Small boat question

[timb]

Most of PA's lakes have a 9.9 limit - and there are a lot of people on Lake Arthur (3225 acres), Pymatuning (16,420 acres), and Glendale Lake (1640 acres) (to name a couple) pushing 25' pontoon boats around. Not going to win any speed contests (and I'd want to keep in mind head winds coming back up lake) but they work and should work on your 2350 acre Round Valley.

Take a small boating safety course - your local Red Cross may run one.

 

[billbill1]

I have a 19' pontoon with an 85 hp Force engine, I would be glad to trade for a 25 hp with tilt and trim, the pontoon will only run about 17 mph with the 85 hp. It has a 65 lb. thrust trolling motor (24 volt) that also moves it around so I'm sure the 9.9 would easily do the same. Loading the pontoon in a wind will be what you will have to master, kind of tricky. We fish out of our 16' deep V Lowe 20 to one over the pontoon, the pontoon is nice to swim around and you can swim under it and be in the shade. Lots of room to move around on and you can add an enclosure for a potty which is nice if you have ladies aboard. This is our second pontoon, they do have their place and you can mount a grill on them for cooking out if you like.

 

[RedRocker]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( You just didn't want to get caught on the Russian River in Alaska with the wrong linkage under the cowling. )</font>

Now you'd think there would be more important things to worry about up there.

 

[HunterdonPaul]

I went to a boat dealer today and spoke to the owner (Bill at Dinbokowitz Marine Inc - Allentown, PA). He recommended that I [1] sell my foreign car and buy American and [2] buy at least a 20 ft pontoon boat. A 20 ft pontoon seems a little big for an Accord to pull and it would be hard to believe that a 9.9 could move it at all. Although everyone I have spoken to since then said it would be fine. A fellow at work (Chris L.) recommended that I didn't buy a 9.9 at all. He said that for the expense of an engine that I should buy a 50+ HP for larger lakes. He recommended an electric high thrust trolling motor for Round Valley. I mentioned it to Bill the boat dealer and he concurred that it would work fine.

What do you think?

BTW, Bill the boat dealer was very nice. He was a pretty genuine fellow - perhaps ready for retirement. He had alot of passion about buying an American car versus a Japanese one. I like his passion but it was a risky proposition to project that passion to a prospective new customer. I WOULD definately buy a boat from him.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Paul,

I think I would go with the larger engine too since we have Budd Lake and Lake Hopatcong (sp?) within an hour. Both of these lakes allow a larger engine. The other option, since I like to spent other folks $$ is to buy both engines. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Now you can go anywhere and if one engine breaks you have a back up. Do not forget about Merril Creek and Spruce Run they also have the same 9.9 limit about the same distance to you as Round Valley. Can a pontoon boat be used in the Delaware River?, if so, another reason for the larger engine. If you are going to spent $$ why limit your options because of engine size limitations of a few lakes?