Around here (upstate NY), pontoon boats tend to be owned by the same people
who think a K-car is just a bit too wild.

Folks around here are discovering that a pontoon boat makes a pretty good back
bay fishing boat if you set it up center console and toss all of that
furniture.
I use the truck tool boxes for my gear.
Carpet on glued top of the box makes a good walking surface. When granny wants
to go for a ride, just bring along a lawn chair.
That makes this a very low maintenance boat.
One advantage of a pontoon is that you can mount the engine a lot higher so it
runs "on the step" with the cavitation plate just under water and when it sets
down it is only a few inches below that. That makes a boat that will run in a
bit over a foot of water at idle speed without tearing up the bottom. Not many
flats boats (none?) can do that.

put 60 hours on the motor during the past 15 months.

I just went over 450hrs since April 2002 when I bought my 60 merc 4 stroke. We
are 12 month boaters tho.

Glad to hear the Merc 60 4 stroke is going on 450 hours. Give me confidence
that mine will last a long time

It's still making a little oil but I am changing it every 50 and things seem
fine. It is still a "bump the starter" to start engine that runs smoothly from
about 600rpm up to WOT with no stumbles, chokes or smoke. I'm sold on 4
strokes.

"Gfretwell" wrote in message
...
Around here (upstate NY), pontoon boats tend to be owned by the same
people
who think a K-car is just a bit too wild.

Folks around here are discovering that a pontoon boat makes a pretty good
back
bay fishing boat if you set it up center console and toss all of that
furniture.
I use the truck tool boxes for my gear.
Carpet on glued top of the box makes a good walking surface. When granny
wants
to go for a ride, just bring along a lawn chair.
That makes this a very low maintenance boat.
One advantage of a pontoon is that you can mount the engine a lot higher
so it
runs "on the step" with the cavitation plate just under water and when it
sets
down it is only a few inches below that. That makes a boat that will run
in a
bit over a foot of water at idle speed without tearing up the bottom. Not
many
flats boats (none?) can do that.

Hey....I don't doubt that they can be set up and used creatively. I just
made an observation of what I see most of the time around here. Sort
like...mention a Crown Victoria in front of 50 guys and the mental picture
48 will have will involve a very old driver.

Sort
like...mention a Crown Victoria in front of 50 guys and the mental picture
48 will have will involve a very old driver.

Nope ... a cop!

"Gfretwell" wrote in message
...
Sort
like...mention a Crown Victoria in front of 50 guys and the mental
picture
48 will have will involve a very old driver.

Nope ... a cop!

Yeah...them too. But, when I was shopping for a vehicle last year for towing
my 14' boat, the Crown Vic was one of my final candidates. All my friends
said "Grandpa!". :-)

The instant barbeque gas tank feature blew the Ford out of the running and I
ended up with the Tacoma.

We had a Vickie for a few years. Nice car, kinda hard on gas, and it scared
people at night who thought they had a cop behind them. It died of a head
gasket issue and drove itself to the junkyard.

I escaped the "grandpa" stuff because everyone knew it was a "winter car" to
my 68 Vette. I had a tendency to get BIG 2nd cars, in part as a counter to
the rather spartan living conditions inside the Vette. My favorite of these
was a '68 Caddy convertable that I had in the very early 80's.

-W


--

PLEASE NOTE: Email address change from to

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
"Gfretwell" wrote in message
...
Sort
like...mention a Crown Victoria in front of 50 guys and the mental
picture
48 will have will involve a very old driver.

Nope ... a cop!

Yeah...them too. But, when I was shopping for a vehicle last year for
towing
my 14' boat, the Crown Vic was one of my final candidates. All my friends
said "Grandpa!". :-)

The instant barbeque gas tank feature blew the Ford out of the running and
I
ended up with the Tacoma.

"Clams Canino" wrote in message
.. .
We had a Vickie for a few years. Nice car, kinda hard on gas, and it
scared
people at night who thought they had a cop behind them. It died of a head
gasket issue and drove itself to the junkyard.

I escaped the "grandpa" stuff because everyone knew it was a "winter car"
to
my 68 Vette. I had a tendency to get BIG 2nd cars, in part as a counter to
the rather spartan living conditions inside the Vette. My favorite of
these
was a '68 Caddy convertable that I had in the very early 80's.


Next time you have an hour to kill and you're around a Ford/Merc dealer, see
if they have a Marauder available for a test drive. It's a REALLY cool car.
But, as you mentioned, everyone you get behind will slow down, which will
drive you nuts. That even used to happen with my '92 white Taurus. The
grille was almost identical to that of the Crown Vics of that time period.
Looked like an unmarked car.

Things are better now with the Tacoma pickup. It's high enough off the
ground that one flash of the brights burns the retinas of the driver in
front of me, and they drive right off the road into the woods.

Jay, I conducted a survey of pontoon boat owners a couple of months ago. 33
owners responded. 17 keep their boats on trailers, the rest in docks or dry
storage.

Wow! Thanks for your effort in finding out how people use their
pontoon boats. Seem like quite a number of people trailer their
pontoon boats.

Pontoon boats have maximum people versatility (lots of people and lots of
activties) and minimal boating versatility (poor speed and maneuvarability,
lack of seaworthiness for bad conditions). In recreational boating, they are
truly a compromise, moreso than most boats.

I see your point. If I get a pontoon boat, I will not want to bring it
out near shore even when the weather is nice and the water is
relatively calm because there will be some waves in the sea even if
the weather is very nice. This limits the use of a pontoon boat in
lakes, bay or in-shore. This means I need to decide whether I will
ever want to bring the boat outside the bay...

Jay Chan

I take my boat to the Keys and other places ...

Where did you go if you don't mind telling me? Did you go to Florida
Bay and try fishing in the flats? How things went?


We are primarily interested in diving the reefs but on calm days I have been
offshore a ways (with other boats) looking for dolphin or whatever other blue
water fish might show up. I have chased a few bonefish around in the Contents
but I am not interested in just fishing to toss them back.
A pontoon is a very stable dive platform.