wrote in message
...
On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 07:19:31 -0400, "Rocky"
wrote:

I rented a pontoon boat this week on a lake. The family really enjoyed
the
wide open floor and seating compared to the confined cuddy on the Bayliner
we used to own. How would a pontoon boat ride and handling compare to my
old bayliner on long island sound with 1 to 3 foot waves and strong
current?
We've been on Lake George, NY with wave crashing over our bow and
windshield - can pantoon safely handle that kind of condition or are they
prone to capsize? I haven't seen many articles on them in the boating
magazines. How much HP would I need to pull a wake boarder?
Rocky


I am not sure the Baltimore incident is relevant. That was a top heavy
boat with a double decker cabin.
These things can get very "wet" in rough water. I have one and I have
been caught offshore in nasty water. They tend to tuck the deck in
under a wave and "dive" until the prop comes out of the water, then
they pop back out. If the playpen goes all the way forward that may
not be a problem but I suspect it would take a beating slapping into
the waves and the water will come over. Open the back door to let the
water out and watch for things washing away.
All that said, in a light chop that doesn't break over the deck they
ride a lot better than a monohull. You can still get wet.
Somebody did point out that a capsized pontoon boat is still a pontoon
boat ;-)
If the tubes hold, it won't sink.
I agree with everything you've said but that the ferry had a "double decker
cabin". It just had a cover over the passengers. I wouldn't take my
pontoon boat out in a storm. I watched as a storm hit it while tied to the
dock and I swear I saw it coming up the hill toward the house before I ran
away from the windows. After the storm, it was still there but I suspect
the only reason for that was the total weight of the dock and the boat was
too much for the wind to lift it too far. Several trees did come down,
however. Also, I read that the Baltimore boat was overloaded by almost 700
pounds. The articles also mention that several other boat liveries have
stopped using pontoon boats after finding them unstable. They further
mention that one problem was what you mentioned about water coming over the
deck.

Tom G.

Rocky wrote:
I rented a pontoon boat this week on a lake. The family really enjoyed the
wide open floor and seating compared to the confined cuddy on the Bayliner
we used to own. How would a pontoon boat ride and handling compare to my
old bayliner on long island sound with 1 to 3 foot waves and strong current?
We've been on Lake George, NY with wave crashing over our bow and
windshield - can pantoon safely handle that kind of condition or are they
prone to capsize? I haven't seen many articles on them in the boating
magazines. How much HP would I need to pull a wake boarder?
Rocky

Rocky, I wouldn't want to buy a pontoon boat for water sports unless it
was a triple tube model with a minimum of 140 horsepower in a typical
22 to 24' outboard model; v6 power if it's an inboard. There are also
various performance options like deck underskinning and lifting strakes
that help with speed and maneuvering. Even so, it's really a
compromise solution.

Pontoon boats with bigger tubes (25" to 27") can do ok in moderately
choppy water, with pretty good stability (like a catamaran in some
ways), but offer very little in the way of protection from wind and
water.

If I wanted one sport boat with maximum deck space for both fresh and
sal****er, I would lean toward a fiberglass constructed deck boat.

I asked the same question to the instructor of my USCG boating safety
class. He has a captain's licence. He said "NO WAY" was a pontoon boat
safe on open waters. In fact, here in Maryland we had a pontoon water
taxi flip over in (protected) Baltimore harbor due to strong wind.

That boat flipped for more reasons that just being a pontoon boat. The
captain took it out in conditions that other boats refused. And it's
enclosed design practically made it a tomb, as was borne out by the poor
souls unlucky enough to get trapped when it capsized.