Many may see this as some kind of a publicity stunt meant only to appease some of the locals who happen to have pontoons faster than your average family barbeque water cruiser. But, as was soon apparent, there is a reason that Lake Of The Ozarks is seen as one of, if not the original birthplace of performance pontooning.
Parade Lap Pontoons
One of the key reasons for the performance pontoon boom at Lake of The Ozarks is the Doris family who live there and own the Playcraft boat manufacturing company locally. They would automatically be expected to be the front runners, but last year it was Terry Kuchenberg from Midwest Boats in Iowa that won the top spot, and the bragging rights which go along with that first place win.
Speaking of fast pontoons, Brad Rowland's South Bay 925CR "Tooned In" is the fastest pontoon in the world. At the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in 2012 and 2013, Rowland ran in the NP1F3 Class where the specification allows factory, three-engine pontoons, 22–26 feet in length. In 2012 was when Rowland upgraded his pontoon from two to three 300-horsepower engines. When completed, the triple 300X Pro Max Mercury outboards with modifications were bringing 500 HP apiece on "Tooned In". With that power, Rowland set a new Shootout pontoon course record of 112 mph at the 2013 Shootout.
So, you may expect Rowland's South Bay pontoon to be the favorite at the pontoon race during the Lake Race event? Nope, it does not fit within the pontoon class rules. Race 'Toon rules are a single outboard engine of 350HP maximum on 25' to 28' tri-toons only.
The 5th Place Iguana Water Sports 'Toon airing it out.
4th Place, the First Lady of 'Toons, Carolyn Dorris
3rd Place, Jim Dorris
Jim and Carolyn raced brand new 2014 boats ― 27-foot Playcraft Xtreme Powertoons with 300-hp Mercury Verado outboard engines. The difference was the configuration of the pontoon logs, Carolyn’s boat ran on three equal-sized U-shaped logs and Jim’s boat had U-shaped logs with the middle log slightly larger than the outside logs. Both 'Toons are step-hull designs for less drag in the water. I would guess not many out there thought there would be step-bottom pontoon tubes on race 'Toons in an Offshore boat race.
2nd Place, last years winner Terry Kuchenberg, with Midwest Boats out of Iowa.
The winner of the two day event, David Dorris, running the new Hampton Playcraft boat. Slightly shorter than the two his parents raced at 25.2 feet long, the just-off-the-line 2015 model features a double-step hull with round logs and a 300-hp Mercury Verado engine. David led wire to wire on both days.
So now we have single-stepped and double-stepped pontoon tubes. What's next, copy the multiple step bottoms on an Outerlimits Vee or Skater Cat? Or is there already one out there??????
PONTOON DIVISION
1st - Hampton
2nd - Midwest Boat Sales
3rd - Jim Dorris
4th - Playcraft
5th - Iguana
6th - PDQ Marine Racing
Lake Race 2014 http://seriousoffshore.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=23613
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