Pontoon Boats

[HMW]

some good info,
But you would really choose stick over MIG for aluminum over 1/8"??. Its been along time since I tried aluminum stick and I didn't like but that could have been just me. I may have to try it again it just because
I'm sure in SC you deal with salt problem too. Never tried the chemical wash except for some aluminum cleaner. Actually I hate repairing the pontoons. almost always upside down and you have to pressure test when done. So I kinda quit working on them. Pontoon boat Railings or something is not bad. John Boats dont seem to be as bad, you can flip them over and its almost always the stern anyway. And its easy to put water in them to check for leaks.

Thanks for the info

[6010]

Hi Clint,
Thanks for all the good information. I became interested in the Pontoons a few months ago when I bought a used one from my wife's niece, more to help her out than I needed the boat. It is a Bentley ( glad to hear from you they are at the top of the list) with a 40 HP Mercury. We are keeping it at Lake Wiley rigtht now ( above Rockhill) and will leave it there until the lake dries up, which looks like it may be soon.

I had never ridden in a pontoon before we bought this one. I have a 17 ft. Triton that we bought two years ago and we carried it to Santee about every weekend. We haven't used it since we got the pontoon - my wife really likes the pontoon . I need to put a depth finder on the pontoon since I am into fishing. My goal is to catch the record catfish for South Carolina. So far, my biggest cat wouldn't make a good bait for the big ones at Santee. Mybe you would be so kind as to tell me where and how to mount the depth finder so I can get a good look at the bottom. I will retire in two years and will have more time to spend on my quest for the record cat.

Hartsville is not too far. Maybe one morning soon I can ride over there and buy you a cup of coffee and shake your hand - I guess in all this heat an ice tea would be a better drink. Also, we will be going to Wateree if I can get my wife out of the pontoon boat. Maybe you can tell me where some good crappie spots are located.

Please stay on the message board, as I may need some help in the future with the boat. I am in the electrical field but have always wanted to learn to weld good enough that I wouldn't have to lie about the origin of some of my welds. I just bought a Syncrowave 200 and I am having a lot of fun playing around with it. I am still having to lie about the welds though.

Stay in the shade for the next few days and drink plenty of water.

6010

[HMW]

The SW200 will weld it for sure, just get it real clean. Is that fresh water where you are?

[fun4now]

if i have not already done so i would like to say welcome to the board.
as for the record, my step mom caught a huge one on a garlic flavored mini marshmallow. have no idea what caused he to chose it as bait ?? but its what she used. good luck, may you find and concur the beast you seek. and congrats on the SW200.

[Aerometalworker]

The company I work for owns a few of the pontoon companies out there, and we have been called in to look at some of their work. From what I know and have seen the following is normally true:

1-Pontoons are either 6061 or 5052

2-heat treat or hardness depends on where the part is ( i.e. the stamped pontoon ends are usually dead soft )

3-Mig is used due to cost ( not quality by any means )
4-Protptypes are usually TIG / OA welded

5-Repair by any method destroys the heat treat, but thats ok since the part is normally engineered in the 0 condition since its welded on after treatment.

6- for us the OA welding provides the surest weld on the thin material but the skill required to do it is above the heads of most "weldors" nowdays so they use MIG.

Hope this helps!

-Aaron

[BWS29128]

some good info,
But you would really choose stick over MIG for aluminum over 1/8"??. Its been along time since I tried aluminum stick and I didn't like but that could have been just me. I may have to try it again it just because
I'm sure in SC you deal with salt problem too. Never tried the chemical wash except for some aluminum cleaner. Actually I hate repairing the pontoons. almost always upside down and you have to pressure test when done. So I kinda quit working on them. Pontoon boat Railings or something is not bad. John Boats dont seem to be as bad, you can flip them over and its almost always the stern anyway. And its easy to put water in them to check for leaks.

Thanks for the info

HMW--I do quite a few pontoon repairs and I have YET to do anything with a stick except underneath re-attaching a 2" channel (1/8" thick) to the 4"X24"X1/8" sponson-mounting plate....not directly on the sponson itself.

Out of 9 jon boats I welded this summer, only one (A relatively new SeaArk) did I repair with a rod, and that was on the inner-deck where the rivet that held the deck to the top of the strakes had broken due to being exposed to EXCEEDINGLY rough (8'+) seas offshore of Charleston....not a normal situation at all!!! All other jon boat repairs were completed with either MIG or TIG. One particular jon boat was giving me excessive difficulty no matter how well I cleaned it. I should have noticed that there were no existing welds anywhere in the boat...shoulda been a dead giveaway (you already see where this is headed, don't you....NO you cannot laugh!!!). So yep...tried the 3/32" H418 AL SMAW rod and..................blew a hole in the transom you could drive a Mack truck through!!!!!!!!!!!! Turned out the boat was 30 years old and made by a company that no longer exists and was made out of 2024........ever tried to weld 2000-series AL? Do yourself a favor and shoot yourself in the foot....it's over faster and doesn't hurt half as bad!!!

I do usually go for AL SMAW when I can...easier than pulling out the MIG or setting up the TIG and getting everything ultra-clean. It works really well for horse-trailer repairs and car-carrying trailers....just NOT on boats of any sort.

Hope I cleared that up and sorry if I confused you when I was talking about always reaching for AL SMAW first.....only when the situation allows for it because it's easier/faster.

~Clint

[BWS29128]

The company I work for owns a few of the pontoon companies out there, and we have been called in to look at some of their work. From what I know and have seen the following is normally true:

1-Pontoons are either 6061 or 5052

2-heat treat or hardness depends on where the part is ( i.e. the stamped pontoon ends are usually dead soft )

3-Mig is used due to cost ( not quality by any means )
4-Protptypes are usually TIG / OA welded

5-Repair by any method destroys the heat treat, but thats ok since the part is normally engineered in the 0 condition since its welded on after treatment.

6- for us the OA welding provides the surest weld on the thin material but the skill required to do it is above the heads of most "weldors" nowdays so they use MIG.

Hope this helps!

-Aaron

Aaron...everything you stated matches everything I've run into so far. I find 6061 to be the most common, but I've also run into a couple of 5056's out there (can't remember brand names off the top of my head).

Also, probably the FINEST aluminum boats on the entire planet are welded right there in your home state of WI....ever heard of S.A.F.E. Boats International? Google "S.A.F.E. BOAT" and "RB-S" and see what you come up with....I have HUNDREDS of hours operating them as both a Coxswain and a licenced Captain.....just can't say enough good things about them....and they're 100% TIG welded construction on 8086 (hull & deck plate) and 5056 (cabin/overhead).

I haven't run into any O/A stuff (yet!) other than previously-repaired boats that I've come across. Good O/A weldors are hard to find....closest one I know of lives over in GA and is retired.

~Clint

[BWS29128]

I need to put a depth finder on the pontoon since I am into fishing. My goal is to catch the record catfish for South Carolina. So far, my biggest cat wouldn't make a good bait for the big ones at Santee. Mybe you would be so kind as to tell me where and how to mount the depth finder so I can get a good look at the bottom. I will retire in two years and will have more time to spend on my quest for the record cat.

My suggestion on the depth finder would depend on several things: (1) where is/are your fuel tank/fuel cells located? (2) with you and your wife aboard, full tanks, and full coolers, how does your boat sit in the water? In other words, is there a slight slope from front-to-rear (bow-to-stearn since you're going to spend more and more time on there) or is the right side (starboard side) sitting a little lower? (3) which model depth finder do you like and which transducer does it come with? (4) are you going to stick with a depth-only model or are you going to go ahead and get a sonar/fish-finder model as well? Answers to those questions would help, but let me give you a few generalities: almost all transducers are mounted on the stearn (or the very back-end of the sponson, in your case). This is to reduce distortion (bad readings) due to cavitation from the propeller spinning. Most of the transducers I've seen on pontoon boats were for speed, and most were mounted by screwing the transducer-bracket directly to the back of the sponson. A better suggestion would be to take your EXTREMELY NICE Synchro200 and weld a small "L" shaped bracket to the back of your sponson (see questions above, but whichever is lower...port or starboard) at exactly 1/4" to 1/2" above the waterline with the boat at rest (again, see questions above for how the boat sits in the water at rest). The next time you and The Wife are at Lake Wylie, just after you launch, get close to shore and turn the engine off and slip into the water and around to the stearn. Make as few waves as possible and find a quiet cove or somewhere similar. Take a regular black Sharpie pen and do your best to mark the exact waterline on the back of the sponson...and then continue on with your trip/voyage. When you recover (put the boat back on the trailer), and take a look at your mark. Now, when you back the boat up to the garage to weld, you have a perfect reference line to work from. There are other suggestions I would make as well, but they can wait for another time as I'm sure I've just put everyone to sleep in the middle of the afternoon.

Hartsville is not too far. Maybe one morning soon I can ride over there and buy you a cup of coffee and shake your hand - I guess in all this heat an ice tea would be a better drink. Also, we will be going to Wateree if I can get my wife out of the pontoon boat. Maybe you can tell me where some good crappie spots are located.

No Problem. Let me know what your schedule is like and we'll make it happen. There's a GREAT little coffee shop in Hartsville called "The Midnight Rooster" and we can meet and shoot the breeze. Crappie spots on Wateree change from year to year (and month-to-month in the Summer) but I have a few sources I can call for you to find out. Just bring a full cooler and I'll meet you guys up there and show you how to get to my lakehouse/dock and then you guys will have somewhere to evacuate coffee during your outing.

Please stay on the message board, as I may need some help in the future with the boat. I am in the electrical field but have always wanted to learn to weld good enough that I wouldn't have to lie about the origin of some of my welds. I just bought a Syncrowave 200 and I am having a lot of fun playing around with it. I am still having to lie about the welds though.

There are lots of good resources on here when it comes to welding aluminum. I'm one of the more-vocal, but SundownIII and Aeroweld and MAC702 have loads and loads more experience than I do. MAC702 is also a IBEW Master Electrician, should you ever have a question about welding current and/or welding electricity.

Hope some of this information helps answer some of your questions.
~Clint

[HMW]

I took it for granted you used tig or mig on pontoon boats I know how thin they are. I was just asking about thicker stuff like 1/8" or up. I will have to try some, but on the other hand the spool gun stays set up and I dont do any portable work.

thanks

[BWS29128]

I took it for granted you used tig or mig on pontoon boats I know how thin they are. I was just asking about thicker stuff like 1/8" or up. I will have to try some, but on the other hand the spool gun stays set up and I dont do any portable work.

thanks

I still don't have a spoolgun, believe it or not I'm getting one soon, and I've heard the MM210/SG3035 works super, even outside in mild breezes on top of 18-wheelers and such. If you've already got the spoolgun and it stays set up in your shop, there's really not any need for you to screw with learning AL SMAW, unless you just want to have a little fun...you wouldn't believe how fast the puddle forms and flows! It makes CS/SS SMAW look like molasses!!! (cold molasses at that!). It's fun to play with though. I'd like to get an electrode holder setup for my PrecisionTIG 185 and try the 3/32 rods down around 50 amps or so....my Champ10,000 only goes down to 75A, and that's a little hot. I've been up to 90A with the 1/8" AL rods, and if you think 3/32's are fast, SHEESH! 1/8's will scare you!