Drained the toons

[carrie777]

SO as most of you know, I had water in my toons. I could not find a decent welder at a reasonable price, so after consulting a dealer friend, we drilled a SMALL hole in each one(after trying to suction the water out), and one toon was empty,YAAAY, and the other had SEVERAL gallons of water, and took a long time to drain, but it finally did! We were able to repair the holes and hopefully they will hold up. We also think we found the leak and fixed it! Wish me luck!
P.S> one welder wanted me to remove the floor before he would even LOOK at it! Yeah, let me get right on that! LOL

 

[carrie777]

Re: Drained the toons

ALSO..quick question.....
Do I need to put air back in them or just seal them up as is? It is a 78 harris floteboat

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Drained the toons

No air needed. Just seal it back up and enjoy..

 

[5150abf]

Re: Drained the toons

Remove the deck!!!!! that had to be pretty reasonable, fixxed a bunch of boats btu never had to remove a deck before to do it, sometimes I will have them pull the tube but even that is rare.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Drained the toons

Yeah, sounds like the welder you visited was less than ideal. Last year I had mine pressure test the toons, fix numerous leaks, and weld up a crack in front of the motor pod. Can't remember the exact amount, but he did it all for less than three c notes. Where were the holes and how did you repair them?

 

[carrie777]

Re: Drained the toons

There was one small hole near one of the rear supports on the top. I fixed it myself, and we tested it last night and NO LEAK! YAAAY! I am assuming that since it had set for 2 years all the water in it was rain and washing. As all the water was crystal clear!
Yeah, the one welder(who did not even see the boat) said to remove the floor so he could see the toons. I tried to explain to him that the floor was supported about 4-6 inches ABOVE the tooms so you can see ALL of them without having to do that. He said,"no offense, but you are a woman, and we men know a bit more about this stuff"! REALLLLLLY? I am sorry, but I THOUGHT i was the one looking at the boat and can see what is going on!

We just JB welded the small hole and then put marine epoxy over that. Since it is not a part that is in the water, we are thinking(hoping) it will hold...

 

[lncoop]

Re: Drained the toons

Well little missy, I guess that will do...........for a girl. What a jackass. Glad you got your leak fixed. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Art Bernard]

Re: Drained the toons

If you can find a welder worth a damn, I'd suggest instaling some threaded plugs into the rear bottom of your toons. I was stationed in guantanamo bay cuba some years ago, back when it was a navy base and nothing else, and the mwr (morale, welfare, and recreation) marina asked us to fix a bunch of the toons that they had for rental. One of the things we did was to install drain plugs and they loved them. Placed in the rear, bottom they don't evan cause any drag to worry about.

Art

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Drained the toons

I had them put in mine too, only problem is you don't know a competent welder. Look around and see if there is a truck body place around, they are good at building fuel tanks which are just smaller pontoons.

For a while I ran around with holes drilled in the back of the tubes, the .080 tube wall threaded (for what is was worth) with a 1/4 NPT tap and brass pipe plugs rtv'ed in. Might not have been kosher but it worked.

Here's a pontoon I had built for a project boat. This guy is a trucker who used to build tank cars. Welds for $20/hr cash. GREAT guy to know.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Drained the toons

Years ago I had an older Sweetwater toon that developed some leaks and water was getting in the tubes. I drilled 1/2" holes in the back bottom of the tubes and used 1/2" bailer plugs to seal it up. Worked for many years, as long as I replaced the bailer plugs every other year or so.