Can a pontoon boat sink?

BugsBunnyBoater

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I was reading a few post about people with pontoons or thinking about pontoons. I was just thinking can a pontoon actually sink? I remember reading a good story in one of my boating magazines about one of the boats reps taking their pontoon out of sight of land in Florida to the islands they had extra tanks.

I went from a 19 foot Mako angler. A tropical storm and bad bilge pump in a wet slip I almost sank.
Now I have a Nice big 23 foot Starcraft but I love the pontoons that slip by. Looks very roomy.
 

Bamaman1

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

There are two kinds of toons: round toons and U shaped toons.

The U shaped toons are not commonly used today. U shaped toons are without chambers and they are usually filled with foam floatation. U shaped toons are not very susceptible to sinking.

Most toons today are round tubes, and they're harder to make (more expensive) and are out of thicker aluminum than U shaped toons. Since they're chambered, a puncture might fill up one section, but they usually won't completely sink.

The trend today is to use three toons with lifting strakes with 115 hp or larger motors. They're faster, quiet and much more seaworthy than a small engined, two toon boat. They also handle larger loads (more people) than two toon boats.
 

86 century

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

Short of damaged tubes a toon will not sink.

Where they differ from a hull that displaces water with a cavity that can fill with water as you found out as long as your tubes are not compromised it will stay afloat.
However the tubes don't really care witch way is up so capsizing is still a possibility.
 

MH Hawker

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

It really takes a huge amount of damage to sink a pontoon,
 

5150abf

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

Agree, you woul d really have to whack something and do major damage to both tubes to sink a toon, you woul have to brach all 6 or so chambers.

It could be done, anything will sink, but not very likely.
 

spoilsofwar

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

I wasn't on the Titanic, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a pontoon boat.

Probably not too many pontoon boats operating in the vicinity of iceburgs, either ;)
 

BugsBunnyBoater

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

I seems as long as you watch the weather there are no downsides to the pontoon huh. My biggest fear when I had my wet slip was sinking during bad weather. While I trusted my bilge pump a few leaves and a low battery almost sank me. For a river or calm inlet the pontoon seems like a good choice. LOL not the coolest of boats but a good boat for what it does.
 

Water logged

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

There are a lot of people in the pontoon forum that think pontoons are very cool!

Glenn
 

BobGinCO

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

Sink Pontoon? Unpossible!!! Flip Pontoon, and drown like a rat? Sure - some idiot, er, adventurous fool, er, radical experimenter just took a pontoon up to 112 MPH on Lake Of The Ozarks. Imagine a playing card at 112 MPH on edge. What would it take to get it to flip end over end? Just a lot of testosterone!!!
 

26aftcab454

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

Sink Pontoon? Unpossible!!! Flip Pontoon, and drown like a rat? Sure - some idiot, er, adventurous fool, er, radical experimenter just took a pontoon up to 112 MPH on Lake Of The Ozarks. Imagine a playing card at 112 MPH on edge. What would it take to get it to flip end over end? Just a lot of testosterone!!!

I think I saw this video and it was the owner of the pontoon boat company's wife that ran the 112MPH. I bet her testoserone level is not that high!
 

86 century

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

My dad is one of the people on the planet that if some they could be sunk he would have done it already.

Not that he is careless or doesn't have the know what he is doing just if there where that one spot on the lake that was capable of ripping holes in all the chambers all at once he would have found it by now.

And I feal safe letting my kids go out on there toon with him.
 

southkogs

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

I've watched one go as "down" as I think they'll go ... kinda' more break apart than sink. One 'toon was venting due to a fire (yes, fire and wreck ... wow :eek:) and did go down, but not a full submerge. It took quite a beating (and scorching) before it gave way. On the right water they're actually very impressive boats in that sense.
 

halfmoa

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

Sink Pontoon? Unpossible!!! Flip Pontoon, and drown like a rat? Sure - some idiot, er, adventurous fool, er, radical experimenter just took a pontoon up to 112 MPH on Lake Of The Ozarks. Imagine a playing card at 112 MPH on edge. What would it take to get it to flip end over end? Just a lot of testosterone!!!

That wouldn't have been Brad Rowland, would it? He's on my lake and it's REALLY something to see a tritoon at 100 MPH.
 

southkogs

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

There's a lot of pontoon based work boats on the Bering Sea Gold show on Discovery. Just sayin.:)
... kinda' the fundamental idea behind some of the oil rigs too.
 

spoilsofwar

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

There's a lot of pontoon based work boats on the Bering Sea Gold show on Discovery. Just sayin.:)

I think those might be designed with their intended use environment in mind, unlike your neighbor's party barge ;)
 

halfmoa

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Re: Can a pontoon boat sink?

I think those might be designed with their intended use environment in mind, unlike your neighbor's party barge ;)

That may be but some of them look more like my neighbor's party barge covered in tarps, bailing wire, and duct tape with the deck ripped off and judicious use of EMT pipe, 2x4s and roofing tin LOL.

Last season one of those boats was obviously a jon boat with homemade outriggers.
 
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