Welding Strakes on Pontoons

[HarborRat]

Re: Welding Strakes on Pontoons

I didn't see if you posted what pontoon/year you have? It sounds as if you will be throwing good money (and lots of time) into something that may no longer be worth the trouble and headaches.

If it were me, I'd have the shop pull off the strakes and weld all the leaks, free of charge. Then throw on some bottom paint and sell the boat. Put the strakes on your next boat...if wanted.

Will you ever really trust those toons again? They are VERY thin aluminum which can only take so much heating, grinding, welding before they lose any structural ability they once had. And it sounds like they weren't quality to begin with. I wouldn't sleep much at night if they were on my boat in the slip, or took it out in rough water.

 

[MaPaHa]

Re: Welding Strakes on Pontoons

I got one strake off without too much trouble. I used a cut-off air tool and went along the edge of the strake and left the weld on the pontoon for the most part. Overall, a clean cut without nicking the toon and the strake only has a slight 1/16th inch cut-away on it. The longitudinal welds went fairly fast, I'd say a couple of hours, but a little more time cutting the strake from the nose piece and rear triangle piece.

The biggest hole was in the nose cone for the strake on the bottom inside and with the nose still on the tube it should be easy to fix from the inside. There were a few welds (3-4) that had some bubbles on the inside but not "blowers" like the first one. There were the two leaks at the old joint repairs that will be the problem to fix and know they won't leak again. I still think the plate idea is the best but I'm trying to understand why a weld continues to fail at the same spot, and how do you fix it permanently? Any Ideas on the tube joint leaks (that will be non-accessible when the strakes goes back on) would be appreciated.

HarborRat, The boat is a 1983 Aloha with 23" toons about 22 feet long. At this point with the strake off, the problems are more objective rather than subjective and it appears to be a small amount of issues rather than a overall disaster so I'm going to see if they can fix those and get it back dependable. The original trouble at the tube joints came when it was a twin toon from bouncing around on a weak flopping trailer with no transom saver. It has a new center toon (not used) and now a beefed up trailer with a center runner and bunks to spread the load out and my thoughts are the strakes should add structure to the older toons. I'm done putting money in this boat other than the normal maintenance and knick-knack stuff but I've got it the way I like it as far as performance, speed and furniture. I'm going to go one more round and see if they can fix the problems.

I can hear leaks in the other side and I'm sure the other strakes will have to come off also.

Mark

 

[MaPaHa]

Re: Welding Strakes on Pontoons

I took off three of four strakes and have the top welds cut on the fourth one and I've got two separate troubles.

1). There are some of the strake welds that are leaking but now with the strakes off I can't imagine a problem for the welder to grind down what's left of the weld, clean it up and re-weld the strakes back on. I talked to the guy that's going to be doing the work and I've seen some of his work and I'm going to say this part is solved.

2). The part that is more of a concern to me is this. There are (4) five foot sections of that make up the basic 20 foot toon and then the nose cone takes it to 22.5 feet long. At the middle joint (10 feet from either end) is where the the boat has had repeated leaks that have been repaired several times over the years. These joints are leaking again and the welded spot is behind the strake (when it's on) with no way to get to it. This joint also coincides directly above the front spring hanger of the trailer.
I look at it like this, even without strakes, this is an area that cracks reoccur and I don't think the strakes have anything to do with it. As I've mentioned before, the trailer has been beefed up and the new center toon with bunks supports the motor (along with a transom saver) so the punishment that probably caused the problem in the first place has eased up. I'm wondering about the method of the previous repairs at this point and as some of you might expect, the repairs look like a big blob of chicken pooky, and the answer has been to glob more on when it leaks. I guess without the strakes I could always take it in every few years and have more globbed on, but what's the answer on fixing it once and for good?

I'd like to have some confidence that if the area (the glob) was: ground back to the toons, welded to air tight, touched up with a grinder, and then a plate of aluminum welded over the entire area that went out a few inches, that this would fix it permanently. I like the idea that BrianMc suggested that this plate should have round corners. Should the plate run 6-8 inches wide and go to the bottom of the strake and be welded with the strake to help spread the load? Should it cover the entire area (bottom to top) inside the strake and be welded with the strake on the bottom as well as the top? How about a plate up to the factory weld on either side, welded in and smoothed out and then a plate over the two plates and factory weld taken to the upper and lower edges of the strake?

Any other ideas of a permanent fix for this area where the factory welds connect the pontoon sections? The area where the leaks are reoccurring is located at about the 7 o'clock to maybe 7:30 position and they run along and/or across the factory welds.

Thanks,

Mark

 

[HarborRat]

Re: Welding Strakes on Pontoons

I stand by my above statements about throwing good money away, but I understand how it is to want to keep a boat you really like and put a lot of time into. My advice would be to keep your eye on craigslist for a donor boat. Where I live (SWF) a boat with good toons but no motor or furniture sells for under $500. Salvage the toons, then scrap your old ones and the rest of the donor toon for a few hundred bucks. You might even be able to come out about even.

It sounds like your toons are beyond worth repairing. Sorry to be so blunt, but I've seen it too many times.