Pulling a pontoon boat

lou_ky_it · #1 September 5th, 2007, 04:20 PM

Ok, most of you that have pontoon boats know that the gas mileage while pulling it really is bad (truck normally get's about 18 miles to a gallon, down to 9 or 10 when pulling pontoon) I pull it with the cover on the playpen and that helps a little, was wondering if anyone has ever tried to make something to get somemore aerodynmics to the front of the pontoon? I have about 2 feet to play with in front of the playpen. If this has been asked before, please point me to the thread so I can see the answers (-:

rickdb1boat · #2 September 5th, 2007, 06:15 PM

Years ago on my first pontoon, it had the 2' area in front of the playpen. It had short rails at the front of the boat. At the time I had an old pickup truck that had limited power. So I used a 2 1/2' X 7' piece of 5/8" plywood across the front, which I angled from those short railings in the front up to the top of the playpen rails. Worked very well and made it MUCH easier to pull on the highway. Can't remember how I tied it to the playpen rails at the time, but it was quick and easy. Looked like the drawing below...

tashasdaddy · #3 September 6th, 2007, 05:19 AM

put a topper with a spoiler, on the truck.

lou_ky_it · #4 September 6th, 2007, 11:00 AM

I have a topper, but no spoiler on it, might be able to get a spoiler though. As to the wedge in the front of the playpen, I'm going to have to give that a try, have a design in mind that will hopefully cover the whole front of the playpen, if it works I'll post pictures and drawing of the design.