What is the best pontoon boat?

We are looking to buy a used pontoon boat and having trouble finding reviews from owners. We are considering a Suntracker or a Monark. Any suggestions?? Thanks!What is the best pontoon boat?
boats in general, and more so with pontoon boats, there are only so many ways to build a boat, and very few material choices.



the big differences tend to be in floor layouts, how the interior or the deck is laid out. what type of seats, and where are they.

and in what powers it, which can be different between two of the same make, model and year depending on what the dealership that sold it dealt with.

mercury is the most common one, having more sales then anybody else has that effect.



but even if two of same make, model and year both have the same brand powering it, the hull may be rated for 90 hp and one of them the person buying it paid for the 90 hp while the other one only got the cheaper 60 hp.







ultimately, what you need to be concerned with is how well it was cared for.



you need to do two things BEFORE purchasing ANY used boat:



1. a mechanical inspection performed by a qualified marine mechanic. think of going to your doctor for a physical to make sure you dont have a heart attack next week, its basically doing that for your motor.

you will be paying for this out of pocket, its about $100. if the boat tests poorly, you are out that money, but you arent stuck owning a boat that may need thousands in work before it can be used.....



2. on the water test drive. actually get it out on the water and DRIVE IT.

without actually putting it in the water, there are things even the best mechanic can miss. but those things become painfully obvious once you get on the water and try to go.





and once you do own it, make sure you know how and when to maintain it properly, and that it is up to date on all its maintaince.

very common for somebody to buy a used boat that is due or coming due soon for some routine maintaince that they dont know about, and they end up doing thousands in damage.



one of the "favorites" is the impeller, which is changed every 100 hours OR 3 years, half the time the boat sat for a couple years before being put up for sale and that is impeller is just waiting to fail.

impeller is what pumps water into the motor to cool it with, when it fails your entire cooling system fails and you can easily cook the motor.