educate me on personal pontoons please

[araitim]

after a trip down the Manistee river in a driftboat and a fantastic Christmas i find myself in the market for my first personal pontoon but know nothing about them. i am a rather large man (260lbs) and the toon will be used for rivers like the Manistee, Au Sable, PM and Muskegon. id like it to have a platform i could stand on for casting. does anyone have experience with a vestle simmilar to what i am looking for? if so, what brand, size and features should i be looking for? any help would be appreciated.

 

[Guest1]

I'm just jumping in to get the updates on this. I am thinking about getting one too. I don't weigh as much as araitim, But I also want to stand and cast. I was thinking about an electric trolling motor on the back end. Edumacate me too.

 

[mbphotos54]

davescadden2010catalog

Im looking for this stuff at the moment also, i was surfing the webs and found these. Cabalas has the smaller ones, not sure on the one I linked. would be an awsome rig for sure.
Mike

---------- Post added at 11:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 PM ----------

check the christmans sale page, you might get lucky.

 

[araitim]

im looking at the Skykomish Sunrise Pontoon Cabela's: Skykomish Sunrise Pontoon Boat

 

[mojo]

Joni and I have had Scadden kickboats for years. If it ain't broke right?
Right now both of us have Outlaw X5's and Joni has the frameless Renegade and I have the Outlaw Assault XX also frameless.
The Sky has a frame and standing platform. But it has a urethane bladder. (The rest are bladderless.) You'd be hard pressed to find a boat with the same features for the price. And it's built in the U.S. While most other brands come over from Asia.
The frame is aircraft aluminum, while a lot of others are thin steel.
Myself, since I've owned a lot of kickboats over the years, would get a frameless if you can afford it. They're lightweight (bladderless) and row very easily. Also they fold up very small compared to a framed model.
Google up Northfork Outdoors. They have a sale on now. And check out the videos. The link from NFO takes you to Dave's You Tube videos.
X5

One for Dan who wants a motor

Renegade

AssaultXX

 

[mbphotos54]

too cool. I was watching alot of the videos too, these things look rugged as they come, the next size bigger then the escape would be nice for sure, just for multiday gear packing.

 

[mcnerney]

+1 for the NFO boats. I own the Rampage and absolutely love it, very maneuverable, rows like a dream. I usually carry it inflated in the back of the pickup, but I've also deflated it and it folds up nicely to fit into the trunk of a Camry and at underr 40 lbs is easy enough to lift in and out of the vehicle. Inflation is a snap with the optional 12 volt electric air pump.

 

[mbphotos54]

question the guys that own these, can a deck be put in the nose section behind the seat, to stand on. I was thinking like a plywood deck, just curious. thanks
mike

 

[mojo]

question the guys that own these, can a deck be put in the nose section behind the seat, to stand on. I was thinking like a plywood deck, just curious. thanks
mike

It would be your boat, you could do anything you wanted. If you put the seat back down all the way you could get more room. And you have to have good balance especially if you are going down a river. Myself, I wouldn't do it on moving water.

 

[mbphotos54]

I was thinking for still ponds, but seated will be the way to go.
mike

 

[mojo]

I was thinking for still ponds, but seated will be the way to go.
mike

Because the frameless boats are so light, they're very easy to manuever and very quiet. Good flippers will let you sneak up closer to fish and you don't need to stand and cast, although it's possible to with the larger models.

 

[araitim]

so i took the plunge and ordered the Skykomish Sunrise Pontoon Boat. it is a Dave Scadden-North Fork Outdoors vestle. it appears as though it fills all of my needs and it has a Class V River Rating. Now for the LONG wait for it to get to me, it will be here no later than the 9th but every day seems like an eternity. Iv been reading on the other posts about pontoons and being able to use flippers to get around, do you use flippers over your wading boots or just over the neopreen stocking foot?

 

[wishiniwerfishin]

I wear my flippers over my wading boots..... it's nice to be able to get out and walk around, especially when nature calls.

 

[mojo]

so i took the plunge and ordered the Skykomish Sunrise Pontoon Boat. it is a Dave Scadden-North Fork Outdoors vestle. it appears as though it fills all of my needs and it has a Class V River Rating. Now for the LONG wait for it to get to me, it will be here no later than the 9th but every day seems like an eternity. Iv been reading on the other posts about pontoons and being able to use flippers to get around, do you use flippers over your wading boots or just over the neopreen stocking foot?

You can go a couple different ways. Wading boots or booties
Glacier Glove Float Tube Booties

 

[araitim]

what pumps are you guys using to inflate your float tubes and pontoons? i see Joni and Mojo use a LVM pump to inflate the boat and top off the toon's with a K-Pump to 3 psi. im looking to inflate from 3 to 5 psi, will all the k-pumps do 5psi?

 

[Sage & Abel]

Alright, this is a dumb question... but these things are inflatable. Going down a river like the Pere Marquette, there can be quite a bit of bumping and bangin, especially if the water is low. Do they "pop" and lose air?

Cheers,
Mike.

 

[araitim]

from what i understand, that is exactly what they were designed for but i havnt used one yet.

 

[Joni]

Alright, this is a dumb question... but these things are inflatable. Going down a river like the Pere Marquette, there can be quite a bit of bumping and bangin, especially if the water is low. Do they "pop" and lose air?

Cheers,
Mike.

The higher priced pontoons are made out of the same material as rafts, do they pop?

 

[Sage & Abel]

The higher priced pontoons are made out of the same material as rafts, do they pop?

I told ya it was a dumb question!!

I'll take that as a nay :doh:

Cheers,
Mike.

 

[Joni]

I wouldn't say nay, anything can happen and I am sure some cases Rafts pop, I know I have seen canoes fold in half....just saying they are the same as rafts.