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[inline pontoon027.jpg]
Here are some pix of the pontoon I have been talking about and working on. Some are a little blury, Sorry about that. It is a "Personal Fishing Cat" made in the early 1990's probably around 1992'ish. The frame is made from 12" EMT Conduit and the pontoons are hypalon with no bladder. I painted the frame with grey Krylon Hammer finish and made a stripping apron from a plastic tote lid like most everyone. Added an troller & battery. Note the classy rod holder!
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Pretty darn nice, IMO:o) Is that conduit you used for the frame going to be strong enough??
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Bassamatic wrote:[/quote]
Pretty darn nice, IMO:o) Is that conduit you used for the frame going to be strong enough??[/quote]
Thank you!
I did not make the frame, it is factory made. I just painted it because the original finish was just the zinc galvanization and was looking kinda bad,
Believe it or not the 1/2" conduit is plenty strong! It has lasted for about 17 years now.
I'll try to get some better pictures posted with it all rigged up with the motor & all that are not so blurry.
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With that flat frame, have you thought about a full deck? Made out of Diamond plate aluminum for light weight. Lotsa room too.
The only down side is you can't break the boat down as easily, but I am assuming you have something rigid for the battery and motor.
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[quote flygoddess]With that flat frame, have you thought about a full deck? Made out of Diamond plate aluminum for light weight. Lotsa room too.
The only down side is you can't break the boat down as easily, but I am assuming you have something rigid for the battery and motor.[/quote]
Yeah I thought about it 'cause I like the way your cardiac canyon is set up![cool]
The problem is the seat is mounted in a flat bar sling below the top of the frame. You can sort of see it in the picture below:
[inline pontoon045.jpg]
The factory motor mount is the theing you see sticking out mounted to the left side of the frame.
[inline pontoon043.jpg]
The battery rests in back of the seat in the cargo net (It's really heavy duty) and strapped to the frame. (see blurry pic below)
[inline pontoonbatt.JPG]
This set up (side mount) does not work very well pulling backwards. It wants to spin you in a circle. My dad had a 'toon just like this back in the '90's and told me it is designed to push you forward just to get from point A to Point B. Maybe I will try it that way. I may build a small platform in back so I can try a rear mount.
[inline pontoon039.jpg]
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I would be getting something more solid for the battery to sit on but that is just my opinion.
Report on that side mount motor. Pontoons have not keel or rudder so they don't push well, specially from the side, so I want to know how that works as I have never tried it and that is the first time I have ever seen it.
Specially on a windy day.
It is sitting right there where you can steer, but I always thought, that will take away from the hands free for fishing idea behind a pontoon.
Time will tell, and good luck. Look forward to the maiden voyage for 2009 and new mods.
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I already tried it and I don't like it a bit. I turned the control head around on the troller to try to "pull" me backwards and It just wanted to spin me in a circle. Huge pain. I might put the contol head back aroung to normal & try to push it forward I don't know.
I agree that the battery needs something more sturdy for the long haul. A rear deck is in order. At least enough of one to mount the battery & motor.
And I may just use the troller on the "porta-bote" folding boat & 6hp Evinrude I just scored & stick with oars & fins on the toon ] My dad just left it with me today on his way from Lake Havasu on the way home to Orofino (north Idaho). He carried it in his motor home.
So many choices......[crazy]
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A Porta boat is my next move also. Then a Merc 4 stroke for it.
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[quote forgiven]I already tried it and I don't like it a bit. I turned the control head around on the troller to try to "pull" me backwards and It just wanted to spin me in a circle. Huge pain. I might put the contol head back aroung to normal & try to push it forward I don't know.
Is there someway to put a mount for your troll either straight behind or in front of you? Maybe a local machine or welding shop could rig something up for you. The float tube store carries troll mounts for some models, but you would have to find something to fit a flat frame similar to yours.
I agree that the battery needs something more sturdy for the long haul. A rear deck is in order. At least enough of one to mount the battery & motor.
And I may just use the troller on the "porta-bote" folding boat & 6hp Evinrude I just scored & stick with oars & fins on the toon![ ] My dad just left it with me today on his way from Lake Havasu on the way home to Orofino (north Idaho). He carried it in his motor home.
I worked my way down from larger boats and still have one of the older model porta-botes sitting in my garage. Did a lot of custom work on the porta. Never looked back to this point. But who knows, maybe that will change as I get older....
Pon
So many choices......[crazy][/quote]
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The advantage I see with the Porta-Boat and a GAS motor is the ability to cover more water or point A to point B.
Pontoons are great, but on Large bodies of water you can spend all day rowing or motoring as far as the battery can take you, or you can pull the boat out and transport it by car to another area. Of course a gas motor on a pontoon would work also in that you can go farther.
But it is nice also to get you whole body out of icy water. On several lakes, I see a bunch of empty motor boats surrounded by a bunch of tubers, so that is also an option.
The packability of the Porta is awesome.
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[quote flygoddess]The advantage I see with the Porta-Boat and a GAS motor is the ability to cover more water or point A to point B. Is there cheaper and more efficient boats that can also go from A to B? Those chines and flexibility absorbed a tremendous amount of energy so I could never get on plane with the maximum recommended motor size.
Pontoons are great, but on Large bodies of water you can spend all day rowing or motoring as far as the battery can take you, or you can pull the boat out and transport it by car to another area. Of course a gas motor on a pontoon would work also in that you can go farther.
But it is nice also to get you whole body out of icy water.
How about renting for the ocassional case of icy water? Maintainence used to eat me up financially, even on the smaller boat gas motors. Even a nicked prop can cost hundreds of dollars, more than a pontoon...
On several lakes, I see a bunch of empty motor boats surrounded by a bunch of tubers, so that is also an option.
The packability of the Porta is awesome.
Sort of, you still need a very long packing area even though the width and thickness are good. The older ones were very hard to unfold and place seats in place especially when the plastic was stiff in cold weather. I had to replace the seat sockets with my aluminum design and use brass screws to replace the stainless staples on the bottom chine which didn't last more than a dozen trips.
Positives are that it took shock of hitting something very well, and rolled over rocks that would destroy a normal fiberglass boat.
Pon
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For me, I see it strapped to the side of the trailer to transport or on top the trick and shell with Yakama.
Sure there are cheaper boats, but as I said, this one does not require an extra trailer or scratching up the truck (which is a short bet so under 6' long)
And lets face it, as long as we are going for one, I would opt for a 16'. more stable specially on choppy water.
Motor, not sure yet as we had a 25 hrsp four stroke on our 14' Alumicraft and then on our 16' Monarch. At times a little more power would have been nice.
The portability of the Porta is really great and I do know people that own them and love them. We hit remote lakes that there is no rental, plus not really my bag to rent...I do it too often.
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Joni,
That's where my sit on top kayak comes in.
God Bless,
Don
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Yeah I can build a rear deck & attach a motor to it without too much difficulty. I would just do it with some scrap wood for a test. If I liked it make a permenant deck from a piece of aluminum plate and bolt a piece of angle aron or angle aluminium to it for a motor mount. The place I by the plate aluminum will probably cut it to the correct size for me.
I would have to think on the best way to attache the deck to the frame.....
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Maybe U bolts. Mine was easy. Had the old man bend a lip around the deck.
My frame is like 8 pieces so I just attached the deck with the clamps that hold the frame together.
My motor mount is a chunk of 2 X 4 attached with "L" brackets. On my Navigator and Aluminum block on the Cardiac.
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Yeah I am going to car top this porta - boat or a roof top carrier too. They are made to do that. Dad carries it that way.
Mine is a 12 footer. Joni I think they they only make them up to 14'. 12' used to be the longest.
They seem to be tough! Dad has had this one for 10+ years and it is still going strong. It has the old plywood seats even! It has the flat transom however. It's in great shape and will probably last for 10 more years.
I have had it out on the water before and it does just fine. Dad made a tiller extension out of pvc pipe for the little 6 horse. If you sit on the middle seat and use it runs out quite a bit faster. How fast I don't know. It would just be a guess.
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Right you are so it would be the 14'er for sure...WOW even a choice of color!!! Leaning toward Aluminum, but that dark tan is nice also.
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Don't get white. Hard to keep looking clean. Mines white.
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