In one aspect you guys in the south are so lucky, but you don't get to ice fish or snowmobile. They are both a lot of enjoyment with the grand kids. As of Sunday we still have 2 ft. of ice. We can not leave our dock in over the winter without damage. A couple years ago I found a pretty good pontoon that works great. The guy sold it and a new trailer for 3K. I just tie it to a couple trees on the shoreline with cable. In the fall I put a trolling motor on it and drive it back on trailer, park it in our machine shed, and we are done until spring. Just an option that is not as costly. I just added a ladder and the grad kids love it.