The pontoons are crazy popular and offer a lot of utility such as plenty of space and comfort for guests and a lot of load carrying capacity. Given their weight, they probably get decent fuel mileage. Their outboard power offers lots of options and easy maintenance and replacement should you need to upgrade. Overall they look like less up-keep than a fiberglass boat, not much cleaning and waxing to be done.
On the down side are a lot of concerns for me personally as I considered this option a while back.
The pontoons are more problematic if you are planning to trailer them between lakes. They really appear to be much more of a handful to trailer to me, but I'm sure some will disagree on that point. Same with winter storage, they look like more of a pain to store unless you have a big barn/garage or are paying someone to professionally shrink wrap it. I also feel like when I see people docking at the public docks, they seem to struggle much more to find a space and get it in and out. I'm also not convinced that they hold they value as much as a higher end fiberglass boats. They may be on par with value retention with mid-level fiberglass, but at the moment the market is crazy so all normal standards are kinda out the window.
Lots to consider and in the end its more of a personal decision than anything else. For me the real deal breakers were trailering and storage and where I wanted to be marina wise, there was no option for valet for a pontoon. Your needs, wants, and concerns may be very different.
Good Luck its always a big decision to change boats and you really want to try to get it right as there is so much at stake given the current costs of boats.
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