Got pontoon in deal with lake house

[paul02085]

Hi everyone. I am a newbie so please be gentle .

My wife and i bought a lake house (more like a cabin ) at Lay Lake in Alabama. The seller asked if we wanted to buy his pontoon boat for $4k. It is a Suncruiser Trinidad 240 with a 115 Evinrude. We said ok. Today the rookie took it out for a test drive with my wife and the real estate guy. The boat apparently hasnt been used this year as there were spiderwebs on the motor and other parts of the boat. It needs to be cleaned up good but the carpet looked good and the seats were clean but had been taped in a couple of places where the seams apparently are coming loose.

Anyway after taking out the totally dead cranking battery the motor cranked up right away. It sounded smooth and quiet. We went out and after a couple of minutes opened it up. It topped out at 27mph and 6k rpm. After a few minutes we noticed wet spots on the carpet about in the middle of the boat so there is a leak obviously.

My questions are:
1. Does 27mph and 6krpm seem right for this size boat with 3 adults on it?
2. The real estate guy said the water was coming up from under the boat and leaking between the plywood sheets making up the deck. He said it should just need to be caulked. Does this sound right?

I intend to have a good trolling motor installed and will put it on the trailer to take it to the installer. While doing this i am going to ask him to check the plywood and make sure it is ok and if so caulk the joints.

I am thinking i should just have him kind of do a thorough check of everything while he has it since i dont plan to take it out of the water till winter.

As i said i am a total rookie so i was hoping to get suggestions as to whether this sounds like the right way to go from the start.

Thanks in advance and i can tell i am going to love this forum

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

Yes on all questions... Grab it before others do....

 

[Todd28]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

Hey Paul, I am a newbie as well so dont have much advice for you. just wanted to say congrats to you guys on your new purchase and welcome to the forum!
I think you are correct about the joints being the issue but should probably take a good look at the underside of the deck to confirm. There is supposed to be sealant put down on the crossmembers (usually either caulking or a type of cork tape) when the floor was installed to prevent this from happening. I would assume that it was either not done or has broke the "seal". I wonder if you could caulk both sides of the crossmember to stop the water as opposed to having to pull up the floor? just a thought but i would NOT take my advice do to lack of experience! Im certain you will get some responses from some guys with the right way to handle this. well have fun with your new toy!

 

[Jeep Man]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

Send us a photo. From what you described it sounds like a great deal. Water intrusion through the seams is not uncommon. You can seal them from the underside OR, even better, skin the underside, by covering the bottom with aluminum sheets. This will make the craft quieter, faster, and drier.

 

[bigdee]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

Congrats and welcome. The water showing at the seams is nothing to worry about....if it bothers you, you can wait till the water warms up and swim under the deck with a caulking gun. The deck is going get wet anyway from rain and play.

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

+1 on skinning the underside, you may even get 1mph out of it. Speed sounds right and I have seen the decks get wet on new boats before.

 

[captmello]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

+1 on skinning the underside, you may even get 1mph out of it. Speed sounds right and I have seen the decks get wet on new boats before.

Why More speed with the skin???

 

[Cubbyblue22]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

Definately sounds like a great deal. Does the boat come with a trailer as well??? Also the leak isn't too much of a problem. It sounds like your not wanting to take up all the furniture and flooring just to put in deck sealant so I think using the caulk idea would be best for you. Make sure you do it soon though and not procrastinate. Over time that wood will rot quickly and it will be a mess with that carpet. If you do happen to want to pull everything up Pontoonstuff.com sells Deck sealant for real cheap and it's good stuff.

http://www.pontoonstuff.com/pontoon-boat/94-pontoon-deck-sealant-pontoon-accessories.asp

Have fun with your new cabin!

 

[Water logged]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

Why More speed with the skin???

It reduces the drag of water off the tunes hitting the crossmembers.

Glenn

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

It reduces the drag of water off the tunes hitting the crossmembers.

Glenn

^This^

 

[captmello]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

It reduces the drag of water off the tunes hitting the crossmembers.

Glenn

Ya, that makes sense. 1 mph. doesn't seem worth it.

 

[jafo9]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

we purchased our 1st pontoon with our house up at smith lake. it is an easy way to get on the water since you already have so much on your plate with your new house. we sold ours about 1 year later and bought a different pontoon. having the original toon was great, since it allowed us to play with it for a year and really learn what we wanted in a boat. i was then able to take my time and find exactly what i wanted.

 

[paul02085]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

Guys, thanks so much for all of the information. I really appreciate it. Here is a not so good picture of the boat. http://www.bhammls.net/BAARReports/...994808&report=public_full_prop1_con&regional=

Cubbyblue 22, Yes it does have a trailer. When we go over to close i will put it on the trailer and get that leak fixed and have the guy check it out good. We live in Atlanta and this cabin/house will be our retirement home. I am 57 and want to get out of Atlanta SOOOO BAD but as long as they keep paying me i have to stay here till retirement. We are from Birmingham originally so we got this place so we could end up back home where we started. It is out in the country and full of good ole boys which is really what i am deep down. I just had forgotten that from being in Atlanta for 40 yrs. . The cabin is going to be a project. It was a little block house when built back in the 50's and still has some of the original plumbing (cast iron pipe, LOL) so am going to redo the plumbing and upgrade the electrical (still uses the old round fuses, LOL). This is a picture of the cabin http://www.bhammls.net/BAARReports/...002658&report=public_full_prop1_con&regional=.

Anyway thanks so much for the warm welcome. You are a nice bunch of guys .

 

[captmello]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

Double deck! sweet!

Great looking retirement place. Your boat slip is great and looks very user friendly.

Good Luck with it.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Got pontoon in deal with lake house

Your place looks great, and the boathouse is also nice.

I spent too many years in Atlanta/Lawrenceville, and moved to the Tennessee River 8 years ago. We kept our RV in Helen, and still spend some weekends in the No. GA mountains. What got us was the urban sprawl, and it took me 2 hours to cross town when leaving town for work.

Now, you'll be getting antsy every Friday afternoon when you anticipate hitting the road west for your 160 mile trip "home".

Oh by the way: Your pontoon will do a good job. I do suggest you change the impeller and lower unit oil immediately. You can use silicone caulk and aluminum flashing on your plywood joints--put in with 1/2 or 3/4" screws.