Any comments or opinions on Buck's River Ghost or Fish Cat Panther pontoons?

[Engee]

I've been considering going back to a pontoon boat. I had a Buck's Bronco 9ft. Extreme but sold it for a frameless with a floor so I could stand up. I miss having my fins to navigate around or troll, and I would trade the inability to stand for the use of my legs again. The issue I had with the Extreme was the diameter of the pontoons. I am short legged, and I sat too high out of the water to kick effectively. I am looking at the Buck's River Ghost and the Outcast Fish Cat Panther with the 10" dual pontoons. I like that both sit you closer to the water. Does anyone own either and can you give me an idea of the advantages/disadvantages as you see them??

 

[Stonedfish]

Don’t own either but I’ve never had an Outcast product I’ve ever been unhappy with and I’ve owned a number of them.
SF

 

[Wanative]

It seems that Fishcat double pontoon Panther of smaller diameter pontoons would fill the bill for you. They make excellent products and my experience with their service dept. recently was top notch.

 

[Haggis57]

I have had the Outcast product and service experience as Stonefished and Wanative. Excellent products and great customer service.

Have you considered Outcast frameless pontoons, such as the Fish Cat Scout, OSG Stealth Pro or OSG Commander. These retain the weight and simplicity advantages of a frameless boat with a seating position closer to the water. I use kick fins with my Fish Cat Scout as my primary means of trolling and find the seating height very comfortable . I only use a trolling motor for changing locations.

I'm seeing a few more Water Master Kodiaks and Grizzlies raft on the lakes where I fish as well and they have similar seating positions.

 

[Buzzy]

I was hoping to post a couple pictures of @Engee and his new boat today but apparently the file sizes are too large and this old fart doesn't know how to resize a picture. @Engee - maybe you can resize the panoramic shot and post? And post a couple pictures of your boat and the modifications you've made.

This is one I can get posted:

What do you think, @BDD? Pretty darn cool!

 

[Engee]

I'll send the photos to my computer and see what I can do. This boat is going to work great. The seat is lower than the top of the pontoons so my short ass legs are still able to kick effectively. The boat tracks very well when rowing or under power. I am going to glue a Scotty pad on top of the left pontoon so a rod holder won't get in the way when rowing. Everything else will work out just as I wanted.

 

[Engee]

Here are some additional photos and an explanation of prepping this boat. I had to make provisions for attaching my stripping apron and move the Leelock anchor lock to make room for a stripping apron attachment point. I built a motor mount and mounted it to the support that was designed for the rear anchor pulley. I moved the anchor pulley to the side of the motor mount and attached PVC for the anchor line to keep it from running under the gear bag. I found a little room next to my milk crate anchor line storage to mount my PWM. The controls are easy to reach from my seat. The boat didn't come with a gear bag, but friend from Catchercraft boats sent me one. I repositioned the pontoons and bought a few cam straps with rollers to replace the original cam straps. I also bought some roller straps with loops for tying the boat to my Yakima bars. I love the roller straps. Much easier to get straps tight without any slippage.
This boat is heavy! So, I made a PVC roller loader to help me get the boat on and off my Yakima bars. Being short, I made a pusher out of PVC as well so when the boat is on the truck I can push it forward without a ladder. The loader slips over the bar ends and has adjustable legs in case I'm on uneven ground. I tried to send a video of unloading the boat, but the web server can't handle the file size.

 

[dep]

wow- vert well thought out.

 

[Porter2]

Here are some additional photos and an explanation of prepping this boat. I had to make provisions for attaching my stripping apron and move the Leelock anchor lock to make room for a stripping apron attachment point. I built a motor mount and mounted it to the support that was designed for the rear anchor pulley. I moved the anchor pulley to the side of the motor mount and attached PVC for the anchor line to keep it from running under the gear bag. I found a little room next to my milk crate anchor line storage to mount my PWM. The controls are easy to reach from my seat. The boat didn't come with a gear bag, but friend from Catchercraft boats sent me one. I repositioned the pontoons and bought a few cam straps with rollers to replace the original cam straps. I also bought some roller straps with loops for tying the boat to my Yakima bars. I love the roller straps. Much easier to get straps tight without any slippage.
This boat is heavy! So, I made a PVC roller loader to help me get the boat on and off my Yakima bars. Being short, I made a pusher out of PVC as well so when the boat is on the truck I can push it forward without a ladder. The loader slips over the bar ends and has adjustable legs in case I'm on uneven ground. I tried to send a video of unloading the boat, but the web server can't handle the file size.

So nice to have an uncluttered garage..I cant seem to get quite there

 

[Buzzy]

So nice to have an uncluttered garage..I cant seem to get quite there

@Engee ------^ ;-)

Porter; Engee's garage isn't cluttered, per se, it's busy, it's well organized and I'm sure he wishes he had 10' more in all four directions. And it is really amazing that this new pontoon fits above his truck's hood (pulley system). I think the word "tight fit" sums it up.

 

[Porter2]

Buzzy, I worry about you at times. you had the buzz worms around your garage if I recollect? correctl. Thats nasty compared to a bunch of card board and unwanted items that don't bite you with venomous poison!!

 

[Porter2]

Gotch ya.

 

[Buzzy]

Gotch ya.

 

[_WW_]

Here are some additional photos and an explanation of prepping this boat. I had to make provisions for attaching my stripping apron and move the Leelock anchor lock to make room for a stripping apron attachment point. I built a motor mount and mounted it to the support that was designed for the rear anchor pulley. I moved the anchor pulley to the side of the motor mount and attached PVC for the anchor line to keep it from running under the gear bag. I found a little room next to my milk crate anchor line storage to mount my PWM. The controls are easy to reach from my seat. The boat didn't come with a gear bag, but friend from Catchercraft boats sent me one. I repositioned the pontoons and bought a few cam straps with rollers to replace the original cam straps. I also bought some roller straps with loops for tying the boat to my Yakima bars. I love the roller straps. Much easier to get straps tight without any slippage.
This boat is heavy! So, I made a PVC roller loader to help me get the boat on and off my Yakima bars. Being short, I made a pusher out of PVC as well so when the boat is on the truck I can push it forward without a ladder. The loader slips over the bar ends and has adjustable legs in case I'm on uneven ground. I tried to send a video of unloading the boat, but the web server can't handle the file size.

I'm a little confused as to how the pvc pipe thingy works.

I also put a glue on Scotty mount on my left pontoon for my transducer stick. I thought the plastic adjustable stick that came with the transducer was flimsy so I replaced part of it with a 1x2.

 

[Engee]

I'm a little confused as to how the pvc pipe thingy works.

I also put a glue on Scotty mount on my left pontoon for my transducer stick. I thought the plastic adjustable stick that came with the transducer was flimsy so I replaced part of it with a 1x2.

I put PVC over both of my Yakima bars for rollers. The Yakima bars are installed over my roll-up tonneau cover. The PVC thingy roller is in three pieces. The two pieces that support the PVC roller slip over each end of the rear Yakima bar. A PVC roller is installed between the two PVC supports. I drag the boat onto the PVC roller and slide it up until it contacts the rear Yakima bar roller. Then I can push/roll it forward onto the front Yak bar. Without the PVC roller the boat has to be slid over the tailgate. The tailgate creates a lot of friction and I don't have enough lead in my ass to slide it onto the Yakima bar. Loading or unloading is quick and easy and I don't end up with a hernia.

 

[Engee]

@Engee ------^ ;-)

Porter; Engee's garage isn't cluttered, per se, it's busy, it's well organized and I'm sure he wishes he had 10' more in all four directions. And it is really amazing that this new pontoon fits above his truck's hood (pulley system). I think the word "tight fit" sums it up.

It's organized clutter and yes I wish I had more room. I've built two lofts inside and they're full too.