Suntracker pontoon draining

[PEPE0634]

I am looking for a way to drain my pontoons on my 1992 suntracker 24 ft. party barge.
I can see 2 red plastic pipe plugs on top of each pontoon my idea is to remove these plugs and pump out any water
that maybe in either pontoon, I am not having ANY issues with water in the pontoons but do to the age of the boat I would like the have acesss to drain or pump them out as the boat sits in the lake from early spring to fall. I was also thinking of drilling a 3/4 inch hole in top of the stern end of the pontoon and pumping out from this hole then installing a standard drain plug in the drilled holes .

My questions are. What are the holes with the plastic pipe plugs on top of the pontoons really for ?
Will drilling a hole on the top side of the pontoon change structural integrity of the pontoon ?
will I need to drill holes in bow and stern ends or does water pass thru baffles and make it to the rear of the toons if the bow is tipped up?

 

[lncoop]

Re: Suntracker pontoon draining

If you're not having issues with water in the toons leave them alone please. The boat's age doesn't necessarily mean you're due for leaks soon. To answer you questions those plugged holes are for pressure testing the tubes and can also be used to pump out water. No need to drill more. Welcome aboard.

 

[maxum man]

Re: Suntracker pontoon draining

We have a 19' Forester Toon. On the top of each toon in the middle is a tube that is bent at a 90. These tubes do not seem to be plugged.(vent??) Also there is a brass plug at the bottom rear of each tube. Is it safe/recommended to remove the plugs to check for water?a

 

[OK Toon]

Re: Suntracker pontoon draining

I am looking for a way to drain my pontoons on my 1992 suntracker 24 ft. party barge.
I can see 2 red plastic pipe plugs on top of each pontoon my idea is to remove these plugs and pump out any water
that maybe in either pontoon, I am not having ANY issues with water in the pontoons but do to the age of the boat I would like the have acesss to drain or pump them out as the boat sits in the lake from early spring to fall. I was also thinking of drilling a 3/4 inch hole in top of the stern end of the pontoon and pumping out from this hole then installing a standard drain plug in the drilled holes .

My questions are. What are the holes with the plastic pipe plugs on top of the pontoons really for ?
Will drilling a hole on the top side of the pontoon change structural integrity of the pontoon ?
will I need to drill holes in bow and stern ends or does water pass thru baffles and make it to the rear of the toons if the bow is tipped up?

If you have 2 plugs in each pontoon, that means you have baffles separating the 2 sections of each pontoon. Most likely, the front plug is at the back end of that section and the back plug is at the front end of that section. That's how my toons are on my boat. To drain the front section, I raise the front of the boat up to get the water to the back of the section. To drain the back section, I lower the front of the boat to get the water to the front of the section. I use a small pump to get the water out of the toons. But in my situation, I hear water sloshing in the toons when the boat is on the trailer. If you aren't hearing any sloshing, you probably don't need to worry about any of this.

 

[PEPE0634]

Re: Suntracker pontoon draining

If you have 2 plugs in each pontoon, that means you have baffles separating the 2 sections of each pontoon. Most likely, the front plug is at the back end of that section and the back plug is at the front end of that section. That's how my toons are on my boat. To drain the front section, I raise the front of the boat up to get the water to the back of the section. To drain the back section, I lower the front of the boat to get the water to the front of the section. I use a small pump to get the water out of the toons. But in my situation, I hear water sloshing in the toons when the boat is on the trailer. If you aren't hearing any sloshing, you probably don't need to worry about any of this.

Well I took the plugs out today and air hissed out when When the plugs were removed Stuck a 5/16 hose down and pump
And no water! Do I need to put air pressure back into the pontoons ? And I was thinking of doing a pressure test on the pontoons while I'm at it I understand I can hook up the Schrader valve to the pipe plug port The question is how many air pressure to the pontoon to check for leaks?

 

[MaPaHa]

Re: Suntracker pontoon draining

If you are going to monitor the toons for leaks by rigging up a pressure gauge then you need a pressure gauge that will read clearly in the low pressure range (below 5 psi). I test mine at 1 psi and I get nervous at 1.5 psi and would not go over 2 psi personally. Toons start making some strange noises at 1.5 psi. I've seen some post that say up to 5 psi but I’m not clear on if they use 5 psi with the vents open or 5 psi static pressure. Without clarity from a experienced person that works with toons all the time on whether that's 5 psi standing pressure or 5 psi flowing into the toon with an outlet to keep pressure from building (which I've seen done at a welding shop), I would not go over 1-2 psi.

If you want to just put some pressure in them and use a soap solution and watch for bubbles then you can use a good shop vac and blow air into the tubes through some sort of connection from the vacuum cleaner pressure hose into the toon vent fitting. A good shop vac will put out 1/2 to 3/4 psi or so and that’s enough to make a leak bubble up. I've even used a 12 volt raft/air-toy inflator to test mine on the water for everything below the water line. They put out about 1/2 psi also.

Pontoons are known to leak at the braces that are welded to the toons for the floor support system and the transom brackets/braces. When water gets to splashing everywhere running down the lake water can come in above the waterline for sure.

 

[tablerockboater]

I'm having the same problem with water in the toons, and have a thread asking for help.

https://forums.iboats.com/forum/gen...5328-pontoon-tube-reconditioning-ideas-needed

There's no drain plugs at the back of the toons like I've seen on some, but there are three plugs on the top of both toons, front, center and back. What are they for, and why would there not be drain plugs at the bottom of the toons?

I would not use dissimilar metals in saltwater because the less noble will sacrifice itself. I just put new anodes on our toons, and West Marine was out of zinc, so they sold me aluminum ones. I thought that was strange to out aluminum and aluminum, but there are different alloys of aluminum, and, sure enough, after just two weeks the aluminum anodes are sacrificing.