Advice on a 2 man pontoon

Fishing Paddling
1

A friend of mine and I are going to be looking into purchasing a 2 man pontoon for a few float trips together. Neither of us have any experience with them, so any advice is much appreciated.

If anyone has any experience with them I would love to hear about the pros an cons, especially the transportation factor.

Thanks,

TT.

P.S. If anyone has one they are looking to sell we are looking for a good deal, lol

2

I know this boat is entirely different from what you are thinking of, but my buddy and I used to lake fish out of his “2 man bass boat” which was a 8 ft. rigid plastic pontoon using a trolling motor for power. We did remarkablly well consider neither were outstanding casters. Tangled lines are a fact of life but did not occur that frequently. It would have been helpful if the guy in the front of the boat was left handed. It was considerably better than trying to fish off the banks of a 25 acre lake.

3

Shoot this guy a PM: DarrinG

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/member.php?10967-DarrinG

He is the Man - when it comes to the 2 man pontoon. I paddled his Outcast FishCat 13 a few weeks ago and LOVED it!

4

I don’t think a rigid boat like that would work too well for the rivers we would be floating.

TT

5

thanks bspitt, sent him a message.

TT

6

I use a Scadden 3 man and my friend uses a 2 man. I wrote up a blurb on mine last year:
Product review
Sorry, I can’t find the link to the FAOL page.

My bud uses the McKenzie Drifter model with separate pontoon. Mine uses the U-shaped “uni” pontoon. I believe, if you need to take down your boat to transport it, th one piece float can shave a few minutes off the setup time, 'cause you don’t need to line up and jiggle the two floats.

IMHO, North Fork Outdoors makes one of the better quality floats and frames. They are also among the most expensive.

We trailer our boats:

and we have a few beaches on the river where we can back down to the water’s edge. With the 2 man, my Bud made a suspender system to actually lift the boat and carry it up the bank. Mine is heavier, but I can drag it up some pretty knarly banks.

The 'toon material is PVC heat sealed on our model, not vinyl covered with a cover. They are tough and can ward off rock, but not re-bar or sharp rocks.

Budget considerations:
[ul]
[li]Upgrade oars to carbon fibre or wood;[/li][li]Anchor and line.[/li][li]PFD’s!!![/li][li]River knife[/li][li]Side pockets (if not included)[/li][li]Stripping baskets (if not included)[/li][li]Trailer[/li][/ul]

My Bud salvaged a utility trailer to transport his, I had a custom trailer built for about 1000$ US.

Drop me a line if you need any info!

Good luck! Have Fun!!!

7

Thank you Christopher. I might just have to drop you a line soon.

TT

8

T, … did you ever settle on a boat??