Used to have a group of friends with what they called party barges, pontoon boats, on the Suwannee River. The boat ramps are only five miles from our house and several friends not much farther. The Gulf maybe 35 miles downstream with lots of sandbars when the river was not flooding. Somehow we were often invited and it was fun going up and down the river talking about old cars, young wimmin, drinking beer, and swimming with the gators. That part made me nervous but with enough beer the gators were no match for our manlyhood. But I still didn't like the way they smiled from the banks of the river. Been here 20 years almost and for some reason most of those old friends left this world. Always wanted a pontoon boat. But I've always wanted one of everything and I still remember the boat we had in Illinois I dumped money into.
Those are amazing pontoon boats. There is a place about 6-8 miles away that custom builds boats of all kinds. Right now I'm saving up to stop at the truck stop and buy a used truck tube to float on.