Question for Idahoron?????

[Koke-Fiend]

My son is wanting a pontoon for fishing lake Lowell and small ponds and such, What would you recommend as a good boat for this?

Thanks in advance. Jon
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[idahoron]

In short a used one.
The long answer It depends on your desires for the boat. Do you want a motor? How much weight will be in the boat? What s your budget? How much will it really be used?

There will be a lot of answers to this question.
Some will recommend pontoons that cost as much as a house payment on a mansion.
I have two Creek CO pontoons that have just nylon fabric covers. They are fine if your VERY careful. They offer no safety from stickers or a bass plug that shoots back at the boat. At 8 foot long with sharp rockers these boats are very tough to balance.



Here is what they look like loaded but not balanced.



My son uses this kind of boat all the time. We have figured out how to adjust them to ride well and he has put about 50 miles of float trips down the river. They have so little hull in the water that they are tough to oar straight.



With all their faults this boat would be fine if a person wants a float tube but doesn't want to get as wet. One good thing about this boat is they are light. This kind of boat used should be easy to find for 100 to 150 dollars.

My recommendation is a pontoon with PVC covers. PVC covers are going to give you a little more protection from stickers of a sharp fin on a fish. I like all PVC covers. The toons that have PVC on the bottom but fabric on top are not much protection but some. In my opinion if your going to use it at a lake or pond it doesn't need the rockered hull. My last two boats were not "rockered" and I used them a lot in the river.
The Sportsmans warehouse 8 foot is a good boat. The 9 foot is a little better. The 10 foot has a long hull and higher weight capacity. It tracks well but is a little tougher to turn with fins. They have PVC hulls and I like them to be honest. They are a good boat to put a electric motor on and their hull design makes it easy to load them and make them balance.



A used sportsmans 8 can be bought in the 200 to 250.00 range. A sportsmans 9 can be found for 200 to 350. and the Sportsmans 10 are harder to find. Most guys that have them won't let them go but if you find one it will be 400 to 500. Don't put a gas motor on any pontoon. The frames are not designed for a gas motor. To get that kind of a boat your going to start to look at a boat that is going to run 1800.00 and more. My next one is designed for a gas motor and white water rated.

I have a friend that has a southfork and he likes it. There are some good boats out there but if I were you I would look for used. The questions I asked above will make a difference what is recommended by others. There are a lot of people here with a lot of opinions on what is the best boat. What I need in a boat now is vastly different than it was two years ago, heck even a year ago. What I want in a boat is not the same as what others want. I even offered my son my 9 foot and 10 foot Sportsmans and he said he wanted to stay with his creek co.
It boils down to budget, and intended use. Ron
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[Koke-Fiend]

Thank you for all the info, I was considering the Sportsman Warehouse 8 foot but was not sure. I have zero experience here, so am glad to hear I got lucky and picked a good one. He is mostly going to be in small ponds and lakes so he should not need the big rockers, not sure if he is ready for a motor and battery either, might be best to learn with the paddles first, but that would be a great option to have. And I think durable is also a good idea he plans to Bass fish out of it, Used is also a great idea now I have a base to start my search.

Thanks again Ron.
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[idahoron]

Make sure to check the frame where the seat is. Those cross pieces should be checked on all pontoons. Also ask if the pontoons leak. It is normal for them to shrink when they are cool and swell when they get hot. Make sure that they are never tight in the cool of the morning and left in the sun out of the water. They will blow. Also make sure that sportsmans 8 has a motor mount. If it doesn't it will be tough to find one. Ron
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