On October 26, 1940, test pilot Vance Breese made the first test flight of the P 51 Mustang. As he shut down the plane, engineers came scuttling over and Breese started yelling, "Don't touch anything!" He was afraid they would mess something up, because the designers had nailed it on their first try. Same goes for Premier's PTX Performance Package, designed by Fred Cotey in 1999. They got it right with their first design of a U-shaped center tube with a 12-inch-wide flat running surface and transformed Premier into a major player in the world of high-performance pontooning.
Unique Factor
Rearward-facing lounge seats are the hottest thing going in pontoon boats these days, but no one else has anything quite like the 250 Grand Isle's hot tub seating recliner in the stern. Contoured to fit the human body like an adjustable mattress, the Island Bed will have owners giving up their helm seat for a chance to go horizontal. A flippable backrest allows you to tilt it rearward to form a forward-facing bench seat in the cockpit. Right next door is the double-wide changing room that can hold a Porta Potti for those who can't hold their Sunny D.
Overhead is a giant 11-foot Bimini top that Premier builds in-house and covers with a lifetime warranty. Another unique feature is the U-lounge in the forward section that maximizes seating, so the 17 people this Premier is rated for won't be limited to standing-room-only.
Normally this would eliminate the forward gate, but on the 250 Grand Isle, the forward center couch sectional can be lifted up and moved to the port walk-through, revealing the bow gate. The only thing missing is a bow boarding ladder to make it easy to disembark and explore deserted island beaches.
Performance
Our test boat is equipped with the PTX Performance Package, which has a larger 36-inch center tube.
Although you can get excellent performance with the less-expensive 30-inch middle pontoon, in our estimation, bigger is better and allows the 250 Grand Isle to behave in a very un-pontoon-like manner. The 25-inch outside tubes have lifting strakes on the inside only rather than the common configuration of both sides. This allows the Premier to heel over sharply in turns, like a sportboat, and gives it amazing cornering ability.
Dillon Donnelly
Dillon Donnelly
The flat-bottomed middle tube gave us tremendous lift, and with an assist from our test boat's supercharged 225 hp Mercury Verado, we got on plane in just 2.7 seconds with virtually no bowrise. Time to 30 mph was a blistering 5.7 seconds and we reached a terminal velocity of 42.5 mph, which is really good for a sturdily built 3,200-pound boat. With the larger PTX tube, you can option your way up to a 300 hp outboard if you need to make a quick getaway. Although you can rig it with any brand motor, the Verado weighs the same (635 pounds) whether you choose the 225, 250, 275 or 300 horsepower variant.
Handling
We put the Grand Isle through a series of turns as if we were on a slalom course and were astounded by its ability to quickly change directions. The giant center tube allowed us to ride noticeably higher in the water than normal pontoons. We had enough lift to trim it out so that our log's entry point at speed was in the middle of the boat, which vastly improves fuel mileage by reducing wetted surface. It also allows the 250 GI to handle rough water in style without worrying about stuffing it when seas get choppy, making this an excellent big-lake boat.
Any Grand Isle with 150 hp or greater has hydraulic steering and when coupled with Mercury's DTS drive-by-wire electronic shifter, anyone with a pulse can drive this boat easily. Premier's Command View helm station is raised 7 inches off the deck for better visibility.
Best Uses
This pontoon can handle almost anything afloat. It's a superior watersports boat that comes standard with a ski tow bar that's been beefed up this year. Although there's no tower option, the tow bar sits high off the water to give wakeboarders a decent pulling angle. Because the 250 Grand Isle gets out of the hole quickly, extracting any-size skier isn't a problem... for the boat anyway. To stow the gear, there is a centerline locker with an astounding 15 cubic feet of space, although it could use a hydraulic dam to keep it open.
With a 53-gallon fuel tank that's standard when you choose three tubes, you have plenty of range for cruising, and Premier makes an excellent optional camper enclosure for overnight adventures. The furniture is first-rate with five places a large adult can stretch out and recline while cruising. Twin Slim Line cockpit tables have offset pedestals and conserve walking-around space. Storage is fantastic with Premier's patented E-Z Hinge system that gets the seat bottom out of your way for easy loading. The captain gets a Flexsteel 10-Star helm seat that features inner springs for comfort.
Preferred Setup
You'll miss a great opportunity if you don't choose the PTX Performance Package with the larger center tube; it will give you one of the best handling boats on the water. The 250 Grand Isle also comes in a DL model that gives you twin Flexsteel captain's seats on the port side, which would be the ticket if you like to fish, but most will opt for the U-lounge configuration. One really fun option is an inflatable slide ($499), which will keep the kids busy all day. For aural entertainment, an MP3 stereo with six angled Kicker speakers will get this boat rocking, quite literally, when everyone busts a move to the groove.