The new high-end models have a third tube down the middle for stability and speed. The extra tube helps the boat handle more load and power. Premier, for example, flattens the bottom of its middle tube, which is wider than the other two, for more buoyancy and lift. The flat 12 inches of "hull" on the middle tube, along with lifting strakes mounted inside the two outer tubes, allow the boat to ride higher and bank tighter.

Dan Reinertson, Premier's dealer services manager in Wyoming, Minn., says these performance pontoons come in lengths up to 36 feet and "bank like a runabout."

The company's promotional video shows a Premier pontoon with its PTX performance package pulling five skiers. Standard features include a 7-foot ski locker with 15 cubic feet of storage, a 53-gallon fuel tank and, on outboards, a ski tow bar.

Premier Marina, Inc.Premier's Explorer will take you to that lucky bay just around the bend, even if it is shallow.Called tri-toons or tri-tubes, the boats have additional structural reinforcements. Princecraft's performance package boasts reinforcement at pressure points such as the nose cone; an under-deck spray shield that keeps waves from hitting under the floor; and lifting strakes for faster running and less resistance.

For luxury, options abound: wet bars, furniture covers, double Bimini tops, removable tables, four-speaker stereo systems with satellite radio, ski and fish lockers, vinyl floors, illuminated drink holders, grill with rail mounts, and inflatable bow beds.

Some high-end models even have optional galleys, complete with an electric sink, refrigerator, microwave and a gas grill. Premier's luxury line uses Berber carpet and has a circular staircase with the optional "sky deck," on the second level.

"You don't need to have a pontoon and a runabout," Kay says. "Now you can do everything on the pontoon boat."

He's watched the magazine's circulation expand with the pontoon boat market. Pontoon & Deck Boat Magazine started 13 years ago as a quarterly. It grew to six issues, then eight, then 11 in 2004. Circulation is about 85,000.

Kay and manufacturers' representatives agree that the market for pontoon boats is one of the marine industry's more stable, even during tough economic times. With so many price points, consumers can spend a lot, or a little.

"Other boats have been dipping but pontoons have kept growing strong," Kay says. "Pontoons are so family friendly and popular."

So popular that the Richards are organizing a gathering of pontooners at Lake Kentucky in Tennessee. Set for Sept. 12-14, the weekend event is billed as a sort of "family reunion" of active members of Pontoon & Deck Boat's online forums. Its genesis was a surprise for Loyd Meeks' 60th birthday party last October in Oklahoma. Dave and Alma Richards and three other couples who met online conspired with Betty Meeks for months, planning for the pontoon brigade to show up at the party.

The Meeks have been married 41 years and are on their fourth pontoon boat, a 22-foot Tracker Regency with a 90 HP mercury four-stroke. They live a few minutes away from Lake Tenkiller; during boat season they get together with five to 10 other families every Sunday, calling themselves "the redneck yacht club." The pontoons tie up together and make the few fiberglass hulls in the fleet anchor a bit away.

"We've owned boats since 1970. We've had every kind of boat made, ski boats, fishing boats," Loyd Meeks says. "We are spoiled with pontoons. It is the only way we will go."

THE NEXT GENERATION

Historically, pontoons have been popular among older boaters – getting in and out of them was easy and the Bimini tops provided ample sun protection. Relatively easy to operate, pontoons are forgiving boats. But Sargent says the demographic is getting younger as manufacturers respond with higher rails and other safety features to attract young families.

"People always think of a pontoon boat as an older person's boat but with so many of our customers that is just not the case," says Andrea Myers, who runs Pontoon Stuff, Inc., a supply company in Indiana, with her husband. She is 30. "It is more of a family boat."

Meeks sees it on Lake Tenkiller, the pontoons with "three logs, big motors and fancy graphics." They are filled with younger folks.

COAST GUARDFigures include all U.S. states and territories. Kay agrees.

The magazine tests new pontoon models every year, and manufacturers have responded to customers' concerns with better "pinch protection" on gates, bigger rails with padding, side braces for the rails and protected toe kicks.

"Little things over the years they've continued to improve on, and it has been interesting to see how far they've come with safety," Kay says. "They were designed more for fishing back then."

Statistics from the Coast Guard's most recent annual safety report also suggests pontoon boats, operated properly, are safer than other vessel types. In 2006, the most recent figures available, 206 pontoon boats were involved in accidents, compared with 2,991 open motorboats and 930 cabin motorboats. Only two of those pontoon boats capsized, but 40 percent of pontoon accidents involved a collision with another vessel.

In 2006, the agency recorded 710 fatalities, including 28 that involved pontoons. Open motorboats accounted for 346 of the deaths, almost half.

But pontoons are not good sea boats , nor are they stable on large, rough bodies of water such as the Great Lakes. A customer of Pontoon Stuff, Inc., which sells pontoon components to rehabbers, had a particularly harrowing experience on Lake Erie.