Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

If anyone is thinking of purchasing Wilson replacement pontoons, contact me first. There are lots of reasons why not to buy these.

Well post them here so we all know, were not hiding anything here, and if we can save one person from making a mistake all the better.

So post problems and pictures if you have them,

thanks Herb

Yep, you cant hurt anyones feelings so just post the problem! Thats why this board was created, no corporate bs!

Well here we go,

Plastic Pontoons cannot work from a purely scientific point of view. Since you will be making the pontoons out of plastic and the mounting rails of aluminum ; there will be a difference in the expansion coefficient for the different mterials. This is only one of the premises for why these toons are not a good solution for replacing punctured or worn out toons.

This basic principle is remedied by drilling oval holes in the aluminm "L" to compensate for the expansion. This oval hole contributes to a stability problem and extreme flexing of the whole structure when riding the pontoon in rough water.

Since the pontoons come in sections, the flexing problem is increased because the locking of the pontoons lets the front sections enables the front sections (each from the one behind it) to move up but not down past horizontal. I have tried to remedy this by increasing weight on the front sections, but the flexing up and down in choppy water is still unacceptable. When in choppy water, your front end can move up 6-8" and the next section not move. This whole time you are flexing your aluminum rails and the boat is unstable. This is not a pretty sight.

Let me go on further, the plastic toons have holes in the sides of them. Aluminum "L" section(as recommended by the manufacturer Wilson) is mounted to the plastic so that the aluminum crossmembers have a surface to bolt to. On hot days, the mounting bolts will be at the inner sides of the slightly oval mounting holes. On cold days, the bolts are on the outer sides of the oval holes. On a small scale, thermal expansion is flexing the bolts and also pulling on the inserts in the plastic pontoons.

There were some issues with the plugs. If the plugs are where a crossmember needs to be, you will be figuring out a way to plug the hole wil a pvc item not supplies by Wilson. I went to the local Home Chepot and got a flush mounted pvc plug and it worked. Since most every toon that I saw used the same longwise rails to mount then crossmembers, I am unsure how everyone didnt run into similar problems like I did.

There are some parts of the assembling that were a little distinct with my application. I asked the manufacturer and was told all of my solutions were acceptable. Since my toon was 32', I couldnt get aluminum channel in 32' sections. I got 24' sections and then made sure to put the seams on different places of the middle pontoon as far as possible with a couple bolt holes holding the "L" to the toon.

Blocking is another nightmare. Due ot the size, these are impossible to just put on the ground with a center lift winch up type of pontoon trailer. To put these types of toons on the ground, the ground needs to be perfectly flat as recommended by the pontoon manufacturer. This is probably because the plastic will get a memory effect if blocked and the toons will weaken from the effect. I could accept that. To properly block one of these when using a center lift trailer, about 30 cinder blocks are needed. This way you are supporting each section with at least four blocks. If you do not do this, you can actually see the pontoon sections distort. After a while I am sure the distortion would lead to weakened toons.

These toons do provide unbelievable lift. They are heavier than aluminum or fiberglass toons, but since they are wider than all other manufactued toons, the lift if greater so you will not notice a speed difference under plane. You will however almost get airsick from the front end flexing.

I can provide pictures if anyone would like to see them.

Very interesting.. I learned something...

Wow, thanks for sharing!!

Pretty costly $4,000 mistake. We were trying to make the boat longer by four feet and should have stuck to aluminum.

Here are some shots, I need to get close ups to show the mounting of them but here are some references...

Here are some pics of what I described...

I appriciate the info. Question: Do you think that such issues/ problems occured more drastic (ly) due to the length of your toon (32') vs. say a smaller one (20'-24')?

I am new and a member sent me this post just now based on a question I posted. Have you changed your mind at all? Even though issues obviously occured was it/is it now (with your tweaks) worth it? Any other problems or advice?

Thanks. TOA

My toon was originally 28 feet, so I only added 4'. It is a little problematic turning it around in tight corners, more so than when it was 28.

I still have the pontoon and I still use it at least once a week during season.

There is a definite issue with the toon in rough water. I only take it out when the waterway is like glass. If you think about it, hitting a big wave from the front can cause the whole pontoon to break into sections from the locking design. You can definitely see the toon flex when you hit a big wave. More so than a fiberglass or aluminum pontoon.

For what I use the pontoon for, I love it. I have too much money in this to think of getting another one. I have a 4 stroke 125 Yamaha and new controls. LED lights and this year I put a cover on it (2 sections).

For the money, I would look for a 28' fiberglass pontoon and strip it and work with that.


Good luck with your boating experience.

Just noticed Rickdb1 deleted all of his posts at the same time he was screaming at us for deleting ours at PDB.

noticed that to