Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

sure enough..........DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!

I have a buddy with 20 Voyager tri log. He has had 2 logs replaced and now the first replacement is leaking. Looks like it is inside a lifting strake. Voyager sucks with it's log warranty's also.

That's a lot of water coming out. Your toon should go faster once you plug that leak.

lakerunner wrote:I have a buddy with 20 Voyager tri log. He has had 2 logs replaced and now the first replacement is leaking. Looks like it is inside a lifting strake. Voyager sucks with it's log warranty's also.

That's exactly where this looked like it was coming from. Good news is that I've good a good relationship with the local dealer and Voyager. I am going to drag it to the dealer and have it pressure tested tomorrow. I am going to have all of the shitty little plastic plugs replaced with stainless.

margaritaman wrote:That's a lot of water coming out. Your toon should go faster once you plug that leak.

The water ran like that for over 15 minutes then I had to come back to work. It still ran 28-29mph yesterday with a good load. The Voyager website says that it is closed foam and I can have it welded if necessary.

The_Hellbilly wrote:sure enough..........DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!

Hellbilly, is that some sort of plug you removed from your toon to drain the water? Don't mean to sound stupid, but I don't think I've seen those on my toons but then again this is my first year with a boat - still learning....

ROLAND wrote:

The_Hellbilly wrote:sure enough..........DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!

Hellbilly, is that some sort of plug you removed from your toon to drain the water? Don't mean to sound stupid, but I don't think I've seen those on my toons but then again this is my first year with a boat - still learning....

Not every toon has them. What I have are "piece of shit" plastic plugs that are 5/8" & fine threaded. Two of the three I removed were so brittle that they crumbled when I went to remove them. Attached is a pic of the only one that survived.

The new plan is to get some new metal plugs and take her out for a few hours tonight to see if I collect any water in her. If I do, I will take her and get her pressurized to find the leak. I know it is NEVER a good idea to swim under a boat, but if I have a leak somewhere, I should see some bubbles, don't ya think?

They use plastic because of dissimilar metals

lakerunner wrote:They use plastic because of dissimilar metals

Yeah, I saw that googling last night. If they are going to use plastic, they should recommend swapping them out every few years before they get so brittle. I am going to go back with whatever metal plugs the dealer has. I understand that corrosion may be a problem, but I will take my chances over this plastic crap.

Ya know, patching small leaks in an aluminum toon shouldn’t cost you much. Welding small holes or cracks shut should cost you no more than $100 assuming you bring the boat to the welder. I love to weld and with today’s MIG, TIG and Flux Core welders it’s fairly easy (an hour of practice makes perfect). I will admit that aluminum requires a good cleaning before welding but to me it’s a lot like using solder because it melts at such a low temp. A small crack shouldn’t take a professional welder more than an hour to repair (a very liberal estimate).

I think you can use brass with no problem, if he has aluminum plugs use anti-seize lube on it or you never get them out again.

Yep, thinking if I wanted to go metal it would be brass, with a little rector seal or Teflon tape. Never had any problems with the plastic (think they are a type of nylon) plugs. Would be afraid of the possibility of cross threading with harder metals. On the old toon they were on top of the logs so can't say about the longevity of the ones on the bottom of the toon. Speaking of the old toon, there were small holes drilled through the plugs an I was told that was to prevent pressure build up with changes in temperature.
doc

Here is what I got from the local dealer (pic below), they are SS. I'm gonna wrap them with plumbers tape and put em in. Me and a few guys will take it out tonight, drink a few 30's and see if she holds water. I'll keep ya posted.

Never, ever use brass or anything else but stainless...trust me. Some dumb ass used brass hardware on my old Starcraft and that was the reason why there were holes in the transom. He used brass hardware to install the transducer bracket and the hull was swiss cheese behind it. Aluminum plug would go in and never come back and plastic gets brittle fast.