Boats with three pontoons are sometimes called “tri-toons.” These pontoons contain a lot of reserve buoyancy and allow designers to create massive deck plans fitted with all sorts of accommodations, such as expansive lounge areas, stand-up bars, and sun pads. Pontoon Boat – A pontoon boat is basically a large, flat deck that’s mounted atop two or more metal tubes called pontoons. Another common trait of deck boats is that they tend to have wider, flatter bottoms than many other styles of modern powerboats. This expands interior volume, as the boat’s full beam can be utilized from the stern to the bow. Whereas a runabout uses an outboard or a stern drive, watersports boats, or “tow boats” as they’re commonly called, use an inboard engine in either a direct-drive or V-drive configuration.ĭeck Boat – Deck boats commonly have a boxier shape than other types of boats, with wide bows that don’t come to a point at the front. Watersports Boat – Also referred to as ski or wakeboard boats, a watersports boat is a bit different from a runabout, particularly in their powertrains. The runabout is the boat most people picture when they think of recreational boating. They are also commonly referred to as bowriders. Runabout– A typical runabout is a fiberglass, V-shaped hull that measures from 16 feet to 32 feet, comes with sterndrive or outboard power, often has a pointy or pickle-fork, open bow with seating and a walk-through windshield. Here is a brief summary of the key differences: That quickly got us narrowed down to looking at runabouts, watersports boats, deck boats and pontoon boats. We knew that we needed to accommodate at least one dog.We knew that we needed to be able to accommodate more than three people.We knew we wanted new or used with very low hours because we didn’t want problems.We knew we weren’t going to race it or play Miami Vice on the weekend.We knew we weren’t going to hunt with it or do serious fishing with it.We knew we weren’t going to spend the night on it (at least intentionally).We knew we were going to be boating in fresh water versus salt water.We knew we wanted a powerboat versus a sailboat or rowboat. ![]() ![]() ![]() In our case, we were able to do some quick narrowing of choices. What type is best for you really comes down to where and how you will use the boat. Just spend a winter day at a boat show and you will quickly get the idea. There are more types of boats than you can imagine. Let me replay history for you in hopes that it will provide you with some useful considerations if you are asking yourself the same question. As you can imagine, the reason the question is coming back up is that things have changed. With spring right around the corner and boat shows causing us to think about getting on the water, I am once again reminded by my wife of the question we asked ourselves three years ago, “What type of boat should we get?” The reason I am reminded of this is that, when we went through this before, we settled on my preference.
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