How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

[luckyjr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgpzqEudTOg&feature=related

Some of those sheets look mighty thin for aluminum.
With all the probelms Aluminum has with stress cracks leaks and repairs of dents etc, Is aluminum the right choice?

1/8" Aluminum weighs 1.8 lbs a sq ft. The equal in strength is 18 ga steel weighs 2.0 lbs a sq ft.

1 Can you repair a steel pontoon with major damage. Yes. Aluminum NO
2 Will impact dent steel easily. No Aluminum yes
3. Does Aluminum last longer than steel. No
4. Does the 0.2 tenths of lb a sq ft weight differs have an effect on total weight. No
5. Could the average public hold and equal painted piece of the toon in their hand and see and feel the differs. No
Somebody must have brained washed pontooners. Ha Ha Ha IMHHHO

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

6. Does steel rust. Yes

 

[5150abf]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

That is the deal breaker, the aluminum doesn't corrode so I would really disagree that steel last longer than aluminum, if I put 2 sheets in a field, one steel one aluminum, and come back in 5 years the aluminum is untouched and the steel is almost gone.

I have seen this show before and it is interesting, not how we do most of it but it gives you the general idea, it is kind of interesting how many ways you can come up with the to do essentially the same thing, Godfrey and Southbay do it differently too.

Short of custom I am not aware of anyone making steel pontoons on a large scale and it is because of the rust, in the long run aluminum is just more durable.

 

[luckyjr]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

Looked like they were set up pretty good with all the automatic welders and forming eq. I didn't like crimping the fence walls.
The chambers seperator were crimpped on the flange. Is that for easier fit up. Look like it gave you a back up ring for welding.

HBV, my company, built products for offshore and sub sea also. We epoxy painted steel for that service after fab.
Epoxy painted steel rust? No Does aluminum rust? Yes. We just had a guy on here with pin holes all over his pontoons. We told him to buy new toons.

I think it would be reasonable to use galvanized parts on the cross members, risers, pontoon and floor. Then you could epoxy paint all but the floor. There would be less probelms with maintance and a more ridgid structure. Epoxy paint holds it's color for a long long time. INMHO

 

[lncoop]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

Not to put too fine a point on it, especially since I'm neither a welder nor a metallurgist, but I believe aluminum succumbs to corrosion, not rust. I rather doubt the pinholes in the unfortunate iboater's toons were caused by mere water, since if that were all it took to corrode aluminum we'd all be SOL in short order.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

HBV, my company, built products for offshore and sub sea also. We epoxy painted steel for that service after fab.
Epoxy painted steel rust? No Does aluminum rust? Yes. We just had a guy on here with pin holes all over his pontoons. We told him to buy new toons.

Apples and oranges, lucky. Recreational boating and offshore oil (assuming) are two different animals. If 'toons were made of steel and treated the same way your co. does, they wouldn't sell because of the cost. As far as rust, in salt water a scratch through the epoxy coating will allow the steel to rust. And trust me, the engineering includes analysis for exactly that and the structures are over built.

Aluminum does not rust, per se. It does oxidize which is why AL turns dull. In fact, this dull coating protects the AL. Pitting in AL is not rust, it is pitting caused by electrolysis, it is not rust.

 

[luckyjr]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

I ask for prices on 16 ga galvanized steel sheets. 60" x 80" $62.00 = 26" dia x 5' section. If you damage the epoxy, you hit hot dipped galvanizing. Made up my mind, going with galvanized steel epoxy coated toon and same for risers for the middle toon. ITS ALL GOOD, just my choice.

 

[5150abf]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

The pin holes were caused by electrolosis not corrosion, aluminum is like copper, over time it creates its own protective coating and the simple fact is there are 50 companies making aluminum pontoons in the US and 0 making stell, so the market has decided what it wants.

Now steel roofing is becoming more and more common so who knows, there may be a steel toon in the future but for now aluminum is king.

Where are you getting this epoxy coated steel toon, I assume you are building it yourself.

 

[bigdee]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

I ask for prices on 16 ga galvanized steel sheets. 60" x 80" $62.00 = 26" dia x 5' section. If you damage the epoxy, you hit hot dipped galvanizing. Made up my mind, going with galvanized steel epoxy coated toon and same for risers for the middle toon. ITS ALL GOOD, just my choice.

It is your choice but .059" cold rolled steel will dent just as easy as a normal aluminium pontoon and it will rust eventually. I have seen swimming platforms and docks made of 55 gallon 16 gauge steel drums but on a pontoon boat????....you gota be kidding. There is no protective coating that would protect the toons from abrasion.

 

[luckyjr]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

It is your choice but .059" cold rolled steel will dent just as easy as a normal aluminium pontoon and it will rust eventually. I have seen swimming platforms and docks made of 55 gallon 16 gauge steel drums but on a pontoon boat????....you gota be kidding. There is no protective coating that would protect the toons from abrasion.

You are right, I am wrong.

One of my welders was cutting on one those steel drums for a BBQ pit, which I had strict rules not to.
As I was walking out on the yard to chew his but out, it exploded and threw him about 15ft in the air because he had one foot on it. Wasn't hurt, I don't know how.

 

[Lawnmedic]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

I can't tell you about steel pontoons, but steel haul house boats are quickly becoming non existent on fresh water lake. Insurance companies will not insure them due to rust. They tend to rust from the inside out, you don't know there is an issue until it hits the bottom. The few few steel house boats we have on Lake Cumberland won't ever beach the boat. They will tie up alongside an aluminum house boat that is beached, but will keep them off the bank.

 

[luckyjr]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

I can't tell you about steel pontoons, but steel haul house boats are quickly becoming non existent on fresh water lake. Insurance companies will not insure them due to rust. They tend to rust from the inside out, you don't know there is an issue until it hits the bottom. The few few steel house boats we have on Lake Cumberland won't ever beach the boat. They will tie up alongside an aluminum house boat that is beached, but will keep them off the bank.

If you build a steel Pontoon, you should use cold roll galvanized 60 not 90. That way the inside is protected. Inserting plastic Coated styrofoam in the ID would mean it would never be on bottom. Epoxy coating the galvanized steel will also help. I built many many ASME high pressure vessels for offshore (salt water) and all the major oil copanies required was to epoxy paint them on the outside. If they rust, a lot of people would be blown up.

My perfect pontoon would be an all 1/8" 26" dia epoxy coated Aluminum Pontoon with plastic coated Styrofoam inserts in the inside.

 

[sunkatchers]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

Just to share a personal experience. I worked around the fishing charter boats operating in fresh water for years in my youth (A long time ago). All of the charter boats were steel hulled displacement haul Inboards. Every one of them had the same problem that we fought every fall. They ALL pitted and developed holes in the hull right at the water line. The sides and bottoms may rust a bit over the course of the season but right at the water line the steel would literally eat right through. I would think that steel pontoons would do the same. It was almost like some kind of electrolysis was occurring and we even had some owner/operators put those electric current limiters on their hulls to no avail. Check out a few steel hulls next time you are at a commercial dock.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Ron

 

[Silvertip]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

Any of you Navy Vets that served aboard ship know what "chip", "scrape", "prime" and "paint" means. It is a never ending process. Steel was used years ago in pontoons and many small boat hulls because it was "the way they did it back then". Steel pontoons are still seen periodically on our northern lakes but they are few and far between and pretty well "used up".

 

[93chevy]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

We used a 1968 model pontoon until about 5 or 6 years ago. It had painted steel pontoons. Over the years we added layers of fiberglass when needed. Ended up being at least 1/4 inch thick when we sold it for a duck blind. It was so old we named it the african queen.

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

The pin holes were caused by electrolysis not corrosion.

I would agree 100%...Only thing that's going to make pin holes in Aluminum would be electrolysis or another term for it galvanic corrosion. Anodes would be the prime object to reduce the action of electrolysis on aluminum in saltwater. Do a search on the web for electrolysis saltwater and anodes and see what you find.

 

[seldomseen]

Re: How they make it. Pontoon boats. Interesting if you haven't seen it.

Aluminum pontoons sure as hell will pinhole and pit when fool dealers use strong acid on used and dirty toons to make them look good to sell, and then fail to fully rinse the acid off the carpeted bolsters. The acid continues to eat the toon areas in contact with the acid rich carpet