Adding a middle toon

[baypointrumrunner]

Hi,

I am new to the site and have been trying to find previous posts about people adding a 3rd toon to their existing pontoon, but i wasn't able to find much. if this has already been discussed please point me in the right direction.

I currently have a 24' starcraft w/ a 125 merc and we are at lake of the ozarks in missouri. for those of you that have not been there it gets very choppy at times and two log pontoons don't do so well unless you like getting wet. i have been looking into adding a 3rd toon to help, but i didn't know if it would be worth it or even possible with the setup i currently have. Any thoughts/suggestions would be helpful.

[solidhadriel]

Just curious, what size logs do you have? 23" diameters, 25" or 27"?

[Harvey]

I bought a old pontoon last November and took the one log and modify with a engine mount and mounted it in March on my 23.6 pontoon Added lifting strakes to all three logs. Installing sheeting under the decking now. Tryed to buy a 250 hp Mercury Verado today. Selling the E-Tec 115 hp with only 152 hours fresh water use only. Without engine on pontoon I place six hundred pounds on stern of pontoon, launch at ramp and the pontoon set level in the water. Lifted the stern 4 inches. Hope to have firm price from Jaco Marine tomorrow. That's all I can tell you. I read everything on the forums I could find last summer and fall to get ideas on doing this. Should know next month how things work. Fun project.

[baypointrumrunner]

I am not sure what the diameter of the logs are. I will be back at the lake next weekend and will find out.

When you say you are adding sheeting under the deck what exactly do you mean and what will that help with?

[ron nh]

underskin, probably the easiest/cheapest way to improve the ride, a little performance and efficiency. just stops the disturbed water from smacking against your cross beams.

[Bamaman]

I would suggest that you sell your boat and buy one with the third toon already installed. Slapping a third toon sounds like an easy proposition, but it's not as easy as that.

LOTO is a very demanding lake, and I'd hate you to take a nose dive through some of those massive swells those offshore racing boats throw out on weekends.

Life's just not worth worrying about a boat that's not been engineered.

And to the gentleman talking about putting a Verado on an older hull: Don't. It takes a very substantial toon boat to handle such a heavy powerplant.

[Bamaman]

I would suggest that you sell your boat and buy one with the third toon already installed. Slapping a third toon sounds like an easy proposition, but it's not as easy as that.

LOTO is a very demanding lake, and I'd hate you to take a nose dive through some of those massive swells those offshore racing boats throw out on weekends.

Life's just not worth worrying about a boat that's not been engineered.

And to the gentleman talking about putting a Verado on an older hull: Don't. It takes a very substantial toon boat to handle such a heavy powerplant.

[Capt. Dan]

I would suggest that you sell your boat and buy one with the third toon already installed. Slapping a third toon sounds like an easy proposition, but it's not as easy as that.

LOTO is a very demanding lake, and I'd hate you to take a nose dive through some of those massive swells those offshore racing boats throw out on weekends.

Life's just not worth worrying about a boat that's not been engineered.

And to the gentleman talking about putting a Verado on an older hull: Don't. It takes a very substantial toon boat to handle such a heavy powerplant.

FULLY concur!

[baypointrumrunner]

I thought I would get a response like that, but I thought I would ask just in case.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[baypointrumrunner]

I was just doing some quick searching and came across this tritoon. i am not to familiar with the JC brand, but it seemed like it was in good shape for the year and had good power. Any suggestions on what i should ask the seller, besides service records?

https://boatcrazy.com/boat-for-sale/200 ... 79-id78377

[Capt. Dan]

Someone else can answer with more particular knowledge of the boat, but I do know those Optimax engines were very solid, but also noisy, so you will want to test ride it to see if the noise level is comfortable for your use.

[ron nh]

Those toons are built as good as any,and better than most. I would be a little concerned if the motor is 16 years old, not to say it wont be fine, but if it dies and you need to replace you'll basically have a $40,000 16 year old boat.

[mpilot]

I was just doing some quick searching and came across this tritoon. i am not to familiar with the JC brand, but it seemed like it was in good shape for the year and had good power. Any suggestions on what i should ask the seller, besides service records?

https://boatcrazy.com/boat-for-sale/200 ... 79-id78377

JC's are good boats. They are the oldest tritoon and started in the 70's. It's a heavy but but probably one of the best rough water handling tritoons out there. If it's the classic, which it looks like it is, then the middle toon is a little different than your standard toon. It will be a little slower than other boats in that class of length and motor but it's hard to find a better riding tritoon in rough water. That's a pretty good price too. The max hp on the newer models is 300 on an outboard so you could always repower if you wanted a quieter motor or more hp.