Tiller for simple pontoon?

[IHDiesel73L]

I'm still in the process of figuring out whether I want to try to build a pontoon boat myself or find a rough one to refurbish/customize. I'm thinking of something like a 6' x 16' platform and maybe 24" pontoons? I want to keep this as simple as possible so instead of building a console with steering, etc...I thought why not just have a simple tiller setup? I'm limited to a 9.9 so that's another reason I was leaning that way. It seems like pontoons don't generally come with tillers-is there a specific reason for that?

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Tiller for simple pontoon?

Ease of opperation would be a complet guess. Altho I have seen some that do.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Tiller for simple pontoon?

They do make tiller extensions so it is possible to do, in a boat boat with a tiller you are sitting right in front of the engine, on a toon you would be standing over the engine, also starting would be a hands and knees affair.

As to build/buy, I think you will come out ahead to find a built toon and make it yoours, certainly cheaper in the long run.

Also there are alot of parts that aren't readily availabe to the general public, just the harware alone would set you back quite a bit, if you do decide to build your own do a detailed drawing and try to figure out everything you would need then price it out before you start so you know what you are getting into, no sense getting it half built and deciding it is too expensive.

 

[newbie4life]

Re: Tiller for simple pontoon?

For what it's worth, I have a tiller mount trolling motor that I switched the head around on and put it up on the front of the pontoon... trying to push the pontoon with in on the back was difficult -- I have the long shaft, and it was deep enough, but it was a matter of 'this way, now that way, now this way' type operation. With it on the front I don't have that as much. I think having the steering wheel on a console, you make lots of minor corrections, like in a car, but... you don't really notice you're correcting.

Lots of guys making their own stuff - go to youtube or google and type in home made pontoons... and see what comes up.

 

[IHDiesel73L]

Re: Tiller for simple pontoon?

For what it's worth, I have a tiller mount trolling motor that I switched the head around on and put it up on the front of the pontoon... trying to push the pontoon with in on the back was difficult -- I have the long shaft, and it was deep enough, but it was a matter of 'this way, now that way, now this way' type operation. With it on the front I don't have that as much. I think having the steering wheel on a console, you make lots of minor corrections, like in a car, but... you don't really notice you're correcting.

Lots of guys making their own stuff - go to youtube or google and type in home made pontoons... and see what comes up.

Google images comes up with a lot of interesting stuff. This one isn't homemade, but is basically what I'm looking to do. Totally simple-I just don't have $5K laying around to buy it...lol:



This is the first boat I've seen that uses four smaller pontoons (12" diameter) vs. two (or three) large ones. Less than 6" draft would allow us to take it a lot of places.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Tiller for simple pontoon?

The first pontoon I ever drove was a tiller model back inthe late 70's early 80's. They even had a lever to move the oputboard up and down out of the water. it was basically just a deck with on opeing in the fence to give access to the motor. We would steer it with our foot on the tiller handle.

My friend has one of these with a 9.8hp merc and it gets along just fine. It has steel foam filled pontoons.

If you wanted to go cheap my guess is you could find one of these sitting in a field somewhere that would be next to free to haul away.

Here is a llink to one that would work. It already has a console but in the back you can open the little door to access the motor.
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/boa/3112062567.html

 

[newbie4life]

Re: Tiller for simple pontoon?

I got it. 6 - 8" PVC pipe, from the local big-box-fix-it store. Glued ends on them. Zip-tied to a sheet of CDX. Take the wife's mix master, an ac/dc inverter, engineer a box-fan prop on it, and away you go... Dude, you could be on the water in a half hour!!!

All kidding aside, I think the 6" draft would be GREAT. And think of how light it would be... you could probably engineer a cheap boat trailer to work for you - If you could wait until later in the year, say another month or so, you'll start finding some good deals out there. Usually about the time school starts, you'll start finding some pretty good prices. We ended up trading a little work for a pontoon late last summer/early fall. Yeah, it's not 'new-looking'... but everything but the pontoons on it is all new. There's nothing wrong with saving a little money and having just as much fun as anyone else on the water... as long as you OVER-engineer and are safety-minded. Just keep a smile handy, because there's always gonna be people lookin' at you. Again... Nothing wrong with it, just not everyone can be a 'duct-tape engineer' like us. I LOVE looking at something, figuring out a fix... and it might not be the perfect fix the first time... but I will figure something out.

Seems to me, someone on here bought a pontoon that has built in a home-shop... had square pontoons or something like that... It wouldn't be THAT difficult to do.

 

[IHDiesel73L]

Re: Tiller for simple pontoon?

I got it. 6 - 8" PVC pipe, from the local big-box-fix-it store. Glued ends on them. Zip-tied to a sheet of CDX. Take the wife's mix master, an ac/dc inverter, engineer a box-fan prop on it, and away you go... Dude, you could be on the water in a half hour!!!

LOL...I actually started looking into using 12" diameter PVC duct pipe (thick wall, UV stable, tough stuff, etc...) until I found out that in that size it would be as expensive if not more expensive than a new set of aluminum toons.

All kidding aside, I think the 6" draft would be GREAT. And think of how light it would be... you could probably engineer a cheap boat trailer to work for you - If you could wait until later in the year, say another month or so, you'll start finding some good deals out there. Usually about the time school starts, you'll start finding some pretty good prices. We ended up trading a little work for a pontoon late last summer/early fall. Yeah, it's not 'new-looking'... but everything but the pontoons on it is all new. There's nothing wrong with saving a little money and having just as much fun as anyone else on the water... as long as you OVER-engineer and are safety-minded. Just keep a smile handy, because there's always gonna be people lookin' at you. Again... Nothing wrong with it, just not everyone can be a 'duct-tape engineer' like us. I LOVE looking at something, figuring out a fix... and it might not be the perfect fix the first time... but I will figure something out.

I'm pretty much the same. I want something small, light, no-nonsense, but with enough power to be able to maneuver on a large lake safely. Overengineering is a habit of mine. I'm still mining Google for ideas-I found a fellow who took an old Aqua-Cycle pedal powered toon (10' long) and turned it into a mini toon with an electric motor. I wonder how something like that would be with a 9.9?