Question:
Which pontoon boat manufacturer would you recommend?
(Premier, Suncruiser, Suntracker, or another manufacturer!)
I'm thinking of buying a new 18' to 20' pontoon boat for use in the Lake
Havasu City, Arizona area and have the opportunity to purchase through one
of the local dealers mentioned above. Any comments or opinions about
workmanship and/or boat handling for pontoons would be appreciated.
Answer:
-I bought a 22 foot sweetwater last year. I like it, but I'll warn you
that pontoon boats are really slow. I came down from a speedboat, and
I don't like the whole pontoon scene that much. Have you considered a
deck boat? That's kind of like a pontoon top on a real boat bottom.
I wish I had taken that route. Hurricane makes a nice one.
-The one who PAINTS the BOTTOM of the wooden decking that gets all
soaked every time the damned pontoon boat gets put in the water......
I looked at 8 pontoon boats at the last boat show last weekend. 6 of
them ALREADY had water damage from the TREATED plywood soaking up
rainwater that went around the end of the decking and SOAKED UP into
the plywood....
Damn them. It would be SO easy to DIP the plywood in urethane after
it was cut to size so it wouldn't suck up water and rot.
- I'm going through the same thing myself. I am gathering brochures,
comparing layouts and construction, trying to get whatever feedback I can. I'd
be happy to swap notes with you.
I've started a pontoon owners web site (www.mypontoon.com) for sharing exactly
this type of information. I'm going to try to publish what I gather, and
hopefully do some writeups and pictorials of the good/bad/ugly I see in the
market.
-I can't speak to what they are building these days but my Harris "Flotebote" is
26 years old and it is still in good enough shapr e that I ma putting the 3d
engine on it. Basically a pontoon boat is only as good as the pontoons and
aluminum hardware. The "furniture" and carpet is always expendible. YMMV on the
decking. I am on my second deck. The aluminum parts are still OK after a
quarter century in salt water.
