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 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 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.

"Scott McPhillips [MVP]" org-dot-mvps-at-scottmcp wrote in message
news
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 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.


Wow, I guess that's why I don't see very many here as I live near long
island sound.
It just seemed like so much more usuable space and less maintenance on the
hull. My next question was going to be we want to be able to make the trip
across the sound to port jeff, NY too...

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.

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?


Seems to me that a pontoon slicing though the water makes a great
smooth ride on a pond, small lake, or river, but 3 foot waves? it
would probably handle that ok too, that is, if you like being soaked
when the waves go flooding over your deck.

I wouldn't want that.

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.