Another question for 5150abf...

[DMAN1968]

I'm sorry to single you out but your background seems to make you the resident expert on design questions.

I've been playing in my head with the idea of building a center toon for my 1987 24 foot Lowes pontoon. It has smaller U shaped toons and finding one like them to put on is tough to do to say the least. If I could build one say 24 inches wide (the ones on it are only 20 or so) and the same height as the other two, what do you think the effect would be on the ride if the bottom were flat? Basically a jonboat/skiff shaped center tube.

My thought was to enclose and incorporate the existing motor pod, this should actually make the motor mount/transom area stronger. This would also give me a flat planing surface for about 16 feet of the rear of the tube.

The added buoyancy is a given with something like this but would this give cleaner water flow to the prop? Seems like it should. The current designs of round/U shaped toons seems like such a poor choice for the water.

Long question short...would it work? What do you think?

Thanks.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Another question for 5150abf...

Feel free to PM me if you have a question.

The short answer is it could, it depends how you do it and if you have the wallet and engineering skill to pull this off, last I saw a single sheet of aluminum 8'x6' was @$ 156,if you can find it and that is flat.

It is just ALOT of engineering, you have to build your center tube then figure out how you are going to attach it to the boat, with your jon boat idea you will need to have some sort of internal bracing to make it solid, essentially you would need to build a jon boat then attach it to your existing transom and then attach all that to your boat, it just seems likean awfully long road to find out if it will work.

At work if we want to try somthing out we have the budget, tools, material and people to do things like this, for a guy to try it in his garage is pretty ambitious.

If you decide to actually go through with it feel free to ask my opinion but I woudl get a very detailed drawing forst and cost materials BEFORE you start, you know my mantra, if you can't draw it on paper you probably won't be able to build it either.

 

[DMAN1968]

Re: Another question for 5150abf...

I appreciate the input. There is a small company around here that advertises pontoon building...I may call and check with them for a price. I can't weld at all so making it out of aluminum is not gonna be done by me.

I have been building a 18 foot plywood on frame mahogany runabout. Dual cockpit with mahogany planking on the sides and top. Seems to me that after building that, a plywood on frame pontoon of sufficient strength would not be bad at all. I would have already started the tube but need to finish the boat first.

Again, thanks for your thoughts on this.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Another question for 5150abf...

Thats kinda funny, I can build almost anything out of aluminum but can't work wood worth a darn, go figure.

 

[imported_John o]

Re: Another question for 5150abf...

Seems to me that after building that, a plywood on frame pontoon of sufficient strength would not be bad at all. I would have already started the tube but need to finish the boat first.

look here -> http://www.pontoon.net/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=90&threadid=19516&enterthread=y

He just launched his all wood pontoon.

 

[ozarkglen]

Re: Another question for 5150abf...

Today could be your lucky day!! I happen to have to a 24' U shaped tube that I would sell. The tube is 19.5" wide and 24" deep. If your interested you can PM me for more details.