Pimpm3 buys a boat

I have owned my current boat for the past 12 years.  It has been great for my family and we have made a ton of good memories on it. 

It is getting older and my wife has recently become more hesitant to use it after a few minor hic-ups.  Not to mention it is loud and has less room than is ideal as my kids get older.

Fast forward to last weekend and my neighbor decided to sell his tritoon to one of his friends.  He knew I was casually looking for a bigger boat and mentioned the guy who bought his boat was looking to sell his old one. 

I went and test drove it Friday, and brought my wife to look at it on Sunday.  After a family discussion over dinner we decided to pull the trigger.

Without further ado here is the new Pimpm3 family boat.  

It is a 2007 Godfrey Aqua Patio 220DF with a 115 Yamaha 4 Stroke. 520 hours, two owner pontoon.  Its been kept  on a covered lift its entire life and was used only in fresh water the 1st 8 years.  It comes with service records from the local dealer where it was serviced.

I am happy with the deal I got and am excited to start using the boat.

Nice! Looks like you're on FL canals? Salt of freshwater? I'm looking forward to your use experience, I keep looking at tritoons for our next boat but performance/safety on the ICW and salt marsh creeks is a big factor. 

Congrats! She is beautiful.

I also thank you, for keeping the economy alive in 2020! Love your threads and all your purchases. 

Never really been a fan of pontoons.  I can appreciate them for what they are, but I guess I just like getting up on plane and flying.

Still, nice party barge

You trailer launched the teal boat.  Any possibility to dock the pontoon near the house?  

Not really it will be on a trailer for the most part.  We may pay for high dry storage in the summer.

Mr_Asa said:

Never really been a fan of pontoons.  I can appreciate them for what they are, but I guess I just like getting up on plane and flying.

Still, nice party barge

I think for what we will use it for it will be ideal.  For the most part we would use the wellcraft to drive to sand bars and park, or to slowly cruise the canals and explore while hanging out. 

My mother in law is a member of a boat club and has access to several different types of boats and we always take out the pontoon because we go out as a big group and leisurely cruise around.

Mr_Asa said:

Never really been a fan of pontoons.  I can appreciate them for what they are, but I guess I just like getting up on plane and flying.

Still, nice party barge

Me too, which is why I'm looking at tritoons. A modern sports tritoon with a 150-200 on the back gets up on plane and banks into the turns like a real boat. Plus runs 40+mph, can carry 12 people and still draw less than 16" of water. 

I haven't test driven any yet, but that handling feel is part of my requirement.

The Rental pontoon is a tritoon with a 250.  I imagine it would go 40 with a few people on board but with 10 people and a double bimini its much more comfortable doing 25 ish.

true, load makes a huge difference

I found a dealer that has a new trailer coming in.  I will have to drive to Deland to pick it up but it will be available in two weeks vs the 8 to 10 other places were quoting me.

In other news one of my buddies at work is pretty interested in my Wellcraft.  Hopefully he will pick it up from me which will clear up some budget room and will give me the space to park the new boat.

Derailing a bit, but to the party barge comment.  Bennington is now making these with fiberglass cladding - not your traditional pontoon.  This must be outrageous with that 350 out back.

Believe it or not that is pretty much what my neighbor bought to replace his Bennington Tritoon with.  Apparently it has a 425 on it so I am sure it is going to be pretty ridiculous.

I never understood the party barge concept... until we moved onto a lake.  We have a 21' Malibu for skiing and tubing, and it is fun and big enough to put a few people on for a party... but it sucks at low speed cruising and it is noisy as crap.  We've een out on our lake neighbors' tri toon and that thing is admittedly a good time.  Gets you to a cove quickly enough, and you can just trawl along comfortably and in big numbers without any fuss.  

I'm trying to justify two boats (we have twin docks), but I just don't know if that's excessive or a-holish.  I'm still deciding I suppose. 

Mr_Asa said:

Never really been a fan of pontoons.  I can appreciate them for what they are, but I guess I just like getting up on plane and flying.

Still, nice party barge

I always thought they were Grandparents putt putts until I saw a pontoon hit the inlet in Cape Cod.  The inlet is where all the water for a 6 mile long channel through a 25 foot wid slot.  Tide going out, wind coming in, you get 4 ft. rollers just standing there!  Guy hit it with a pontoon and I pulled over just to dee the mayhem.  No issues, the pontoons just split the wave and he punched through.  Then I saw the three big Merc outboards strapped out back.  That changed my mind.  Once in open water he went on plane and just did a horizon job!

Picked the boat up and brought her home for the 1st time.

Of course it was raining, but my kids still climbed on and explored the boat.  I got an initial approval from both of them and then they had an impromptu dance party before the rain got the better of them.

That has some pretty decent sized lifting strakes on the pontoons, you should be able to get it on plane with the 115 with a reasonable load.   The tritoons typically have a larger diameter center log with big lifting strakes. They handle much more like a conventional boat (bank into turns) at speed than a pontoon.   Good luck with it, you can definitely bring a crowd with you if you’re not in a hurry. 

That's awesome.  As I get older I realize there are times to go fast and then there are times that riding "low and slow" is pretty enjoyable, too.  Have fun.

Any modern outboard will cruise slow, steady and quietly.

The inlet discussion reminded me of some great videos on YouTube of pontoon boats at the inlet.  You couldn't pay me to take one out in rough seas.  Around here, a storm can blow up in no time and there are only fair weather boats as your kids found out in the rain.

That will be a great family barge.

I was never really into pontoons except for renting one for big family trips, then one came to me as a salvage.  After a few iterations it has become our sandbar tiki cruiser.  

By the time I got home it was dark out.  I still wanted to get a small project done so I broke out the plastic polish.

Unpolished 

One quick coat of plastic polish...

Made a huge difference!

Good for doing the beer run from the sandbar should you run out

Took the boat for is inaugural cruise.  All went well and we made it back with no problems.

It was a bit windy (15 to 20) but she handled the light chop well.  I did hit the wake of a 70ish foot boat head on and some water washed over the bow.  It actually helped blow my kids mess from lunch out of the boat.

Boat seems happy around 20 mph with 8 people on board.  I am good with that...

As the tide came in our island shrank.

We drove around for a bit afterwards and founds some dolphins before heading home.

Picked up my new trailer on Friday.  It is a 2021 Magic Tilt.

I put the boat on it today and need to make a few minor adjustments.  I am also contemplating cutting the tongue down. It is 6 feet long in front of the boat which is a bit much.. 

I'd try launching a few times before cutting the tongue.  Pontoon boats on a trailer sit high out of the water. Therefore, they have to be backed down far down the ramp to get the boat to float. A long tongue will mean the truck doesn't have to go as deep in the water.