Hi all....This is a great site and I have learned alot but now I need to review what I have learned and ask some questions. My wife and I are planning on buying our first boat. We fell in love with pontoons while vacationing on Lake Gaston last year.

I believe I have it straight from reading here that as far as trailers are concerned I want one with a tandem axle and brakes but what about galvanized or painted. What is the best option for salt water use and any tips on keeping everthing operating correctly after dipping it in the salt?

The boat we are looking at is a 2006 Sun Tracker party barge 21 with 24' tubes. It was a rental at Disney world and is now being sold without an engine or trailer for 2500 bucks. I have not seen the boat in person but was told it had faded seats from sitting uncovered. I like the idea of this boat because the toons will be new and are fairly large. also the shape it is in is supposed to be fair so we would have a pretty nice toon from the get go. Of course I would need the trailer which is another 2500 and we still don't have an engine.

Does anyone want to give me thoughts on my reasoning with this boat. I realize that I would then need an anchor, ropes, life vests,etc further upping our costs..

Any advice good or bad would be appreciated.

Mike

Hello Mike (aka MSHASTAY), welcome to the forums. Got a great bunch of people here. Glad to see you come join us. Be sure to post some pics of your boat(s) in the 'Show Off Your Pontoon' section (or rebuild depending if you have before/after pics), as we'd love to see them. Also tell us your story in How did you come to join the forums? (just click on the red link and tell us all about it ).  You probably did like a lot of us have. Looking for pontoon accessories and either found it through www.PontoonStuff.com ebay site or web store. Jim (administrator) and Andrea (pontoongirl) Myers (our hosts) have excellent staff members to help them help you find whatever it is you're looking for your boat and has excellent shipping and customer service. Have fun and happy boating. Be sure to edit your signature line to include details of your boat and motor so folks won't have to ask for it if questions arise later. Also visit our other sections like Where are you? so others will know what part of the country you're from. If you need any help editing your uploading your photo's, check out our primer here How To Upload Your Pontoon Boats Image, if you need help resizing them check out Software that helps you with pics & such. Be sure to review the posting rules and policies of the forum. If you have any issues with seeing photo's this link will explain it Issue regarding seeing photo’s on site. Please read all the posting rules. Some forums have additional specific rules for that category.

If you look around on Craigslist, you should be able to find a boat for about that price or a little more that has a motor and trailer. You'll also want a galvanized trailer if its going to get dunked in salt/brackish water. A motor is going to be a major expense for that boat.