Condition: Excellent?

It’s hard enough searching for a used boat these days without having to deal with owners who apparently don’t understand the difference between “excellent” and “good” when it comes to listing the pontoon’s true condition on their online listings. I know I struggle at the DMV when they make me take the eye test, but I have no idea how some of these boat owners pass any type of eye exam.

Boats are one thing, but I’ve discovered selective blindness and unrealistic listings aren’t just limited to the pontoon and deck boat market. I’ve found listings for used tow vehicles to be just as unrealistic as those for some used boats.

For 2024 we’ve decided to do a magazine project truck so we’ll have something to tow our pontoon to the lake this summer. The challenge is to find a stock diesel-powered truck as our foundation that won’t break the bank. If I’m being honest, I tend to be a little picky about what I’ll even look at while searching online pages of trucks that are for sale by owner.

Through hours of searching I’ve come to the realization that finding a Cummins, Duramax or Power Stroke that was built in the early 2000s isn’t really all that hard. However, finding one that isn’t completely worn out and abused is a different story. Of course it can be equally challenging when the owner has the truck listed for $20K over its true book value.

Regardless of whether it’s overpriced or severely beaten, it can be a little frustrating when a seller puts “excellent” for both the interior and the exterior on the condition of a 2000 truck with almost 300K miles on the odometer. It’s over 20 years old yet it’s basically listed as being in perfect condition? Whoa, c’mon bro! Of course the outrageous price the owner is asking only proves he’s delusional, and clearly he’s wasting both his time and mine by not being more realistic. I believe in sentimental value but why does love have to be so blind?

After racking up some test drive miles I’m happy to announce PDB’s build is currently underway. It’s a 2004 Dodge RAM 2500 5.9L Cummins that has quite a few miles on it but we believe still has plenty of life left in her. We’re calling our build Project Lefty because this truck was “lefty” for dead until we got our hands on it and we’re committed to doing what we need to do to bring it back to life.

Keep an eye out for updates through our social media channels as we breathe life into this ’04 Cummins that we found in a farmer’s field. Then when we’re done we’ll recap the entire build in one of our summer issues.

There are some basic needs we’ll focus on first just to get it up and running again, but then our plans include adding an Iron Horn 5.9L Turbo Kit and bigger injectors from BD Diesel, an intake and Monster exhaust from Banks Power, a Juice with Attitude CTS3 tuner from EDGE, Fusion Bumpers with Rigid SR-Series Pro 6-inch spot/flood lights, and 18-inch Fuel Krank Wheels from Wheel Pros that will be wrapped in Geolandar A/T XD tires. Whoa, this will be fun and these planned upgrades are just a taste of what we have planned for this truck.

With the current price of a new diesel truck we’re hoping to inspire other boaters looking for a solid tow vehicle to choose to build up older trucks into dream trucks. If all goes well we’re going to give you a solid blueprint that will help you get you started, or at the very least, it will give you some ideas to consider for your own truck.

Brady L. Kay,
Pontoon & Deck Boat Editor