Newbie Question - What is wind limit for Pontoons ?

[Oldboater]

I realize it depends on a lot of other factors, but what is the general wind limit (speed) after which you will not go out?

[Bamby]

Wind has never stopped me, but I think you may be really actually asking about the chop caused by the wind. And that varies with the actual water conditions. If the chop is apx. 2 ft. but spread out at some distance I'm still going boating, but if the same chops are piled on top of one another I'm staying at the marina myself.

[lakerunner]

Yes the waves are the biggie. We can have high winds but in many lake areas it is only a ripple. Thankfully we aren't stuck with one ramp. We have 5 within 5 miles of house.Now our main lake gets full blast of north and south wind. I have seen some pretty big waves but none the scared me from going. Learn how your boat takes then with least spray on passengers and you can get in through about anything.

[tooned-out]

I dont find the wind itself to be really bad , unless you are trying to anchor or put your boat in the slip.

[HandymanHerb]

I used it many times fishing, go to the up wind side and shut down and drift across with the wind, trouble is some time it's moving to fast, I was doing 4 MPH on the GPS with the engine and TM off one day in 10MPH wind.

[WaltF]

Weve had our Butts whipped once by the wind. Created 4 footers one day that freaked the crap right outta me. Came outta no where.... wind was prob 50 all the sudden. Took 2 or 3 over the front rail then sped off an hid in a cove.

Once the distance between waves becomes longer then the toon, instead of skipping over them, you end up diving into them. And they can hurt.

I stay in once its 20+

[ROLAND]

I stay in once its 20+

Same here... 20 mph winds and I'm fishing from the dock. I'm just not experienced enough with boating to take unnecessary chances.. hate the thought of trying to put her back on the trailer with a strong wind pushing me sideways.

[WaltF]

Ask BMR what happens when the weather gets crappy.. ;>

Here's a thread about it with some pics... no idea what he was doing taking pics while getting his butt whipped by 6 footers, but more power to him!! heh
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2214&p=13401&hilit= ... ugh#p13401

[GXPWeasel]

I don't have a lot of experience being out on a toon in the wind, because I've only owned a toon for about a year. Before that, we had ski boats, and if you could see white caps, we didn't go out. Too damn rough.

However, last August for my wifes birthday we went on the lake with a bunch of friends and their '74 mastercraft Stars and Stripes edition. After looking back at it, we shouldn't have been on the lake. Nobody else was, and the waves were approx 3ft. tall. Our toon handled it surprisingly well, but the mastercraft didn't like it. We found a cove, and just hung out all day, and drank the weekend's supply

I won't go out in crap like that again. Ended up busting both of the bimini straps ( I know, it should have never been up). I think the wind was 20-25 steady, with 35mph. gusts.

[badmoonrising]

Ask BMR what happens when the weather gets crappy.. ;>

Here's a thread about it with some pics... no idea what he was doing taking pics while getting his butt whipped by 6 footers, but more power to him!! heh
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2214&p=13401&hilit= ... ugh#p13401

We weren't worried, as long as I kept the PC headed into the wind, we'd remain upright

[onthelaketwo]

I had my toon out one day in wind..... soon I was in white caps.

It felt safe, but was not fun.

The waves came over the carpet, and ever thing was wet. I was soaked....

[Stephen]

I went out on the lake this weekend. It was my second trip out, and I only had two other inexperienced people with me. The wind was up to 20 mph with some possibly larger gusts.

I gotta be honest. I knew it was going to be windy, but I wanted to be out on the lake so bad that I went anyway. Once I was out there, I hated it. I finally went off into a cove and anchored out (pulling anchor my first time in that wind was brutal), allowing us to relax for a few hours and drink some beers and eat lunch. I didn't have any trouble trailering it, but the wind certainly didn't make it easy.

I will no longer be taking the toon out in that kind of wind. No matter how much I wanted to do it, it just wasn't fun trying to navigate through the waves.