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Shopping for a used pontoon boat


Badger

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We are looking to add a pontoon boat to lakefront collection of toys this year.  We’d like a 22’ or 24’ boat with about a 40hp 4 stroke motor (preferably Honda or Yamaha).  This will strictly be for twilight cocktail cruises or tying up with neighbors at the swimming hole.  The key part is we’d like to spend about $10k.  The few I’ve seen so far in this price range have not been clean and have some type of upholstery issues going on.  I know that there will be a bunch more for sale in a couple of weeks if the weather ever warms up and people start pulling out of storage.

I have never shopped for pontoon boats so don’t really know the market.  Maybe I’ll go look for www.thepontooncrew.com.  But in the meantime, I have 2 questions for you pontoon boat owners:

 1.  Am I being unrealistic to find a clean, well taken care of boat in that price range?

2.  Has anyone ever completely stripped down and restored a pontoon boat frame with all new flooring and seats – either redoing the upholstery or buying all new frames and everything?  I’m pretty handy and could look at that as an option for an interesting project.

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10K might be a little light if you are expecting one in nice shape with a 4 stroke.  Pontoons tend to get pretty abused especially the cheaper ones.  My folks paid around 14K for a used Suntracker Fishin Barge with a 50 2 stroke 5? years ago.  It was in nice shape, but a suntracker is one of the cheapest pontoons that you can buy.

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Not sure of the market up in MI, but I have bought and sold 2 in the past 3 years that were $8,000 or less.  Both were in good shape, just needed a little TLC.  Wife and I went through both of them with a bottle of Vinyl Sauce and a scrub brush.  Amazing what that stuff can do.  I looked for ones that the upholstery wasn't ripped but maybe just dirty.  Both had Mercury 90HP two stroke big foots on them.  They both ran pretty good when I got them, but ended up redo-ing the carbs on both of them, just for peace of mind.  I'd look for something with good bones.  

Find something with a good motor and solid floors in them to save you the trouble.   Both of the ones I bought were late 90's boats.  The big thing for me was that everything worked, lights, gauges, trim, etc.   I think you'd do alot better to buy now and sell late summer and work your way up to a nicer boat.   I had zero issues selling both of mine.  Made a couple thousand on each one I sold and they sold in a matter of a week.

Craigslist was the ticket and I was willing to drive a couple hours to get them.   Also check out Facebook Marketplace, I've seen quite a few on there lately. 

Edited by NCVride
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  1. No, you are actually in a great price range.  I've had my eye out too, hoping to be at the $5k mark.  For $10k you can get a good one, just need some patience.  LOTS of stuff still in storage in Michigan (like, everything is still in storage).
  2. Yes, we stripped one down to pontoons and cross members.  Had a couple bent up cross members from poor trailer loading, replaced those, then plywood, then carpet, then painted the rails, then reupolstered, then new helm.  REALLY easy job, and ended up with a beautiful boat like new for under $6k.  The next step was a second floor platform, but we never got there.  This was all on a friend's boat.
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Owned several pontoons over the years, on a 22' to 24' I would not go any smaller than a 60hp.  Really like the Suzuki 4 Stroke motors, cheaper to maintain than Honda.  Not sure about the Yamaha's never owned one.  $10K you should be able to find a clean one, see them all the time down in DFW area.

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I guess I could divulge my plan.  I wanted a 24' with good pontoons and good rails.  Pull the furniture all out, put in new carpet, a new helm & captains chair, paint the rails if they do not clean up well, and then fill the rest with whatever - bean bags, folding chairs (they make some nice recliners), etc.  Then have a nice custom cover made that matches the upholstery and rails, so it all looks good and stays clean.  Cheap, easy to clean, and you can move around stuff as needed - put 4 recliners up front facing back, or put all 4 facing forwards, or fold up everything for some dancing, or move it all off for a game of bags....you get the idea.

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We've got a neighbor at the lake that has a 28 foot toon that he picked up for cheap.  Stripped it down and replaced the carpet and reconfigured the "cabin" area.  The cabin had railing and was the last 10' of the boat back by the engine.  It had the helm and captains chair and wraparound seating.  He then left the front 18' open for hanging out when they tied up.  Had some lawn chairs that could be placed anywhere, a gas grill, umbrellas.   Was a true party toon, I'll have to see if I can find some pictures.  

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2 minutes ago, blk93jeepzj said:

We've got a neighbor at the lake that has a 28 foot toon that he picked up for cheap.  Stripped it down and replaced the carpet and reconfigured the "cabin" area.  The cabin had railing and was the last 10' of the boat back by the engine.  It had the helm and captains chair and wraparound seating.  He then left the front 18' open for hanging out when they tied up.  Had some lawn chairs that could be placed anywhere, a gas grill, umbrellas.   Was a true party toon, I'll have to see if I can find some pictures.  

I like that idea but you have to be careful about laws regarding riders outside of the rails.  In Michigan you would get pulled over and ticketed if someone was outside of the rail area while underway.  Obviously that law was built around people sitting on what is normally 2' of floor space outside of the rail and dangling their legs in the water, but I could see some DNR guys saying it applies to any space outside of the rail.

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Ahh Yes. 

No one rode outside of the cabin area while under way.  Plenty of seating back therefor 8-10 people.  The front deck was for when it was stopped and people tied up to him.  

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