plowing!!

[partyboat21]

got a 2008 signature series party boat 21' can anyone tell me why im plowing my way thru the lake? its especially bad when i come to up to the no wake. ive played with the trim in every position i could.ive distributed the wait (putting bigger adults to the rear of the boat) it gets to the point where water actually comes over the front gate when shutting her down for no wake. its like the boat actually lundges forward then down causing the front to want go under. ill tell ya the first time it happend i almost crapped myself! can anyone help with this??

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: plowing!!

is this a pontoon?

 

[partyboat21]

Re: plowing!!

yes 21' pontoon

 

[BigB9000]

Re: plowing!!

trailer still attached?

...kidding of course

 

[Frankhanhart]

Re: plowing!!

Did you check for water in the pontoons ? Could be a problem if they are built in sections and you have water (and added weight) in a forward section without knowing . Jsut guesiing from here Frank

 

[partyboat21]

Re: plowing!!

boat is brand new i only had it on the water 7 times and it has done it since its 1st voyage.someone said fill them with air?? but ive never heard that b4. yes the toons are chamberd

 

[KLINDWW]

Re: plowing!!

Hopefully they already have air in them.

 

[Always Broke]

Re: plowing!!

Take nothing for granted. New or not there is to much weight in the front, the boat is either over loaded or has water in it.

 

[partyboat21]

Re: plowing!!

21' logs with 4 chambers per log. if i pull the the plastic fittings and air releases then what?and i should only check the front correct?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: plowing!!

Do not fill them with air. Anything more than a couple of PSI and you run the risk of blowing the tube. You very likely have a weight distribution problem. How many folks are on this boat on average? Take a good look at the seating configuration. On many pontoons the sun deck takes up a good portion of the stern area. The main seating on that size boat then ends up being from the center forward so careful load balance is necessary. Lastly, just because you have room to seat a dozen people does not mean the boat is capable of running with that many people. Check the load capacity plate.

 

[partyboat21]

Re: plowing!!

ive noticed with 4 adults its fine. add 2 more and i its noticable. the boat is rated for 13 persons or 1850lbs which ive never had neither, im checking out motor placement on these forums,this vessel has an extended transom(new design) could this have something to do with it??

 

[OldePharte]

Re: plowing!!

It sounds like you need to have everyone sit in the back to assist in getting the nose up.

And yes, if your nose is up and you slow down, the nose will dip down to a more level attitude. I've submarined a 24 footer and it isn't any fun. In my case, we had 4 aboard, 3 were on the hefty side, one driving and two in the front lounges. We had two cruiser wakes meet just in front and the driver had to make a quick decision. Hit the wakes head on a 20 or so mph or slow down and hit them. We slowed down and threw a wave about 4 feet over the bow railing and lounges. Luckily, no damage to the boat.

 

[partyboat21]

Re: plowing!!

yeah water hit us about a foot over the railing and i just about soiled myself and that was with 6 on board. 2 in front 2 in in middle and 2 in the rear,with all the heaviest sitting in the rear.seem like the boat was trying to catapult.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: plowing!!

As others have said, weight distribution is important.

But, looking at pics of that boat, I can see you've got a couple interesting features there. The planing fin that runs on the side of the pontoon chambers is one. I presume it's there to help get on plane and stay there without an excessively huge engine (planing pontoons are a relatively new design).

The fin works like any other fin.. if the front end of it dives into a wave, or for some reason gets pushed underwater at the front of the boat due to weight distribution or the boat naturally settles nose first after planing, it'll keep going straight until buoyancy pushes it back to the surface. So I wonder if you're digging your bow in when stopping.

The fact that it works well with 4 people makes me tend to believe your problems with digging in are weight related... maybe not even in distribution of weight, but maybe in total capacity. Manufacturers are usually generous with capacity plates.. 1850 lbs would be safe, but you won't get anywhere near as good performance as with say 1000 lbs. Plus extra weight adds up. Figure 750 lbs for four adults, 210 lbs of fuel (30 gal tank), and a cooler of beer and you're already over 1000. Six adults with fishing gear, a cooler, and fuel might easily be 1300 or more.

It may be in the case of your pontoon that performance and handling degrades fast when you add passengers, so that it can handle like a planing hull boat with a few, but any more and you have to fall back to being the old style "heavy and slow" pontoon. I was sure surprised when I saw my first pontoon on plane

Erik

 

[Silvertip]

Re: plowing!!

If you trim full down the push of the engine forces the nose downward. On a pontoon you need to have the engine set straight down to slight up trim for virtually all conditions.

 

[mickjetblue]

Re: plowing!!

For what you want to do, a 24' would be much better.

The "wave deflector" fins, running the full length of the tubes, combined with the splash
deflector on the front the tubes, are fine with the boat at level trim. With the heavy load you are
running with, those fins are too close to water level, and when a nose dive from a quick
drop in speed occurs, the front of the tubes dig into the water and work adversely against righting the trim.

Sorry, can't offer a solution, other than running slower, or running with a max of 4.

Still a great boat, just have to adjust to working with the bugs.

 

[grego]

Re: plowing!!

New one on me? a pontoon should give a smooth ride. Is your trim working? Maybe stuck, pitched over forward? Have seller look at it,because pontoons ride pretty flat in water, if water in toons, moving forward would make the nose rise. Dumb question? is the motor shield in place or damaged? never heard of pontoon nosing over with a good weight distribution. When you find out why, let me know. reread post! see if you have water in pontoons.

 

[steelespike]

Re: plowing!!

I wonder if it could be technique?Slowing abruptly as you reach the waves.
We boat with a 18' on the St Lawrence sometimes with 6 people 2 average in the bow pedestal chairs rest in the rear lounge.usually don't slow from 3/4 speed for most waves.Only time we had water over the bow was at no wake speed a large cruiser wake then only about 4 or 5 inches washed over the front getting feet there wet.As disscussed abrupt slowing will cause most boats to settle at the bow for a moment done at the wrong time with a bow weight bias could be a disaster.Our toon does have a stern bias with a wrap around lounge at the stern, center console slightly to the stern 12 gallons of gas,battery and oil tank on the rear deck.Perhaps you need to load more stern biased.Cut the throttle instantly if it does submarine.