Are my toons too small? I need a game plan.

I can't quite figure why this vessel has been so stern heavy with just a 60hp Johnson. There is something heavy back there, and it isn't the motor. Is that the normal posture of this type of pontoon boat ? You'd swear there was much more engine weight causing it. I think I'd do a thorough audit of what the weight of the thing is, and what it consists of

 

You can see the water line, the water was 6" from the top of the toon in the back of the boat. Had 500lb just in batteries, cooler/ice and tackle and once you add anchors, cot, charcoal, grill, tent, chairs, tools, food, drinks, crab trap and my 230 lb *** it around 1300 lbs. I could have put more weight up front so it really should have been 8" at the back and 10" up front. Still pretty low considering the max weight sticker say 8 persons or 1200 lb and that was with the original 400 lbs of furniture on board which I removed so I'm actually 300 lb under the max weight?

 

I wondered that my self when I bought the boat but since it was in the water at the marina I figure there couldn't be a leak? The lime green line in the photo above was the water line with stock furniture, 60 hp motor, 1 battery and 6 gallon tank when I bought the boat. I wonder if I should unscrew the top plugs and check for water in the toons?

The red line was from this weekend and I had to much stuff in the back of the boat.

 

Definitely check there isn't water in there

 

I remember I had a boat years ago that I discovered had a pocket where water could gather out of sight, and there was plenty in there, that was obviously a design problem and there was no drain plug.

 

In the early morning or say 2am, walk out and see if there is any condensation on the bottom on a nite when the dewpoint is made. The water in the toon will be warm, air cold, droplets will form on the area where warm water resides, no need to open anything if no condensation..

 

When, or if, you shop for a different boat, consider square or rectangular toons. There are not many of them out there but they have clear superiority when compared with similar sized round toons. For starters the square ones will have a specific and constant buoyancy per inch of immersion for any level of immersion. The rounds one do not have that advantage. As mentioned before, when the round toon is immersed more than halfway, the flotation diminishes exponentially with each additional inch of immersion. Not only that but, arguably, the square toon will be faster for a given application of horsepower.

I will posit that square toons are safer than round ones, especially in rough water. Square ones may be more noisy and they may cost more than equal sized round ones. That is because they will need more material, for a given size, than round ones. Those are the disadvantages. One more disadvantage, if it matters, is that the square toon boat will be the subject of derision among the viewers who have less information about geometry. You can get back at 'em when your 60 HP boat easily outruns their 60 HP round toon boat. OK one more disadvantage, although worth consideration. The square toon may use more fuel at very low speeds than the round ones. Not a significant factor unless you spend hours at very low trolling speeds. One last thing..........In a lumpy sea, the square toon boat will have a quicker roll period than the round ones.

 

Maybe it’s the top that’s causing it to squat in the rear.

Most of the Pontoon boats I’ve seen typically use a lightweight fabric bimini top.

Does it look like it was custom made? It looks nicely fabricated, but unconventional.

If you are hell bent on keeping the boat I would work on reducing weight as others have suggested, but would start by replacing the wood deck (don’t see any finish, is it perhaps water logged?) with either aluminum or a fiberglass board like ThermoLite. What thickness is it? From the photos it looks like the aluminum support frame is substantial. Perhaps someone already replaced the floors and used thicker material than needed, or maybe you could get away with thinner material? Either way using aluminum or ThermoLite would reduce overall weight and provide a deck that doesn’t absorb water.

How many batteries? LifePo4 not only gives you a reduction in weight over FLA, but also provides more usable capacity, so you can have a lighter bank that actually provides more Ah.

Also I think by removing the furniture, you may have further thrown the balance off, so I would definitely play with weight distribution next time you get it on the water to see if you can better level it out.

Once you get that motor working, you’ll want it to do the best job it can. Too deep can hurt performance and fuel economy and slow the boat, so getting the boat leveled out and closer to sitting on its waterline will also help your motor.

If none of that is possible, I guess you could always fill the pontoons with helium!?

 

I am going to replace the flooring I haven't considered anything other than marine plywood. Have you found a good source on the internet for aluminum or ThermoLite panels so I can check out the availability and cost?

 

You could perhaps consider extruded aluminium decking, but I am sure that the cost would be much greater than simply using marine plywood.

https://www.easternmetal.com/pdfs/aluminum-dock-gangway-decking-systems.pdf

The link above mentions Endeck PVC decking - here is a link -
https://www.endeck.com/

 

When you’re talking about material that large it’s best to try to source and price it locally.

On the ThermoLite, I would contact Space Age materials and see if they have a dealer near you. Here in the islands, a number of custom boat builders are using it to build everything up from the hull. It comes in different densities and finishes. The 4x8x1/2 sheets I purchased last year were about $200/sheet and weigh half the equivalent in marine ply if I remember correctly. Yes, it is pretty expensive (although wood has jumped up since then), but it does not rot and should not need replacing again.

On aluminum options, I would contact local metal supplier. Usually whatever is popular is cheapest and easiest to source. Diamond plate was really popular for a while for example.

I’ll add that my first choice would be something like ThermoLite over aluminum. It can be finished with an epoxy or bedlined, and would add some sound and vibration dampening over aluminum.