Hey Gang,

Hoping you can help out a rookie. I am looking at buying a boat this winter or in the spring. I live on a 500 acre lake and have 2 kids ages 6 and 10. They are just getting to the point where they want to tube and do some other water sports. I am looking at buying a new pontoon or tritoon and really the main thing I want to know is does a tritoon corner hard and easily get tubers outside the wake? My friend bought a very nice pontoon boat this year and it has a 90 horse Mercury on it. The boat goes plenty fast for me and for the tubers but the one thing I notice is it is hard for him to get tubers outside of the wake and "whip" them around like most tubers like. If I were to get a 115 horse Merc on a pontoon could I whip tubers?

Thats why tritoons are interesting to me because I have heard the turn alot better and corner harder. Is this true as I have never been on one? Tritoons are nice but they are expensive. If I spend 35K on a tritoon I want it to be able to "whip" my tubers. Will I be dissapointed? Should I just buy a ski boat? We are not huge into water sports but I want to be able to have fun with my kids and the tritoon or pontoon is nice because I just have to buy one boat.

Any advice would be helpful.

Not the best forum to ask this question, but...
...Tri-toon all day everyday, and twice on Sunday. They are dramatically more stable, and absolutely a better design.

This one can run over 50mph with the right conditions, but it's in the mid-40s every time we take it out; with a 250 Yamaha on it.

And be careful on the whole "whipping" tubers and the like. That's how people get hurt, maimed, and killed; as they get flung into stationary objects like docks, markers, stumps, and land; or the path of other boaters.

Either it's winter, or we've reached the end of the Internet....

I have a pontoon right now. We will be adding a third log with integrated transom to it this winter. No comparison, imo.

You don't need a 3rd log on a 500 acre lake. I had a tritoon on LOTO for years and I wouldn't be caught dead on LOTO in a pontoon....it's way too rough, but on 500 acres...you're going in a circle.
My kids learned to ski & wakeboard behind my tritoon and they suck for watersports. 2 main problems: 1) they don't produce a wake 2) they don't turn worth a ****....even the "best" turning toons don't turn well.....to me, this is a safety concern. If you have a skier in the water; circling back to get them can take some time and other boaters don't see a head bobbing in the water very well.
I just moved to a community with a 650 acre lake. I'm looking for a v-drive wakeboard / ski boat. The v-drive boats can still seat 8+ people.

Funny you mention that because last month we were at a relatives place on a tiny 500 acre lake south of INDY full of homes in coves and a central area where everybody boats in in one circle. Some guy was pulling his kids on a tube and dam near slung them right into a boat sitting at idle just outside the circle. It was a pretty setting good for swimming off your dock but too dam dangerous for me to even think about skiing or tubing on.

I live on about a 480 acre lake and my neighbor has a tri-toon with twin 400r's.... little overkill

If your set on pulling tubes you will want a minium of 250hp and tri-toon. When you throw it into the corner your going to have to keep the throttle up to keep the speed going. As for lake size our cabin is on a 550 acre lake and I have a 68mph and 550hp pontoon. Never such a thing as to much HP.

Don't discount a Chaparral Sunesta 220 Deck Boat. We one in the family. It seats people just like toon, frt and rear swim landings and ladders. Used as much as a waterski / wakeboard / tubing boat as it is going to hang out with a bunch of people. A ton of people ! Tons of storage and a room for a portapotti underneath the helm,

Even has a frt, rear and a frt side door...great for elderly and drunks.

Only issue is it's looks. Took me a while to get over it.....but it is used a ton. I use it a ton also.

Pics are not mine..just one's I found on the net.

A 22' tri-toon with 150HP is enough to have fun, it will turn like a plastic boat, ride better and offer more convenience.