New to Pontoon Speed Question

[Rocky37167]

Just got my first pontoon (2003 22 ft, with Honda 75 hp 4 stroke) and have two questions. 1) speed 2) trim

1. Engine seems to run fine, but not sure what i should expect for speed. It tops out at 12-14mhp running at approx 5000 rpm. I have same size boats with 60 hp leaving me in my own wake? We love to cruise but sometimes need to get to the marina quick. Mostly just two of us, at night on fairly calm waters little wind. Is 12-14 mph

2. I see other pontoons that seem to run very flat where my front end seems to be higher than most. Tried adjusting the trim but my front end still sticks up.

these two may be connected, but not sure.

thanks in advance.

 

[flycaster]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

Just got my first pontoon (2003 22 ft, with Honda 75 hp 4 stroke) and have two questions. 1) speed 2) trim

1. Engine seems to run fine, but not sure what i should expect for speed. It tops out at 12-14mhp running at approx 5000 rpm. I have same size boats with 60 hp leaving me in my own wake? We love to cruise but sometimes need to get to the marina quick. Mostly just two of us, at night on fairly calm waters little wind. Is 12-14 mph

2. I see other pontoons that seem to run very flat where my front end seems to be higher than most. Tried adjusting the trim but my front end still sticks up.

these two may be connected, but not sure.

thanks in advance.

First thing to check is "is there any water in the pontoons". Water within the pontoons will make the back of the boat sit lower in the water and reduce your overall forward speed.
There have been many threads on this subject.
While boat is on trailer have someone drive the tow vehicle forward and stop quickly, then listen to the pontoons. "See if you can hear any water sloshing within".
With second hand pontoons, the possibility exists that the motor is not the original motor. Need to check to see that the motor has a long shaft. (If I remember correctly the length should be 20 inches.)
Pontoon boats require a different propeller than boats do. The propeller need to have large fins.
The solution to the problem may be a combination of items.

 

[lmuss53]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

Other questions before we can help are:

Are the pontoons clean?

What pitch is the current prop, or what numbers can you find on the current prop?

Although the drive and stop method will work I just walk up the the side of the boat and give it a good hard shake or two and then listen. If there is water in a tube you will hear it sloshing around.

You should be getting a little better that 12 or 14 MPH out of the 75 on your boat. My old Fisher with a 75 2 stroke ran about 22 MPH. That was a 20 foot boat but always loaded heavy with fishing gear.

 

[lncoop]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

Other questions before we can help are:

Are the pontoons clean?

What pitch is the current prop, or what numbers can you find on the current prop?

Although the drive and stop method will work I just walk up the the side of the boat and give it a good hard shake or two and then listen. If there is water in a tube you will hear it sloshing around.

You should be getting a little better that 12 or 14 MPH out of the 75 on your boat. My old Fisher with a 75 2 stroke ran about 22 MPH. That was a 20 foot boat but always loaded heavy with fishing gear.

In addition to answering these questions you need to determine whether your engine is attaining the max RPMs at WOT.

 

[lakegeorge]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

yes, you should be running a lot faster. our 22ft with 60hp 4stroke runs 21 at wot. The above advice is good.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

Just another speed data point... I have a 20' Lowes with a 50HP 2-cycle Evinrude. I top out at about 20 MPH with a 13x11 prop. My RPMs seem a little high at WOT, so I'm not sure if I need to change my prop to a longer pitch or maybe (still need to check) my tach was not set properly for this motor.

 

[Rocky37167]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

thanks everyone. some good points to ponder. Since my boat sits on the water shaking it will be difficult. However, i did notice a fitting on each toon at the rear. Are these for the purpose of siphoning out any water that may be in the tubes themselves?

thanks again, great site.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

FYI I just bought a new prop from this site, a Volvo Penta 13 x 13. Hopefully it will arrive in time for me to try out next weekend. When I do get it on, I'll post with new data. I'm expecting my RPMs to go down and maybe gain another MPH or two.

 

[lakegeorge]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

Eric,

Call the toon mfg. and ask them what size prop they put on, they will tell you what you should be using. Don't start throwing money around to fix something until you talk to them.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

Eric,

Call the toon mfg. and ask them what size prop they put on, they will tell you what you should be using. Don't start throwing money around to fix something until you talk to them.

I don't know why I didn't think of that... I've done a bunch of research, collected a lot of data from a lot of places, but the manufacturer was not one of them. I feel fairly confident in my decision, but you are right, I should have given Lowe a call.

Thanks for that idea. Prop won't arrive until until Friday, so I have plenty of time to sort this out (before making a prop unreturnable by sticking it in the water).

Eric

 

[Mr Crabbs]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

Since we are talking about speed (again ) has anyone tried the pontoon waterglide, as seen in the banner ads here?

 

[EricJRW]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

Since we are talking about speed (again ) has anyone tried the pontoon waterglide, as seen in the banner ads here?

I saw a dedicated thread on the subject. I'll see if I can find it and post the link.

[edit] Here it is: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=195359

 

[EricJRW]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

Just wanted to chime back in and thank lakegeorge for that suggestion. I got a call from Lowe Boats the other day and guess what? The recommended prop is a 12.5 x 13... What was on the motor was a 13 x 11! So now I'm feeling very good about that new 12.5 x 13 prop! I'm even getting about 3MPH more than what the gentleman from Lowe told me to expect!

With the new prop I'm hitting 21.5 pretty easily, whereas with the old prop it was mostly 18~19 and if the wind was right I might see 20, but never 21. So my revs are lower and my speed is up! Very cool.

PS. All speeds are GPS.

 

[crazyinkc]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

I get a whole 6 to 8 mph on my 20 footer. I guess I need to swap out the 10 hp Chrysler for the 50 Merc I have laying beside the barn I sure do get a few laughs at the marina but I can still boat all weekend on a 6 gallon tank of gas .

 

[lncoop]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

I don't know. Sounds to me like you've got your priorities straight.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

I don't know. Sounds to me like you've got your priorities straight.

I agree!

 

[princepearce]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

It is true that production pontoon boats were not made for speed. However, you might be surprise to know that the world speed record of 81mph was recently broken.

 

[PGFISHER]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

HA! My 18' with a 60HP bigfoot does 1,020 MPH; but only at a 90 degree heading. Work that one out!

 

[Water logged]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

Due East

 

[nuboater]

Re: New to Pontoon Speed Question

HA! My 18' with a 60HP bigfoot does 1,020 MPH; but only at a 90 degree heading. Work that one out!

After being dropped from a 747...