I recently took ride in a 2 year old 20' Bass Buggy, in view of maybe
buying it if the owner ends up unemployed.No word back yet. It has a
70 hp Mercury outboard and 55# thrust Motor Guide trolling motor on
the bow, with regular foot control pedal, serving either one of two
pedestal seats. The motor is one with an extra long shaft for long
reaches like a pontoon boat. Steel shaft is a must, aluminum bending
too easily. Top speed according to the GPS was 33 mph with the wind,
29 against about a 6 mph wind. I was surprised at how easily an
outboard can push two pontoons. That seemed like enough to safely get
back to a ramp in case of a sudden storm. I really like the freedom to
move around, and come high noon the canopy sure is nice. You can
easily pitch with it up, hard to cast though. A side ladder was added
for the owner's bird dog, making it easy to get to the water and lip a
bass. We floated over maybe a foot of water, went wherever I could go
in my bass boat. I too am thinking about how I'll have two grand-
daughters along on a fishing trip, which most likely will mostly be
swimming journeys and later it will likely be skiing.....

Some downsides. A fish on your line swimming under a pontoon will snap
off very easily, rubbing against metal, more so than swimming under a
bass boat, even an aluminum bass boat. Just a little corrosion or scum
deposit is tough on any line (the boat stays in a slip), plus there's
a spine on the bottom. There is no escaping wind drift problems you
probably wouldn't worry about in a bass boat, any wind at all moving
the boat, so someone must be on the trolling motor all the time while
fishing, or just let it drift. The boat will easily drift 100' off a
spot while you are reeling in a fish over to the side dog ramp, unless
someone is holding position for you. While all this can be a real
bother, it is what makes control with a trolling motor quite
efficient. I imagine a wind of 15 mph or higher would require two
people to enjoy fishing out of it, or go to a protected cove (and
probably not catch anything). I would move the dog ramp to the bow and
put a gate in the side rail. We had to run WOT, anything slower
causing a lot of water spray when hitting boat wakes. It would be
great to find as much storage as on my bass boat, but it's limited,
does have a livewell.

Jim