About Pontoon Boats!!!!!!!!!!!!?

Are cheap to average ($5k-10k used) priced pontoon boats typically fast enough to pull skiers or tubers?|||It depends on the size of the boat and motor. If you have a 22 ft pontoon boat with a 90 hp, you should have to problem pulling a skier or tube.|||Here's the thing about pontoons, they're either haulin bodies (people) or stopped. Unfortunately, they're not much good at anything else involving boating.





Can they pull a skier or wakeboarder with a large enough drive system? Sure they can, however many factors make towing skiers and wakeboarders a problemsome experience on pontoon boats.





Here are the top 3 reasons why anyone who wishes to regularly ski and/or wakeboard should NOT buy a pontoon boat for towing...





#1. Pontoon boats are very inefficient when operating on the water.





Pontoon boats are much less efficient than a boat with a conventional hull design.





Why you might ask, well instead of planeing on top of the water, pontoon boats plow into it. That reduces top speed and increases the time it takes to accelerate.








#2. Pontoon boats have a much higher fuel consumption rate versus a ski boat of the exact boat weight, same HP engine of the same, manufacturer, model, and year.





What this means is due to pontoon boats operating much less efficiently on the water, which translates to faster guzzling of that gas and higher fuel costs per boating trip.





#3. Skier/Wakeboarder towing performance is very poor.





Because of pontoon boats being much less efficient on the water, that also translates into longer hole shot times, which means the skier has to fight more and longer to get up and stay up until the boat reaches proper speed.





If you've ever had to vigorously fight to get up or keep yourself up because the boat couldn't provide the HP to get you up fast and right, this is why I don't like pontoon boats.





Also, when you turn hard on a pontoon boat, you have the weight focused on two spots, instead of one central location.





This causes the pontoon on hard turns to lean the opposite direction of a turn due to g forces and weight shift. Meanwhile, the pontoon on the opposite side of the turn is digging hard into the water, creating more resistance and decreased speed.





Whereas a conventional hulled boat's focus of weight is on the keel, which allows it to lean in the direction of the turn. This is much more efficient means for a boat to make turns, thus it loses less speed in the process.














In short to sum this up, if you are serious about skiing or wakeboarding, do not buy a pontoon boat for towing.





If you are wanting a larger capacity boat while avoiding a pontoon boat, deck boats are the way to go. More room, more capacity, but its still a ski boat.|||I have skied behind several pontoon boats with excess of 125 HP motors on them and they can be great fun but you will find gas is the major hurdle when it comes to running a power boat You can ski behind a cigarette boat too barefooted from the CA Coastline around Catalina Island and back if you want but skiing that fast is crazy as far as I'm concerned. I like an aluminum boat with a 35 horse. I has enough power to pull two single ski people up at the same time or just one and you can have a blast. I prefer to have the boat slow down some and leave a wake so I can go from side to side and jump the wakes trying to gt as much air as I can. A 35HP motor can burn gas all day long on about 6 gallons of gas, usually last longer than I can skiing!|||yes you can pull tubers with a pontoon boat. But only if you get a motor that is 50 hp or more in my opinion. To pull a skier, it would be tough with a pontoon boat because they are hard to turn and not quite fast enough for an expierienced skier. I would reccommend a used ski or fish/ski boat if you are on a budget. they would provide you with alot more performance and speed!|||Pontoon boats generally aren't made to pull skiers. Even tubing would be slow and not very fun. They are for partying, drinking and fishing. Their construction lends themselves more to stability for standing, and they usually have a pretty sorry excuse for a motor, like a 15 horse. So, no. Even a cheaper, traditionally styled boat will do better.|||Its going to depend on the size of the boat, and HP of the motor.