3 Point Star Lakes belong to everyone that meet the legality of use for that body of water. Imagine all the horror stories from owners on their 'toon when the douche in the cigar boat or jet ski comes blowing by at an unsafe distance rocking them in a huge wake or causing them to perform major evasive action. Be respectful of other peoples choices and you will get respect back. Toons definitely have come a long way, if the demand was not there they wouldn't exist.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, when a man finally caves into purchasing a pontoon boat, It's a sure sign of a man who's given up on life. Get a pontoon and the next thing ya know is your Wife is wearing pajamas in public and you're driving a minivan...

And mowing the lawn in plaid shorts, black calf-length socks, and loafers?!

Bunch of whiners.

I honestly don't see what the problem is with a 24' triple pontoon with a 200 Pro XS that will do well over 45mph, turn like a v bottom, can hold 15 people and is around 50K. I understand it isn't for everyone but its like talking trash on someone who has a skiff to fish off of. you need to look at what is a practical decision for the person who purchased it. they also have come an extremely long way when it comes to salt water, but just like anything else its just maintenance? With no carpet and reliable outboards it is the right boat for a lot of people, maybe not you, but a lot of people

This is cracking me up. How many times have people on this site complained about being stereotyped as douchbag cigar boat owners who are running drugs and driving out of control? But now everyone who owns a 'toon is old, fat, stupid, and driving drunk. Why would anyone care how someone else spends their time or money? There is no "right" way to go boating. I love screaming across the water with the exhaust roaring but like to mix it up. I can look at any type of boat and see the benefits.

As far as 'toons go, I love them. Dad's on his second nice one and we use it a ton. I think part of the issue is that there are a lot of people on here who drop their performance boat in, run around WFO by themselves for a little while, then put it back on the trailer. They do that for 20 hours a year and spend the rest of the time working on it. No, the toons aren't exciting do drive but I enjoy hanging out with friends and family. Load it down, crank up the music, and go bar hopping/swimming/lunch runs/etc. Plenty of days we leave before lunch and don't put it back on the lift till way after dark. And you can do it for a ton of hours every season with almost no maintenance. Just my opinions.

Don't get me started on people wearing PJs in public!

Jake, I missed that video but still only made it halfway through it! :)

I know toons have a place but I still hate the damn things clogging up the lake! Anchor it out in the middle and party on but usually they are just idling around all over.

A toon is a second or third boat. (imo)

And I know the video of the one with a 525 is bound to pop up. What a waste of a good engine. :party-smiley-004:

Boat is awesome......only thing it needs to be perfect is some type of SHADE! Problem is with the lines of that boat, nothing looks good (T-Top or Bimini)

I have a tri toon and I'm pretty sure I haven't given up on anything. Actually my wife is going in for some upgrades this week �� The funnier thing to me is people with offshore boats that drive them on little inland lakes.

To each his own.

There is definitely an effort to change the image of owning a pontoon boat.:)

Before and After...

here's a different take on the reasoning
I have a 353 bought new mint always inside undercover bought it to keep it
great boat right size good hull dependable power w/HO's 13 years old and in absolutely as new condition it's staying with me indefinitely
I like to run around eastern lake Ontario as well as the St. Lawrence River so I need something like the 353 for my own kicks and getaways with the old lady.

enter her 4 kids:
they are awesomely respectful of everything far and above what you could ask for, but they are still kids and I want the water to be fun for them and myself without anxiety.
They do well on the 353 and enjoy it but it lacks individual seating and floor space obviously.

I have been contemplating a basic quality toon for quite some time
I am held back by the lack of performance and am a little underwhelmed by what you get for the $

I keep scouting big used BR's as there's a ton of value at the price point right now, there is plenty of seating and a head is a must with 3 women amongst the 6 of us and who knows for guest kids the oldest is 14 a very happening young lady and it's entirely possible to have one or more of her BFF's with us-again a head is a must!

what keeps bringing me back to the toon is LOW MAINTENENCE!
with a big ranch the 353 4 vehicles a fleet of sleds, wheelers and much more...including a JOB
and being 50
I DON'T WANT ANOTHER BIG GLASS BOAT WITH AN I/O TO TAKE CARE OF AND MAINTENENCE to get the job done for the kids
I figure ultra low maintenance with a 70/90 4S. no worries about spills and crumbs and whatever...I turn them loose with a couple bottles of spray nine, a soft brush, hose, and a chamois- they can't really hurt it and it teaches them a few things and involves them in the whole gig along the way.

I see a pontoon in my future. As far as the $'s worth gripe well, I gotta look at it as low maintenance and an easy way to bring up boaters as part of the value.
the toon would be for bopping around between the islands in the river, going to island beaches, bay beaches on the lake (trailer to) on a nice day, and generally going out swimming for a couple hours.
I also live close to dozens of small inland lakes that would be easy to explore on a toon
I'm not a fishin guy but what kid doesn't want to fish? works for that also..

I'm 22 minutes from the river and my 1 existing slip and about 30 from the Lake so that's all easy. I just need a easily trailerable (when not docked next to the 353) day boat for them/us just for FUN- carefree kid type fun!

another thing is the resale value and quickness. People will spend months, even over a year trying to get what they want out of a bowrider. Sell your pontoon weeks and get asking price. used pontoons are like big foot. once you think you found it... its already gone

No a toon but would seem like a good compromise.

http://www.carolinacatboats.com/23sd...ran/index.html

I have owned my share of performance boats believe me (Fountain , Cigarette , Donzi , Eliminator etc...) and each one a great boat for it's purpose.
Now enter my Playcraft extreme 27 pontoon / tritoon with a 496 mag HO - this is truly the Best Boat I have owned for above and beyond it's purpose.
We cruise at 50mph with tops close to 60mph. Most common comment as we pass other boats..." is that an F-ing Pontoon" ;) -

Not sure what's worst, being passed up by a Sea Doo or a pontoon while tearing up the lake in your bad azz go fast with open exhaust. :)

Are you talking about just the new boat market, or used boats as well?

everyone who owns a 'toon is old, fat, stupid, and driving drunk. Haha!

This one has a 525 in it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o5MFbC0ifA

Sorry if my offhanded comments offended anyone. I was kidding haha. One thing for sure though is there will never be a pontoon at our dock, we don't have kids or fat old people at our house. No need or desire for one of those things.

Im with Biggus! Plus our Cove neighbors would kick us Out!! Here is a Real Party Barge



[ATTACH=CONFIG]541751[/ATTACH]

Told ya the 525 one would surface! lol Kind of like the turbine powered jet-ski......

We need some before/after pics to make sure it was a good job! :D

Watch out for your comments on offshores on inland lakes.........there is a very sensitive Gladiator owner that has never put the boat in salt water before! :rolleyes:

Ok, I had a few beers with the boys and got to thinking. Yup, pontoons are a foolish waste of time. Just plain ridiculous sitting out there in all your furniture and all. Old fat drunken bastards ya know!

that would be new prices going back 15 years or so that market had a few more players in it than it does now. some mfgr's gave up on the under 30 market and some gave up totally on the go fast market cig had the 30 vice fountain had the 27 and 29 donzi had the 16 18 and 22 classics and the 22 26 28 zx and 28 zxo. scarab just went away.
The market for the older classic thunderboats is pretty strong and there are a lot of resto's going on . in the newer go fast used market there seem to be some good buys on the 24-30 foot vee bottom a lot of bang for the buck. I have seen 27 fountains and formulas very clean low hours early to mid 2000's model years for 30k-50k that doesn't help the new market either.

Name change tiime !

Tieduptothedockwithmycenterconsoleorpontoon.com

LOL. :Wink:

You think pontoon owners are people too lazy to learn how to sail?? :D

Saw a tri-toon at Marine Max with 2 300 verados strapped to the back of it, salesman said it would do 78-80mph The price tag on it was160k !!!

What's a pontoon? :party-smiley-004: I'm only familiar with poontoon :daz:

Like this one?
http://www.marinemax.com/boats/detai...max-clearwater

That's it !! Super nice toon !!

This one gets my vote for a compromise. It's way bigger than your average 'toon' and may blow a huge hole in the budget but I think it got a lot of appeal.

http://www.powerboatlistings.com/photographs/13061
http://www.maresinternational.com/#!Mares 38 Center Console Catamaran /zoom/mainPage/image1kda

Big question.......Is anyone making them? Sonic/Frisini/Spectre/Mares. Originally a New Zealand design (Scott Robson) I understand.

RR

in the 50,s and 60,s there were tons on entry level boats i had a 75 year old gent bring in a 15 foot closed bow with a full plexi glass winshield and a 50 hp outboard i have to say its a blast to drive and had to be pretty cheap in the day even today i bet it could be reproduced we need to get folks on the water in a simple fun boat like we all learned to ski behind

We have one that runs 50, and is very comfortable for the little ones and grandparents. Very efficient, very comfortable and low maintenance. But, we will have the go fast too as soon as this daycare crap ends. I laugh when parents talk about college cost, did you forget about the 2k per month daycare?

I never thought I would have a tritoon, but after my wife had back surgery it made since. So currently the 29' w/525 is sitting in the shed while we able to get on water with the toon. It kills me say it but it actually pretty cool, but the plans is to sell in a year? I'm actually wondering if I will? I wanted a fun deck but not many around. Ride is really smooth and running at 48mph. I never thought I would be on the lake where my buddy also has a 38 fountain and we are talking toons:

Caitlyn Jenner announced they are getting a pontoon! :rolleyes:

But does "she" look hot in a bikini? :eekdrop:

Well maybe she has a "Captain Winky" aboard......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClAiUdThFgw

All this talk about maintenance of a bowrider with in I\o vs pontoon with an outboard, what engines are giving you guys so much trouble? And how big of a bow rider do you have where you have to be upside down to work on it?

My parents still have the bowrider that we had when I was a kid. A 1994 renken with a 5.0 merc / alpha one and it has hardly needed any work. Granted, the hull has stress cracks and it's finally time to do the floor in it, but it's a 21 year old boat. I know we've done the impeller and water pump a few times (outboards have impellers, same amount of effort to replace) and had to rebuild the carb once. What older outboard hasn't had to have carbs messed with? Throw in fuel injection on newer motors and that issue goes away. Also, the fuel pump went bad 2 years ago, so a 19 year old fuel pump had to be replaced...once again, a really easy job. The boat doesn't have a wide bench, it's got the engine cover and then a seat on either side, so access to the motor couldn't be easier. You can just sit on the floor next to it. No complaints. Nothing like my scarab which is a huge pain. The only other maintenance/repair we had to do was pulling the manifolds and soaking them in acid to clean them out because we noticed the boat was running a little warmer than usual. And lastly, there's oil changes, which also have to be done on all the new 4 stroke outboards. That's it...21 years of boating and that's all the problems. And we used the heck out of that thing for the first 14 years until my brother and I were off to college. Every weekend was at the lake kneeboarding, skiing, tubing, with a little of down time for swimming.Once I was in highschool and could drive we were allowed to take it out after school during the week without my parents. Plenty of space for me and my friends. The hour meter died on the boat many many years ago around 800, and i'm sure it's got much more than that on it. If you take care of your **** and don't beat on it, then it will last. Also, it's not a performance boat so it doesn't get wrung out and cruised near redline, so I'm sure that helps too, but it cruises comfortably at 40mph, which is fast enough to not feel slow, and still has throttle left. But all this talk of i/o's needing tons of work and outboards being zero maintenance doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it's because I only deal with used boats that are older and haven't had a newer one, but every outboard boat I've had has always required work, or tuning, or would never quite idle right or would have the power tilt and trim unit go bad....and don't even get me started on the fichts..... The scarab is the only boat that has made me hate an I\O but I knew what I was getting into and with more power and performance comes more maintenance....just like with cars. 150k on a honda accord doesn't seem like much and you don't expect to have many repairs needed, but 150k on a porsche...well, do they even last that long?

2005 Sonic 358 with 496 Ho's and I was truly upside down on my head changing out the Impellers.

Not gunna read the whole thread but I own one and its great for what I have it for.