PREMIER 310 BOUNDARY WATERS SKY DEK

If you dream of having a fun-inthe- sun boat party with two dozen friends – unless you can afford a mega-yacht – you need Premier’s 310 Boundary Waters Sky Dek. In fact, our double-decker test boat is the pontoon that Kid Rock used this summer during the filming of his video “All Summer Long,” so who says pontoons aren’t cool?

This 31-plus-footer has a huge 10- foot, 2-inch beam and is geared for keeping a crowd entertained. There’s a galley with loads of counter prep space and a classy, raised glass sink. To make sure everyone can grab a cold beverage, there are two standard refrigerators, fore and aft, that have a dedicated battery system so your engine cranking power isn’t drained. And for cranking out the tunes, there’s a Sony CD/MP3 stereo with six Kicker speakers.

Seating comfort is superb with all of the furniture made by Flexsteel, a high-end brand that uses inner springs in the seat bottoms and backs for comfort. Your guests will be scrambling for the pair of captain’s chairs that have built-in recliners for the ultimate in comfort.

The helm station is raised in case you have to peer over the heads of your many guests, and it’s well equipped with standard features like the bird’s-eye maple wheel, digital depthfinder and compass.

To get to the upper deck we climbed the spiral staircase and checked out the standard water slide on the port side. Up top you’ll find twin couches on a vinyl sole, because carpet becomes sodden by the steady patronage of wet sliders.

Pushing the 310 Boundary Waters’ massive, triple 36-inch PTX tubes is Yamaha’s F350 V-8, and its extra gusto at low end got us out of the hole quickly in just 4.1 seconds and to 25 mph in just 6.5 seconds. Top speed is an impressive 35.9 mph and while we had some ventilation in hard turns, it’s not a maneuver you’ll often be making with 25 folks on board.