Bimini & windsheild for bad weather?

[codeman671]

Ahh, the quest for the perfect island boat.

I looked for 10 years and went through 20+ boats. My favorites were always 24' tritoons with big power and full enclosures. You could hang out on them, transport materials and make quick trips back and forth. Every change I made had its advantages and disadvantages.

One season I had a 25' tracker pontoon with a hard top as my work boat. The roof was great, but it was a twin tube and didn't have full enclosure. The motor was a 115 but it was a dog. There is something to be said about a boat you don't care about. I could throw whatever on it, not cover it, and never worried. Didn't even care when my leonberger ate one of the seats!

Another favorite was a whaler dauntless 200 with a 200 verado.
It ran 50+, had decent deck space and didn't have to be covered. A simple 3 sides enclosure could have been added had I needed it.
Awesome boat.

My suggestion is pick out the place first, we can help you find the right setup to match.

[uschisk]

We started with 3 younger kids - 4,6,8 when we bought the camp. We started with a 20 ft bowrider with canvas, then upgraded to our 25 ft Monterey bowrider with a camper top canvas. It is much easier - larger boat, can stand up under the camper top and move around. If the weather is bad, we have the whole family, 2 large dogs, friends, all our stuff (in the head we don't use other than as a storage closet) in the boat without issue.
You will need a boat that is ok in the rain, because you will end up boating in the rain at some point.
Also consider your boat ride. We had no idea what we were doing when we bought, and we lucked out. We boat from Shep Brown's to Mark Island, so we have some protection from Bear Island the entire way, which really helps.
We use our boat for fun as well, with the kids and friends, tubing, water skiing, etc so we really wanted a bow rider.

[RyanDe]

Thanks! We're leaning towards a used <$15k 21-22ft boat to get us started. We'll use it for a year and see how well it works and probably upgrade/change things up after that. I guess it does matter where we end up, if it's on the east of Bear vs the east of cow that could make a difference as far as what we need to get there.

Are pontoons (three pontoons) pretty stable in rough waters? That's an option since they're pretty large even if we can can't fully enclose them if we could cover the back and put everyone/everything in there it might give us more room.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by RyanDe

Are pontoons (three pontoons) pretty stable in rough waters? That's an option since they're pretty large even if we can can't fully enclose them if we could cover the back and put everyone/everything in there it might give us more room.

Yes they are very stable and a great choice for your first island boat based on your budget! You can fully enclose them very easily as well and I highly recommend it. Because of their deck size, they can carry a lot of material such as furniture, groceries and whatever is needed at your island home. A very handy boat to have and I guarantee when you get another boat you will still keep the pontoon because of how handy it has become!

Good luck!

Dan