We're looking at used pontoon boats right now and found a pretty good 20' with a 50 horse Mercury on it. I know it won't be any kind of speed demon but is that enough power to pull a couple of kids in tubes and maybe a kid on skis at some point?

Light tubing would be fine but that probably won't pull anyone up on skis.

You are driving at hull speed with that setup. Probably 15-20mph with an average load. A skilled skier with wide skis could get up and stay up but a newer skier would struggle. It could pull a tube around.

Don't really see that rig hitting 20 or pulling up a skier. Kids on tubes at moderate to low excitement levels should be gtg.

I used to have that exact set up. 20' pontoon w/ 50hp.

If you want to do any skiing or exciting tubing, you will be disappointed. You could yank a young kid around on a tube a little, but not multiples. And I wouldn't do it very often, lots of stress on that little motor. And it won't be good for skiing or boarding.

Do yourself a favor and look for a better setup if you want to do any serious amount of tubing/skiing- or even just cruising.

Reload..... See what the boats HP rating tag says. Lots of 20 ft Pontoon Boats are sold with 40-50HP motors on them. Reason is that lots of folks just use them for cruising or maybe just pulling kids slowly on tubes or other water toys and that HP range will do that fine.
If you are going to pull folks on skis you need to get in the 30 MPH Plus range to do it right.
My sister company sells a lot of 20 ft pontoons with 90-115 HP for that purpose.
You can prop the boat for more low end power to pull skiers etc. ...but keeping it in the recommended WOT RPM range recommended by the manufacturer.
For the best all around performance a good rule of thumb is to not go below 15% or so of HP rating on the boat

We have a similar setup that's in mothballs now. I can confirm what's already been said. It's not fast, not adequate for skiing and not very fun for tubing.

If I were to buy it and then re power it in a couple of years, are there readily available quality used outboards on the used market?

That is pretty easy to do, actually. Finding a good used outboard isn't easy but with patience it can be done.

The 50 on there was intended to move it at a good load at a sedate cruising speed so your boat party would get where you wanted to go in a reasonable time, but not for water sports.

Normally no and right now a double no. The only time you find a loose used motor for sale is typically from a repower or someone who bought a boat with an engine that was underpowered and is upgrading.
The other source of loose engines are rebuilds and can be a risky purchase unless backed up with a warranty from a reputable dealer.
Smaller HP loose good engines are not common but do happen.
If you purchase a sound sea worthy boat that is in excellent shape it makes sense to spend the money for a new engine. People do that quite often.
The other source can be an engine that comes off a totaled hull by an insurance company. Dealers often purchase them from the insurance companies.
Right now demand is very high and it is a sellers market... hard to find any "deals".

You're going to need at least a 90 horse to pull a tube. The only thing you're going to do with a 50 horse is a Sunset Cruise.

We had a similar setup and it was fine with the kids for tubes and ski's.

If you dig into the Yamaha website, to their outboard motors, they actually have performance specs for each outboard on a large number of example boat types. You can find a pontoon boat of similar specs for one of their 50's and get a rough estimate of real world performance.

Thanks

Pretty much echo what the others have said...

I have a 22.5' pontoon with a 50 Yammie. Solid motor and have had no problems with it. But you're not doing anything but cruising at or below 15-20MPH.

I remember when i bought it years ago from Texas Marine. Salesman and I took it out to Lake Conroe for a test drive.. I remember how peppy it was... lol.. boy how mistaken i was.. Got home, loaded it down with wife, family, dogs, beer, food, life jackets, etc. etc... was like trying to drag a donkey through quicksand.. I called the dealer the next day and said something was wrong with it.. He asked me how many pounds I had loaded onto it and thats when i realized it was super underpowered..

Oh well.. the boat is still running great and wouldn't buy another one without a yammie on it.. although i heard the Mercs are doing well.

I have a 24 ft tri.with a 150 hp It gets 30 mph pulling my kids on a tube

I have a 22 ft pontoon with a 50 HP Merc that I bought from a friend at a big discount during the drouth 10 years ago because his dock had been out of the water for 2 years and he couldn't use it.

I'll echo what has already been said that it's not gonna do any real watersports. I pull my kids around on a tube some but they are 4, 6 and 8 years old so they don't know that they're going slow. You can't do anything except keep them right behind the boat in the prop wash, no way to turn fast enough to get them outside of the wake. I have actually skied behind it some but have to use 2 skis.

I would love to repower since we love the layout of the boat, the interior is in great shape and it has an aluminum deck, which I like but the max it's rated for is 90 and that would still be underpowered for what we need going forward.

It's been perfect for us while our kids were small because we mainly just cruise to a cove, anchor out and the kids swim and play on the watermat while the adults bob around with a beer.

I had set this year as the year to upgrade to a 25' with a 100+ HP engine but obviously there aren't many options out there right now.

cupofjoe04 said:

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I used to have that exact set up. 20' pontoon w/ 50hp.

If you want to do any skiing or exciting tubing, you will be disappointed. You could yank a young kid around on a tube a little, but not multiples. And I wouldn't do it very often, lots of stress on that little motor. And it won't be good for skiing or boarding.

Do yourself a favor and look for a better setup if you want to do any serious amount of tubing/skiing- or even just cruising.

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No such thing as exciting tubing behind a pontoon boat


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Thanks for the insight. I think this boat will be a perfect starter boat for us while our kids are small and plan on using it exactly as you have used yours. I have a deposit down on the bot and will finish up the deal on Tuesday pending a water test.

Congrats sir. Go have some fun, relaxation, and make some good memories. May you always have calm seas.

Thank you sir. Here is a pic of the boat from the ad.

I saw a pontoon boat the other day with a 350 Mercury Verado.

Boomers be gettin' wild with they money.

Congrats, that looks like it will serve you well.

The biggest thing I can recommend, especially with kids is a front mount boarding ladder. We have one that is 5 steps and goes way down into the water so it's easy for little kids to use. It's much more convenient to swim off the front of the boat and it's easier keep an eye on everyone.

I don't like kids swimming back around the stern with the motor, etc...

We have one with a 450 on it. 25ft tri toon, definitely over powered

Edit: we don't have one but have seen one on our lake

Thanks. I have a mobile mechanic meeting us out there when we lake test the boat on Tuesday to have him look at the motor and if the deal goes through, I'll get him to change the oil, impeller and gear lube.

Bentley is a good brand.....they build a quality boat. It looks really good in the picture.

Outboard prices are wild.

A 450 is gonna cost you a good $40k+

Earlier this year, Mercury came out with a 600hp outboard with a V-12 those will run you about $80k.

Some crazy redneck is bound to slap one a tri-toon (if they haven't already.)

We'll probably see one go space shuttle and come all to pieces.

Thanks

I've skied behind 5hp John boats, 350 hp ski boats, 600hp hydroplanes, and everything in between. My advice is never slalom behind a pontoon boat and never ski on trick skis behind a hydroplane.

Picked it up this afternoon after a lake test. The 50 has plenty of power for what we need. Rule 1 compliant.

Awesome, Congrats.

I can tell by smiles on your kids faces that you made a good decision.

Looks like a really nice rig sir. You done good.
Going to be an awesome summer for you guys.

Thanks guys! I'm looking forward to imparting some boating knowledge on those girls that I learned from my dad on many trips to the lake when I was a kid.