just joined the pontoon world

Jeff Walkowiak

Jeff Walkowiak

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Jun 23, 2004
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I picked up a used pontoon boat a month ago and have been restoring all the neglected areas, from the trailer to the bimini top and everywhere in between.
Already spent a bunch of time and money and I haven't even put it in the water yet. lol.
It's a little 1998 ,,,16 foot crestliner with a 50 evinrude took forever to find a 16 footer, didn't have room for anything bigger.
I don't imagine it will go more than 30 mph but that will do for taking all my grand kids fishing.
I have been reading some of the info on this section since I purchased the boat although I am usually on the pwc section,, just popped in to say hello .
 
Silvertip

Silvertip

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Sep 22, 2003
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28,762
Re: just joined the pontoon world

Welcome aboard and congrats on the purchase of your pontoon. I think you are little optimistic on the 30 MPH speed but a 16 footer will scoot along nicely with a good running 50.
 
Jeff Walkowiak

Jeff Walkowiak

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Re: just joined the pontoon world

obviously I havent tried it yet,, but if I enclose the rear beams with some aluminum plate and deflect some of the inner turbulance coming off the pontoons it may reduce some of the drag,, that is one of the things left on my list to do,, I followed a 21 footer running wide open with a 40 hp on it and it was clipping along in the mid 20 range..
 
S

steelespike

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Apr 26, 2002
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Re: just joined the pontoon world

Was that gps speed? my guess is the max with a 40 on a 21 would be 18-20.
I wonder if a 16 can get up enough to make that speed.with the belly covered it might see 25 but I wonder.
Of course folks don't buy a toon to go fast.You'll have a great time and if you keep the speed 6 to 9 mph you'll find the mileage very recpectable.
 
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DJ

Guest
Re: just joined the pontoon world

Welcome to pontoon world, Jeff. You'll have a blast with it.

I'm thinking around 20 MPH with your set up. Make sure it's propped right. Those 50's can't stand to be lugged. Prop it to be able to turn 5500 RPM at WOT.

BTW, thanks for all you do in the PWC area.
 
tashasdaddy

tashasdaddy

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Re: just joined the pontoon world

Jeff, with a toon. going to be docking station for the grands ski's. fishing and ski's great day with the kids.
 
Jeff Walkowiak

Jeff Walkowiak

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Re: just joined the pontoon world

Yea crazy old Jeff with a toon, I need to see if I can get it out in the surf and jump waves with it,, lol..

all kidding aside I will use my radar gun to get a speed once I get it in the water,, but it is basically replacing my fishing boat that I let my son have,, as for the speed of the other toon ,, I was pacing it with my ski as it ran the flats at fort desoto,,
the 50 hp should be set up correctly as it was a package from the manufacturer boat motor and trailer were all original.. had about 100 hours on the motor,I picked up the rig for 2500 and spent another grand doing mods and maintenance, all I need now is a trolling motor and it's ready for the water.
as for fuel, I installed a 12 gallon fuel tank and don't really worry about fuel costs, I spend a hundred bucks a day running 2 skies, 3 days a week as it is, so this thing will not be an issue. I only worry about top speed for outrunning approaching storms,, I don't like aluminum boats in our heavy thunder storms, especially with small kids on board.
 
tashasdaddy

tashasdaddy

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Re: just joined the pontoon world

Jeff, i'm going to suggest one of the wireless control trolling motors. i will never go back to a cable control motor. i love my key fob control. any where in the boat and i can control it. you can sit in the captain seat, and control the boat while the grands, fish.
 
Jeff Walkowiak

Jeff Walkowiak

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Jun 23, 2004
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Re: just joined the pontoon world

do you have a good rule of thumb on the depth of the lower unit, on regular boats I always set them with the cavitation plate even with the drain hole,, for some reason the engine on this pontoon seems to be really low,, the foot goes way below the bottom of the pontoons,, the cavitation plate is several inches below the drain hole in the engine tray.
 
D

DJ

Guest
Re: just joined the pontoon world

Jeff Walkowiak said:
do you have a good rule of thumb on the depth of the lower unit, on regular boats I always set them with the cavitation plate even with the drain hole,, for some reason the engine on this pontoon seems to be really low,, the foot goes way below the bottom of the pontoons,, the cavitation plate is several inches below the drain hole in the engine tray.
Click to expand...

That's pretty normal.

There is a lot of cavitation back there from the wash coming off of the toons.

Try it and see what happens.
 
C

chrisg

Chief Petty Officer
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Jun 29, 2004
Messages
476
Re: just joined the pontoon world

Jeff: Pontoons don't go as fast as your jet skis do ! :D
I just got a 24-footer earlyer this year, its in the shop getting a new(er) motor. still waiting for them to fininsh installing it. If you read other postings, you will notice toons wont go that fast ( except the one I found and posted a while ago.
 
Jeff Walkowiak

Jeff Walkowiak

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Re: just joined the pontoon world

it just isn't in my nature to accept the status quo,, so I have no doubt I will be tinkering around with things to get it to go around 30 mph,, I already did a lot of mods,, myto do list is getting shorter every day.
 
Jeff Walkowiak

Jeff Walkowiak

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Re: just joined the pontoon world

I said 30 not 230 geee got a nose bleed just watching some of that.
I did take the THING out on the water today just to do some work on the bunks and to see how the motor ran etc.I concluded that you people are correct, that thing is slower than snail snot,, didn't bring the radar with me but I can tell it stays in the mid 20's running 5700rpm,, big difference from a pwc.
The engine throttle handle nearly broke off from me pushing on it to see why it wasn't going fast enough.
then when I decided it wasn't really all that bad the stupid engine developed what I believe is a fuel supply issue and didn't want to go over 3000 rpm and shook like crazy.
it would smooth out on the slow side but just didn't seem to be getting fuel to run in the higher rpm range,, 150 compression on both cylinders,, spark seems good so it has to be a fuel problem but i didn't feel like messing with those stupid carbs when I got it home.
 
Jeff Walkowiak

Jeff Walkowiak

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Joined
Jun 23, 2004
Messages
1,944
Re: just joined the pontoon world

I should have just checked the ground for the coil first since I know omc has that issue,, that was all it was,, bad ground on the coil,, discovered it only after removing the carbs and totally disassembling them on my kitchen table with negative results..
 
C

chrisg

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Jun 29, 2004
Messages
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Re: just joined the pontoon world

It's like driving a couch! I told the wife I want to put a recliner on ours, then you can really kick back. I still have not seen what 'submarining' a pontoon is ( they say if you go too fast you can submerge a toon).

But Jeff, being a PWC person,and into modifying the 'toon I think you will be VERY interested in this thread, you can get best of both worlds:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=276334
 
Jeff Walkowiak

Jeff Walkowiak

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Joined
Jun 23, 2004
Messages
1,944
Re: just joined the pontoon world

if the pontoon had a bottom surface similar to a slolom ski rather than a rounded bottom,, and a big foil in between the pontoons, it would probably be a plaining hull.
 
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