Premier Dodici 310: Triple the Fun

When I first ran the Premier Sunsation 270 Walk-On, a double-decker pontoon boat with twin outboard power, joystick steering and, of all things, a waterslide, at the time I felt it was one of the most imaginative pontoon boats on the market. Then Premier started announcing its 2016 lineup. That’s when things got interesting.

Among Premier’s announcements was the Dodici 310, a nearly 12-foot wide, triple-tube pontoon with three (yes, three) Evinrude E-TEC G2 outboards racked on the stern. A few years later, of course, Evinrude shuttered its doors, and around the same time the Dodici model was also retired. Although it was a short-lived project, however, the Dodici 310 broke new ground and pushed pontoon boats in new directions. Do the math and you’re talking as much as 360 square feet of party space blasting across the water at 60 mph... definitely an interesting development, surely one that influenced the high-power pontoons we see today (more on that later).

In case you were wondering, “Dodici” is Italian for 12; it refers to this pontoon’s gaping beam, which is just two inches shy of 12 feet. Add in its 31-foot length and triple-tube pontoon setup and you’ve got the capacity to entertain 26 people aboard. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure if I've got 26 friends I could muster all at once for an afternoon of boating.

To accommodate those 26 folks, Premier offered the Dodici with two interior layouts: Cruise and Pub. The Cruise package was a more traditional interior scheme chock full of comfy chaise lounges, cushy captain’s chairs, and plenty of places to lie down and relax. If you had planned to cruise around mainly with an average size group of friends, and relaxation and lounging was your aim, this seating setup would have been a good bet. If entertaining larger groups of folks was part of your prerogative, the Pub seating layout might have held more appeal.

The Pub package took full advantage of the Dodici’s expansive and wide deck spaces. Aft a full stand-up bar featured fixed, swiveling bar stools, an overhead rack for wine and cocktail glasses, and a sink surrounded by a roomy food preparation counter. Just forward of the bar to port boasted a stand up table with three swiveling bar stools. All the way forward a lounge area had a huge U-shaped seating area and a cocktail table that’s bordered by two swiveling captain’s chairs. It was much like a couch and recliner affair you might find in an upscale bar. Except this bar moved at up to 60 mph, thanks to 900 ponies’ worth of two-stroke outboard power.

To contend with that wad of horsepower the Dodici was built with Premier’s PTX performance pontoon package, which Premier still employs today. In this case it included a massive 42-inch center tube, nosecone enhancements, tubes with angled running surfaces, wave shields, and more. The PTX tube system means you can strap more horsepower to the stern, but it also provides handling and cornering qualities similar to many traditional fiberglass boats. While that sounds like a marketing gimmick, I’ve run enough of Premier’s pontoons to confirm the system works as advertised.

The Dodici 310 featured a larger console than you’ll find on many pontoon boats, which means there was room in there for more electronic goodies such as multi-function displays and Premier’s optional Beacon System. It’s a touch-panel display that integrates GPS, engine stats, stereo, and other functions into a single, easy-to-read unit. The Dodici 310’s helm unit and console were made of a single piece of custom-molded fiberglass that was raised a bit to provide better visibility fore and aft. The helm and dash were nicely laid out and rich-feeling, with stitched leather trim and faux carbon-fiber accents.

Premier briefly added a smaller Dodici model, the 290, but by 2020 shifted attention to the Escalante series in their model line for over-30' premium offerings. The Escalante is still offered today but with twins rather than triple engines. However, thanks to the increasing size of outboards in recent years, the Escalante actually can handle more total power (it's rated up to 1,000 hp).

Since the Escalante is a very different model, with around 1,000 more pounds of displacement and big-league perks like a second story with a waterslide, a full galley, and an enclosed changing room with a head and sink, it won't necessarily offer the same performance as the Dodici. But with a pair of 350s it does push into the mid-50s.

Triple Engine Pontoon Boats in 2025

With the ever-growing power available in outboards these days you can get all the way up to 1,200 hp with twins. So, today there are few triple engine pontoons being offered. You may be able to find a Diodici on the used boat market (though they are few and far between), and Trifeca has a few 31' models which can be rigged with triple 500s to total up to 1,500 hp. There are also custom rigs out there, like the triple-engine South Bay that hit 117 mph at the 2025 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout.

Of course, thanks to modern powerplants you don't need triple engines to go outrageously fast on a pontoon. South Bay's RS9 Twin, for example, was tested at 79.9 mph with a pair of Mercury Racing 450R engines. The Trifeca DC9 hit 71.8 mph with 400 Verados. The Godfrey XP2700 made a hat-stripping 63.6 mph with twin 400s. And the Avalon Excalibur LTD reached 64.4 mph with twin Yamaha F350s. There are also plenty of examples of pontoons that run in the mid-50s with a single powerplant on the motor pod.

The bottom line? The Dodici may be gone, but there's no shortage of speed and power - sometimes outrageous speed and power - when it comes to modern pontoon boats.

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Editor's note: This article was originally published in October of 2015 and was most recently updated in November of 2025.

Written by: Gary Reich

Gary Reich is a Chesapeake Bay-based freelance writer and photojournalist with over 25 years of experience in the marine industry. He is the former editor of PropTalk Magazine and was the managing editor of the Waterway Guide. His writing and photography have been published in PassageMaker Magazine, Soundings, Fly Fishing in Salt Waters, Yachting Magazine, and Lakeland Boating, among others.