Is a pontoon boat less expensive than a regular boat?

Just wondering if basic pontoons are cheaper than basic speed boats. Thanks :)|||pontoon boats are often cheaper, and there are two main reasons for this:

1. mostly alum construction. alum hulls are easier to mass produce, especially when its two pontoons and a sub floor / frame instead of one solid fully welded alum hull or a hand molded one at a time fiberglass hull.

2. they tend to have smaller outboards powering them.



the motor and drive system is often the most expensive part of a boat. my 2011 60 hp merc ran about $7,000 for just the outboard......



pontoon boats are very roomy. matching lengths, you wont find something with more room then a pontoon.

but pontoons are also not very agile, they cant zig zag sharply and make riding a tube FUN. nor are they fast enough accelrating to pull a skiier or wakeboarder...... and they dont kick up the right type of wake anyways to luanch off of.



pontoons are also mostly alum, which is much quicker and easier to form and attach to other alum parts then fiberglass is.

BUT, they make alum hulled boats of every hull design there is too, and they tend to have the same price advantage and the same smaller motors (which push them suprisingly fast since the boat is so much lighter then fiberglass, my 16' alum hull goes 40 mph with just 60 hp pushing it).



if i was to buy a brand new boat today, i'd take soemthing like this one:

http://www.trackerboats.com/boat/?boat=3鈥?/a>

its got all the features i want, bow mounted trolling motor, livewell, room for more then 3 with actual seats for them too (mine can hold 5 according to the sticker, but only has 3 actual seats).

V hull to be more stable, and to allow more aggresive high speed cornering compared to my flat bottom hull, but still capable of getting into the tight spots the fish are hiding in.

and both enough power and speed that with something setup to keep the rope off the outboard it could probably pull even skiier or wakeboarder (mine is limited to tubes and kneeboards).









BTW, "speed boat", your very much average MOTOR boat, 18-24' fiberglass v hull, sterndrive powered with anything froma 160+ hp 4 cylinder 3.0 to a 330 hp v8 5.7 liter.

and this typical boat goes 45 mph tops, give or take a few. regardless of which motor (bigger motor is heavier and in a bigger and heavier hull).

a "speed boat" is one that hits or exceeds 55 mph, and has about another $20,000 in the price tag.|||They are cheaper generally, but the two are very different. If you want a speed boat, you might not be happy with a pontoon. Just depends on what you will be using the boat for.|||Pontoon boats are NOT BOATS.. they are BARGES and are not usable in any seaway other than on a lake full of drunks