throttle
c ya on da lake
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2007
- Messages
- 11,573
- Reaction score
- 9,642
Pontoon life... Good livin, its the simple things that makes it good!
Here is the down and dirty for me, I had put almost 100 hours each year on my old boat, I had been talking about how I wanted to upgrade into a new motor for years, it was going to be pricey... Maybe just buy a new boat? The price of a new boat made me think I should simplify my lifestyle and enjoy what surrounds me without doing it at 100mph. My wife and I primarily use the boat on Lake Havasu 99.9% of the time, from the marina to a destination and back. Maybe a pontoon? Really? Well, not the like your grandpa's, I would have to have one with some attitude.
In my search, it didn't take long to find one I liked, but I hit the pause button while I watched and looked further. I then found the Forest River Marine line up (Berkshire, Trifecta and SouthBay).
I had to take some time and learn more about what is under the deck of these new pontoons. Here is what I found, lifting strakes, splash fins, spray rails, pad running surface, large nose cone, pressurized tubes and strategically placed bulk heads. Wow, that was a lot at once, now add the size of tubes and running surfaces, round tubes, elliptical tubes, different gauge aluminum. This went on for a while as you can see, it just brings more questions to the performance of it in the end.
I should add that at this point I am trying to compare the three Forest River Marine products to each other and find any difference in build quality, standard features and or upgraded options. I can't find much if anything that stands out and the dealers are not able to point anything out to me either at the time I was looking. All three products are built in the same factory and all three are available in Lake Havasu, but at different dealers. In my opinion this gives Forest River Marine more visibility and offers more of their products to be sold in same local area. Again, it would be my opinion that these dealers may have different clientele by the models they keep in their inventory.
Here is the down and dirty for me, I had put almost 100 hours each year on my old boat, I had been talking about how I wanted to upgrade into a new motor for years, it was going to be pricey... Maybe just buy a new boat? The price of a new boat made me think I should simplify my lifestyle and enjoy what surrounds me without doing it at 100mph. My wife and I primarily use the boat on Lake Havasu 99.9% of the time, from the marina to a destination and back. Maybe a pontoon? Really? Well, not the like your grandpa's, I would have to have one with some attitude.
In my search, it didn't take long to find one I liked, but I hit the pause button while I watched and looked further. I then found the Forest River Marine line up (Berkshire, Trifecta and SouthBay).
I had to take some time and learn more about what is under the deck of these new pontoons. Here is what I found, lifting strakes, splash fins, spray rails, pad running surface, large nose cone, pressurized tubes and strategically placed bulk heads. Wow, that was a lot at once, now add the size of tubes and running surfaces, round tubes, elliptical tubes, different gauge aluminum. This went on for a while as you can see, it just brings more questions to the performance of it in the end.
I should add that at this point I am trying to compare the three Forest River Marine products to each other and find any difference in build quality, standard features and or upgraded options. I can't find much if anything that stands out and the dealers are not able to point anything out to me either at the time I was looking. All three products are built in the same factory and all three are available in Lake Havasu, but at different dealers. In my opinion this gives Forest River Marine more visibility and offers more of their products to be sold in same local area. Again, it would be my opinion that these dealers may have different clientele by the models they keep in their inventory.
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