$$$$ hey- lam-$$$ bought a new pontoon

[PlanB]

some where down the line, as soon as you say boat, the first question is how fast will it go......so that being said,.. speed is really a factor...and most don't wanna leave speed on the table, they wanna bring it with them...with the quest to make pontoons less slow. they started putting more and more power to try to put them in the performance boat category.... and change the game... pontoons are still in there own category and will never compete with a true performance boat,.. like in tractors will never compete with dragsters... so if the quest is speed VS cost pontoons aren't even in the game.....120k for a 350 hp tritoon doesn't make any mathematical sense to end up at 55 mph wot..... you can buy a deck boat for the same price that goes 75/80 mph for less.... so , for me, I have lost all desire to run up the river at 80 mph ,... people have no clue how to drive.... so we sold the deck boat and bought 2 pontoons about 5 years ago... having to be on pin all the time to run 40 sucks.....trying to load on the trailer in the wind sucks...I think of toons as ferry boats to get a load of people across the water...after spending 125k for a single engine toon,I feel like a guy driving in the rain with windshield wipers with no rubber on the blades....dumb fuc, dumb fuc dumb fuc, dumb fuc.....

If my toon did not stay on a lift in my slip I would not own it. It is by far the worst boat I have owned when it comes to trailering in a wind. It's a PITA.

 

[Bigbore500r]

My wife is not every getting off the pontoon deal,... we took the honda 250 out, ran most of the time @ 30 mph,@ 42/4300 rpms...wot it did 43 mph.. little bit of wind and up river... didn't think we would ever get to topoc.... so I bought a new coach toon, hp package with the 350hp merc,... they clain 55-58 mph...????? whats the real numbers???? is that even close????? I wanna cruise @ 40 mph,.. and not be on pin....

My friend just traded his 25' Coach that had a 250 Honda, and upgraded to a 243 Excalibur with a 350 Verado (same builder as coach, probably same toons as your boat...)

We had it out this weekend, it did awesome. We ran from Needles to Sandbar, cruising 50-52 per GPS, and he was right there with me, and had some throttle to spare, with a load of 7 people and cooler. We cruised back up-river at 45-47, again - no issue and throttle to spare, didn't see like it was stressed or wound out at all. I believe he has seen 57 or so, hasn't pushed it too hard as it's new.

Great setup, I think you will be pleased.

 

[2FORCEFULL]

My friend just traded his 25' Coach that had a 250 Honda, and upgraded to a 243 Excalibur with a 350 Verado (same builder as coach, probably same toons as your boat...)

We had it out this weekend, it did awesome. We ran from Needles to Sandbar, cruising 50-52 per GPS, and he was right there with me, and had some throttle to spare, with a load of 7 people and cooler. We cruised back up-river at 45-47, again - no issue and throttle to spare, didn't see like it was stressed or wound out at all. I believe he has seen 57 or so, hasn't pushed it too hard as it's new.

Great setup, I think you will be pleased.

anywhere between 40-50 cruise speed would be nice,.... they say it'll do it no propblem... if it don't.... 5...4...3...2...1...for sale...

 

[Bigbore500r]

anywhere between 40-50 cruise speed would be nice,.... they say it'll do it no propblem... if it don't.... 5...4...3...2...1...for sale...

I was impressed, it hauled ass. I kept thinking I was leaving him in the dust running on top of rough water at a good clip, i'd look back and he was right there, just cruisin

 

[2FORCEFULL]

Why didn't you just repower existing toon?

the deal didn't go through on the new one,... my credit score is only 850 ... so we unwound the deal... so I was wondering if swapping power is even an option... and who would do something like that..???

 

[Andy B.]

the deal didn't go through on the new one,... my credit score is only 850 ... so we unwound the deal... so I was wondering if swapping power is even an option... and who would do something like that..???

You're joking right 850 is an awesome score, 900 is the best you can get!!

 

[2FORCEFULL]

You're joking right 850 is an awesome score, 900 is the best you can get!!

actually, 850 is the best you can get, when I ordered the toon I had to do a credit app. when I bought the toon, the toon was an 18 model even though I bought it in 2019, the motor is a 2019, I guess what the dealer said was this... they sold my trade 2 days latter.. for the price they wanted, but, because the HIN.. ( hull id number) was 2018, the buyer had to come up with 3500 more down... so the dealer called me and wanted me to pay it or unwind the deal... so after a couple days of thinking I paid too much to get a lesser toon, even though it had a bigger motor....the thought of paying another 3500 didn't work for me... so I just let them unwind... the year of the boat is part of the HIN, our coach has the dual helm option,...and the rear loungers with big storage box's, that and the wider seat base's, coach doesn't offer that any more...

 

[2FORCEFULL]

 

[2FORCEFULL]

so now, trying to figure out what to do, or just do nothing...you can buy a deck boat that cruises 50 way cheeper than a toon that cruises 50,.. probley cost 50k to swap motors, minus what you could get for the honda motor..

 

[Wedgy]

You did good Frankie... "A Bird in the Hand.' Wow very nice boat! Great story.
Remember when they were Patio boats. Worked on many a rear patio addition on Lake Shasta steel 'toon Houseboats.

 

[Ricks raft]

so 1 mile per hour per 10 hp ????, my evinrude 250 ran 50..thats 2mph per 10 hp... and best ever of 55,... the honda 250 run 43, thats 1.7 per 10 hp... the merc with that math should run 58-60 mph.... mph...sooo... the merc 350 is the lowest performing motor of all the out boards????? thats what i'm thinking with out running,,,and the evinrude is still king of the hill??? and the 400hp is the lowest performance????@1.575 per hp???? 2 mph @ 400 hp would be 80 mph....

As you know as speed increases the Ratio of power needed to gain speed increases. I would think even more so with a big toon, that’s a lot of front wind resistance.

 

[2FORCEFULL]

As you know as speed increases the Ratio of power needed to gain speed increases. I would think even more so with a big toon, that’s a lot of front wind resistance.

thats why I said if you wanna go fast just get a deck boat, even a magic will go 60 with a 496...

 

[Bigbore500r]

so now, trying to figure out what to do, or just do nothing...you can buy a deck boat that cruises 50 way cheeper than a toon that cruises 50,.. probley cost 50k to swap motors, minus what you could get for the honda motor..

Remember that 26' Wildcat with the 525? Lol.....


This is my struggle with the pontoon thing.....there's a crossover point where it doesn't make sense to me.

You get a pontoon that's so nice you can't treat it like a pontoon, it gets babied like a custom performance boat.

It costs more than a custom performance boat

It goes slower than a custom performance boat


When you can get a deck boat (used of course) that runs 65 mph for 30-40k cheaper than a 350 powered pontoon that runs 50mph, my brain can't wrap around that decision. Of course theres other factors, like the pontoon is a NEW boat, and the ease of maintanance / reliability of a new outboard motor is a plus. But these are the things I think about when considering the switch