Storing Pontoon Boat on Shore for Winter

[Tcopacia]

Hello All,

New member here. I am planning on purchasing a pontoon for my house. I live on a private, electric motor only lake. Everyone stores their boats on their shores for the Winter. I am in a bit of a bind in this respect. I have a retaining wall on most of my property with a small sandy beach below the retaining wall. I have a walkway with stone steps in the center that is wide enough for a pontoon to sit over them in the winter. Here’s the problem though. I have about 6 feet or so of sandy beach then the steps come in. The grade gets to about 30• or so. I’m just wondering if you think there is a way to get the boat pulled up on this steep of a shore and have it secure there for the Winter. If not, I’ll likely have to pass until I have the money to store it.

Thanks again in advance.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Much information is needed before anyone can give you some useful advice. Such as the size and weight of the pontoon plus the engine. I'm scratching my head trying to picture a pontoon boat with an electrical engine. The other issue I would be concerned about is the wave action you get on that shoreline. Building a temporary ramp is what many do around where we live on the Lake Erie shoreline and use a winch to pull it up the ramp well away from the shore. Not rocket science and in some cases not cheap either.

 

[Tcopacia]

It’s an 18 foot pontoon. It uses a torqeedo electric motor since it is an electric motor only lake. I wouldn’t be worried about waves as it’s a small lake and where it sits it would likely not get affected.

 

[Scott Danforth]

most pontoons are pulled by someone in the lake community with a scissor trailer and that person gets between $50 and $150 (depending on location) per launch or retrieval

 

[Old Ironmaker]

If you can access the pontoon with a scissor trailer as Scott mentioned above that's your answer. If not you may need to build a temporary ramp and retrofit an old trailer to ride on the rails of the temp. ramp. I have 2 neighbours that use that method to store and launch their boats during the summer then get nieghbours like me to help disassemble them in Fall, same could be true for winter for yourself. Wave action here in Fall would smash them to smithereens. I would be very wary of storing on a lakefront unless your lake is more pond than lake.

edit: And just off the top of my head you are going to need a very big winch or access by tractor or 4X4 truck to pull 18' of aluminum up a ramp that steep. If you give the weight of the boat I know there are a few engineers here that can tell you how much winching power for your 18"er at a 30 degree angle on trailer wheels.

 

[ahicks]

We collected several of the biggest guys in the neighborhood to lift out first boat out - over a 36" steel sea wall. That was the only time we did that! Cost way too much beer and resulted in a few sore backs.

So other than trailering, wondering if you might have a neighbor that might be willing to allow you to store your boat on his property?

Worst case, you could build a set of ramps that would allow your pontoon to be dragged up the stairs without tearing up the bottom. 18' electric not very heavy, so you could hook it up to the back of a 4x4 PU to pull it out. The cahallenge then would be in the spring - trying to get it out into the water again.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

We collected several of the biggest guys in the neighborhood to lift out first boat out - over a 36" steel sea wall. That was the only time we did that! Cost way too much beer and resulted in a few sore backs.

So other than trailering, wondering if you might have a neighbor that might be willing to allow you to store your boat on his property?

Anything is possible, especially when you have 8 albeit reluctant young strong backs to help you. I once had to get my 19' StarCraft balanced on the trailer, long story, the 8 boys just lifted the back end up and moved it up and over a foot with the 115 O/B and 15HP kicker off the trailer and back on the bunks.

 

[racerone]

Over history you have to wonder how they built things.--------Europe for example.--------Some of the bridges / cathedrals / walls / viaducts were all built without the use of hydraulics , cranes and computers.-----It took longer but the job was done and done very well.-----If you want this boat moved on dry land in 1 hr then rent the trailer.

 

[Scott Danforth]

FWIW..... My bud Bob makes about $2-3k per year putting 'toons in and out with his scissor trailer. in the fall and the spring, his 50 year old trailer he bought for $300 about 30 years ago literally prints money pulling boats from the ramps to cottage drive ways and yards

He makes about double that putting docks and boat lifts in and out - for that, he must use his back and lately hires a bunch of younger backs

 

[southkogs]

I'm jumping in the "way-back machine" on this one, but ...

When I was a kid we used to store our pontoon on shore. My grandpa and my dad used to have to bring it up over a 30" retaining wall and set it on shore for the winter. The boat probably weighed in around 1,500# (it was a 70s model pontoon ... no furniture, just a big deck). They ran two boards out into the lake (can't recall how big), and set the boat on blocks (cinder on bottom, with boards under the 'toons). It only took the two of them as grandpa had rigged a harness for the bow eyes on the pontoons and they used a come along or power puller tool that was rigged to a tree in front of where the toon would sit.

We did that for many years, until we lost the tree It came down in a storm, and we didn't have that to lock into any longer. At that point we did what Scott suggested above: hired the local scissor trailer guy.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Over history you have to wonder how they built things.--------Europe for example.--------Some of the bridges / cathedrals / walls / viaducts were all built without the use of hydraulics , cranes and computers.-----It took longer but the job was done and done very well.-----If you want this boat moved on dry land in 1 hr then rent the trailer.

ALIENS. The experts still can not agree on how the Egyptians built the pyramids.

I have seen huge heavy wooden fishing boats 300' up on the beach sitting in thick sand on the Adriatic Ocean. The next morning they are nowhere to be seen. I stayed up all night once and was there when they launched these fishing boats. 1 massive wooden log under the bow and 1 log at the stern, The winch line from the boat connected to a post in the water. Winch 10'. 3 men then put the rear log under the bow and repeat until the boat is in the water. They don't wait for high tide. Easy and simple really as long as you aren't one of the log movers.

 

[Captain Caveman]

There is a retired medical executive (Howard Root) in Minnesota who is building all-electric motored pontoon boats. They just had a big article about him in the Star Tribune newspaper a few weeks ago. They are electric fiberglass "luxury" pontoons. Cool stuff but out of my price range!

The easiest thing is to pay the local guy with the pontoon trailer, or some boat shops rent them for the day as well. My wife would love a pontoon but our place is high up on a rocky peninsula with no road access. I can't winch it up the steep rocks for the winter and I would have to pay to store it for the winter somewhere. Ain't happening. Good luck!

 

[H20Rat]

A little pricey, but how about something like this?

https://roll-n-go.com/product/pontoon-model-ramp/

A big enough winch and it would certainly work for what you are trying.