O

PHOTO: COURTESY PLAYCRAFT BOATS

On a sunny day in

August 2013, a pontoon

enthusiast named Brad

Rowland fi red up the

triple 300 hp Mercury

ProMax 300x engines

on his 25-foot South Bay

tritoon and hammered

the throttles. He pro-

ceeded to rip down the

speed run at the Lake

of the Ozarks (LOTO)

Shootout at a stagger-

ing 114 mph, setting a

Guinness World Record

for the fastest pontoon

boat ... ever. Wow.

To get that record,

Rowland had to do a ton

of setup and modifi ca-

tions to his boat, as well

as tweak the engines

and propellers. But go-

ing fast in a pontoon

boat is no longer as un-

common as you’d think.

Several builders we

interviewed, including

Forest River, PlayCraft

and Manitou, o er pon-

toons that can fl y.

So, if you’re tired of

plodding around the

lake in your old-school

pontoon with a 30-horse

two-stroke, barely able

to outrun that afternoon

thunderstorm back to

your dock, take heed.

Today, you can buy an

o -the-fl oor ’toon that

will hit 55, 65, even 70

mph. Here’s how they

make ’em go fast.

BOATINGMAG.COM | JULY/AUGUST 2018 | 81