Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Man, I've been active lately. I think this is pretty straightforward, honestly. Slipped my boat over a month ago, and I have a decent amount of growth on the toons now. The toons are not completely covered with gunk, but it is noticeable.

I've since noticed a reduction in speed. I used to get 23-26 mph by myself with my fishing gear, and it would drop to 21-23 mph with my wife and son on board. Motor rpms typically top out at 5300 rpms. Since I noticed the junk on the toons, my speed is down to 19 mph with the family, and I can maybe get 21 mph by myself. It just feels like the toon is dragging something. The max rpms are down to about 5050-5100. Seems like a logical solution that crud on the toons is the cause, but would you expect a reduction in motor rpms too? I don't suspect water in the toons as it doesn't really sit any lower in the water.

Yes. Marine growth on the bottom will give you lower speed, lower RPMs and greater fuel consumption.

I put my toon in the slip in late March/early April.

By November when I pull it, it has a lot of growth and scum and goes 3-5 mph slower than the start of the year.

Starts over again the next spring.

Might buy a lift that is coming up for sale.

Get yourself some plastic pot scrubbers from Amazon and every 2-3 weeks hit a sandbar and scrap the growth off. Takes 5 minutes a side. I then use a grey 3M scotch pad on the rest of the toon. This is some of the best advice that was given to me on this site.

https://www.amazon.com/Lodge-SCRAPERPK- ... ot+scraper

Thanks for the tip! Just got my lift installed the other day, so hopefully I don't have to deal with this anymore after I get them cleaned off. Sure would like to get more performance out of this thing. 5300 rpms seems low...