We moved from a cruiser on the Chesapeake to a high-performance tri-toon on a lake and couldn't be happier with the choice. With a pontoon, when you move from two to three toons, you basically add buouancy - meaning the stern sits higher in the water. You can put more HP on it and I believe (not sure) you actually get more speed for the same HP.
There are several mfrs, however, that make a high-performance triple where the center pontoon is much wider (Premier, Bennington, Manitou - not sure what others). For some reason, this makes it handle much more like a vee-hull, banking into turns, etc.
As a matter of comparison, ours is a 22-foot Premier PTX with a 150 Yamaha. We can hold about 12-13 adults. We pull tubes and skiiers all the time. Top speed is 37-40 mph with 4 adults onboard. We actually find that there is so much less maintenance - very little waxing, no winterizing due to the outboard, etc.
Hope this helps.
