Escape RT 220 Pontoon Boat: Think Outside the Box
The Escape RT 220 breaks the boxy pontoon boat mold—in a good way.
September 21, 2015
The universe of pontoon boats has expanded rapidly, and what began as a boxy deck on a pair of floats has evolved to include 60-plus MPH high-performance pontoons, dedicated fishing pontoons with livewells and rodholders, and floating luxury pontoons that are more Bentley than Bubba. But the vast majority of the pontoon boats out there continue to suffer from one ailment: they still look boxy. Boxy, unwieldy, and well, often just plain ugly.
One that most certainly does not share this weakness, however, is the Escape RT 220.
The influence of Larson (which owns Escape) is easy to see in the sleek fences and helm station on the Escape RT 220.
The Escape model line is more or less built by Larson. I say “more or less” because, as you probably know, Larson builds fiberglass boats, not aluminum pontoons. So it makes sense that from the “logs” (the pontoons themselves) up, they mold most of the boat’s other major parts out of fiberglass. The side fences and the entire helm station, for example, are unmistakably styled and are downright sleek, in a way that you simply can’t get when you make things out of aluminum.
Another advantage this brings is a solid feeling as you pounce through a chop. When I ran the RT 220 there were runabouts, cruisers, and fishing boats zipping back and forth all around us, giving the bay a washing-machine chop. But I didn’t hear any of the usual rattling associated with aluminum fences, nor were there the vibrations that go along with them. The Bimini top was also remarkably stable, even when running full-tilt. In fact, everything about the Escape feels solid from stem to stern. Almost. The one exception is the removable pedestal table, which, like many of its ilk, wobbles around unsteadily.
Escape offers the RT 220 in twin and triple tube versions, which has a significant impact on both price and performance. Note that the twin pontoon version starts for a sliver under $30,000 (with a 50 HP outboard), but getting that third tube adds around $8,000 (and starts with a base 115 HP outboard). Our test boat was a triple tube model, which gave it the ability to carry 200 horses. That’s 50 HP more than the twin tube version’s max power.
The triple tube version of the Escape RT 220 can carry gobs of horsepower, giving it some speed to go along with the sleek looks.
Slapping down the throttles on the Evinrude ETEC G2 outboard, we hit a top end of 34.0 MPH. While that doesn’t put the Escape into the realm of true high-performance pontoons (though you will get a few more MPH out of it by putting the top down and running with a lighter load), that’s more than enough speed for the average pontooner. More importantly, even at top-end the boat never felt squirrelly or out of control in turns, which is a handling weakness many pontoon boats suffer from.
Watersports enthusiasts will like the ski/wakeboard compartment built into the center tube, which is big enough to hold a number of water-toys. There are also mini and full tow-tower options, and if fishing is your thing, there’s a fish package that includes tackle stowage compartments, a livewell, and fishing seats.
Essentially, you can craft the Escape RT 200 to be whatever type of pontoon boat you need it to be. From boat to boat, there’s only one thing that will always remain the same: the Escape’s unusually sleek, runabout-like looks.
Other Choices: The Harris Sunliner 220 is a similar-sized pontoon which also comes in twin and triple tube versions (though the triple tube’s max HP jumps to 250). If you want to reduce the price tag a bit, the Princecraft 23 Vectra (which has a half-tube instead of a full log in the center) is one to consider. And if fishing is your main concern, the Tracker 220 is going to be of interest.
For more information, visit Escape.
See Escape by Larson listings.
| Performance Data | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Test conditions: choppy seas, winds 5 knots, 5 POB, full fuel. | |||
| RPM | MPH | GPH | MPG |
| 1000 | 6.1 | 0.7 | 8.7 |
| 2000 | 10.0 | 2.5 | 4.0 |
| 3000 | 18.0 | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| 4000 | 27.0 | 9.6 | 2.8 |
| 5000 | 32.4 | 15.8 | 2.1 |
| 5150 | 34.0 | 17.3 | 2.0 |
| Power | Single Evinrude ETEC G2 200 HP outboard, swinging a 15" X 18" three-bladed stainless-steel props. | ||
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Length | 21'7" |
| Beam | 8'6" |
| Draft (hull) | 2'3" |
| Deadrise | NA |
| Displacement | 2060 lbs |
| Fuel capacity | 52 gal. |
