Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I have a 20' and the trailer has the two full length "V"s where the pontoons rest. Is this a drive on trailer or a float on? I figure it's better to ask here than get out on the ramp and mess up and look like a smacked ass. Thanks for your help.

That would be a drive-on. Back it in till 2/3 of the bunks are in the water. Then slowly run the boat up the bunks. When you get good at it you can EASE your way up the bunks with the motor. If you're not comfortable with that, just slowly power onto the bunks til you are straight, then use your winch to pull it the rest of the way.

Best to practice on a weekday when the ramp isn't busy. Then you can get a feel for it before you have a crowd watching you.

If you are loading in the windy conditions, you might want some bunk guides to help you out.

This goes a lot better if you have the upright guide ons in the back.

I can load by myself on a windy day with them.

I trailer is set right you can power all the way up with no need to winch.

ahhh, a question near and dear to my heart....when I first got my pontoon a little over a year ago, my biggest fear was launching and loading.... especially the loading part.... now, a year later, I don't freak out when it comes time to load up... One thing I found very helpful for me was adding a set of 48" trailer guides to my trailer... with the guides, I just kinda line up the boat so that i'm only a few inches inside the right guide and it seems to work more times than not...Once I start toward the trailer I just kinda bump my motor into gear from neutral to keep my momentum... normally once I'm about half way or better onto the trailer I give her a little juice and she glides right up to the stops... hook up the strap, trim up the motor and exit the launch.... One big thing I learned early on was don't get nervous just because there are boats waiting to load....like someone else mentioned, if you can go out during the middle of the week when the launches are less busy and get a few practice shots in......I was so frustrated at one point when I first started tooning that I was ready to chunk it all and sell it... but the boys on this forum told me to hang in there... follow thier guidelines and you'll be fine in no time at all...like anything else, the more you do it, the easier it will get.

Great poop guys. Thanks for the 411. I'm grabbing my brother this afternoon after work and take the Looney Tooner out for a couple practice loadings like you guys suggested. I definitely see a set of those guides in my future.

Best advice I can give.........EASY does it......
Don't get in a hurry and if you screw up just back up and try again.
You'll get the hang of it.

When I was 18, I was a mate on a head boat. I worked for a guy who was about 50 years my senior, and one day he decided to teach me how to dock a 70 foot head boat. He put me behind the wheel, said "there is the slip, don't go any faster than you want to crash into something". I've lived by these words, and have run boats all over the world now. One thing you will notice a lot of times when people are docking, launching or recovering a boat is once they get into a bad situation, they immediately think that a lot of throttle is going to make the situation better. Often times, just the opposite will be true. Good Luck at the ramp, and enjoy the toon!

I have found that backing the trailer all the way in to get all of the bunks wet then pulling out till about 3/4 of bunks are in the water works best for me. Practice Practice will do it, enjoy, have fun, don't sweat it.

oldmn19 wrote:I have found that backing the trailer all the way in to get all of the bunks wet then pulling out till about 3/4 of bunks are in the water works best for me. Practice Practice will do it, enjoy, have fun, don't sweat it.

+1........ a little lube never hurts

The_Hellbilly wrote:

oldmn19 wrote:I have found that backing the trailer all the way in to get all of the bunks wet then pulling out till about 3/4 of bunks are in the water works best for me. Practice Practice will do it, enjoy, have fun, don't sweat it.

+1........ a little lube never hurts

That's what she said.

Reading all of this makes me thankful my wife can't back a trailer, but she can sure load our toon, wind or no wind. I've never tried and I don't care if I ever do. When I had carpeted bunks I always dunked them first and them left 2/3 in the water. The plastic bunk caps have made loading that much easier.

yep, if you power on a bit you dont have the toon sliding back from the front like you do if you float it on!

it both.........just depends on how deep your trailer is
doc

Just be aware some ramp owners will kick you out and bar you for power loading. It is tough on the end of the ramp. Make sure it is OK before you do it on a strange ramp.