Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I've noticed that every time I take my pontoon boat out theres a large spot right in the center of the floor that very wet. I imagine it's from water splashing up on the wood flooring between the pontoons. Is this common? I'm afraid it's going to cause the wood to rot.

Thanks

Time for some underskinning.

What do most people use for underskinning?

? Are u sure it happens in the water? Mine will do that from the vent on the tarp that is above a pole. I can't imagine the floor not being spungy if it soaking through the bottom.

Water is being forced between joints. As long as it can dry I don't think you need to worry about rot for a long time. You could look underneath and see if that seam is in the open and try to caulk but if you do you risk holding moisture between joints.
Under skinning should solve the problem at a cost. Most use aluminum sheets and i am sure those experts will chime in later

I have had two pontoon boats and neither had underskinning and neither had wet floor problems. Curious about a few things:

Age of boat?
2 toons or 3?
Type of floor covering (i.e. carpet or vinyl)?
Do you have an area to screw a table in around the area that is wet?

Mine did that when new. Just ran a bead of caulking (100% silicone) along the crossmember on the front side only. Fixed the problem....

The spray from the front of the toons was spraying up hitting the crossmember where the plywood joint was.

BobL wrote:I have had two pontoon boats and neither had underskinning and neither had wet floor problems. Curious about a few things:

Age of boat?
2 toons or 3?
Type of floor covering (i.e. carpet or vinyl)?
Do you have an area to screw a table in around the area that is wet?

The boat is only 3 months old (Tracker Baby Bass Buggy), has carpet over wood and no table or anything in within several feet of area. Seems really odd to me.

kryptonite wrote:Mine did that when new. Just ran a bead of caulking (100% silicone) along the crossmember on the front side only. Fixed the problem....

The spray from the front of the toons was spraying up hitting the crossmember where the plywood joint was.

Thanks, I'll try that!

The real trick is to put that bead of silicone down when you are laying the plywood on the stringers, sealing the stringer to wood joint and also filling the gap between sheets. That water is going to wick into the edge of the plywood and cause it to fail eventually.

wijames wrote: The boat is only 3 months old (Tracker Baby Bass Buggy), has carpet over wood and no table or anything in within several feet of area. Seems really odd to me.

I would have them fix it. I agree they missed caulking the seam. That is not supposed to happen to the point that it soaks your floor.

Our boat does that, sometimes. If the carpet gets wet it wicks the water up like a magnet. Only does it at the front & in the rear rarely, never in the cabin. I'm gonna put underskinning on it this winter.
The boat's a `94 and the wood has no rot. I want to keep it that way since replacing the deck would be a nightmare of biblical proportions (its a Party Cruiser).

wijames wrote:I've noticed that every time I take my pontoon boat out theres a large spot right in the center of the floor that very wet. I imagine it's from water splashing up on the wood flooring between the pontoons. Is this common? I'm afraid it's going to cause the wood to rot.

Thanks

There are usually spray fins on the front of pontoons; they'll direct water out/up and in/up depending upon which side they're on. There's a good video somewhere of the underside of a pontoon boat in which the spray from both sides is directed right up to the middle of the pontoon boat's underside. I would guess that this is what's going on. Simple underskinning (about $350) will stop the spray there at the bottom of the horizontal z-bars.

Carpet, though, will collect water as well. About 85% of our boats go out with vinyl, btw.

Leisure Kraft wrote:

wijames wrote:I've noticed that every time I take my pontoon boat out theres a large spot right in the center of the floor that very wet. I imagine it's from water splashing up on the wood flooring between the pontoons. Is this common? I'm afraid it's going to cause the wood to rot.

Thanks

There are usually spray fins on the front of pontoons; they'll direct water out/up and in/up depending upon which side they're on. There's a good video somewhere of the underside of a pontoon boat in which the spray from both sides is directed right up to the middle of the pontoon boat's underside. I would guess that this is what's going on. Simple underskinning (about $350) will stop the spray there at the bottom of the horizontal z-bars.

Carpet, though, will collect water as well. About 85% of our boats go out with vinyl, btw.

I hate the carpet. I wish Tracker had done vinyl. I have it on the back deck and it's great.

wijames wrote:

Leisure Kraft wrote:

wijames wrote:I've noticed that every time I take my pontoon boat out theres a large spot right in the center of the floor that very wet. I imagine it's from water splashing up on the wood flooring between the pontoons. Is this common? I'm afraid it's going to cause the wood to rot.

Carpet, though, will collect water as well. About 85% of our boats go out with vinyl, btw.

I hate the carpet. I wish Tracker had done vinyl. I have it on the back deck and it's great.

We do a lot of vinyl replacements for existing pontoons, believe it or not. I point out to everyone that we have zero trade-ins that have vinyl; everybody's too happy with them to give them up.