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5 Essential Tips for Trailering a Pontoon Boat | Pontoon-Depot

5 Essential Tips for Trailering a Pontoon Boat | Pontoon-Depot

Trailering a pontoon boat can be intimidating the first few times you do it, and you’re likely to end up with a few dings and bends on the boat or trailer if you aren’t careful.  I’ve learned the following tips mostly the hard way, so I hope they are helpful for you as you learn to trailer your toon.

#1: Don’t trailer in high winds

We’ve all made the mistake of staying out on the water a little too long and not getting out of the lake when nasty weather comes.

One of the first times I was out in my brand new G3 Pontoon boat, I saw a storm approaching but took a few extra spins on the lake before heading for the dock–thinking I could beat the storm.

I learned the hard way that pontoon boats turn into huge sails when the winds are up.  The large fencing around the boat makes it difficult to navigate against the wind.  In the end, it took 6 men to push the boat into position and get it on the trailer.

#2: Get a dock hook

A dock hook is a long telescoping rod with a hook on the end that boaters can use to grab dock cleats and pull the back end of the boat into position when the wind is pushing against you.

#3: Don’t pull the trailer in too deep

One of the biggest problems I had when learning to trailer my toon was pulling the trailer in too deep into the water.  When you do this, the boat is still floating, so even if you pull straight onto the trailer, the winds push the back of the boat off to the side since the back is still floating.

Just pull the trailer in deep enough that the tops of the wheel wells are barely under and you’ll have much better results.

The best method I’ve found is to pull the trailer back until the wheel wells are wet, and bring up the front of the boat.  Then, have the driver of the truck go slightly deeper, and you can then drive the boat the rest of the way up the trailer.

#4: Use the dock as a drift break

If you have winds or waves pushing the boat which makes trailering tough, have your truck driver put the trailer up close to the downwind side of the dock.  By doing this, the dock will break some of the wind and waves from pushing the boat.  Also, you can use your dock hook to pull the back over to the dock and keep it from drifting.

#5: Get everyone off the boat, or at least the front of the boat

Having weight in the front of the boat makes getting the pontoon boat on the trailer a lot more difficult.  You’re driving the boat onto the trailer, so additional weight means you need to use more thrust on the engine to get up the trailer.

Also, having passengers in the boat obstructs your view of the trailer to make sure you’re on straight.

I usually let everyone off the boat and then get the pontoon on the trailer myself to avoid this problem.

Article re-posted from: http://pontoonguide.com/9-essential-tips-docking-pontoon-boat/

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Video Safety Tips for Pontoon Boat Operation | Pontoon-Depot

Video Safety Tips for Pontoon Boat Operation | Pontoon-Depot

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See World's Fastest Pontoon Boat | Pontoon-Depot

See World's Fastest Pontoon Boat | Pontoon-Depot

When you think of fast boats, a pontoon is probably pretty low on your list, just ahead of houseboats and tugboats. Brad Rowland begs to differ. Brad recently won first place at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout with a top speed of 114 MPH and consequently obtained the shootout's record for fastest pontoon boat. His 25-foot 2010 South Bay triple pontoon, dubbed the Tooned In, sports three Mercury Pro Max 300x engines, as you can see above. Check out this video to see Brad in action.

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Finding the Right Horsepower For Your Boat | Pontoon-Depot

Finding the Right Horsepower For Your Boat | Pontoon-Depot

What is horsepower & why should I care about it?

Horsepower, hp, is a measurement of energy. One unit of horsepower is the same as the amount of energy or power needed to lift 550 lbs. 1 ft. in 1 sec. Usually this is used in regard to engines or motors. In the situation of pontoon boats, it is a measurement on the engine that helps us easily say how powerful specific engines are. The engine on a small metal fishing boat may only be 10 hp to 20 hp while a high quality speedboat may have an engine with 500 hp. Theoretically, the higher the horsepower, the easier it is for your engine to push your boat.

Why is there a horsepower limit on a pontoon boat?

All boats are different, pontoons included. Because of this, each boat has a maximum horsepower limit that cannot be safely exceeded. If you go over the allowed limit, the coast guard or police can stop you from putting your boat in the lake. They DO check! But going over the limit in horsepower may not be necessary. Most boats have a more than generous range in what the horsepower can be handled safely. If you really want more horsepower that your boat says it can handle, than you may want to consider buying a boat that can handle such a heavy duty engine.

When all boats are first made, pontoons included, and are being full scale tested, they are used with a variety of different engines starting from low horsepower engines and then they increase the engine horsepower until they find the limit that the boat cannot handle safely. They also would test to see the boat’s performance with specific engines. Then with an accurate evaluation of each engine, they would decide what hp the boat performed the best at and what it performed the safest at. With those limits set, they choose a limit to rate the boat for.

Here are some examples of the maximum horsepower on specific pontoon boats, for a reference.

  • My 22′ G3 Suncatcher V22RF has a max engine horsepower of 115 hp.

  • A 25′ 6″ Bennington 2372 RCW Windscreen Sport Arch has a max engine of 300 hp.

  • The 2015 Sun Tracker Bass Buggy 16′ DLX maxes out at a recommended 40 hp.

  • A 28′ 5″ Bennington  2575 QCW IO Sport Tower has a max engine horsepower of 430 hp.

  • The 24′ 2014 Avalon A Series Catalina DRL has a max engine horsepower of 135 hp.

  • The 25′ 4″ 2015 Regency 220 DL3 has a max engine horsepower of 250 hp.

  • The 26′ 2” 2015 Sun Tracker Fishin’ Barge 24 DLX has a max engine horsepower of 150 hp.

  • A 20′ Sweetwater SW 2080 BF has a max engine horsepower of 90 hp.

  • A 25′ Windjammer Rear J Lounge has a max engine horsepower of 135 hp.

  • An Avalon 16′ Eagle Quad Fish has a max engine horsepower of 50 hp.

  • An Avalon 14′ Eagle Quad Fish has a max engine horsepower of 40 hp.

  • A 24’ Avalon LSZ Quad Lounger has a max engine horsepower of 125 hp.

  • A 26’ Avalon LSZ Quad Lounger has a max engine horsepower of 135 hp.

  • A 27′ Suntracker Regency 254 XP3 Pontoon Boat has a max engine horsepower of 300 hp.

  • A Lowe SS210 20′ Pontoon Boat has a max engine horsepower of 115 hp.

Find out more here at: http://pontoonguide.com

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