pontoon added to the stock . Now launch issues.

[swampratt]

Well my stock of vehicles just got larger.
Son met this old gal that needed some vehicles transported to Missouri .. she has a pontoon that has been tagged last in 2013.
So it has been sitting.
1998 model 20 foot with oil injected 75HP mercury elipto outboard with tilt and trim.
She is the original owner.

Wife thought it would be nicer than my 1975 closed bow 15 foot Bayliner Mosquito for taking the kids and their family to the lake.

Dang big heavy boats.
I can walk my Bayliner around the yard by hand it is so light.
Looks like I need stiffer springs for my 57 chevy 4 door to pull it.
I have the springs.

But I was also thinking man I need to back way off into the water to get that thing off the trailer.. my trunk may be getting water in it on some ramps.
Launch issues for sure.

So i suppose I need to finish building the engine for my 47 dodge truck as it is my only truck.
I was going with a 385" stroker with solid flat tappet cam 252@ .050 .536" lift and 11.3 compression. Ported heads 7/16" full roller rockers.

Scrap that idea..I have the cam and balancer installed.
Pulling that cam and installing a comp 280H and different ported heads.
Got to make a driver that gets better MPG than the solid flat tappet to pull this turd.

I have ran the 280H in a 350" and got 15 MPG and ran mid 12's.
Getting another boat is making me change my truck.
Wife suggested to me getting a newer truck...Funny stuff .
That ain't happening.

I had a 2004 chevy truck with 5.3 given to me this year needed a water pump it had 125,000 miles on it.
I could not get rid of it soon enough..hate new computerized vehicles most of the time.

 

[DEER 24/7]

Congratulations on the new addition. That 5.3 is one heck of a motor.

 

[swampratt]

Thanks.


Yea I have a son that has a 2013 with 5.3 and a buddy with another truck with 5.3 his is a 2012.
My 47 dodge and 57 chevy with No overdrive get better MPG and has more power with old school 350 and a carburetor.
I thought the new stuff with Fuel injection was supposed to trump the old school carbs.
We have pulled my small Bayliner to the lake 160 miles away and my carbed vehicles get 2 MPG better than their fuel injected ones. Kind of sad really.
My 6000lb 82 ford van with 4" lift powered by a 302 with a 2 barrel got better mpg than the newer truck when pulling my Bayliner also and I had 350 gears and cruised at 2800-3200 rpm down the highway 17.6 mpg.
Yea I built the 302 for MPG also. It ran 18.0 in the 1/4

I hate on the new oil injection mercury outboard also.
Steel gear around the crank that drives a plastic oil injection pump gear... yea that's a great idea.

I feel Mercury did not trust it fully either , as in the shop manual it states after rebuilding one of the oil injection engines
you need to mix gas and oil in the fuel tank at 50:1 and have the oil tank full and hooked up so the oil injection also feeds the rebuilt engine for the first 10 hours of operation.
I am pretty sure it was 10 hours. No trust.
I rebuilt a V6 inboard 2 stroke jet drive mercury a few years ago.
The ladies that owned it did not fill the oil tank and scalded a cylinder and melted the plastic oil pump drive mechanism. And ruined the oil pump.
They ran 3 tanks of fuel through it after I rebuilt it and never opened the dog house to fill the oil tank and did it again.
I did not rebuild it again.


I suppose the pontoon boat will keep the wife happy.
I just want to drift fish and run trot lines and jugs.
Hopefully it is not too high off the water for that.

I think she wants to BBQ and walk around like on a big floating porch.

 

[chazroh]

We need pics

 

[dan45]

The pontoon is awesome to run jugs from.
Never tried a trotline from mine but I think they catch too much wind and you will have trouble keeping your line tight.
As for the bbq and big porch, happy wife =happy life

 

[beastep]

To hell with the boat. I want more info on this van.

 

[p238shooter]

I have a tall 19ft three log pontoon with a 150 Honda. It seems the whole rig full at 25gal of fuel and gear is getting close to 2000lbs. Big motor is supposed to be 480lbs. It does have a single axle trailer, I think it is rated for 3200lbs.

Before this I had a 22ft deck boat with a heavy aluminum V-hull and a 115 Johnson. This pontoon feels only slightly heaver weight wise but being at least 4-5 ft taller on the trailer there is a significant more wind resistance towing. In my suburban I could get glimpses behind me with only the motor blocking view with the deck boat, now I am seeing the bottom floor walkway edge with the railing going up out of my view at the front of the pontoon. Fortunately I have a dock, so I rarely tow.

There are significant differences in both styles. Pontoon on the lake you will see a significant difference in even a mild breeze, it is a big sail. Pull up to a bank, it is tall. I have a small 2 step ladder for people to get in and out the front. Rough water is much smoother as is crossing over other boat wakes. Two people decide to move to the opposite side, no big deal. No hidden storage in the floor, under the seats only. Taking off, the nose only slightly rises and it will ride virtually flat from 16-43mph. Pulling a skier is very different. Quick turns for a turn around and pick up are non existent. Turns at speed are almost flat skidding across the water to turn rather than leaning and cutting into the turn. Better to almost stop, idle turn around and then go back to pick them up.
Surprisingly backing in the water is not much different, the buoyancy of the pontoons make up the difference, even with my heaver motor.

Yep, Wifey and friends with kids love the pontoon boat. Ugh. Have you ever thought about having two boats? Kinda like having a pistol and a rifle? Something to think about. Good luck to you.

 

[swampratt]

I do have 2 boats now.
I had 4 boats at once years ago.
My little bayliner .. a deck boat and a very deep V 16 foot from oregon with 125HP merc and than I had my coleman 17 foot canoe.

But then I also owned a 1973 240Z and 2 280Z cars a 69 camaro 78 skylark 78 nova 77 delta 88 1980 pinto 1982 mustang and a 73 ford truck and a 73 mustang grande, 81 oldsmobile and 77 granada. then the V65 magna and my wife's 87 super magna and a 2 ton cab over furniture truck.

I had to thin the herd when I moved to yukon into a culdisac.
Here is the van I had many different tires for it. shown almost stuck on the river going places my buddies would not drive their new Chevy 4x4's

Yea the 65 galaxy 500 is mine also.. or was until someone stopped me to buy it.

 

[dennishoddy]

Owned a 24' pontoon once with a 75HP evinrude, tilt/trim.
Loved it, but it was a gas hog. It needed a bigger engine as the 75 would only run 22mph and never get on plane.
I kinda love the big sail part mentioned in an earlier post. With the top up, and the wind right, we could go all the way down the lake with the motor off, yet using it as a tiller to move into or away from the bank trolling for sand bass, etc to save fuel.

 

[swampratt]

Boats are funny in what it takes to move them.
My deck boat was 18 foot and very heavy . It had an evenrude 95HP 4 cylinder on the back with one cylinder that cranked 35 psi.. a bit weak.
It would run 42 MPH with the top up.
I thought I was smart and installed a very heavy 125HP mercury inline 6 cylinder.
The thing would not break 38 with the top down.
No matter how high or low i mounted the engine or how I trimmed it or propped it.

Lesson learned, weight makes a huge difference in boat speed.

This Pontoon has a heavy wood deck.. it is not rotted either. If it does rot it will get an aluminum deck.