Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

[cak56]

We are just about to buy a used 22ft. 2008 tritoon with a Mercury 115 EFI. We took a test drive and were taken back by the MPH. Private lake, no swells, no real wind. WOT at 22? Three adults on board. No lifting strakes.The engine has 292 hrs. Could this be the problem? It is extremely clean and in what looks to be excellent condition. Hate to let it get away,but we can't deal with top MPH of 22. We want to cruise,pull tubes and fish. looks to be the standard black painted prop. I don't know the pitch. Just a three blade. We don't want to risk the purchase and stay at this speed. Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful. Thank you

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

It is a pontoon - how fast do you think it should go?

 

[BobGinCO]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

It is a pontoon - how fast do you think it should go?

If it were a pontoon, it would actually be faster.
A tritoon without strakes is slower than a pontoon. More drag is the cause.

It will handle much better, especially in rough water, and crossing wakes.

Mine does 22-23.

I will take it over wakes at full throttle.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

If it were a pontoon, it would actually be faster.
A tritoon without strakes is slower than a pontoon. More drag is the cause.

It will handle much better, especially in rough water, and crossing wakes.

Mine does 22-23.

I will take it over wakes at full throttle.

A tritoon is a pontoon, but a pontoon isn't neccessarily a triton

Basically you have a bus with 115 HP, its built for comfort not speed.

 

[BobGinCO]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

A tritoon is a pontoon, but a pontoon isn't neccessarily a triton
Basically you have a bus with 115 HP, its built for comfort not speed.

If you see my signature line, you will understand that I know intimately about this.
OP says he has a TRItoon. That's THREE.
In the Pontoon world, a PONTOON has two.

If you put on the third log, without strakes, the thing slows down, but becomes a lot more stable in rough waters.

That's just the way tritoons are. I realy wish I had lifting strakes on my tritoon, but I don't.

Oh, and maniacs on Lake Of The Ozarks, are pushing those big old busses over 100 MPH. I believe the latest record is 112 MPH.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

If you see my signature line, you will understand that I know intimately about this.
OP says he has a TRItoon. That's THREE.
In the Pontoon world, a PONTOON has two.

If you put on the third log, without strakes, the thing slows down, but becomes a lot more stable in rough waters.

That's just the way tritoons are. I realy wish I had lifting strakes on my tritoon, but I don't.

LOL - a tritoon has 3 pontoons. Pontoon doesn't mean 2 - it is the floaty thing on the bottom of the boat - yours has 3

 

[BobGinCO]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

LOL - a tritoon has 3 pontoons. Pontoon doesn't mean 2 - it is the floaty thing on the bottom of the boat - yours has 3

You don't hang out on pontoon forums apparently.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

It seems slow to me as I have a two tube toon (25') with a 94 Evinrude 115 and I get 24 mph with a standard load (4-5 people). I am swinging a 13P BRP Hydrus prop which is specially made for toon type applications. I am still not happy as my slippage is higher than i think it should be and will be lowering the motor to get a better bite this season.

It really comes down to what the WOT RPM is, your true speed with GPS, and tweaking the setup with various prop and motor height combos to get the most out of it. Really hard to judge without a better view of the variables.

My gut says that if the engine is healthy and putting out 115 you should be able to get more out of it, but like I said need more data. And you probably wouldn't know until you bought it and did the trial and error.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

lol a 2mph difference makes it sound slow to you.....

It's a really comfy floating pig... that is the normal speed..... if you want to go faster with the same number of people get a 23' cruiser with twin v8's and spend 4 times as much on fuel or a 28' bowrider and spend 3 times as much on fuel.

Or you can spend the big bucks on "high tech" toon with big power and spend about double on fuel.

 

[cak56]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

Thank you to all for the input. We have been shopping a few months and thought this may have been the one but we are going to take a pass. I was just surprised that with prime conditions we were at only 22. I know the boat is a tritoon,no strakes, and a 115. guess we will keep looking. Glad I took the test drive and have all of you for advice. Thank you

 

[cak56]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

Also, to answer a couple of questions, I was under the impression that we could get in the high twenties with this boat. If we were only at 22 wide open with perfect conditions, 3 people and no gear, I can only imagine what it would do on Lake Mojave,Az with chop and a wind. We don't want a high powered speed boat, but we do want to keep moving in the right direction lol

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

my bet is that in some chop and some wind it would still do 20-22

 

[Lurch77]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

LOL - a tritoon has 3 pontoons. Pontoon doesn't mean 2 - it is the floaty thing on the bottom of the boat - yours has 3

Yes, we know a boat with three pontoons is still technically a "pontoon". But in the pontoon community they differential the two designs. Two = Pontoon. Three = Tritoon.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

Yes, we know a boat with three pontoons is still technically a "pontoon". But in the pontoon community they differential the two designs. Two = Pontoon. Three = Tritoon.

So is this a Quadtoon? We've got a pontoon, and around here it is a pontoon, a runabout, a ski boat or a wakeboard boat - and then there is the catchall - fishin boat which describes something that is not adequate for any of the above

 

[smoedog]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

hell my old 24' aquapatio with a 84 yamaha 115 (crank rating) with a 14x13 4 blade would do 25 GPS with half a tank andme and my son on board

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

hell my old 24' aquapatio with a 84 yamaha 115 (crank rating) with a 14x13 4 blade would do 25 GPS with half a tank andme and my son on board

slap a 3rd toon under it and I bet you'd lose a few mph

 

[jestor68]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

According to Merc engine tests, Bentley Cruise 22 and 24 ft pontoons went 28 and 29 mph with 90 and 115 motors swinging 15 pitch props.

I have a feeling the lack of decent speed may be the wrong prop. Adding the third log should not slow you down; as the added buoyancy should offset the increased drag of the third log and the center log(if properly designed) provides the prop cleaner water for more thrust/less ventilation.

Around here I have not seen a three log pontoon boat that wouldn't out run a two log pontoon boat.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

... on some of these 'toons you have to account for the riggin'. We used to have an old Crest 24' that wasn't much more than two cans, a helm, a deck and some railing. Not much weight there. My brother's new boat has two sofas, live wells, pedestal seats ... a heck of a lot heavier boat.

Bells and whistles can cost you some speed

 

[JoLin]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

They irritate other boaters, too. I used sound deadening material on all the bells and whistles on my boat. Just sayin'...

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Found our used pontoon,test drove and now confused

Pontoon wouldn't be my first choice for tubes and skiing, but regardless, they make em with much bigger power, sounds like you just need more HP. My buddy has a 225 hanging off his, and it flies, but he doesnt ski with it. I raced a toon once and lost, she had the 225 hanging off the back too, my boat was doing about 30 MPH and she flew by me. I was kinda crushed.