10 Top Pontoon Boats

When it comes to pontoon boats, many people still think of a stodgy, slow-putt-around-the-lake. Made for entertaining, yes, but more like cocktail hour than rockin’ house party.

This reputation is changing—and fast. Many of the latest and greatest pontoons offer speed, handling, seaworthiness, and even the ability to be used as legit tow boats for skiing and wakeboarding. Yet they haven’t abandoned their strengths: passenger comfort and amenities have never been more cushy or diverse. And if you’re watching your pennies there’s good news for you, too. Leave off some of those plush amenities and speed, and basic models can be had for as little as $10,000. And yes, that’s with a motor, wise guy.

Thinking of tuning into the ‘toon? Here are 10 of our current favorites (in no particular order), guaranteed to please any passion—and any depth of pocketbook.

Edgy and ultra-modern, the Aqua Patio 250 XP is clearly designed to appeal to your youthful nature.

Aqua Patio 250 Express

Here’s a pontoon that is clearly targeted to appeal to the younger consumer. Just look at the edgy styling. Rather than classic perimeter fencing, the 250 sports molded fiberglass seating modules fore and aft. Forward, they give this party barge the sleek and sexy lines of a runabout. Aft those seating modules do likewise, and they also hide rear-facing rumble seats designed to take in a watersports show—which is enhanced by a sleek tow tower. The latter’s supports are even boldly integrated into the craft’s edgy exterior lines.

With up to 300 available horsepower, the Express has the power to deliver on its promise. Triple pontoons are oversized to 27” diameter and sport lifting strakes on the center tube, as well as the inside of the outer tubes. The combination delivers aggressive handling, but avoids excessive lean. Big tubes also prove a good match for big crowds, as well as bigger waters. For more info, visit the Aqua Patio 250 Express webpage.

The Cast-a-Way will hook anglers looking for pontoons of a fishier nature.

Premier 221 Cast-a-Way

Plenty of entertaining gets done aboard a pontoon, but these versatile platforms also see a lot of one other favorite pastime—fishing. Premier’s Cast-a-Way caters to the latter crowd with a composite fish station aft with an integrated livewell, and two flanking fishing chairs. The well lid serves as a bait-prep station, with nooks molded into the cover to hold lures, hooks, and tools. Built-in lockable rod lockers and tackle trays are within reach, and entire aft area is covered in vinyl for easy clean-up. The helm features another livewell, a sink, and a Lowrance fishfinder.

In standard trim with two 25” pontoons and a 90 horsepower outboard, the Cast-a-Way is an affordable model that gets the job done nicely. Those wishing for more power and more aggressive handling can option up to Premier’s PTX package, which adds a third 36” tube to the mix, with a flat planing surface to provide lift.  Premier 221 Cast-a-Way

Mid-level pricing and upper-level amenities make the Cypress Cay Seabreeze a good choice for serious pontoon lovers who don’t want to break the bank.

Cypress Cay Seabreeze SL 230

A price-point model is attractive when you’re signing the paperwork, but no one likes a stripped-down look at the dock. Cypress Cay strikes a nice balance with the Seabreeze SL 230. Within, upholstery sports the same suede-like finish found in the brand’s higher-end models. Opt for the optional vinyl flooring and you can complement it with the look of teak, without the upkeep. Exposed rotomolded seatbases may be a giveaway to price concessions, but they’re nicely color-matched to the upholstery. In fact, I missed them at first glance.

The layout is similarly upscale. Amidships, Cypress Cay mixes things up with a forward-facing loveseat across from the helm. Aft, a spacious sunpad invites all-out lounging, but also accommodates those who prefer more supportive accommodations. Headrests are integrated into the rear cushion for facing forward; a reclining seat back forward offers support when facing aft. Raise the bed and you’ll find stowage, plus a biggie-sized curtained changing room. Twin 25” pontoons are standard issue. Upgrade to triples, with performance-oriented strakes, for greater capacity and improved handling.
For more info, watch our video boat review of the Cypress Cay Seabreeze SL 230.

Tri-toons like the Manitou Legacy offer handling and performance that’s more like a V-hull than a traditional pontoon boat.

Manitou 23 Legacy SHP

A recent trend has been to configure triple pontoons so that they mimic the handling of a V-hull. Manitou’s patented V-Toon technology pairs 23” diameter outer pontoons with a 27” center tube, dropped a full 5” lower, to allow the Legacy to bank and carve into a corner like its fiberglass counterparts. Add in the Sport Handling Package, including positive-angle lifting strakes, beefed-up nosecones, and SeaStar power-assist hydraulic steering, and you’ve also got a boat that planes lightning fast, handles aggressively, and with as much as 250 hp on the transom, tops out at over 50 mph.

Above deck, a traditional layout is highlighted by a 3” raised helm, designed to give the driver a more unobstructed, commanding view forward. Billet accents are in abundance, including a pedestal-mount rearview mirror, switch panels, and custom steering wheel. Another cool feature is the “toy box.” Hidden below the aft sunpad, it’s an extra-spacious compartment designed to hold plenty of skis and boards. Manitou 23 Legacy SHP

It’s as luxurious as it looks, but you won’t experience the true nature of the Harris FloteBote Grand Mariner until you firewall the throttle and go for a thrill ride.

Harris FloteBote Grand Mariner SL 250

Bulky engine enclosures were once standard issue, partly to drown out a noisy two-stroke engine. Today’s four-strokes are clean and quiet, so Harris FloteBote completely opened up the stern of the Grand Mariner SL 250. A large, low-profile sunpad is positioned aft. A pivoting backrest moves to the rear to bring the focus into the main cockpit, or forward to turn that attention to the swim platform and water when lounging on the hook. The quality of the upholstery, teak-look padding on the swim platform, multiple cupholders, and handy stereo remote will tempt you to float the day away.

But trust us, get underway. The optional XTR performance package adds a third pontoon, drops it 2” lower than the outer tubes, and fashions that tube into an angular motor pod aft. Lifting strakes enhance the outer tubes. The result is an aggressive lean-in ride reminiscent of a fiberglass V-hull. An array of Mercury outboard power is available, up to a 300hp Verado.  Watch our video boat review of the Harris FloteBote Grand Mariner SL 250 for more detail.

If cocktail cruises are in the plan, it’ll be hard to beat the Sylvan Mandalay Bar.

Sylvan 8525 Mandalay Bar

Sylvan avoids the traditional round pontoon; instead, the manufacturer’s 27” tubes are constructed to feature an actual V-shaped bottom, featuring a keel and chines. They dub the design “Revolutionary Planing Technology,” and it helps both performance and handling. With a 225hp Yamaha V Max outboard and optional center tube, the 8525 will plane almost instantaneously and top out at over 35 mph. Carving is aggressive, yet keeps the flatter feel inherent to pontoons.

The obvious standout feature of this particular model, however, is the actual bar at the craft’s stern. Pontoons have always been made for the cocktail cruise. This model takes that mission literally, offering up a faux-granite countertop and a trio of stools beckoning passengers to belly up. Flip a switch and a motorized bracket raises from a hidden nook below. Use it for a wineglass and plate holder, or mount up your own flatscreen TV.  For more info, visit the Sylvan 8525 Mandalay Bar webpage.

The small price tag on the Sweetwater 1570 can be deceiving; the boat is small and it isn’t exactly high-performance, but it maintains a high level of quality.

Sweetwater SW 1570

With so much horsepower and so many amenities available, it’s easy to forget that pontoons don’t have to be big, nor do they have to be fast… or expensive. Sweetwater’s SW 1570 is a compact 15-footer that can be had with a simple 20hp outboard for less than $15,000. Obviously amenities are few, but you still get a fiberglass helm station, quality vinyl on the seats, a table with built-in cupholders, color-coordinated canopy with boot, and colored rail skin. Options include vinyl deck covering, depth- and/or fish-finder, Sony CD stereo with MP3 port, and trolling motor harness and plug.

Bench seating provides room for up to seven passengers, meaning the kids can invite some friends to spend the day on the water. Hinged seats open outward to unveil plenty of stowage room for all the stuff those passengers bring aboard for the ride.  Sweetwater SW 1570

If you want stern-drive power, V-hull handling, and speeds over 45-mph, the Bennington 2575 RCW is a pontoon to check out.

Bennington 2575 RCW I/O

You won’t find the typical outboard anchored to the stern of this Bennington 2575 RCW. Instead, housed below the engine hatch is a MerCruiser 350 MAG MPI stern-drive, ready to push this boat quickly onto plane and peak close to 45 mph. A stern-drive provides an unobstructed swim platform and clear view aft. Bennington responds with a separate seating area behind the helm, filled with twin lounges and rear-facing backrests that invite passengers to stretch out, relax, or take in the skiing, tubing, or boarding action happening in the boat’s wake.

The 2575 is yet another ‘toon that will handle more like one of its V-hull counterparts. Standard is the brand’s Elliptical Sports Package (ESP), which pairs 25”, performance-foil-equipped outer pontoons with a 32”, elliptically shaped center tube with lifting strakes. That central tube also provides the real estate for an enormous ski locker. Bennington 2575 RCW I/O

The WindJammer from Avalon is a pontoon boat that comes in both regular and tri-toon versions. Either way, luxury levels are off the charts.

Avalon WindJammer Quad Lounger

As the name suggests, Avalon’s WindJammer Quad Lounger places a premium on kicking back, with plush, wraparound seating lining the perimeter. Forward, twin lounges stretch out invitingly with forward-facing backrests. Beside the helm, a love seat keeps a passenger or two close to the captain. Aft, corner lounges straddle the center boarding gate. Ample stowage is available below all, but don’t expect the roto-molded bins common in the industry. Instead, the manufacturer welds their own aluminum seat frames, which they promise provide better flow-through ventilation. Even the embossed exterior fencing avoids a common style. It’s fastened completely outside the perimeter rails to lend a sleek look to the exterior, while covering up areas that can accumulate dirt and debris.

An appealing option on the WindJammer is Avalon’s WaveGlider performance system. It features a trio of 25” pontoons with extruded lifting strakes, as well as Sea Star hydraulic steering and a 42-gallon fuel tank built into the real estate provided by the center tube. Avalon WindJammer Quad Lounger

Pontoon boaters who fish hard but want to pay less – a lot less – should check out the Bass Buggy.

Sun Tracker Bass Buggy

If your name is Bass Buggy, you’re sold at Bass Pro Shops, and you count brands like Tracker, Nitro, and Mako among your family members, it’s obvious you’d better be good. This longtime favorite received a makeover in 2012, resulting in fishing chairs with screw-in pedestals at the bow, an aerated livewell, vinyl flooring or 22-oz. marine carpet, rod holders, and a molded livewell unit with rod and drink holders. There’s even a lid ruler to measure your catch. And that’s before you even add the optional fish package, which throws a Lowrance fishfinder and MotorGuide trolling motor into the mix.

But perhaps most appealing about the Bass Buggy isn’t its fishing credentials, but its price. With a pair of 24” diameter pontoons, the 20-footer lists for a mere $11,595, including a 20hp Mercury FourStroke—and the 16-foot version can be had for under $10,000. Sun Tracker Bass Buggy

Entertaining? Rockin’ house party? All-day fishing? Lounge lizard lifestyle? Whatever your desire, there’s a good chance one of these top 10 pontoon boats is going to be perfect for your needs. So ditch that old mentality, and get ready to experience the pleasure of pontoon boating.

Top 10 Fishing Boats

The best fishing boat ever built is the boat that’s ideal for the type of fish you pursue, but anglers of all stripes will be able to appreciate the 10 that top our list. We test hundreds of boats every year, and while most blend into the crowd, these are special. Each has its own unique features, and each is a fish-killing machine. So here they are (in order of size): our Top 10 Fishing Boats of 2012.

The Hobie Mirage Pro Angler may be small, but it'll help you catch some big fish.

1. Hobie Mirage Pro Angler 12 - Kayak fishing is becoming more and more popular, but this sport has always had a couple of serious drawbacks: it’s hard to control the yak while you cast, and it’s hard to remain seated in an uncomfortable kayak for hours on end. The Mirage Pro Angler solves both of these problems; it adds the pedal-powered Mirage Drive which leaves your hands free, and an uber-comfortable seat with lumbar and recline-angle adjustments. The one down-side is its eyebrow-raising cost, which starts at over $2,500. Still, if cash isn’t in short supply and you want the best kayak for casting, check this one out.

The Kodiak is only 16 long, but feels like a much roomier boat.

2. Crestliner Kodiak 16 SC - Lake and river anglers are inclined to aluminum rigs, but these boats are usually relatively small and relatively cramped. When we arrived to test the Kodiak 16 SC, the first thing that impressed us was how roomy it is for a 16-footer. The reason? Crestliner stretched the boat’s beam by half an inch, then re-designed all the floatation chambers from long, narrow longitudinal boxes into lower, wider sections which act as seat bases. The down-side to this design is the elimination of gunwale rodboxes, but the up-side is well worth the trade. At one point there were four of us aboard, and we had plenty of room to move around. Bonus features: Crestliner finishes the boat with a rugged non-skid similar to truck bed-liners; a reverse-chine in the hull keeps spray down; there’s a standard 12-gallon livewell; and hatches are aluminum, not plastic.

The Mako 17 Pro Skiff has more ability than most boats this size - and the price is right.

3. Mako Pro Skiff 17 – This boat makes the cut thanks in no small part to its cat-like “inverted V” hull, because it offers a fish-catching platform that rides well through a chop and can handle bays, rivers, and sounds—yet it does so at an eminently reasonable cost. A mere $10,000 puts you into this rig with a trailer and a tiller-steer 25-hp four-stroke outboard. Spend another $5K and you get it with a (slightly flimsy roto-molded) console, remote steering and controls, a livewell, and a 30-hp powerplant. Or opt for a 60-hp four-stroke, by far our favorite way to run this boat, and the price tag still doesn’t break $16,000. Considering how hard it is in this day and age to find a well-built, capable fishing boat that doesn’t break the bank, we call the Pro Skiff 17 a winner for anglers with bay-sized ambition and a pond-sized budget.

The Starcraft Starfish is a lake-lover's fishboat.

4. Starcraft Starfish 176 - Another aluminum rig freshwater anglers will go gaga over is Starcraft’s Starfish 176. How many boats of this type have a rodbox that can lock down 11 rigs? An over-sized windshield that gives you and your passengers full protection without needing to crouch? Gunwales sized for downriggers? Dual livewells? .01” thick aluminum on the hull bottom? The answer: not many, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find any competitor that offers all of these features in one package. Added bonus: the baked enamel finish looks nearly as slick as gel coat. If you’re a big-water freshwater angler on the hunt for species like walleye and perch, the Starfish 176 is prime beef.

Outboards, on a Carolina Classic 25? In 2012, YES.

5. Carolina Classic 25 - This model has been around forever and a day, and anglers who fish bays with regularity but also like to venture offshore when the conditions allow have long considered the Carolina Classic 25 a mainstay. Unfortunately, in order to enjoy one you were forced to accept life with an inboard. What’s an outboard-enthusiast supposed to do? Wait until this year, when Carolina Classic rolled out a new version of this boat with twin outboards hanging from the transom. Now, the 25 cruises at over 30 knots and offers dual-outboard reliability for those long runs offshore.

Check out that cool flybridge - on a 29-footer!

6. Beneteau Barracuda 9 - Beneteau is not exactly a big name among the fishing crowd and the Barracuda is not exactly what you’d call hard-core. In fact, the cushy cabin and relatively small cockpit make it as well suited for cruising as it is for fishing. But spend a few hours at the helm, and you’ll know why it made our list – this boat is amazingly fun to run, and amazingly competent for a multiple-mission design. Plus, it has a mini-flybridge. When’s the last time you found that, on a 29’ fishboat? Offshore anglers and sight-casters are going to love it. Our test boat had a pair of F-225’s on it, and we blasted along at close to 50-mph while cruising at over 35. The hull ate through a chop, and the air-conditioned cabin ate through the sweltering summer heat. Sure, we were bummed at the lack of an integrated livewell and fishboxes, but taken as a whole, the Barracuda 9 has a lot more to offer than most fishboats of its size.

The Ameracat is utilitarian in nature, and a natural born fish-killer.

7. Ameracat 31 CC - Cat lovers in search of a wide-open center console offshore fishing machine that has fast speeds and is stoutly built have several models to choose from, but most are heavily-laden with features and accoutrements that drive prices off the charts. If you like a relatively inexpensive boat that’s designed for utility, you’re out of luck—at least, you were until Ameracat introduced their 31 to the world. This boat is tough as nails and has about the same level of complexity—and as a result it costs half as much as many competitors. It looks like the workhorse it is so it won’t be the choice of those with a desire to impress the neighbors, but if you want to it fish hard and put it away wet, this one’s a winner.

Innovation is the name of the game on the Scout 320.

8. Scout 320 LXF - Mega-sized center consoles might be all the rage, but Scout’s 320 LXF is just plain outrageous. It’s big and beefy, it’s as fishy as it gets (with a massive built-in tackle and rigging station, integrated livewells and fishboxes, 6 stainless-steel gunwale rodholders, rocket launchers in the post and on the top, and rod stowage in the console), and it performs like a thoroughbred, with a 57-mph top-end. But our favorite feature on this boat is the innovation. The electric cockpit grill, for example, has been relocated to the bow where it won’t get in the way of angling. The electronic hub allows you to control the boat’s systems with a key fob. And the hard top, windows, and supports are integrated together to create one stiff, strong structure. Offshore center console lovers who want the latest and greatest gadgets, gizmos, and goodies will love this boat.

With pod drives in its belly, the Cabo 36 is a whole new creature.

9. Cabo 36 Express - With ZF pod drives and a pair of 460-hp Caterpillar C9 ACERT diesels, Cabo’s 36 is like an all-new boat. We thought the 36 was just fine from the start—like all Cabos it’s built like a tank, bulls its way through rough seas, and has a beautiful offshore-oriented cockpit. But ditching those shafts and redesigning the 36 for pod drives netted Cabo a 15-percent reduction in fuel burn, made it ride flatter and handle turns better, and most importantly, turned dockside maneuvering into a dream. I had to weave it through a very tight, very crowded marina during the Miami Boat Show, and with one finger on the joystick, I felt 100-percent in control at all times. If you want a canyon runner that you can park like a car, this boat is the ticket.

Okay, you've had a look at the Spencer 60... now stop drooling.

10. Spencer 60 - When size matters and cost doesn’t, offshore anglers will turn to a boat like the Spencer 60. This billfishing machine is crafted from triple-planked Okoume ply bathed in epoxy and glass, and as a result, it weighs in at 15,000 to 30,000 pounds less than some other boats of its size—yet it’s either as strong or stronger than those overweight competitors, and it goes faster, with a top-end nearing 50. And each Spencer is built to the owner’s specifications, so you can have the livewells, bait freezers, and icemakers placed where you want them. Fit and finish is insanely good, with book-matched cabinetry and glossy hardwoods. The down-side is, of course, price, which is measured in the millions. How many millions? If you have to ask, it really doesn’t matter.

So there you have it, fishboat-loving boaters, our top 10 fishing machines of the year. And if you think we missed one that deserves to be on the list, give it a shout-out in the comments section below.