By Capt. Rob Smith



The Party Hut 30 has a second room with a great view to keep an eye on the kids or just enjoy the peaceful surroundings that your anchorage or landing offers.

Sun Tracker’s Party Hut 30 brings a second level to your party barge and then some! This modern pontoon boat is designed to bring more room to really relax and enjoy a full day on the water and even an occasional overnight. In today’s economy, cutting back doesn’t mean you have to cut out all the amenities of weekend water enjoyment. Adding the second level adds better views, more places to spread out aboard and if you are partying, more room for the 14 family and friends to spread their wings in 31’2” by 8’6” boat length.



Access to the top is via a sturdy aluminum ladder aft the changing room.



Accommodations

Sun Tracker takes the standard layout of a modern pontoon and amps up the amenities in a couple of ways. First of all, many pontoons offer a pop-up changing room with a portable toilet slipped inside. Convenient and nice to have, but with a second level, Sun Tracker is able to take some of the open spaces you need on a pontoon and move them upstairs. This allows them to have a dedicated, separated “room” for changing. This space has its full standing headroom with a locking door for privacy.



Your guests will enjoy the privacy a dedicated head compartment provides.

Secondly, the addition allows the designers to add a galley that is better than a simple faucet and cup rack. This galley has pressure water, sink and a countertop large enough to actually prepare the finger sandwiches.



The galley gives you plenty of room to put delicious snacks together.



The dinette and aft bench convert to sleeping quarters for overnights.

Power options

Sun Tracker rigs their pontoons with Mercury outboards. The standard engine is a 90 ELPT Optimax for the Party Hut 30. This is a solid engine, but if you regularly carry close to the load limit aboard, you may want to consider a slightly larger engine. Other engines offered are the 115-hp four-stroke EFI, 115 ELPT Optimax, 150 two-stroke Optimax and the beefy 150L four-stroke Verado.



Mercury outboards are the exclusive brand for Sun Tracker boats.

The Sun Tracker Party Hut 30 is 31’2” length overall and 8’6” in beam tipping the scales at 4,309 lbs as a package. She has twin oversized tubes, 26” in diameter, that are 29’4” long with wave guards. She carries 30 gallons of fuel and 6 gallons capacity for water and for waste.

Thoughts and Recommendations

If you do a lot of entertaining and are in the market for a pontoon boat, having the second level makes a lot of sense. I have been on a lot of pontoons and I think the combination of the second deck and the cover it gives on the first make it more enjoyable. Biminis are fine, but unless they will set themselves up, they are still a hassle. If you are underway and someone needs the facilities, this one doesn’t require you to stop, pop-up part of the lounger and have everyone wait and listen. I would opt for a larger engine if my budget would allow because whether I plan to take out 14 on a regular basis or not, once your friends find out what a cool ride this is, you will have more and more aboard and need the power to get where you want to go as fast as you want to get there. If you add the “mini ski tower”, you probably want the Verado. If you stay out overnight or suffer from the heat, the optional air conditioning is a handy option to add.