i/o on pontoon?

[alilley]

this is just me thinking out loud here and yes iot tends to get me into trouble some times

i was just wondering if ther is currently or ever was a pontoon, either a tri or a bi toon) that was ever powered by a i/o?

if so can any one list manfuractures?
how did they preform?
what motors were in them, just in lines or was there any "V" motors in them?
what kind of hp numbers did/do they have?
does any one have any pioctures of them?
how was motor set up and mounted?

what brought this up was over the weekend me and some buddies we sitting around drinkins some ummmmmmmmmmmm ice cold tea (ya thats it, we will leave it at that) and we was watching some of the pontoons that would jsut cruise by with a bunch of people on them but you could just tell that they was way under powered. well you know what happens when you get a bunch of gear heads together that also enjoy boats and mix that with ummmmmmmm ice cold tea.........well after seeing that one of us poped off about a pontoon with a i/o and i dont know. one of us also know where n older toon is sitting and has been for several years now this thing is old enough to have steel toons on it but is about a 18-20 footer.......so as you can see this might be a project that pops up in the near future ...just wondering if this has ever been done befrore

 

[ezmobee]

Re: i/o on pontoon?

I can't name specific ones but yes there were and are I/O powered toons.

Dumbest thing ever if you ask me!

 

[whiting-5]

Re: i/o on pontoon?

in 2005 i bought a new suntracker party barge.the i/o was my main buying decesion.it was an inline 4cyl chevy.cast iron engine 140 hp..i had never been on a outboard boat before so i was not familar with them.but living in ca. at the time was worried about the lakes banning 2 strokes and the cost of 4 stroke outboards were the same or little higher.so went with i/o mostly because i was familar with them.inow have a 93 sweetwater with a 75 hp outboard but have yet to put in water.so cant comment on the outboard yet.will say this the outboard is easier to work on.the i/o was kinda down in a hole.and you gave up some deck space with the i/o

 

[smclear]

Re: i/o on pontoon?

They're everywhere. I had a 1996 JC 266 Tritoon with I/O power (5.7). Was a great boat until you had to work on the engine. I had to practically stand on my head to reach the top of the engine. Changing plugs, or removing the engine block plugs (winterizing) was a major, major pain in the ***. I hope they've made this easier on their newer boats. My new pontoon is an outboard.

As for I/O serviceability in a pontoon, check out Bennington. They designed theirs with serviceability in mind. Very easy to get to all parts of the engine.

 

[Kitchen363]

Re: i/o on pontoon?

There are a ton of video's on YouTube of pontooons with i/o. Check them out, looks way fun!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o5MFbC0ifA&feature=related

 

[sbooy42]

Re: i/o on pontoon?

Yep lots of em out there... I would rather have one with twin outboards

I believe one hit the 100mph mark last year.....

 

[jkust]

Re: i/o on pontoon?

They are broadly sold. You can get any I/O you can think of in a modern Pontoon. Boating magazine did an issue on pontoons last year and tested a bunch of I/O models. The gist was to inform the readers of the monumental shift they have taken from utilitarian and maybe pretty nice to downright fantastic. Funny thing is I boat on an ultra upscale lake where everyone has a Chaparral, Cobalt and the like. Every where you turn the boats are fantastic and somebody always has a nicer boat than you. On the other hand mabe every 4th boat you see is pontoon loaded with people and none of them was decent or even resembled an upscale pontoon like what was in the Boating article. It seems people care about their open bows and don't about their pontoon selection. The nicest I saw which was the exception was a three tube with a 250hp OB on a lift.

 

[5150abf]

Re: i/o on pontoon?

We build I/Os every day at Bennington, made one 2 weeks ago with an 8.1 litre Merc but most are 5.7s adn I/Os have been around for many many years.

Dale Earnhart jr bought a 28'er a couple years ago that was "delete engine" I can only imagine what ended up in that boat.

 

[hellion68]

Re: i/o on pontoon?

We just purchased a 4.3L merc I/O in a 24 ft crestliner pontoon and we love it. I have never had any starting issues with an I/O, but have had to deal with several outboard issues with friends boats. that was the deciding factor that made us get the I/O. Just installed the new 15 pitch prop and Im hoping to get 38 out of it with a moderate load.

 

[coopdo]

Re: i/o on pontoon?

I have a 25 foot suntracker with a mercruiser sterndrive. It is as reliable as the mercruiser in my 27 year old Renken bowrider. It's a fabulous engine and performs flawlessly. It doesn't need much maintenance, unlike an outboard, but when it does it is very easy to access. I couldn't be happier with it.

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: i/o on pontoon?

As others have said, there are many out there. I would never consider one because:
They are heavy.
They take up lots of valuable deck space.
They are difficult to maintain because of being deep in a hole.