Boat decisions?

[mytoyzfishing]

Ok, I need some help deciding what to do on my boat setup. I have 2 boats, a 1988 26' pontoon and a 2003 Ranger 185VX. The pontoon Has a 90 on the back and no TM and a Humminbird 997. I built a home made 45g bait tank that keep shad alive all day yesterday. A couple of problems with using this boat is one its slow with only the 90 on the back, top speed is 22mph and with only 20g fuel tank range can be a problem. No TM makes for hard times trying to striper fish live bait. The plus is it sure is roomy. Now the Ranger has a Merc 150 opti and of course a TM up front and 2 Lowrance HD5's. The plus of this boat is the fact I can get from point a to point b in little time, gas tank big enough to fish the whole lake all day long, 2 built in live wells and the fact it already has the TM. The down side is I can only take 3 including myself, well really 2 comfortably, and I would need to mount rod holders, of which I found a cool Idea for mounts without having to drill holes in the boat. The other plus side of the Ranger is when striper fishing is slow i can easily fish for other species as well and its easier for me to go out by myself on the ranger. Right now the I have the ranger up for sale (been for sale for the last 4 months). Problem I am having is trying to decided on keep both boats and use the Ranger and set it up to be able to striper fish and keep the pontoon for family outings or keep it the Ranger for sale and concentrate on the pontoon and dump money into it to get it setup properly/the way I want. Any input or suggestions would be great.

[BentRod]

How big a motor can you put on that pontoon?

[mytoyzfishing]

I think its only rated to 90 which is on there now but that seems a tad small for a 26'. Its Coast Guard rated to 16 people, not that I would ever put that many people on it, so Im not sure what would stop me putting a bigger outboard than a 90. The 90 thats on it is in perfect shape and runs perfect, just taking 30-45 minutes to get from the bridge to beaver dam is a little bit to long for my liking. I don't want to be wasting my day getting from point a to b

[leeb]

Sell them both and get a big tritoon with twin 300's and see how many jet ski's you sink on your way from point a to point b ;D. then add a nice trolling motor to the front of it.

[mytoyzfishing]

leeb, I would hate to see the fuel bill for that but would love to see the reaction on those jetski's, man I cant stand them.

[striperseeker]

Sounds to me like you have the best of both worlds right now.

[leeb]

Having the boat you really want is like having a 1 ton truck that rides like a luxury car, parks like a smart car, and gets 100 mpg.

[mytoyzfishing]

true but I have a 3/4 ton that rides like luxury car, I can park it like a smart car (used to driving REALY big trucks), but only gets 20 mpg on a good day ;D talking with the Mrs tonight about it and I think I am going to keep both boats and keep the pontoon for family outings and use the Ranger for my main fishing boat. I kind of like the idea of limiting the number of people that fish on my boat, get tired of family that ask to go fishing and then complain about it being a "slow" day all day long. I found the below rod holder setup that works on bass boats for striper and catfishing. Easy to mount and unmount and no drilling necesary.

www.extremefishingconcepts.com/bases.html

[mytoyzfishing]

Oh and leeb I agree, my dream boat would be alittle overkill for SML something like this:

www.travelizmo.com/archives/001277.html

Problem is I dont make it to the shore much anymore like I used to. One of the reasons why I sold my center console to begin with.

[leeb]

Maybe we can get a break if we buy 2 ;D. we would have enough room to fish and to put a hottub on the front to keep the wives happy.

About passangers complaining on the front. You must set the rules up front. If you complain you swim back. If you talk about work......you swim back while I rock you with rollers the whole time.