What a summer it was with our 2007 Yammie!

[nucleuscracker]

However, i've been struggling the past few months on whether to trade her in (the boat, not the wife..LOL) and purchase a.... Pontoon Boat.

WHY? well...we wet slip our boat every summer minus our annual summer trip to a Northern Michigan Lake, the kids are getting older (15 and 17yr old step daughters) so they are starting to get jobs, my work requires a crazy travel schedule and the wife more or less hates driving the Yamaha.

With a pontoon, she and the kids, and their friends can take it out for the day even while I'm out of town. Which, considering what we pay for the slip ($1950/summer), I hate seeing the boat just sit.

Anyone else been through this?

 

[Bruce]

@Rana launches, retrieves and is perfectly capable of taking our Yamaha out on her own. Our boats are simple to operate compared to other boats. I suggest spending some time helping her learn to operate your family Yamaha. The more I get out of the seat and let @Rana drive the more comfortable she becomes.

What does she dislike about your Yamaha? Do you think fins would help?

Things like teaching her to steer with the throttles, using no wake mode or that you can maneuver at low speed while the throttles are in the neutral range may help.

I know a guy who used his boat infrequently and sold it this year. Every time they took it out he and his wife would be stressed launching and retrieving which would cause accidents. They would be upset about scratches, etc from the accident which would cause more stress. It was a self defeating situation. We all need the opportunity to learn.

 

[nucleuscracker]

Thanks @Bruce ! We have had the fins (original Cobra Fins) since buying the boat new in 2008 and while I have gotten used to how it steers, she still is not a fan, after all these years. The other issue is that we have a no wake zone you have to drive through between 2 sections of the lake and no matter how often we try and let her drive......she just isn't willing to get better.

 

[Bruce]

Upgrade your fins!

The original fin designs are too small for a 230. One of the new designs will make a huge difference.

 

[Scottintexas]

Does she have experience driving an outboard ? I would hate to sell one only to find out the problem wasn't the boat, I had never driven a boat before the Yamaha and am very comfortable with it now,

If it's just a mental block or she really can drive another boat I definitely say trade it, it's not worth having a boat sit

 

[Scuba_ref]

Upgrade your fins!

The original fin designs are too small for a 230. One of the new designs will make a huge difference.

I can not agree more with this statement. This year I upgraded from the original cobra fins to the Thrust Vector XL and it is a huge difference. My wife and daughters are all a lot more comfortable driving the boat. If you want to get out of the captain's chair then bigger fins will help you do that!

 

[justason]

have her learn the nuances of driving the yamaha........everyone in our house is versed on the boat and truck/trailer for driving/launching and retrieving...although I'm always stuck with the truck end of it.... Fins help for the windy days as well.

I always thought the floor-plan of the Yamaha can compete a pontoon boat (its a stretch but).......add in performance and the swim deck.....o hell yeah....... keep the Yamaha.....plan B, trade in the wife.....

 

[nucleuscracker]

have her learn the nuances of driving the yamaha........everyone in our house is versed on the boat and truck/trailer for driving/launching and retrieving...although I'm always stuck with the truck end of it.... Fins help for the windy days as well.

I always thought the floor-plan of the Yamaha can compete a pontoon boat (its a stretch but).......add in performance and the swim deck.....o hell yeah....... keep the Yamaha.....plan B, trade in the wife.....

LMAOOOOO @"trade in the wife" - some days I tell ya! actually though she is incredible as she puts up with all my other vices - craft beer, hockey and cigars.

I'll have to check out the bigger fins. While they made a big difference after installation, maybe that'll be the THING that keeps her at the wheel longer. I offered up keeping the Yamaha AND adding the Pontoon. But when the marina upped their slip fees for next year... What sucks is that you don't even get power at the slip.

thanks for the feedback friends!

 

[justason]

[QUOTE=" she is incredible as she puts up with all my other vices - craft beer, hockey and cigars.

![/QUOTE]

I think your my missing brother I've been searching for !!!
GO BRUINS...O wait..nevermind
GO 'CANES...errrrr, nevermind...
well, ..Beer never lets me down.......

ENJOY !!!!!

 

[OrangeTJ]

I'll say that a properly set up 'toon could be a pretty sweet ride. I've been casually thinking about going that way in a couple of years. For us, I'd only consider a triton with a "performace" hull setup, like the Manitou or Bennington boats offer and something with a 250 - 300 hp outboard. Those boats will run 45 - 50, sail through chop, be super quiet underway and carry all of our boating friends in comfort with space to spare. I definitely don't love the "form factor", but the utility is hard to argue against unless you're a hard core wakeboarder or a surfer. Those boats will easily pull a skier, tubes or wake boards, but obviously they don't have the wake for more serious wake boarding.

 

[txav8r]

I too have considered a pontoon. But the logistics of size and trailering/storage is just a deal breaker for me. Sure, put it in a slip and it is perfect, but storage and trailering that big beast isn't as easy. It is huge and won't fit in my barn. And setting one up to do what @OrangeTJ and others have said they can do is fine, if you want to dump upwards of $100K in one. I say that, because by the time you get the stereo and interior outfitted the way you want it, extra biminis, covers, lighting, etc., you are way over the price of a Yamaha and certainly what you have in your '07. I bought my '08 for $30K, put $10K in it. Bought my '12 for $40K and put almost $10K in it and if I hadn't added the motorhome, I would have put more than $10K in the boat and still probably will. I know the toon will go fast and that isn't really what I do anyway. We cruise a little and doing lakes or boating where long transitions are required, a toon would be a comfortable ride. But the boat you have is capable of that too. You mentioned long no wake zones. With bigger fins, you can not only take your hands off the wheel, you can get up and let go, hang fenders, and more, all the while the boat tracks fairly straight. As light as our boat is, it can be moved by the wind or waves, but a pontoon also has a much bigger area of windage and can be tossed about like crazy too, they almost need a bow thruster! I would consider investing in Jeff's Ultimate fins or Will's TV XL's, and they both may have something bigger now too than those! You will find a remarkable amount of control with both at slow speeds, and with Jeff's, you can set them to stay down when cruising and anything in-between that and retracting at speed too. They are not offensive and won't deter from your enjoyment of the boat. As a matter of fact, you may find that you too enjoy it more!

 

[OrangeTJ]

Agree with most of what txav8r says above, except the part about a tritoon being 100K+. Sure, you can spend that if you try, but you'd be going completely top of the line on everything or on a very large boat. I priced out very nice tritoons from Harris, Manitou and Bennington and dealers were quoting 55 - 65 for 22 & 24 footers with performance hull setups and 250 - 300 hp Merc Verado engines, double biminis, upgraded factory stereo setups, trailer, etc.. That puts them firmly into 24 foot Yamaha territory pricewise. MSRP was more like 65 - 80K, but like most boats (besides Yamahas), there is apparently a LOT of wiggle room in pricing. Those prices above were without any negotiating at all, as I was just window shopping. They are huge on trailers, though, so storage could be an issue unless slipped or otherwise stored at a marina.

That said, virtually any "keep what you have vs. get something new" equation will favor keeping what you have from a cost perspective. You just have to decide what you want to do with your boat and how much more enjoyment you'l actually get out of something different vs. what that change will cost and whether that is worth it to you.

I may need to try out the latest CJ or TV fins, as the CJ Magnum 16X I have on my 210 don't provide anywhere near "hands free" low speed tracking. They do make a difference, but for me it is most noticeable at higher speeds, where they allow significantly more control in quartering wakes and rollers (and also add significant steering "feel" or effort). After 4 years with our boat I don't have any trouble handling it at low speeds but it does require constant attention. Unfamiliar drivers find it very challenging and my wife finds it frustrating enough that she really doesn't enjoy driving at all. To be fair, though, I don't know how she'd do with any other boat type either as she tends to expect that boat to respond the way a car would.....which no boat will.

 

[robert843]

Ok I have to chime in on this. I have never owned a pontoon but have spent a ton of time on them. I have had 5 friends who have had them and all have either gotten rid of them or are attempting too. Now I live in a coastal environent so that could be the cause but they all lacked something that each person wanted. About 7 years ago I started shopping for a boat and was looking really hard at a pontoon and friend talked me out of it. His basic comment was unless you plan to have 12 plus people with you 80% of the time look at something else as most bow riders will give you a better across the board experince. I got blessed and was given my grandfathers Hurricane deck boat. After owning it for several years and still have it today I saw what he was saying. The deck boat out preformed pontoons and still had a 12 person rating. If you decided to go away from the jet boat get a deck boat and skip the pontoon. Not to mention they hold value better then a pontoon all my friends that had them have taken a serious beating on resale. I have the jet boat and the deck boat still both have a purpose and have no plans to get rid of either at this time. So always would recommend getting both if you can lol. The deck boat is very versatile and I do love it. Oh and it's only a 20ft boat with a 12 person rating.

 

[nucleuscracker]

Finally able to get back to the discussion! thanks for everyone's feedback and thoughts! When we, okay, I, first bought the Yammi in 2008, pontoons were no where near what they are today and..my now teenage step daughter's interests have changed. It's moved from wake surfing/tubing to wanting to just play in the water and sun with their family and friends. and our friends are getting older and they find it hard to even tube due to back issues. Getting old sucks!

i will for sure check out some deck boats -as space and ease of driving are two of the many things we are looking for!

okay - I'm headed back to work..lol

 

[rkluck]

My wife doesn't like to drive the boat either. We put the Cobra fins on this summer and they make a big difference over the older version we got when we bought the boat. My 2 cents are that you have to get the most you can from your toys. You won't make money on our toys but you will make memories.

On the pontoon topic.
We have been considering a pontoon as well. The basic driver is that now we own a lake house with a covered dock. In the past the boating day was a whole day and we had several people with us. Now with the dock people just go there and swim etc. The kids are older and so we don't see them much and our friends will tube at the most. So the value isn't there. We can get a really nice pontoon for a pretty low price (Comparatively) and do everything we want. Financially (day to day cost, insurance, taxes, gas, etc.) the cost will go down a lot and we still can go out and maybe even do more fishing. The thing we always come back to is that we love our boat and she looks great. I know this spring we will go through this again and we get closer to switching every year.

 

[Gym]

I also have a wife who wouldn't handle the boat without a battle followed by the silent treatment. After the first season I bought the first generation Cobra fins which made it much easier for her so then it was only a mild scuffle and no silent treatment to get her to drive. When I upgraded to the Cobra Ultimates two seasons ago she actually likes to drive the boat now without even an argument and tells mè constanly how much easier it is now. Boy, I miss the good old days. . Seriously though, a $300 investment in a new set of fins would be a much cheeper experiment than a new $50k - $60k boat.

 

[SCSTWG]

I was told that the pontoon is the "mini-van" of boats. That was all I needed to hear.