Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hi Folks,
Only my second year on the water. So be gentle with me. Bought a second hand boat and had a new carpet and all the upholstery done. Well happy with the job that was done.
So I think I have water in my tubes, reason being the boat is slightly leaning to one side, port side as you look at it head on, also it seems to sit low in the water compared to all the other toons around. Hopefully the pictures will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.
I had a feel under the tubes whilst in the water the other day to see if I could feel any drain plugs, but no joy.
The boat is a Starcraft, Stardeck 200, year of manufacture 2000.

So questions are
1. Do all tubes have drain plugs?
2. What should my next steps be to determine if I do have water in the tubes and if so how do I get rid of it?

The boat runs ok on WOT with two people but struggles with six or more, it's a 50HP Yamaha.

Any help greatly appreciated.

looks normal to me they often lean a bit to one side due to how its loaded and low in the back also

Hi Eddie

Ahoy! I dock in Brookfield CT. If it sits low might be you only have 23" tubes.
Most toons today are 25" and 27"

Looks ok to me too. Nice Toon.

Nice Dock too, lots of room between boats.

I agree, doesn't look to low, but also probably does have 23" tubes or possibly smaller. looks like a little less beam than the boats near, maybe 7 /12 or 8' which would lend to a smaller tube so it will sit lower.

Hi Guys,
Thanks so much for the opinions. Never gave the length of tubes a thought, makes sense the boat is 20ft, so guess the tubes will be 23ft. Also it's 8ft wide and only noticed the beam is smaller than the adjacent boats, thanks Ron NH for pointing that out.
Ddancers, might catch you on the Lake
Thanks again guys

Eddie, They're talking "Diameter" as in 23 inches dia., 25 inch or 27 inch diameter of the tubes.

Larger diameter tubes = more buoyancy.

Then load has something to do with the way a boat will sit. Low on one side or another, low in the rear due to the motor and fuel tanks and batteries for example.

My logs are "U" shaped and are 23" x 25" just as an example.

As for water in your logs, mine for example are "Foam Filled".

Looking at your pics, the boat on the right hand side of the picture has logs that appear much larger than yours, thus it sits higher in the water due to the displacement difference.


And, a 50 hp motor with 6-8 people on board will 'dog' quite a bit more than with one or two people on board.

So that issue is probably due to the size, or lack thereof of your motor.

Size really is important when it comes to length, girth, and horsepower.

Can you get her on a trailer? If so, load her up and pull forward then hit the brakes while someone is near the toons to listen for water moving around in there. You'll heaer it if it's there. BTW the toons have plugs on the top side of each chamber for pressure testing. You can rig a fitting to them and give her just a few pounds of air pressure and listen for a leak while in the birth.

NonHyphenAmerican wrote:Eddie, They're talking "Diameter" as in 23 inches dia., 25 inch or 27 inch diameter of the tubes.

Larger diameter tubes = more buoyancy.

Then load has something to do with the way a boat will sit. Low on one side or another, low in the rear due to the motor and fuel tanks and batteries for example.

My logs are "U" shaped and are 23" x 25" just as an example.

As for water in your logs, mine for example are "Foam Filled".

Looking at your pics, the boat on the right hand side of the picture has logs that appear much larger than yours, thus it sits higher in the water due to the displacement difference.


And, a 50 hp motor with 6-8 people on board will 'dog' quite a bit more than with one or two people on board.

So that issue is probably due to the size, or lack thereof of your motor.

Size really is important when it comes to length, girth, and horsepower.

Thanks for the clarification , diameter that makes even more sense.

grouser wrote:Can you get her on a trailer? If so, load her up and pull forward then hit the brakes while someone is near the toons to listen for water moving around in there. You'll heaer it if it's there. BTW the toons have plugs on the top side of each chamber for pressure testing. You can rig a fitting to them and give her just a few pounds of air pressure and listen for a leak while in the birth.

I could get the boat on the trailer, only live a mile from the lake. May try that next week, time permitting.
Going on the lake today, so I'll have a look for the plugs and see how accessible they are while on the dock.
In terms of the chambers, I'm guessing they are individually sealed? That would maybe explain why there are no drain plugs?

How big is your fuel tank and where is it located?

Not sure of fuel tank size, I'm guessing approximately 25 gallons. It's located on the starboard side at the rear as you look at the boat from the front. The boat is slightly down on the port side.

Eddie O'Neill wrote:Hi Guys,
Thanks so much for the opinions. Never gave the length of tubes a thought, makes sense the boat is 20ft, so guess the tubes will be 23ft. Also it's 8ft wide and only noticed the beam is smaller than the adjacent boats, thanks Ron NH for pointing that out.
Ddancers, might catch you on the Lake
Thanks again guys

Eddie - Likely cross paths sooner or later.
My toons name is Family Tides, if I spot you I'll give you a Yell!

I made a squeeze bulb siphon to get the water out of my toons through the plugs in the top. I used a little diluted detergent in a spray bottle to check for leaks with a couple pounds of air it made lots of bubbles as you can see in my rebuild thread. I had several holes where the welds were on the top of the logs. This is dangerous because if you get a hole in the bottom it will let all the air out the top and the toons will fill from the bottom.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=21250

Just an FYI note:

Starboard and Port always refer to the sides of a boat/ship as viewed from the helm facing forward.


So regardless of which direction you're looking at the boat from, bow or stern view, Port & Starboard remain the same.

Port is the left side, Starboard is the right side.

NonHyphenAmerican wrote:Just an FYI note:

Starboard and Port always refer to the sides of a boat/ship as viewed from the helm facing forward.


So regardless of which direction you're looking at the boat from, bow or stern view, Port & Starboard remain the same.

Port is the left side, Starboard is the right side.

Yes, and easy way to remember which is which left, and port have same number of letters so they are matched up so to speak.