underskinning help

[thormx11]

So I recently remodeled my 1987 Bass buggy 20' pontoon with everything new from the pontoons up just about. Everything seems to be going great, but when im cruising on the lake I have water coming up through the deck and soaking the carpet. I did not really seal the seams much other than just glueing them down on the cross braces(this is my first attempt on a rebuild!) I was thinking about going ahead and underskinning the boat, to fix my leaking problem and gain a few benefits as well.

My question is, could I use the ribbed metal used on garages/roofs to put under the boat? I could have it cut exactly to length for my boat, but would the ribs cause any harm? Aluminum would be nice, but it is fairly expensive, I could have the ribbed metal for less than $50.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: underskinning help

Not really sure, from what I have read most are using a smouth sheet alum, but if its just the leaking I would use some silocone on each cross member. Most add underskinning to add speed.

 

[thormx11]

Re: underskinning help

yeah, im not sure if the ribs would make a difference, ive read that underskinning can increase speed, protects your deck, and makes for a smoother ride, I believe this should fix the leaking deck as well.

 

[5150abf]

Re: underskinning help

For $50 it is worth a shot but I'm not completely sure it would take the pounding.

The underside of toon takes a real beating from the water, if you wemnt with the ribs inline with the boat and used some pretty beefy rivets it just might work and as you pointed out it is way cheaper than aluminum sheet.

Take the boat out and carefully stick your head under the front deck at speed and see where the water hits the bottom and make sure your skin is well infront of that, if water gets underneath it it will tear it right off.

Don't know if you can buy them anywhere but all our boats at Bennington have a small 1/4 round peice of plastic infront of all the crossmembers to keep water from getting through to the deck btu I don't know if they are available to the public.