Salt Water Edition????

[brotherkicksave]

Hello. I'm doing some research for a friend that is going to purchase a boat in the next month or so. The boat will be used exclusively in salt water on the gulf coast of Florida.

Having visited several local dealers, there has been discussion about the "Salt Water Edition" and the importance of finding a manufacturer that provides one.

The concern is not the motor, it's not the hulls, but rather the manner in which the boats deck is fastened to the cross-members and each other.

My question is this......Does anyone have any experience with using a fresh water (Standard) boat for an extended period of time with good results or bad results? Deck Failure (rotting, separation, hardware pulling through?)

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Steve

 

[tudunka]

Re: Salt Water Edition????

I have owned 3 pontoons in a range of about 12 yrs. Each purchase was to get a bigger boat and a bigger engine.

As for toons, the 1st toon had been used in saltwater and if they are not prepared and maintained properly, you will have all sorts of issues. As you know salt corrodes just about everything, so whatever is not aluminum, should be stainless steel and even stainless steel with rust if not cleaned. Where the toons sit on the trailer, if the bunker board is not cleaned of, the salt trapped between the bunker and the toon will cause pitting and over time could lead to leakage of the toon. This is why aluminum boats and toons are treated with special corrision fighting painting.

As for decking, my toon (Crest) has a fiber composite decking that does not warp like marine plywood, and I it also has a aluminum underdeck shielding to keep water from entering from under the toon, not saying that it is 100%, but I have yet to have my decking get soaked from the bottom up. Also, the decking is "Bolted" thru, not "Screwed" together, so that may be something else to look for. If you are concerned about the decking, then make sure you have a aluminum shielding underneather the boat - this will help tremendously.

As for my toon, as long as I own it, it will never touch saltwater, thats what I have buddies with saltwater boats.....


Best of Luck.

Andy

 

[5150abf]

Re: Salt Water Edition????

We build salt water boats at Bennington and everything is sealed or solid and anything that touches the water has an anode on it, the chines/foils are sealed and the keel is solid to keep critters from living inside them and all our hardware is stainless on all our boats, the deck would be the least of my worries.

Some companies screw the deck on the boat which in my opinion is not the way to do it, it should be through bolted regardless of what water you run and most companies use marine ply which last for years and years even in salt water.

I think the key to keeping an aluminum hulled boat alive for long periods is rinsing it after you are done.

 

[Todd4]

Re: Salt Water Edition????

Thinking of buying a used Bennington. It's a freshwater boat that I want to 'convert' to saltwatrer. What all is involved to make the change (to make it factory correct' as far as protection goes) ? Thanks.

Todd

 

[5150abf]

Re: Salt Water Edition????

Really all you need is anodes on all tubes and the motor pod, we put solid keel and sealed chines/foils on them but to retro that would be stupid expensive, all you would need to do is add a starboard anode bracket and have a peice welded into the pod to attach one to.

Any Bennington dealer should be able to get them for you

Anodes and keeping up with them and washing it off after use are the keys to keeping it going, if you are going to moor it look into shark Hyde or bottom paint to protect the tubes.

People have been running toons in salt water forever and the saltwater addition is a fairly new thing, pontoons have really picked up in Florida and the south lately though.