looking for some feedback and insight

[huggyd]

I am looking at buying a 16' 2003 princes craft with a 25hp 4stroke bigfoot Mercury with homemade single axel 15" rims trailer comes with bimini, camper and mooring cover and some other odds and ends. It is priced right for what he is asking. I did go and see it yesterday but it was all covered up for the winter but from what I was able to see other then a good cleaning it is in good shape

​So here is the other details.

​- The boat will be used on the Trent?Severn Waterway located in Canada, Ontario if you don't know about it there is lots of info available online popular river system
​- main use will be to bring items to and from the cottage (which is water access only) Items may include things like fridge, building supplies (wood, bags of cement, etc.)
​-From the boat launch​ to the cottage dock is about 1.5km ride
​-Will also be used to fart around a little (little touring, fishing in channels)

​Over the part number of months I have been doing a lot of searching for pontoon boats and pontoon info. What I have learning is they are not by any means cheap, they seem to hold their value, people seem to have a disliking for 16' lengths, there is no such thing as to much HP and over all there is not a whole lot of them around for sale.

​I am also wondering about the underside decking. The one thing I noticed was the under side see in pic, where its just plain plywood, I would assume this is normal but would it not make sense to coat the exposed wood with something (clear coat, waterproof, sealer, etc...)

 

[ezmobee]

I'd be concerned about the unsealed plywood if I was leaving it in the water. If trailered, I wouldn't sweat it much. That boat sounds fine for putting around. 16' is definitely on the small side and I do kinda wonder how it'll handle when hauling stuff.

 

[huggyd]

the other thing I was wondering about is I have a 2008 V6 3.0L 2wheel towing max is something like 2240LB. when I was looking at a new 20' I was just over towing weight, as this is used I don't have any idea what it would weigh.
​As for treating the underside, is there a special product to use?
​Thanks for the feedback ezmobee

 

[ezmobee]

Weight is likely 1500 pounds-ish tops. I'd seal the wood with Spar varnish.

 

[garbageguy]

Trent-Severn is a great waterway system. We used to spend some time on Sturgeon Lake, Gilmar Cottage Resort - do you know if it's still there?
Agree, 16 ft is small, may limit you to certain conditions depending how big the water is where you're crossing. I'd check the wight rating if you're going to put a fridge, etc on there, plus people.

 

[huggyd]

Not sure if Gilmar Cottage Resort is still around, there has been a lot of cottages change hands over the past while.
​We also have a power boat Rinker its the inlaws but if anyone feels the need to go fast or whatever there is that option, and the Rinker would take the bigger water if we needed something. Even if we had to make a few trips back and forth I would be ok with that as long as I wouldn't be putting people in danger. I am assuming that even a 16' pontoon would be stable enough to ride a wake even with 4ppl on it.
​

 

[BigDfromTN]

Personally...

I would not seal the bottom of the plywood. All pontoons I have seen are built with marine type plywood. IF wood gets wet it needs to dry. If its coated on the bottom and gets wet from either side it will be less likely to dry properly and will severely shorten the life of the wood. Just my .02

Also if you replace runners on the trailer, be careful using treated wood as most of it does not play well with Aluminum.

 

[ahicks]

Sealing it pretty much seals the water in, in my experience.

A pontoon boat, with people that are comfortable on/in the water, and that water isn't too cold, is nothing but a big beach toy. You can't sink them. If something happens and the front end of the boat ends up 4' under water, just give it a second and it'll pop right up. If it's borderline overloaded, and everyone goes to one side to see something, that side is going under, but it's not like being in a canoe where it goes right over. It would take real talent to flip a pontoon. In 40 years of partying on a lake, though I've seen/done about everything imaginable, I've never seen that done.

However, somebody that's nervous being on the water, maybe traveling with a baby or non swimmers on board, or any time the boat is out in dangerous conditions, could get in some trouble. The 16' would not offer the safety factor a bigger boat would offer in those conditions. It would be my last resort.

Being cheap by nature, and a DIY'er at heart, if I were on a budget strict enough to force me to look at 16's, I'd look at a 20-24' I could put some sweat equity into and have a larger boat for my efforts. There are generally lots of project boats around. Careful shopping should allow purchase of a boat in need of a new deck at a bargain price. Just know what the redeck materials are going to cost going into it.

 

[bruceb58]

No pontoon boat has sealed plywood floors even when you keep them in the water. Mine is the same and I have mine in the water form April through October.

 

[Silver Eagle]

Can you rent a pontoon boat before you buy one.. or test drive one first .When i sold my boat the dealer had people go for rides in it first. the first people bought it.

 

[Grub54891]

A toon can flip over, It could be caused by a storm, or unsafe loading. I had 6 onboard, and while I was putting along, a didn't see that a couple of them went in front of the fwd fence. The front went down and the motor came out of the water. She came back up but if Iwas going much faster i'd say it could have continued going over. This image is from a quick google search.

 

[ahicks]

As mentioned above, it's is possible to tip one over completely, but it takes real talent (major stupidity).

 

[HotTommy]

"There's no such thing as 'fool proof' because fools are so ingenious." - Anonymous.

 

[HotTommy]

I sometimes forget its now summer in Australia:

[/QUOTE]

 

[gm280]

Even a 16' pontoon will work for what you stated you need it for. Even a frig on it won't be an issue. For the short distance you are talking about, if you take care and make certain things are balanced out on the floor, it will do the job. And I have to agree, sealing the underside may not be a great idea for the reasons previously provided. But these are only my opinion. :noidea: