One of my toons has a leak

[smfeight]

Can a 28 ft pontoon boat still float if one of the tube loses it pressurize

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

Depends on weather its taking in water plus it depends on weather or not the toon is chambered,foam filled . One side with still float.

 

[rogerwa]

Toons are not pressurized. In fact many have vents on the top of the chambers. Where is the leak? Above or below the waterline?

 

[Jeep Man]

Square toons are foam filled for flotation. Developing a leak creates a bigger problem, namely saturated foam. Round toons are air filled and most, but not all, have 3 or 4 watertight sections to prevent sinking. Either way, it needs your immediate attention. Setting the boat back on the trailer and noting where the water is coming back out will be your starting point.

 

[gm280]

If you know there is water in one of the toons and, while on the trailer, it won't leak out. Then you need to drill a hole in the top to allow air in as the water seeps out. Without the air inlet hole in the top, it creates a vacuum and the water will never come out. Once you do get the water out, reseal the hole in the bottom to keep further water intrusion...

 

[lmuss53]

I have had 3 pontoons. all of them with round tubes. all of them were vented on the top in several places and chambered.

The second one was a Tracker and it developed leaks at the top and rear of the tubes where it was welded to the M bracket. This is the most common place for a leak so look there first. The chambers in my boats were not individually airtight, they all had a small gap at the bottom of the partition to allow any water to drain to the back of ther tube where they had drain plugs to allow it to be drained.

I have opened up and shortened a 22 foot tube to make a center tube and it is built just as I describe above.

I drained the water from the back of my boat every trip for a summer before I let the boat go back to the dealer for repairs. My friend who bought the same boat the same year had the same issues the following year with the same repairs done by the dealer.

There are methods to pressurize the tubes to test for where the leaks are but you must be very careful to not put more than a few pounds of air in a pontoon tube or it will pop open, possibly hurting something or someone..

Most good welding shops are familiar with this problem and can repair your boat.

If you have foam filled logs you have a completely different problem and I have not seen many good results getting those log back up to snuff.

To answer your question, if you have a small leak like mine or my friend's you will probably not notice that you have it on a day trip, We both just used our boats and drained them like a jon boat at the end of the day until we got them in for repairs. If you have a big leak it will show in the boat listing and eventually going very low in the water.

If you don't trailer your boat you will have to get it out of the water and get it repaired pretty quickly. I have heard of people cutting a window high at the rear of the tube and putting in a bilge pump.

 

[rogerwa]

Imus53 is right on.. My last pontoon had a crack in the rear bracket at the top and water would enter as it splashed over the flexing crack.

If you have water in one of the pontoons, be careful when trailering it as all the water will flow to the rear and could cause a lot of stress on the rear brackets or even tilt the trailer due to the uneven weight. This all depends obviously on how much, but something to be aware of..

 

[Bamaman1]

U shaped toons are the ones with floatation, and they'll still float. It's of the utmost importance that you get that boat out of the water and on a trailer.

You can use a vacuum cleaner blowing in reverse to find a leak with soapy water. Most leaks are on seams, and easily found and TIG welded. My pontoon has a drain plug on the back end for draining.

You'll first need to find any leaks before deciding how to handle it. Holes can be drilled out and filled in with a small weld. Holes can also be drilled to drain the toon and welded up when it's dry.