bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

[zuke1]

so, i am finally back on the water, traded my travel trailer for a 1993 24' suntracker party barge.

i took it out last weekend, and aside from some small issues, when i was putting the boat in storage i noticed a 'sloshing' shound in the front port side tube. it sounds like its only in the very front part ( the curved part).

i called a marine shop close by and they want 150$ to take a look, but im not sure that includes repairs...

does any one know what would be considered reasonable for repairing/welding leaks?

if they want to 'epoxy' fix the toon instead of weld, is that ok?

thx for any help.

 

[kmarine]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

How much water is in the pontoon. I had an issue with one a couple of years ago with a friend of mine. some pontoons have vent caps on the top. you can send a hose down and shop vack the water out if ther is not a lot. look for damaged welds or corosion. There are many ways to repair the pontoon from epoxy to welding depending on how much corosion you have. do you have a wet spot where water is leaking from? you may need to find a good welder in your area with the right equipment.

 

[5150abf]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

If the 150 includes repairing it that is a pretty good deal and it should be welded not epoxied.

What shoudl eb done is drill the tube to drain the water, weld the drain hole shut then air check the tube to find the leak and repair it.

I have seen epoxy, screws with rubber washers, rivets and caulk but the only way to properly, permenently repair the tube is to weld it.

 

[OK Toon]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

We have the same issue on our 2003 Suncruiser we purchased this year. The water is in the starboard toon in the back section. Luckily we have vent holes in the top so I can get the water out. The problem is the size of the hole is the same size as my EZ Siphon tube (the kind with brass fitting on the end with a ball -- you jiggle the siphon tube and up and down till the water starts flowing). And most other smaller tube siphons stay curled up so they don't get to the bottom of the toon. I finally found a different type of siphon that I can use a couple of clamps to hold the siphon tube straight for awhile (to straighten it out). I think it will work just fine.

Then I'll monitor the toon next year and see if I get water back in there. If so, it will be going to a local boat welder to try and find the leak and repair it.

Good luck with your repairs.

 

[zuke1]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

im not sure if there is a 'vent' on the top. i noticed an area that looks like its for putting air in or something similar. ill take a look tomorrow afternoon. it sounds to me atleast a gallon or so in the very front part of the tube. i thought about putting air in and looking for a leak myself, but i just saw a pic of a guy who did the same thing and the toon exploded. so i think ill take it to the guy to look at this weekend. ill update on what the outcome is.

thx.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

Sometimes a little pressure can be put on the plug, and the leak spotted. Chances are it's a small pinhole, and they usually happen in the welds around the nosecones and the rear end.

 

[Fleetwin]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

, but i just saw a pic of a guy who did the same thing and the toon exploded. so i think ill take it to the guy to look at this weekend. ill update on what the outcome is.

thx.

That's generally a very bad idea. Very little pressure in an enclosed area of that size/volume can lead to disastrous results, as you saw.

If you are looking for a leak, a visual inspection will usually find it. Or, put water in and see where it runs out.

 

[5150abf]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

You have to get 10-15 psi in a tube before you need to worry about it letting go, we air check tubes at work(Bennington) all day long at up to 10 psi and I haven't had a tube let go for 4 years and that one had a major welding flaw.

If you get 3-4 psi in it you can find your leak and not hurt the tube, if you have a compressor and a blower you can stick the blower in the bung on top of the tube and blow air in the tube, with all the space around the blower it is self regulating and you can never get enough air in the tube to cause a problem.

This method requires 2 people but it is the safest way to do it and all you need is the blower and some dish soap in a sprayer.

 

[newcomlr]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

Related question. I heard one slosh when I took my 1997 Suntracker 25' off the lake for the winter. There are 'baffles' inside of the toons, right? Are they a standard height? Just trying to estimate how much water is in the toon. The boat doesn't appear to list, so I don't think I have a lot of water inside...but it was enough to hear. What was wierd was I heard the 'slosh' after the boat had been sitting still in my driveway for a while. I just happened to be walking by when I heard it.

I see two ports on the top of each toon, but of course they are very accessible. They're positioned in between the deck support pieces so they're almost impossible to even touch, let alone do anything with them. This will be a job I leave to a professional.

 

[zuke1]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

so, the boat shop says there is a crack where the front deck mount is mounted to the toon, and small crack in the nose of the cone. also, he said that there was a hole drilled in the bottom of the nose cone with a machine screw in it.

he said the welder would be in today to take a look and get me a quote, but he figures it will be around 300+ dollars!!! maybe its me, but is that normal??? 300$ for 3 small welds? the biggest weld has to be 2 to 3 inches at the most. it just seems crazy expensive, but then again ive never had someone do any aluminium welding before... just dont want to get ripped off.

 

[lncoop]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

I wouldn't expect it to to be nearly that much here, but Arkansas is a long way from Arizona. I had my tubes pressure tested and several leaks repaired for around $150 as I recall. Maybe it depends on where the leaks are.

 

[1960 Starflite]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

My old Harris has leaked for years. Solved problem long ago. Had a local shop weld 3/4" thick blocks on lower rear side. Drilled and tap for 1/2" pipe plugs. I drain 4-5 gallons every fall. The old girl sits in the water 24/7 April thru October.

 

[zuke1]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

so,

took boat to the shop. they finally called me back, the owner starts telling me that the toon is leaking because the front deck support mounts are leaking. He then starts telling me that because of the location, they reccomend taking the hole pontoon off to fix it!@! he says it will cost around 3k, then asked if i had insurance on the boat. i said that i did, but since it was a pre-existing leak, im not sure it would be covered... he then starts telling me that i can come pick up the boat, take it out to the lake, then call my insurance agent and tell him i hit the dock and theres a leak... then take it back and this place will fix it...

when i show up to get the boat, the owner is real nice, shows me where they 'think' its leaking from. then tells me that it takes a special welder to do the welds well and how with the money i pay to fix the toon up front, they will buy a new welder torch/tool to fix the toon...

in the meantime, i called a guy on craigslist that says hes been welding for 30 years and will come to the house to do it for 60$ an hour, and if lift the one side of the pontoon ( im guessing unbolt then jack up deck) he will do the welds in a short time... he even says if i bring the boat to him, hell do it for 40$ an hour...

i think that "Bodnar Boatworks" in surprise AZ was trying to pull a fast one, and jack my insurance rates up so they can turn a 300$ simple fix into a 3000$ free aluminum welder tool!!!

so, in short, i will be getting a second opinion from someone who has the tools needed to fix what i need fixed!

 

[5150abf]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

If you buy me a welder I will fix it too, I may need truck and genset too, that is crazy.

You dont need to pull the tube either, just drill out the bracket where it is leaking, if it is a crack it would be good idea to drill a real small hole at the end of it to stop it from running, repair and fill in the drill holes, I do it all the time.

The only place it can leak is right on or adjacent to the weld so that is all you need to fix.

Unless he has a portable TIG welder be careful, you don't want someone going at that with a MIG, it will just make a mess and be harder to fix right later.

It is very common for the brackets to crack either at the very front or very back as they are stress points, water goes everywhere underway so a leak on top of the bracket can let water in a tube.

And my last tip, find the leak, drill it and confirm the leak, dry it off(critical)fix the leak, check to be sure you got it then fill the drill marks, also pull the plugs from the tube before welding.

Water is h2o, the o being oxygen, few things are worse for a weld than oxygen so get it dry before you weld and the heat from the welder will expand the air in the tube and cause it to blow out, it makes a little tiny grey spot that you will never fix untill you give the air somewhere to go.

For the record I am the lead welder and tube line supervisor at Bennington and have been doing this for 25 years, if your boat were in my shop that is how I would fix it.

 

[OK Toon]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

I finally got around to pumping out the water from the rear section of the starboard tube this weekend. Not sure how many gallons of water I pumped out, but it was a lot. I don't think I noticed the boat listing to that side when it was in the water (and no water in the port tube). I'll probably monitor it this next year (we bought the boat this year) to see if and how much water gets back into the tube. Then I'll make a determination if this is going to get fixed or if I'll just plan on part of my yearly maintenance to pump out the water from the tube.

The hardest part of getting the water out was finding a siphon hose that would fit in the opening at the top of the tube, but that also had a siphone hose that was straight in order to get to the bottom of the tube. I found several siphons with small syphone hoses but they would never straighten out enough to go to the bottom of the tube.

 

[newcomlr]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

OK Toon: Thanks for sharing your experience.

Is the access port on top of the tube just an opening, or is there some type of valve?

 

[OK Toon]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

OK Toon: Thanks for sharing your experience.

Is the access port on top of the tube just an opening, or is there some type of valve?

The access port has a screwed-in plug. I don't recall the size of wrench needed to remove it (but it was the biggest one I had). Then just apply some plumbers tape to the plug before reinstalling it. Just have to raise or lower the tongue of the trailer to get the water in the tube to the correct end. The tubes have baffles that seperate the tube into 2 sections (besides the cone area). Since mine had water in the rear section, I lowered the trailer tongue in order to get the water to the front of that baffled section.

 

[buellwinkle]

Re: bought pontoon boat. hearing water in tube.

Can't you just spray the tubes with Flex Seal. They claim they sprayed a Chevy S10 pickup and put an outboard on it and made a nice boat Flex Seal Spray Can