Replacement Toon Length

[mayorjones]

All - I have a buddy with an old pontoon that had a trailer mishap and the toons got damaged. The damaged toons which he now wants to replace are 24' long, 18" diameter. He's found a set of toons locally that are 22' long and 25" diameter. What do you think? Would the extra diameter compensate for the shorter length? If so, my guess is he'd want to install them full to the front and leave the short end in the back or should he split the difference and lose a foot both in front and back? Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[HotTommy]

The replacement toons are 8% shorter but 39% larger in diameter, so they should provide more than enough flotation. Being shorter, the boat will behave more like a seesaw if he keeps the same size deck. As the motor and fuel tank put more weight on the back, I'd want more of the flotation toward the back if it were my boat. I'd be more likely to put the back of the new logs in the same place as the old ones and cantilever the front end with some additiional support beams. If that posed some unexpected problems, I might move the logs a few inches forward, or perhaps shorten the front deck a little. All this is just opinion.

 

[wahlejim]

I would personally keep looking for the proper length. Although the toons would support the weight, the distribution would be off.

Without knowing more about the boat itself, I will speak in general here, correct me if I am wrong for this model. The bulk of the weight is at the stern of the boat. Batteries, fuel tanks, and of course the giant hunk of metal that propels the boat. Moving full forward will cause the stern to drop significantly, maybe dangerously low.

Mounting fully to the stern would expose the deck to waves and such, not ideal.

The mounting of the outboard (assuming it is an outboard, if it is a i/o boat don't even attempt this), would have to be changed. The boat would be riding 7" higher. That would not work with your existing setup.

Of course you can try to split the difference and balance the boat at just the right point so the prop is sitting in the water correctly and the bow is lifted somewhat out of the waves, but loading and balancing the boat with passengers constantly would be a never ending struggle.

If he trailers the boat, have to take into account modifying the trailer as well if it is a bunk trailer. Where is the winch post located and will the boat load properly?

That is a lot of modification just because he found a good deal on local toons for something that he might be able to balance out.

 

[wahlejim]

Is there any reason he didn't file an insurance claim? The incident may be covered. If he was towing it during the incident, it might even be covered under the auto policy. Even better if he has boat and auto with the same company.

 

[ahicks]

Most auto policies, with no optional rider for the trailer, do offer some coverage, but it's not a lot. 500-1000 would be my experience.

If you're getting any kind of a deal on 22'x25" toons, I would try and make it work.

Many of those older 'toons had a long deck in front, that is generally under utilized. If that was 4-5' long, I wouldn't be at all shy about shortening that 2-3' as part of a project like this.

Look at the more modern boats. Not many running around with a big forward deck any more, ladders are now mounted in the rear, and most are running 25" toons.

Bottom line, I would shorten the front deck as necessary, then center the rest over the new 'toons.

 

[Cat nip]

I did the opposite of this and went from 20' long and 21" diameter to 22' and 25" diameter. I ended up losing 1' off my front deck because of bracket placement on the new tubes. But because the old boats had the engine between the tubes and the newer ones don't i added some extra crossmembers out back ended up with a new full 6' of usable deck in back.

 

[ahicks]

Yup, I did something similar when going from a 40 horse to a Honda 90 4 stroke. I was concerned about the extra weight on my 24" tubes. I was doing a total deck/carpet/furniture refurb, which gave me a clean slate to work with. I moved the fencing forward 2', which cleared my rear deck, allowing for a rear ladder set up seen on many of the late model boats. It balanced well with the new 4 stroke as well!