Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Beginning of 2015 season had my toons sandblasted, two coats of epoxy and two coats of ablative. I take excellent care of my pontoon .... never had a leak. Since I had the preventive maintainance work done I have a pinhole leak. I filled the toon with water and found no sepage whatsoever. I had three pounds of air pressure pumped in the toon and when I turn the compressor off I hear air escaping out of the top. My pontoons are are U shaped with a flat sheet of aluminum welded to the top. I am figuring I have a hairline crack along the top of the toon. The deck is bolted to the top of the toon and I only have a two inch opening. I cannot see the top of the toon at all. I get about 4 to 5 gallons of water in the toon over a six week period. The water must splash in when I am fishing. If I could flood the top of the toon with some sort of liquid it just might stop the leak. The boat is 19 years old and I would like it to last 2 or 3 more years. I would like to not have to remove the toon if at all possible. All suggestions appreciated.

Something like this could work but you would have to tilt the whole boat around at various angles to distribute the coating inside the toon which would be very difficult.

http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Fuel-Tank-Sealer_p_64.html

I have no first hand experience but I am thinking the log is going to have to come off. The issue is that a small crack is not going to go away and will require some sort of structural help to stay closed (weld, epoxy, etc.). Otherwise it will just keep opening up.

Try the air pressure and use soapy water in a spray bottle around where you hear the leak. If you cannot see it with a flashlight and mirror a small camera might be able to take a picture of that leak. If it's a big opening you might have to take the pontoon out to repair it. I would not recommend any repairs untill you have evaluated exactly where the leak is and how big an opening you would have to repair.

Thank you all for the response.