pontoon boat on ruff water?

[big ken]

im seriously thinking about buying a 18ft pontoon boat[quest] i like to fish the patapsico river near key bridge, can get alittle rough at times. how does a pontoon handle in rough water? if at all thanks ken

 

[MinUph]

Re: pontoon boat on ruff water?

I have an 18 footer. Haven't seen much rough water with it yet. A few waves she handles beautifully but real rough water I think I would rather be in a Deep V hull. Some with more experience I'm sure will be able to add to this.

 

[Rancherlee]

Re: pontoon boat on ruff water?

In real rough water pontoons tend to want to go through waves instead of riding up and over like a V hull. Your not going to sink, but you will get wet.

 

[5150abf]

Re: pontoon boat on ruff water?

What is ruff water, are we talking 2'-3' waves or 4'-5' waves, if it is the 2'-3' variety you should be alright but you will get tossed around a bit in a smaller toon like an 18, as Rancher said, pontoons are wavepiercing hulls so they tend to go through rather than over waves so now and again you will get water over the deck, not a problem other than getting the carpet wet.

I have been on a local lake that gets really torn up with 3'-4' waves in all directions and the toon I was on ran beautifully btu it was a 25'er witha 250 on it,and again at anchor even the big boat got tossed around.

 

[gmorgan]

Re: pontoon boat on ruff water?

i use my Pontoon boat in the back bays of Cape May Nj. flounder fishing (works great) one day i thought it looks like a nice day so I went out the channel into the Ocean at the time it seemed like a good idea ,after clearing the safty of the jettys and everyone looking at us like we where crazy , it got UGLY fast 4/5' waves , we could not stand the motor was 50% out of the water ddo to the heavy pitching side to side front to back , to this day my brother in law has not bin on a boat , we where OK but he was so sure that he was going to die ( die realy we where 150' from shore and he can swim good and he had a life jacket on ) I thought it was funny he got sick as a dog all in all a great day

 

[big ken]

Re: pontoon boat on ruff water?

What is ruff water, are we talking 2'-3' waves or 4'-5' waves, if it is the 2'-3' variety you should be alright but you will get tossed around a bit in a smaller toon like an 18, as Rancher said, pontoons are wavepiercing hulls so they tend to go through rather than over waves so now and again you will get water over the deck, not a problem other than getting the carpet wet.

I have been on a local lake that gets really torn up with 3'-4' waves in all directions and the toon I was on ran beautifully btu it was a 25'er witha 250 on it,and again at anchor even the big boat got tossed around.

at worst 2-3 ft with wind and other boat traffic. no way do i want to get caught in a storm with one. thanks for the info guys ken

 

[Silver Eagle]

Re: pontoon boat on ruff water?

We use our pontoon boat in the upper Chesapecke Bay. (24ft) Sometimes it will get real windy and choppy. Had 5 ft waves ,and deep swells more then once. 90 hp merc. Most of the time it's like a big cork. If it get's to rough out we head to shore and open the three doors.