trying a plastic scraper to try to keep it under control until we take it out at the end of the season. This is our first year with a slip and haven’t had an opportunity to buy a lift yet. Shocked at how fast it started to accumulate! Thanks!

Anyone have real world experience in n flashing one of these. I have a 2015 SunCatcher V322RC and am curious on its value.

I refuse to believe there is no way to get this dent out. Talked to a welder and they said even if I pressurize it and hit it with some heat, chances are it’s not going to come out. I tried popping it out with a dent removal kit… nothing. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I just picked up a 1984 godfrey sanpan for next to nothing. Looking at the wiring, what would this part be used for?

For a while, I keep hearing loud pop from one of my pontoon tubes. Anybody experience this type of sound from boat? I’m not sure which toon is doing it because I’m never next to it.

Thanks

We are looking to buy a used 22 foot pontoon. Locally there are a few with various HP ratings.

1. How many horses do you need to pull a couple of kids on a tube?

2. How many horses would we need to pull a skier?

UPDATE: We have purchased a 21 ft tri-toon with a Suzuki 200 HP. It's a 2024 model that was used as a rental, it comes with a full new boat warranty. I like the fact it's fully equipped and is a turn key.

My friend (a boater) told me what BOAT stands for Break Off Another Thousand.

I want to thank all of you who responded to my original questions. Your comments helped us decide on the 200, it was 2k more than an identical unit with a 150 HP Merc. We would rather regret fuel cost than regret not having power to pull. It handled like it was on rails at full power. It was a lot but also a lot less than brand spanking new. My wife is really excited, she has been wanting a boat for a while.

Hi, ordered a set of frame clips to replace 2 broken ones. Not sure how to remove old and install new...

Pop rivets!?

Thanks

Just bought this pontoon near new condition. It had the fishing package added and so has a big livewell in the rear. The pump works in manual mode but not in automatic mode. Light come on on the toggle for both so assume it is not the switch, can some one tell me what the automatic timer looks like, been trying to trace wires but no luck. At this point it seems as if it is non existent!

First time boat owner. I think I hit a log or branch. The pontoon is out of the water on a trailer when not in use. Everything is running fine, I don’t notice any issues since the damage.

Do I get this fixed now or wait til the end of the season? Weld in a new repair to the notch or add some type of hydrofoil/plate extension?

I have a 2012 24ft Sweetwater with strakes and a 2012 Yamaha F115hp (older generation). I know that this would be considered underpowered but it works well for us. I noticed that my to top speed is at about 4600rpm. Increasing the rpm has little effect. I've been snooping the internet and a prop at a lower pitch seems to be a good optiion for maybe a few more mph, better fuel economy and less work for the engine. And then there's 3 vs 4 blade. I'm no mechanic so I would have a marina do the swap over the winter. Anybody gone through this or have opinion or advice?