anyone have any opions on deck boats? such as how do they handle rough water compared to a pontoon boat. likes and dislikes. am considering one instead of a pontoon. had a pontoon previously that i enjoyed

I use to have a 18ft Bennington pontoon!! I really like it as far as being a smooth ride and roomie!! I only had a 50hp on it so I HATED that it was as slow as it was!!

I now have a 19'11" Tahoe deck boat!! Itis not as smooth as the pontoon but it is a very dry boat!! I can still fit 8 ppl comfortably in it when I want!! I have the Mercruiser 190hp on it and is plenty fast for me!! I can top out at about 46mph oon a calm day by myself!! It is a very heavy boat so truck gas mileage when towing but not any worse than the pontoon!! I have a 74lb thrust TM on it and it does fine!!

I keep thinkin I'd like a deck boat as well! Kind of a nice in between boat.

a deck boat is a faster and usually cheaper to haul around.

Tahoe started making a center console the year after i got mine!!
I sure would have gotten me one of those for sure!!





It is little cheaper to tow but not by much since it is so heavy! I towed mine with my F150 5.4 liter crew cab to Lake Murray and averaged 8.5 mpg!!

Pretty happy with this boat for getting messy and easy clean up, etc.

I dont have any pictures here, but I just picked up a Hurricane FD211 center console deck boat. I bought it used and shopped a long time to find what I wanted.

This one is priced too high honestly, but its basically the same boat I have, but a few years newer.
http://www.dfwboats.com/site_page_308/item_842279.html?listing_page=listing_sum_index_1.html

Its great for entertaining or fishing. Its bigger than I am used to, but I'm getting used to it.

I like that boat Muddog, but I would consider that a center console. Is it also considered a deck boat? If so, I REALLY want a deck boat now!!

If you have kids and get out and ski/innertube, a deck boat is a nice cross over. I had a Hurricane GS201 for about seven years and enjoyed it. Its a nice ski boat, you can get 8 or 9 people in it easily and they are comfortable, and its a fair fishing boat. Getting a trolling motor that can move a 4,500 lb (hull and I/O) was a challenge, but you can probably find a lighter deck boat than my old one. You could fish 4 out of my old boat easy. The ride was smooth and it was fairly nimble. Its a fairly wet ride and it was a heavy boat and a bit of lug to trailer. I had the big full injected MPI V8 and it was fine, but it would be easy to under engine a deck boat, so watch out for that

This is the exsact same on I have but mine is a 2006 model

http://www.tahoe-boats.com/boat/?boat=3319

This is the one I would've gotten if it had been available at the time!!

http://www.tahoe-boats.com/boat/specs.cfm?boat=3320

Iv got a 19ft Lowe alum.deck love it and you can pull it with a v6

I have had a center console fishing boat that was to small and a pontoon boat that was to slow. It was great for fishing but I didn't like the 20 MPH top speed. The way I talked the wife into a new boat was a Deck Boat. It's a 21' Nauticstar with a 150yam. 4 stroke thats rated for 9 people. She wanted one for the family that has been out in it twice. It's rigged great for fishing and runs about 42 mph and it doesn't seam to matter how many people is in it.I do like it but wish I would have stayed with a bigger center console.

Ruben, you need a bigger horsepower truck cuz it will take a day to get to Twok at that speed....

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2012-Hurricane-196re-97967407

When I hear deck boat this is what I think of.