Pontoon motor position

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by Catfish Howard, Nov 14, 2021.

  1. Catfish Howard
    Joined: Nov 2021
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    Location: Panama City FL

    Catfish Howard Junior Member

    I'm looking to buy a pontoon and I need one that will hold a lot of weight and I've seen some where the motor is farther back from the pontoons where as most I've seen the motor is center of the toons. Is there any advantage or disadvantage of having the motor behind the pontoons? It looks like to me it would be heavier in the back? I've also noticed some center consoles like this to? The picture on the left the motor is 2' behind the pontoons where the boat on the right the motor is center of the toons.
    a.jpg
     
  2. kapnD
    Joined: Jan 2003
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    Location: hawaii, usa

    kapnD Senior Member

    If you want to carry a lot of weight, and need a big motor, you might want to look at “Tritoons “.
    You don’t want to push the buoyancy envelope with cylindrical hulls. Immersion past center results in diminishing returns!
     
  3. bajansailor
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Barbados

    bajansailor Marine Surveyor

    So you have come full circle back to a centre pontoon again, following on from your last thread.
    Are my toons too small? I need a game plan. https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/are-my-toons-too-small-i-need-a-game-plan.66267/

    If you convert the boat above into a trimaran, it is going to be all pontoons, without much space between them at all.
    And the wave making resistance / interference effects could then become rather interesting.
    It might be cheaper / easier in the long run to get this boat prettied up nicely, and sell her to somebody who appreciates her for what she is.
    Rather than doing a lot of conversion work on her.
    And once you sell her, then look for a boat that has more buoyancy and which is better able to carry all of the gear that you need on your expeditions.
     
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  4. Catfish Howard
    Joined: Nov 2021
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    Location: Panama City FL

    Catfish Howard Junior Member

    I am looking to buy a boat that's why I'm questioning why this one I'm looking at has a motor that is position ed behind the pontoons. I've never seen this before and before I waste time going to look at it I wanted to see what the pro is why would they build it like that is it just to give extra floor room on the deck. The boat has 25-in tunes which I need but I didn't know if the position of the motor would make it rear heavy or not?
     
  5. bajansailor
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Barbados

    bajansailor Marine Surveyor

    My apologies, sorry, I thought you were wanting to buy an extra pontoon for your current vessel.
    But you are instead thinking about buying the pontoon boat in the left photo above?

    Are there any signs of a waterline mark on the hull to show where it was floating with the engine that far back?
    You certainly would get a fair bit of extra deck space by having the motor on a bracket as shown, rather than between the hulls as shown in the photo on the right.
     
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  6. SolGato
    Joined: May 2019
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    Location: Kauai

    SolGato Senior Member

    Could be as simple as maximizing deck space while still allowing full tilt of motor out of water.

    There are advantages to setting say an outboard motor up back off the transom of a monohull, but I don’t think that applies as much here. Those advantages being cleaner water with less turbulence, and the ability to raise the motor up for less drag. But that’s stuff you usually see on performance boats. Think small fast boats with huge outboards. More bow lift might also be an advantage which I could see maybe helping on a pontoon boat full of people up front.
     
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  7. Catfish Howard
    Joined: Nov 2021
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    Location: Panama City FL

    Catfish Howard Junior Member

    No problem, I was thinking about buying that one and I've seen a couple other ones that I've passed on just didn't know if that is a good design or not. Can't really tell about the water line but it's only 21 ft and it has 25 inch toons so I'm sure it would be fine for what I need it for(until I seen the motor position). I was just worried about only a 40 horsepower on it, if I did upgrade to a larger motor would that design cause the rear end to sink more than if I buy another one similar to the picture on the right with 25-in toons? I would hate to go through all this process and have the same dilemma on another boat because of the motor position.
     
  8. BlueBell
    Joined: May 2017
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    Location: Victoria BC Canada

    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

    I would rather see you in the right-hand photo motor position,
    but if it's in questionable condition then the other one would be better.
    Don't let the position sway your decision on which boat you buy.

    Are you trailering this?
     
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  9. Catfish Howard
    Joined: Nov 2021
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    Location: Panama City FL

    Catfish Howard Junior Member

    I'll have an hour drive to get to the ocean. That brings up another question 80% of these pontoons I see have really short fat tires and no fenders are those safe to travel on the highway?
     
  10. bajansailor
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    bajansailor Marine Surveyor

    You have me totally baffled here (and probably everybody else as well) - can you explain this a bit more please?
    Are you talking about the trailers for the pontoon boats?
     
  11. BlueBell
    Joined: May 2017
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    Location: Victoria BC Canada

    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

    Bajansailor,
    This may be a terminology thing.
    In Florida, I suspect they call pontoon boats, "pontoons".

    CH,
    Trailering can be hell on motor mounts.
    Either remove the motor of cross-tie it so it doesn't bounce around and break.
     
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  12. srimes
    Joined: Sep 2008
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    Location: Oregon

    srimes Senior Member

    It's all about maximizing living space for a given nameplate length. My preference is for the one on the right at 23' vs the one on the left at 21'. And it should be a little better in rougher water too. But it's a pontoon so it shouldn't really be in rough water in the first place so it won't really matter in typical use.
     
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  13. Catfish Howard
    Joined: Nov 2021
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    Location: Panama City FL

    Catfish Howard Junior Member

    Here's a photo of most of the tires I've seen on the trailers, they are shorter than I'm use to?

    tire.jpg
     
  14. srimes
    Joined: Sep 2008
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    Location: Oregon

    srimes Senior Member

    That's just to keep it low. A bigger tire would raise the boat and make it harder to launch and retrieve.
     
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  15. Catfish Howard
    Joined: Nov 2021
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    Location: Panama City FL

    Catfish Howard Junior Member

    Maybe if I buy one of those trailers I have to slow down and not be able to drive 75 (I CANT DRIVE....55!!!!).
     
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