We’ll talk about performance in a moment, but with the Honda 250 VTEC outboard on our test Windjammer, you can expect speeds of 45 mph-plus, depending on your load. Crank the wheel over, and the tritoon shape of the Windjammer tracks smooth and solid, no matter how tight the turn. More about this in a bit. That performance leads to another reason that many families are abandoning runabouts in favor of pontoon boats: Versatility. Our Windjammer could do everything a runabout could do, all tailored perfectly with a few checks on the options list. You can order smaller engines, but the four-stroke Honda 250 on our test boat gives you a good top speed, excellent torque for pulling skiers or wakeboarders, and surprisingly good performance, especially if you back the throttle off to speeds in the mid-20s. You’ll still get there fast, but you won’t melt your gas card in the process. You can get a wakeboard tower for a high tow point, and that includes board racks and stereo speakers. Our test Windjammer had a ski tow bar that was a work of stainless steel art, but it also had the strength of a NASCAR roll bar — and it lifted the towline above the outboard! If wakeboarding isn’t your thing, well, Avalon can tailor the Windjammer to your tastes, from a wine rack to a camper enclosure; wet bar to water misting system for hot days; and refrigerator to barbecue grill.
Engineered to perfection Let’s take a look underneath our Windjammer to see some pretty clever engineering. First, the welding was impeccable, and Avalon uses only 0.090-inch, marine-grade aluminum alloy for the pontoons. These are connected with top hat-shaped crossbeams bolted to the industry’s only double full riser assembly using stainless steel bolts. The motor pod is even thicker, at .190 inches and double-bolted, while the 2-inch-thick transom is sheathed and fully welded. Take my word for all this tech talk: This is one tough boat! But as with every boat, it’s the shape of the hull that is critical, and our test boat had the proprietary Avalon Waveglider high performance system. Using its triple pontoon hull, each of the two full-length outer pontoons has Waveglider lifting strakes welded to the round pontoon. These strakes have been
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LAKELANDBOATING.COM
| may 2014