Wecome Aboard!

Welcome Aboard!

My wife and I bought a pontoon boat in 2011.  We take the boat out between 30-40 days per summer.  It's been so much fun for my wife and I, and our two kids who are now both teenagers.  And all our friends who come with us.  We've had so many fun memories out on the water.  I wouldn't trade the memories we've created for anything!
 

Even before we purchased our boat, I was an active member in an online boating forum.  At first, it was to seek out information to help make the right boat choice for us.  Now, nearly 5 years later, I have several thousand posts to my name on that forum, and I enjoy reading and contributing to it almost daily.  I recently decided to start my own blog so I wouldn't be at the mercy of the forum and possibly lose all the content I've written about if the forum suddenly disappeared some day.

I've been on the water with our boat nearly 150 times since we purchased it in late 2011.  During the summer months, I'm always out on the water.  I spend nearly all my vacation time out on the boat.  The joke at work is "If the sun's out, Dan's out" which means if it's a nice day, I'm leaving the office at noon for a day on the lake.  In the winter, I read all I can about boating.  Boating is one of my favorite things to do.  I'm borderline addicted.  When I retire (in about 20 years) I hope to buy a house on a lake with a boat dock, and spend as much time as possible out on the water.  I wonder if we'll still have this same boat...

My hope for this blog is to write about the stuff we've done and the things I've learned, and hopefully help others enjoy their boat.  Maybe help others avoid the costly mistakes I've made or heard others talk about.  And maybe even encourage someone to go out and buy their first boat.

Our boat is a black 2012 Bennington Marine 24SSL tritoon.  We must have looked at more than 100 boats when we first started looking.  When my wife saw this layout, she said "That's it!".  She loved the double-wide rear-facing lounger which I call the "snuggle seat".  I think the kids like it more than she does.  It's the most used seat on the boat.

We originally bought this boat with a 115 HP motor, but ended up trading that in for a new Mercury 150 Fourstroke.  The 115 was a little sluggish when tubing.  The 150 does all we need it to.  I'll tell that story in another blog post so hopefully someone else doesn't make that costly mistake.

Speaking of future topics, I'll jot a few down here as a reminder to myself:

• Tubing, skiing and kneeboarding behind a tri-toon.
• Funny things that have happened on our boat.  
• Props and why the wrong one can ruin your motor.
• Lifting strakes and why you want them.
• Polishing pontoons and Sharkhide
• Experiences with various coolers and grills
• Dual batteries and automatic charging relays
• Boating gear we like and don't like.
• Beaching
• Anchoring
• Docking and why "propwalk" is your best friend!
• Dealing with the wind
• Dealing with pontoon leaks
• Spare equipment you need to have on board
• Winterizing a motor
• Trailering safely
• Things to be aware of when boating with kids
• Fun things to do on the boat with kids and adults
• The one kids drink that won't stain seats!

I'm sure I'll think of more.  For now, welcome aboard and I hope you find something useful here.