Made Just for Us

Seeing is believing and in this case it was the boat dealer who wanted to make sure Steve and Heather Bose would be happy with their next Tahoe pontoon before they committed. The Michigan couple were already sold on the quality and for their third Tahoe they were interested in the 2585 Cascade Platinum Rear J Lounger. However, this wasn't like either of their previous models. Their first Tahoe was a double-decker pontoon and the second one had a full wraparound windshield with rear loungers in the stern.

While they liked the sporty look of the full wraparound windshield, they didn't like having a divider in the center of their boat and felt the layout wasn't right for them.

“We wanted a nice conversation area so when the neighbors come out we have a nice open area and we just didn't have that with our last boat,” says Heather. “And with rear-lounger layouts if you sit there you feel isolated from the conversation. With the J Lounger floorplan you can include the driver in your conversations and still have a comfortable space to lay out.”

On their first Tahoe they ended up selling it when their boys got older because they were concerned with the double-decker layout.

“It was too liability-ridden with the boys taking the boat out,” adds Steve. “I wasn't worried about my kids, but rather their teenage friends not making the best choices.”

The Bose family ended up selling that Tahoe and upgraded to a high-end Cascade Platinum with a full wraparound windshield, which was great from a protection standpoint, but they felt for conversations it was limited.

“You couldn't hear over that windshield so the driver always felt cut out of the conversation,” says Steve. “What we found out quickly is if you had more than four people on board it felt isolated. That boat had a fridge and a sink too, which we thought we'd use more but we didn't. In reality we never used it.”

Heather said she knew right away the floorplan wasn't the right fit for her and their family since they typically have large groups of friends with them, yet because the quality was amazing they kept it for five years until the time was right to buy a different one.

Tommy's

Ron Wiergowski, the sales manager at Tommy's of Detroit in Waterford, Mich., has worked closely with the couple over the years on more than just their Tahoe pontoon purchases, but has sold Steve and Heather their Malibu boats as well. This time around Ron wanted the couple and their two sons Jack and EJ to see the J Lounge in person first, so he ordered the Tahoe himself and just happened to customize it from the factory with the colors and features he already knew they liked.

“We didn't design it, but it feels like it was made for us,” explains Steve. “We hadn't seen this particular layout in person and it was different from other layouts we've had, so Ron ordered it so we could see it and the first time we saw it was when it came in and we ended up buying it.”

“Ron is the best and knowing us like he does he ordered the boat in the colors that we like and as soon as we saw it we loved it,” adds Heather. “The quality is great and I just absolutely love this layout. Plus we have the best stereo. The Fusion is a significant upgrade over what we had before and it sounds so much better.”

The couple met Ron prior to Tommy's taking over the dealership and they were a little leery with the big corporate environment.

“We're both in medical sales and we really appreciate sales people that are just good, honest, high-integrity people and the prior owners were just fantastic, very hands-on,” says Heather. “It prompted us to buy our ski boat and we thought we'd be done with this dealership and then Tommy's came in and I feel like you still get that same local feel but it's organized.”

“The customer service is amazing and what they say they'll do they come through with,” says Steve. “We're just thrilled Ron stayed with them because he's such a great guy and after seeing the boat we took the plunge and we couldn't be happier.”

Expensive Rest Stop

In 2014 the family bought a place on the lake, but have always considered themselves as a boating family. Before getting a cottage, they kept their boat at different marinas including one in a suburb about 20 miles northwest of Detroit. Their jobs take them all over the state of Michigan so keeping their boat at the marina down in the Pontiac area didn't make a ton of sense when they were up in Saginaw, but then they found the little cabin on Lake Fenton with plans to build.

“It was more like a fishing shack than a cabin, with two little bedrooms and a tiny kitchen and we gutted the whole thing,” says Steve. “We took out some walls and made one big open space and made it look modern like a New York City loft meets a rustic cabin on the lake.”

The family ended up spending a lot of weekends on Lake Fenton and as their sons continued to make more friends at the lake, they wanted to find a way to move to the area. Plus with their son Jack getting ready to enter high school, they felt they had a small window to make it work or they needed to just stay where they were and continue to just visit Lake Fenton.

They were going to build in the area but decided it wasn't going to work out. However, as fate would have it the place where they now live became available so they went to take a look. It was on Lake Fenton, but it was in the channel and not on the main section of the lake so at first Steve was hesitant about moving.

“My compromise to living on the channel was to add a swimming pool to our house, but it ended up being better than living in the main section so I got both,” explains Steve. “We kept the cabin for a bit so we could still be on the main body of the lake but it just became a really expensive bathroom so we sold it.”

A Keeper        

Tommy's and specifically their dealer Ron, keep them loyal Tahoe customers, but having a quality product is what keeps this couple coming back to this Michigan-based pontoon manufacturer.

“Of all the Tahoe pontoons we've owned we've never had any major service issues, just annual maintenance,” says Steve. “The engines, amenities–we're fans because these boats are durable. They take the abuse with the kids and our two French bulldogs and at the end of the day it just cleans right up.”

The Michigan couple are enjoying their pontoon with no plans to trade it in anytime soon.

“It just feels put together well and solid,” says Heather. “We've gone to boat shows and looked at other brands but we don't see anything we like better. When the time comes to buy again we know we can get this Tahoe line through Ron and that's what we'll end up doing.”

While this family doesn't get a lot of downtime with high-stress jobs in the medical field, they feel fortunate to have found the right boat to drop anchor and just float or fire up their Mercury 250hp outboard and cruise the 900-acre lake on their Tahoe with a layout that feels like it was designed just for them.