Mercruser 3.0L 135hp on Suntracker 25'' Party Barge

[oukimber]

Hello everyone! First post here. I've been thinking about buying a pontoon for a while now, and happened across this website. Fantastic place for all kinds of information.

So I was looking at a couple pontoons this weekend. Both "new" 2008 model Suntracker regency boats, one 25' and the other 26'. They both have (I believe this is what the sales guy said) the I/O engine listed in the thread title.

It somewhat concerns me that these are 3 year old "new" boats, and the main thing that I can see is a problem is that they have the I/O motor on them. Before I go look at them in a more serious manner, I have a couple questions:
- Are I/O's on a pontoon enough of a no-no that I should look elsewhere?
- How does the power of a 135hp I/O stack up to a comparable outboard? I've read that you'll get more speed out of a similarly powerful outboard, but dont know how much difference there would be.
- Would this engine provide a fun tube ride? What about pull a skier (sales guy said yes, but I'm not taking his word).
- Anything I'm not thinking of?

Thanks a million in advance!

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: Mercruser 3.0L 135hp on Suntracker 25'' Party Barge

Are I/O's on a pontoon enough of a no-no that I should look elsewhere?
I don't like them for all the reasons listed by several posters here in this forum. (Difficult to service. Heavy. Takes up valuable deck space)

- How does the power of a 135hp I/O stack up to a comparable outboard? I've read that you'll get more speed out of a similarly powerful outboard, but dont know how much difference there would be.
135 hp is 135 hp but a 135hp outboard will be lighter thus the performance will be slightly better.

- Would this engine provide a fun tube ride?
Yes, for all except for the real daring such as teenage boys.

What about pull a skier (sales guy said yes, but I'm not taking his word).
Yes.

- Anything I'm not thinking of?
The boat is already nearly four years old even if it is new.

 

[Lawnmedic]

Re: Mercruser 3.0L 135hp on Suntracker 25'' Party Barge

The 3.0L Mercruiser is a hoss. I had a Crest Savannah 25' with it, and it would run 25mph with and average load. Ours was easy to work on and was no more restrictive than any other boat I owned. We bought a new Bennington with an outboard so that we could take the boat out in the middle of winter on a nice day. For tubing or skiing, the boat will do fine as long as it can go as fast as the skier needs.
As far as the age, If they were stored properly they should be fine. Make sure they come with a new boat warranty. I would think you should be able to get a good discount do to them being a few years old...

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Mercruser 3.0L 135hp on Suntracker 25'' Party Barge

When purchasing a boat, I suggest you sign into BoatTest.com and see what their boat test says.

Are I/O's on a pontoon enough of a no-no that I should look elsewhere?
The 3.0 Mercruiser is a pretty well suited motor for pontoon boat usage, and they're especially quiet. The engines are down in the middle toon, so they're out of the way. The question is how much maintenance do they require? Suck the oil out with a factory oil pump, and drain the engine of water in the fall. All common repairs are easily done from above--spark plugs, etc. The engine itself is pretty trouble free.

- How does the power of a 135hp I/O stack up to a comparable outboard? I've read that you'll get more speed out of a similarly powerful outboard, but dont know how much difference there would be. A 135 hp I/O is probably more like an 80 hp outboard--they're apples and oranges. I/O's are very good on fuel usage, however. As far as speed goes, they'll run pretty good in mid range rpms and up. The 135 hp will also idle very smoothly and run a slow cruise.

- Would this engine provide a fun tube ride?
They will pull a tube, however pontoons are not great if you intend on doing tight figure S's and slinging the tubers around. A full hulled boat handles tubers much better.

What about pull a skier (sales guy said yes, but I'm not taking his word).
Pontoons don't have the hull rise of a full hulled boat, and they come out of the hole pretty fast. I would say it would pull up a skier on two skis, but probably not do so well with a slalom skier. If the boat had the 4.3 engine, it would probably do it. I seldom see a skier pulled behind pontoon boats. In fact, I seldom even see a water skier--mostly boards and tubes.

- Anything I'm not thinking of?.
If you're going to keep the boat for the long run, I wouldn't be very concerned about the age. The Regency models are really nice boats--but relatively expensive new. Tracker has a one price dealer model, but they're high on prep/delivery and transportation to the dealership. Also, good new pontoon trailers can be bought for $500 less. The question: Is the dealer willing or able to get down there on price--nearing actual depreciation? You should carefully shop around the competition.

 

[oukimber]

Re: Mercruser 3.0L 135hp on Suntracker 25'' Party Barge

Thanks for the info everyone. The boats have been stored outside in the Vegas sun for a while I think, but both have fairly nice mooring covers on them. Talking with the salesman he said that the furniture is a bit sun faded as they didn't have the covers on the entire time they were out.

I made an appointment with them to uncover them so I can have a better look-see (being nice, I know it takes time and effort to get the covers off) this evening. I really haven't haggled on the price at all yet, but they will have to come off their price quite a bit for me to be seriously interested.

I'll let you know what I see!

 

[cribber]

Re: Mercruser 3.0L 135hp on Suntracker 25'' Party Barge

Good luck and another bonus is the 3.0l sips gas so it's easy on the pocket. I have the Volvo version on my Glaston and get an average of 5 miles to the gallon or 5 gallons per hour burn rate at 3000 rpm.