New Pontoon owner with questions

[carrie777]

Hey everyone! I just bought my first pontoon and I love it. It is an oldie but a goodie! Ok, Here are a couple of questions...
1. I want to build a sundeck on top, but I trailer my boat to put her in the water, does anyone know what the max height I can go to is? I have a carpenter doing it, but not sure of max height
2. CAN I trailer my boat with the top on it with out tearing anything up?
3. I have a little water in the toons. Is this normal or should I worry?
I am sure I will have more questions later, but I think this is a good start! LOL
Thanks
Carrie

 

[rrhodes]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

Many things go into putting an upper deck on. What size and model pontoon is it? Water in the logs is not a good thing. It means you have a leak. This could be from a plug or pin holes. Do the logs have plugs in the rear or on top?

 

[a1nowell]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

Go ahead and built a top to about 7 feet. Max speed trailering the boat with a deck on top will be about 15-20 mph.

 

[carrie777]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

The toons have a plug on the tops. I just bought it and am still learning. It sat for 3 years. It is a 24 footer, with a 4 foot front deck. It is a 1978 Floteboat. As far as the top deck goes, Maybe I will pass. I have to travel everytime I put it in.

 

[rrhodes]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

It is possible that the plugs leaked but it could be small holes around the welds. Being a 78 the tubes are smaller diameter and I doubt the upper deck would be very stable. You will need to get the water out of the logs and then pressure test. Please read the warning about pressure testing on this forum. No more than 3 PSI I believe.

 

[5150abf]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

If a carpenter is building the top deck that indicated wood which would be really heavy and as was pointed out it makes the boat top heavy as well so wakes wil be twice as bad, lots of rocking and if you do have 23 or smaller tubes it will really affect your load capacity since you will need to subtract the weight of the top from you max load.

Depends how much water is on the tubes, if it sounds like alot you will need to find a welder and drill the tubes at the bottom back of each section and drain them, have him fill the hole than air check the entire boat, my geuss woudl be a small crack in a bracket, probably at the very front or rear of the tubes.

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

Hey everyone! I just bought my first pontoon and I love it. It is an oldie but a goodie! Ok, Here are a couple of questions...
1. I want to build a sundeck on top, but I trailer my boat to put her in the water, does anyone know what the max height I can go to is? I have a carpenter doing it, but not sure of max height
Max height on trailer should be about 13 feet.
2. CAN I trailer my boat with the top on it with out tearing anything up?
Yes assuming it is constructed properly. The challenge is constructing a safe sundeck while minimizing the weight. I seriously doubt if you can meet that challenge with most 'oldies'.
3. I have a little water in the toons. Is this normal or should I worry?
No, it is not normal and yes you should worry.
I am sure I will have more questions later, but I think this is a good start! LOL
Thanks
Carrie

Good luck

 

[lncoop]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

Welcome aboard carrie. Add your location to your profile at your leisure. Sometimes it impacts our answers. I think you're wise to forego the upper deck if you plan to trailer. I'm sure you'll find plenty of other uses for those funds. Go ahead and take your boat to a competent aluminum welder to have your toons pressure tested and repaired. You'll thank yourself every time you hit the water, and the cost will likely be less than you expect. Your local boat dealer should be able to help you find a good weld shop if you don't already know of one. Keep the questions coming and we'll help however we can. We iboaters are generally a friendly bunch. Good luck with your barge.

 

[carrie777]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

Thanks for the help everyone! I am looking for a welder in my area now. I am re-doing the carpeting on the boat come fall, and am TRYING to strip the paint now. I am impressed with the pontoon boat, even though it is old. My dad has always thought they were very unstable as far as choppy in the water goes, but I took it out last week and it was great! We went through a few wakes, but facing them it is not bad at all! I can not wait to get him out on it!

 

[lncoop]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

Yes, they're very stable. That's one reason families like them so much. They can rock side to side when sideways in a wake, but any boat can. Familiarize yourself with these folks as you gather materials. http://pontoonstuff.com/ They have good products and are very helpful.

 

[Nightfisher-]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

Carrie saw me offering my 1976 Blazer dual console with a transom needing repair for sale on a local catfishing forum and contacted me proposing a trade for her battered old toon. Traded Carrie for this boat a little over a year ago and have since pretty much completely rebuilt it as a fishing boat. Had to do it on a budget so most things I had to do got done "dirt cheap" whenever possible so that's where the name came from. It's an AC/DC song for those not familiar with it. Anyways, here is a pic of the boat as I traded for it, and as it is now...

Before...
View attachment 153392

Current photo...
View attachment 153393

The deck was in decent shape so my biggest investment in this boat so far was the bimini top, which was not dirt cheap. lol. Everything else was done bit by bit and as inexpensively as I could. I rattle canned the outside, spray can bedlined the inside walls, recarpeted the deck, rebuilt the console, added rod holders, rewired the entire boat and have replaced 90% of the lights with LED, including the addition of LED bimini lights and LED docking lights. Had a most generous member of the catfishing forum I mentioned come by and check over the motor for me and fix a couple of things I couldn't figure out. It has taken me over a year to get this far. The only addition I am looking to make now is two 4-5ft couches for each side of the bow with storage below so that I can eliminate the storage tote I am now using.

 

[Brads Cat'N Around]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

Looks good. The rod holders pvc? What did you use for the rod holders on the back?
Inexpensive is for me.
On the water is a wonderful thing, isn't it.

Enjoy mate.

 

[Nightfisher-]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

The rod holders that the upright rods are in are PVC, but they are only used to keep rods stored off the deck. All my rod holders for fishing are Driftmaster Flatliner rod holders. There are 4 on the bow, two on each side of PVC storage tubes, and 8 across the stern, 6 mounted to an 8ft length of 2" angle iron and one on the rail on each side of the stern. I have photos of my rebuild into a fishing barge here... https://sites.google.com/site/catfishingonthejames/dirty-deeds

 

[Brads Cat'N Around]

Re: New Pontoon owner with questions

Very nice upgrades. Thanks, you have given me some really good ideas for the future on mine.
Catfishin is good/Catcatchin even better