A friend of mine asked me to look at a few used pontoon boats. He
lives about five hours from here by car so I don't want to have him
drive all this way only to find something wrong with these boats.

I have an 18' power boat and a 21' sailboat. I have never owned a
pontoon boat and have only been on them a few times. Outside of normal
cosmetic wear and tear from use, are there things I should be looking
for that may be unique to pontoon boats? Should there be removable
inspection plates on the pontoons? I would imagine that if there are
leaks in the pontoons there would be some evidence inside.

These pontoon boats are somewhat smaller than most around here.
(freshwater only) One is 16' with a 30 hp four stroke Merc, the other
is a 20 ' with a 50 hp Merc 2 stroke.

My friend wants a smaller pontoon boat. Most around here and where he
lives are a lot bigger. That's why he is interested in these two.

LdB