Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hi all, been lurking while and learning a lot. I do have a couple questions...

One, I finally got my boat in the water and storing it in marina for summer. Now that it is off the trailer, I found my wood guides are rotted so need to replace them. Instead of real wood 2x4s, has anyone ever tried using the composite decking material? You know the stuff with plastic in it that is supposed to last forever -g- It seems to me it should hold up well and not rot but I am not sure if it would take the impact of a toon hitting it on a ramp during loading. Thoughts?

Two - I found a crack where my transom meets the aluminum deck. Not the transom really, but the triangular wedge that the transom mounts to. Where this wedge meets the deck has a crack about an inch long on the aft side, all other welds OK. When I bought the boat, I don't think it was there but am not sure. The guy couldn't find his transom saver but said it wouldn't hurt just to get it to my house, about 20 miles away, all freeway, fairly smooth roads but some bumps on overpasses etc. All other welds OK. Did this trip do this or is there something I should watch for during operation that may be a problem? I am having a hard time finding a welder that can fix it. Only a few guys do aluminum and they say it needs to be heliarced. Soonest I can get it in is 2 weeks. I bought a new transom saver and used it to get the boat to the lake and put in. Cruised around lake last weekend and crack did not get any bigger. Would it hurt to use it over the long 4th weekend as long as I don't do hole shots or pull tubes. We mainly fish with it or find a secluded spot and swim. Then I can get it fixed in a couple weeks?

Thanks and love this forum,

Lee

Welcome aboard!

Pics would help.

I would say you should be okay another weekend if the crack hasn't grown.

Mine did the same thing. I think not using transom saver was the cause. Now if I go any farther than our local ramp (mile away) I use the saver. Mine also hasn't grown in 3 years.
So use the boat and keep an eye on it otherwise forget it.

As far as composite deck Some have tried it and they don't have enough stiffness with no more brackets that trailers have.

Mine used 18' 2 X4's, when I replaced them I used 4 12' and 4 8' treated. I left about a foot in front of 12' boards and then used the 8' boards This gave the nose piece support where it didn't have it before.

Thank you for the prompt replies.

I do plan on getting the weld done ASAP but the kids had a blast last weekend and I wanted to let them do it again while I had some time off work. (Besides, I'll save money on fireworks this way since they aren't allowed on the lake LOL)

One more question if I can. I bought a new Garmin Fishfinder 400C and hooked it in with power from under dash from a board on the gauge cluster. I tapped 12VDC from a terminal under a 10 Amp fuse and grounded on a ground block also under the dash. Soon as I powered it up, it blew the 3 Amp inline fuse and kept doing so.

I checked wiring and no shorts, no chaffing I could see, figured I bought a bad unit so I took it back to the store and they plugged in the display unit (the transducer is mounted on the boat 1 1/2 hours away and zipped tied in from rear of the log, along the top of the log and up through the deck to the console). When they hooked the display unit in, it worked fine.

They said that I should hook it directly from the battery and not take power from the dash and that should fix it. They doubted the transducer was bad. Now I am a retired aircraft electrician and I have never seen a fuse blow because power was less in one location and fixed a blowing fuse by hooking it to a better power source like directly to a battery but then again, airplanes have better power distribution so I guess anything is possible.

Anyone else agree, disagree, suggestions? I can't work on this until I am using the boat again Thus if it doesn't work, I won't be able to use it that day either. The only things I can think of is either the wiring to the dash is too small and resistance to large so there is a voltage drop and thus amp draw increases to try and compensate (I have seen that in airplanes on partially broken wires) thus the fuse is blowing as the display unit draws as much current as it can to try and get enough power. Or else, my alternator with the motor running is putting out too high a voltage but doubtful since I know the gauges are not that accurate but it reads 12VDC with the engine off and only climbs to about 14 VDC with it running which is about where it should be.

I bought 20' of 14 gauge wire, a new fuse holder that has 14 gauge wire (Stock unit is only 22 gauge wire) and will try running directly from battery 1st. I also got an adapter cable so I can use the transducer built into my trolling motor in case the other transducer is bad. I will fire it up and if fuse blows, tie into that transducer and try again. If that blows, then I try running it without being hooked into any transducer to see if transmitting is what does it thus it worked in store because it wasn't hooked to ANY transducer. I think that covers all possibilities but you all might think of something else or been down this road before and know more.... I hope.

Thanks,

Lee

I would do the battery route. Why I don't know