Skin the bottom

[Thummper3]

Finally got the nerve up to tackle "skinning out the bottom of my toon". I done this over the July 4th weekend. Still have to fab up some end caps for the front where the aluminum starts. But all in all...I think it's a pretty damn good job for a Truck Driver!!!

[Snider4]

Looks good, do you hire out?

How big is your merc and how much did it improve your ride??

[dockholiday]

Looking good.............

[Thummper3]

Looks good, do you hire out?

How big is your merc and how much did it improve your ride??

Sorry NOT 4 HIRE! Not enough beer to do this again. I had my 115 Merc put on the boat when I bought her.

[KenR]

Really good looking job. How thick was your skinning material?

KenR

[badmoonrising]

Nice job, something I've been meaning to do to the PC. Jim, our friend from PDB did his and he says there's a very noticable improvement in performance after underskinning.

[oldmn19]

I don't know, see lots of wrinkles, LOL, just kidding, looks damn fine, for a truck driver, or anybody else!
Let us know what improvement you notice when you get it wet again. What gauge was it?

[jim454]

I imagine skinning really helps in performance if you're riding low in choppy water.

Keep us posted on the changes it made.

[mikeherb]

Looks great.

How thick was the aluminum and where did you buy it?

[mrmjbenn]

Wow, looks really great. I'm really new to pontoons, what will this do for you, will it help with cruising? will it save the platform?

[MrGadget]

What will this do?

Your pontoons drive water up against all the surfaces under the boat. Any vertical surfaces that the water hits (for example cross members) receives opposing force from that, effectively pushing back on these surfaces, resulting in drag. Skinning covers all the cross members so the drag effect is removed or substantially reduced. Also, the aluminum layer adds structural strength to the whole boat, less twisting or torquing when going over waves and wakes, so that should translate into longer boat life in general.

It's hard to see from the pics, but generally the sheets are put on back to front, overlapping them where they meet at the edges under a cross member so water isn't driven between the edges. You don't want to weld them, but screw or bolt them to the cross members as was done here, so if water does get up in there it can drain.

Nice Job!

[Thummper3]

Thanks all, I am taking her out this weekend and will let you know if there is any difference. Before I could feel the wake hitting the bottom of the floor and floor joists. The alum. is 16 gauge, and I got it from a metal fab shop here in town. I bought 2 sheets 4x10 at $93 a sheet and 1 sheet 4x8 and had them bend it for the corners and that was $80.50 for that.
Tax and all $335.00 .....not including the beer!!!!!

[Thummper3]

What will this do?

Your pontoons drive water up against all the surfaces under the boat. Any vertical surfaces that the water hits (for example cross members) receives opposing force from that, effectively pushing back on these surfaces, resulting in drag. Skinning covers all the cross members so the drag effect is removed or substantially reduced. Also, the aluminum layer adds structural strength to the whole boat, less twisting or torquing when going over waves and wakes, so that should translate into longer boat life in general.

It's hard to see from the pics, but generally the sheets are put on back to front, overlapping them where they meet at the edges under a cross member so water isn't driven between the edges. You don't want to weld them, but screw or bolt them to the cross members as was done here, so if water does get up in there it can drain.

Nice Job!

I couldn't have said it any better!!!!! But I didn't overlap, I butted them together

[crankshop1000]

I did my 20 foot Sweetwater last year and it was well worth the effort. I used light gauge galvanized steel from a local heating and cooling shop.I figured the crossmembers were galvanized steel anyways, so galvanized being a lot cheaper as well as a lot stronger was my choice. I have not seen any rust forming and do not have a noise problem either. So galvanized is an option to consider. Chuck.

[Thummper3]

I used alum. on the bottom of mine, as the framework is alum. I also put a thin strip of foam gasket dowm each floor joist before I installed the alum. so that the sheets would not vibrated on the joists. Haven't been in the water yet, Hope my idea keeps the noise down. She will get wet this weekend at Robinson Lake.