Pontoon vs tritoon ride height?

robbor2

Cadet
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Messages
15
For thosr that have added a thrird pontoon, how does your ride hight change just sitting and at say 5mph?
 

ahicks

Captain
Joined
Sep 16, 2013
Messages
3,957
There's a big variable called weight. Without that there's no answer that's going to do you much good.

To illustrate, if you have a pair of old, say 18"- 20", pontoons that are mostly submerged when just sitting there, and you add a 25" or 28" pontoon between them, clearly the boat will float higher.

On a very lightly loaded newer pontoon with a pair of 25" pontoons, that boat is going to be mostly out of the water already. Adding a 3rd 'toon isn't going to have near the same effect....

As far as speed, without more power, that 3rd toon is going to create more drag. Unless we're talking a lot more power, and a 3rd toon with lifting surfaces, I doubt your boat is going to go any faster.
 

captmello

Captain
Joined
Jun 30, 2008
Messages
3,829
I added an 18' center tube, 23"diam which matched my existing 24' tubes. at rest, the front sits 3-4 inches higher, the rear sits the same as before. I've been pleased with the results.
 

robbor2

Cadet
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Messages
15
Ok . Just wondering about real world experiences. I have not been able to get my pontoon In the water as it is 6 hours away in storage and I want to remove and repaint the antifouling.
It's 18' x 10' wide with 25" pontoons. Anxious to get her going and see what's what.
 

robbor2

Cadet
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Messages
15
And she's a lowrider, it's customized and the dec almost lays directly on the p9ntoons. It doesn't have 4" tall brackets on the pontoons like most do
 
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