Hello –
We are looking into getting a new pontoon and all the brands out there is a little overwhelming. Yes, Benningtons’s are nice but I feel like you pay a lot more for the name when other brands seem just as good or maybe better? Anyone own a Sylvan, South Bay, or Montego Bay? The Montego Bay is very interesting as they seem nice and priced right.
Thanks,
Chad
We own a tritoon and did quite a bit of looking before purchasing. Much like boats, pontoons/tritoons seem to be selling like crazy with pretty substantial values right now. If we didn’t find one that someone needed to dump for being in a financial bind, we likely wouldn’t have pulled the trigger during all of this.
We wanted something with low hours and weren’t in a hurry. This wasn’t a need, rather a want if we came across something that caught our eye. We put out some feelers and had places call us with any used tritoons. We ended up with a 2016 Cypress Cay Sea Breeze 230 with a 150hp Mercury with 50 hours. It does not have the name recognition of Bennington. However, every brand now seems to have their higher-end models with all the bells and whistles if you want to pay for them. I think I’d steer clear of Bennington in order to maximize the features for my money.
Features that are a must on a new or nearly new pontoon:
-vinyl flooring
-big diameter pontoons (more stable and carrying capacity)
-4 stroke motor with hydraulic steering on anything 115hp or above
-built in fuel tank
-a quality cover (many are sold with junk covers that last a few years tops)
-bunk trailer (the scissors ones are terrible if you do any towing)
-a design with deck space at the bow beyond the rails (great for strapping a mat to, for docking, and keeping people from sitting at the very front for weight distribution)
Features that are overrated:
-“bar” seating wastes a ton of space and isn’t practical when moving
-changing room/portable restroom space is rarely used and isn’t practical
-upgrades of color changing lights when a large % of use is on bright sunny days
My parents are going into year 4 with a Sweetwater (made by Godfrey), and it’s been great! Make sure you get a bimini, especially if you have kids. 4 stroke is great, just need to make sure you shut it off as they are whisper quiet and well my parents don’t hear the best anymore 
My MIL bought a new Montego Bay 8522 DLX 3 years ago. We’ve really liked it. It’s been trouble free. It’s not a full-on luxury, but it’s a very nice boat, and we use it a lot. The vinyl has held up well, so far. We have a 90 Etec on it (which has also been flawless).
Depends on what you want to do with it. Sounds like you want a luxury cruiser. I cant help with that. Mine is geared towards fishing but still has plenty of seating for cruising. I have an open area in the front with removable seats. Low rail and a bow mount minnkota. Also two live wells and sonar fore and aft. We call it fishing out of the living room. Ours is only a 40hp but its and Mercury Bigfoot and they are over achievers.
Love my South Bay. 500 series tri with a 115 merc 4 stroke. Fish and Cruise. Love they installed the Vinyl floor diagonally.
year 4 with a Sweetwater (made by Godfrey)
We are in year 4 as well w/ a Sweetwater and love it. However, ours is a 2003 lol. I repowered it with a Suzi 4 stroke and that was terrific.
List of importance imo.
1) Layout
2) Layout
3) Layout (no front deck, waste of space imo)
4) 4 stroke
5) Bimini top, retractable imo
6) Good cover easy to take on and off (depends where you store it)
7) size of toon, think of storage of boat, dock area, tow weight yadda yadda
Layout for what you plan to do is by far the most important “feature.” We went with only a 18′ version but IMO it is the best possible layout for our size family and style of cruising and some fishing. Livewell under one seat. and tons of seating around outside while keeping middle open for activities. I also love the sun bathing bench option above motor, however that is preference.
The only thing I woulda done different is get 27″ dia tubes (not an option on 18′ but it would be possible to rip off old ones and add bigger). Pics of our layout on the godfrey (and my ridiculous rod holder trolling system that is still unproven ha). PS being a diehard fisher I didn’t think the slow lazy life of pontooning with the fam would be as enjoyable as its been.
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Nice deep garage you have there. I thought mine at 33′ deep was nice.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
year 4 with a Sweetwater (made by Godfrey)We are in year 4 as well w/ a Sweetwater and love it. However, ours is a 2003 lol. I repowered it with a Suzi 4 stroke and that was terrific.
List of importance imo.
1) Layout
2) Layout
3) Layout (no front deck, waste of space imo)
4) 4 stroke
5) Bimini top, retractable imo
6) Good cover easy to take on and off (depends where you store it)
7) size of toon, think of storage of boat, dock area, tow weight yadda yaddaLayout for what you plan to do is by far the most important “feature.” We went with only a 18′ version but IMO it is the best possible layout for our size family and style of cruising and some fishing. Livewell under one seat. and tons of seating around outside while keeping middle open for activities. I also love the sun bathing bench option above motor, however that is preference.
The only thing I woulda done different is get 27″ dia tubes (not an option on 18′ but it would be possible to rip off old ones and add bigger). Pics of our layout on the godfrey (and my ridiculous rod holder trolling system that is still unproven ha). PS being a diehard fisher I didn’t think the slow lazy life of pontooning with the fam would be as enjoyable as its been.
Nice deep garage
haha, not the point but thx and yes a garage is never too big, there is a work out area behind the toon as well…It’s still too small of garage ha. I think many of us would agree a whole house could be a garage and it wouldn’t be big enough lol. Original plan was 60′ deep 3 stall wide, but that got shot down….maybe someday
What do you want to use the pontoon for? I spent a long time looking. Mainly because I could not find anyone who could give me solid answers to the questions I had. It got to the point where I was flagging down pontoons on the lake to ask the owners of boats I was considering the questions that dealers couldn’t.
I wanted to know how they performed in rough water? How fast when loaded to capacity (wasn’t looking to race, but wanted to be sure that I did not under power the boat). After years of looking, I picked up a Ranger 223FC with a 200 Merc.
It handles rough water far better than I imagined. It literally is like driving your living room out on the lake. I do realize it is a Bass Tracker with upgrades but will tell you it is a solid boat with very nice seating. I picked this one mostly due to the layout as it had the exact compromise between the family cruiser that my wife wanted while still being a reasonably good boat to fish out of.
I have had my other boat for 19 years and the Yamaha 150 on it has been perfect, so my preference would have been another Yamaha. But I have been very happy with the Mercury the last 2 seasons.
Things I learned in my search:
Make sure the layout works for you.
Lots of dealers sell boats with a motor that is a couple of sizes down from max HP, and the owners I talked to wished they had opted for at least one size up. i.e. Boat rated for 150, with a 90 on it and the owner wonders if a 115 would have made a world of difference.
Anything but carpet for a floor.
Bimini top!
If you are going to park it on a lift or outside make sure the cover is quality and is easy to put on.
If you are going to store it in a building, measure the height of the boat on a trailer. But the time you get the pontoons on a bunk trailer it is going to be taller than most door openings. So be sure to measure.
Good luck with your purchase.
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Anything but carpet for a floor.
This. We have some woven vinyl(?) that is nice.
I did a lot of research and crawling around under pontoons when I was rebuilding mine and the only thing I can add to this is that it doesn’t matter if it’s a new cheap azz $16k pontoon or a $100k+ fancy azz tritoon they all have poor welds on the toons and are all bolted together in the same way. What you are paying for is all above the deck and whats pushing it.
I really think you can’t go wrong with most of the brands and unfortunately you don’t have the boat shows this year to literally step from make to make and spend your time on each. When I did this, I was able to quickly cross of many makes off my list based on some very striking things. In my case I was looking primarily for fishing and most had very high railings next to the fishing seats. On top of this, the seats were too close to the sides so you’re knees were hitting the sides if they even allowed you to even swivel that way. It was way too restricting.
I bought a Misty Harbor three years ago. My primary use was for fishing, but it also had to provide for cruising and skiing as I knew I was going to sell my ski boat soon. So I ended up with a 22ft model with two fishing seats at the back and four fishing seats in the front. L-shaped couch in the middle. But it’s also a tritoon and has a massive ski locker in the middle toon. For skiing and tubing, I have a Turbo Swing at the back around the 150 HP Mercury. The thing moves.
It’s literally the only boat I need now for all day, no matter what I’m doing with it. I can be on Minnetonka with the biggest waves and the tritoon makes it a pleasure.
I’d also say that if you have any kind of custom needs, a lot of manufacturers will tweak their design to fit your needs. Extend a couch here, move a fishing seat there, add on a second bimini there.
Good luck. There is a reason pontoons have taken over.
Have you checked out Anglers Qwest? They build several fishing models that are family friendly as well as pro fishing models.
Have you checked out Anglers Qwest? They build several fishing models that are family friendly as well as pro fishing models.
I’m hoping this will be my next pontoon.
We have a Premier 223 Castaway w/a 50hp high thrust Yamaha. It’s a 2009 that we got new in 2010. Boats were a steal after the housing market crashed!
It’s geared for fishing w/2 livewells, rod locker, half gate up front for a trolling motor. It has three large reclining Flexsteel seats that are a big hit. The vinyl has been fantastic and looks brand new. Ours has the changing room and we wouldn’t be without one now. We go out for hours at a time and a luggable loo is a must for the gals. I put a bracket to mount a small gas grill that hangs out over the side. It gets a lot of use!
The cover has clips the fit in a groove on the underside of the rails, no snaps to line up.
Everyone has different needs as proved here. They’re a lot of fun!
The cover has clips the fit in a groove on the underside of the rails, no snaps to line up.
My MIL’s Montego Bay has this. Last spring was the first time I dealt with the cover, and man, is that slick! 
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