Overloaded or not?

[TomB985]

Hi everyone,

On the lake today I saw this from our local boat tour company. I'm far from a pontoon expert, but does this look overloaded to you?





The entire back half of the pontoon was submerged on the left side. :facepalm:

 

[agallant80]

Re: Overloaded or not?

Ha, I have seen that on the local lake tour boat before too.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Overloaded or not?

Probably wouldn't want everyone to move to one side of the boat at the same time...."Oh, look at the pretty duck".....

 

[spdracr39]

Re: Overloaded or not?

I would forward those pictures to the local lake patrol and let them deal with it. Looks very dangerous to me.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Overloaded or not?

could be water in the pontoons too

 

[agallant80]

Re: Overloaded or not?

Its such a depressing thought, the idea of crowding on a rentall boat to see nice things out on the lake and be at the mercy of a tour company.

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Overloaded or not?

Weight watchers tour, second place!!

 

[rallyart]

Re: Overloaded or not?

That looks dangerously overloaded to me. As a commercial operator he has different rules that apply to him but I expect he has not read them. As a private boat, it is long enough that it would not be rated for weight or people.

 

[AChotrod]

Re: Overloaded or not?

They have party boat on my chain but never saw one that low in the water. Does not look safe to me.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Overloaded or not?

He should of put all the fat people up front. You must be this weight to ride this ride! lol Wonder how many pfd's they have on board :/

 

[southkogs]

Re: Overloaded or not?

The lake I grew up on has another lake connected to it via a small channel that's got a dam. To go into the other lake (no houses, docks or ramps) you took your boat to the dam and rolled it over a teeter type roller-way.

One day on that other lake along comes an ole' Crest Pontoon with the entire clan on board. No kiddin' she had less of her toon's stickin' up outta' the water than the one in the pictures. That bunch had lumbered that barge to the dam, all of 'em got out, picked that boat up and forded the area on land, got back in and kept on going. I'm not condoning it ... but it was certainly industrious of 'em.

Tour boat is a different story, I realize. A rollover there would be tragic for sure.

 

[TomB985]

Re: Overloaded or not?

Thanks everyone. I zoomed in on the pic, found the operator online, and sent them an email linking them to the pics. Part of me thinks I should send the marine patrol, but we'll see what they say first.

 

[sasto]

Re: Overloaded or not?

Only a guess. I would have no problem with this situation. I can only assume the captain has sufficient PFD's onboard. Personally, this doesn't scare me. Sending the pic to the operator is a good idea. Going to see the boat yourself is another good one. Calling the authorities at this time maybe jumping the gun. If I called them every time I saw a dangerous situation around here, I wouldn't enjoy my day. I appreciate your concerns, Tom.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Overloaded or not?

Where are the life jackets for that many people?

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Overloaded or not?

Where are the life jackets for that many people?

not saying it is right, but each person has a chair... very likely there is a life jacket under each chair. Again, not saying it is right, but that boat is well above 26 ft long (aka, no capacity plate), and presumably the operator has a commercial license.

 

[pikefisherman]

Re: Overloaded or not?

I would like too see that many people put on life jackets in a panic situation. Most of the women would be grabbing their purse and the men their beer.

 

[Pony]

Re: Overloaded or not?

not saying it is right, but each person has a chair... very likely there is a life jacket under each chair. Again, not saying it is right, but that boat is well above 26 ft long (aka, no capacity plate), and presumably the operator has a commercial license.

I have been out on some boat tours.....some on the Wisconsin River, some on Lake Michigan. Everyone has a metal folding chair.....the life vests are all stored in a giant holding area. If you have ever gone on one of these types of tours, you know they take detailed counts of the number of people they load on......I would guess they have more than enough life vests for what they knowingly take. It does look low....maybe there is a problem with the boat and not the # of people

 

[TomB985]

Re: Overloaded or not?

I got a nice reply from them yesterday:

Hi Tom:

Thank you so much for taking the time to send us the photo and I agree the boat does look lower in the water than it normally does with a full load of people. We have recently lowered our passenger capacity numbers on our cruises based on the new 2012 coast guard “assumed average weight per person” standard of 185 as compared to the weight the boat is certified to handle. It looks to me as if they had some heavier folks on there that day, it always rides a little low in the rear but you usually can see the top of the pontoon so I see what you mean. I have a boat on Squam as well and I see the tour boats all the time in motion and I have never seen what you witnessed. We revisit this issue yearly so your photo will be a great help in planning for next year and I think it may be time to back off the numbers even more. I even went down to the dock this morning to look at the boat empty to make sure that she was not listing due to a breached pontoon which might have water in it, that has been confirmed to not be the case.

Our lake cruise season ends this week and this is perfect timing to get this information as we plan for the next season so thanks again for your time Tom.

Please let me know if you have any further questions, have a great winter!

It's great to see them take this kind of thing seriously.

 

[rallyart]

Re: Overloaded or not?

Boy, you feel good about the company after that letter from them.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Overloaded or not?

I got to thinking ... some of the being low in the stern may be from trimming the engine up while underway to prevent the bow from diving... it might just level out at rest