Will It Float? (shallow draft of a flat bottom, the stability of a pontoon...)

[WesS]

Hey guys-

I want to thank a lot of you for your past help (and future) with my boat building project. I have been blogging it for friends and family and decided to share it with the experts.

Yes, it ain't for looks but function... I think it will float and even plane once completed. It has been a fun project and if anyone has any ideas let me know... just don't be rude on the blog site because my mom is watching.

The address is: www.boatbuild2010.blogspot.com

[messabout]

Good for you Wess. I have looked at your blog and it appears that you have built a boat. I am thoroughly confident that it will float. Yes it will plane with fairly modest power.

O.K. we'll pick on your build....Well not the build but the design. Simple is beautiful but simple has some drawbacks. It appears that the "pontoons" are not sufficiently deep. Never mind, they wont hurt anything if you do not overpower the boat. What you have built is a tunnel hull that will tend to get airborne if you go too fast. If it planes it will pound. It might pound even when not planing. go slow and no harm will be done except for noise. It is likely to be noisy. No harm done in that regard unless it is noisy on the blind.

Why in hell did you use kevlar? Were you expecting the ducks to shoot back?

I dont care whether the boat is perfect or not. It's the dog that I care about. If you love your dog then you are my kind of guy.

Best of luck and be careful out there. Some of those damned ducks may be armed.

[WesS]

The boat is also for flyfishing on freestone rivers my son and I fish. Therefore, Kevlar for the rub areas (thought it might help). Do you think it will be more noisy than a jon boat? How fast would it take to go airborne? I am only using a 8 hp. Damn the ducks!!!

[messabout]

When it becomes airborne is a matter of calculating a whole mess of variables. Not to worry, with 8HP you are in no danger of flying. The only reason I sugest that it will be noisy is that there is a lot of flat boat bottom surface near the water surface. Waves, even small ones will tend to tap away at all that flat surface.

Never mind all that picky stuff, get the boat in the water and enjoy it. Once again I assure you that it will float.

[WesS]

Didn't think I would go airborne- just curious. I know it will float (it has over 1500 lbs of floatation in the pontoons). As for beating me around... outside of rivers it will mainly be in flooded timber and sloughs- can't go to fast in that.