Looking for advice

[RoughFishAssassins]

Currently we are running a 1976 Kayot with custom steel pontoons, and talk about heavy. Well I am looking at picking up a 2003 crestliner and refabing it into our next bowfishing rig. My question is, with this next pontoon being 24 feet long, much longer than we need, I am looking at setting the outboard in further from the back of the pontoons, not much only looking like about 24 inches in. Im not looking to break any records for speed or manuevuralbility, but I dont want to do this and find out it was a major problem. We plan on putting our current 1977 115 johnson on for a power source.
We are also possibly looking to strip the plywood decking and replace it with all aluminum flooring for better floor life and ease of cleaning. I have seen this done and want to know if there are any illeffects from doing this. The lighter we can make the toon the shallower it will draft which is an improtant thing in bowfishing.
Any advice or tips will be greatly appreciated!

 

[5150abf]

Re: Looking for advice

Is it a straight deck now or is there a cut out already there?

The only thing I can think of with moving the engine is that it would cavitate or you will get a ton of splash, if you have ever looked under a pontoon at speed it is a mess under there with the 2 wakes colliding.

Unfortuneatley the only way to know if it will work is to do it and see, even the R&D guys at work with all thier experience never know when something will work or not until they try it.

Never done aluminum deck but have heard it is hot and noisy and way more expensive than wood

 

[RoughFishAssassins]

Re: Looking for advice

As of right now the motor does have a little cut out in the rear, but it allows the motor to site flush with the back of the pontoons, I am thinking about just moving the cut out 2 foot further into the deck, thus allowing the pontoons to stick out further that the motor. In a sense of getting more weight off the very rear of the boat. I have seen regular jon boats add "float pods" to the rear of the boat for this reason and am trying to use that same idea. Thanks for your words of thought. I guess if I dont hear anything else against it, I may just have to become R&D and just give it a shot.

 

[Boss Hawg]

Re: Looking for advice

All i can comment on is the motor you plan to use- I have a 1987 110 Johnny on my 1986 20' Bass Tracker & I love it. It'll hit 30mph no sweat, Its a bit heavy but i still have 1/3rd of my toons sitting above water, lot more than most i see on the water. I used plywood + carpet when i rebuilt it, its strong & quite- course the price of the aluminum kept me from even considering useing it :redface:

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Looking for advice

The water is very turbulent between the tubes and I really think moving the motor forward is a huge mistake. Engine pods are moved rearward so the engine can operate in less turbulent water. That also creates the possibility of literally flooding the engine as water makes its way into it. The last cross member will also need to be stronger than any you remove to allow forward movement of the engine. 24 inches leaves a lot of torsional stress back there.

 

[bav/270w]

Re: Looking for advice

If what you want is less draft, add a center log with a transom and move it rearward as far a possible. Idid this with my 20' lowe and it gave me 4-5". It also made it better handling in rough water.

 

[RoughFishAssassins]

Re: Looking for advice

The water is very turbulent between the tubes and I really think moving the motor forward is a huge mistake. Engine pods are moved rearward so the engine can operate in less turbulent water. That also creates the possibility of literally flooding the engine as water makes its way into it. The last cross member will also need to be stronger than any you remove to allow forward movement of the engine. 24 inches leaves a lot of torsional stress back there.

OK, I thought that the engine pods are moved back to allow for more useable floor space, but maybe not. Also, flood the motor? how would this happen? not tring to be difficult or anything, just curious. And I understand some what about the turbulent water, but on my current toon, the water seems worse behing the toons than coming out from between them. and as far as cross members being any stronger, why and how, it would be no different than engine placement on a 22 footer, just that there would be an extra 2 feet of toons behind the motor.
Like I said, just trying to understand everything, we are not looking to make any speed or slolom records, just tring to get better draft.

 

[RoughFishAssassins]

Re: Looking for advice

If what you want is less draft, add a center log with a transom and move it rearward as far a possible. Idid this with my 20' lowe and it gave me 4-5". It also made it better handling in rough water.

A third toon is in the picture, just not on this page yet, we are looking for one ther right size but then we will have to upgrade trailer also and we are not looking to do that much yet, one bill at a time!

 

[RoughFishAssassins]

Re: Looking for advice

No other input from anyone?

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Looking for advice

My question is whether you need a pontoon boat for your intended usage? Wouldn't something like a big, wide jon boat do you better? That's what I see commercial fishermen using on our river.

I have 2 pontoon boats, and I wouldn't even want to use a 24' boat for fishing of any kind. A wind of any kind blows them all over the place.

Anyway it goes, the original configuration would be the best for overall use of your boat.