Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hi folks. I’d like to start by thanking everyone on this forum for all their help over the last 7 years it has taken to build my boat. It’s still not quite finished but I was at least able to take her out on the water earlier this week for some testing.

It seems I now have an issue with the front not weighing enough. She has 60hp 1980 Evindrude pushing 27” pontoons on 16 feet. My nose is way to high in the air I think. With me at the drivers seat she went 8mph and when I walked up to the front she was pushing 12 mph. I weigh 350 so I’m a big boy and it looks like she could use even more that that in weight at the front. Short of stuffing lead bricks between the crossmembers at the front is there a good way to balance her out?

I should mention she doesn’t have much on her. Engine, battery, fuel at the back. 2 seats and my driver console about 1/3 of the way up and then empty deck except for the rails for the full front half.

WITH NOTHING UP FRONT ITS GONNA BEE HARD TO COUNTERBALANCE EVEYTHING IN REAR... (damn caps lock!) deck box with stuff in it... maybe move the battery up front.. not a lot more to offer sorry.

Thank you for the reply, sorry I didn’t respond earlier. I will try re arranging the things I can this spring (boat is currently under a couple feet of snow). Would it be reasonable to assume that a 60 hp motor(even a 1980 model) should be able to give me much better speed than the 8mph I was getting this fall? Motor runs well, has good compression, has correct spark jump and a rebuilt carb. I plan to check for spun hub once it’s warm enough to do so. Anything else I could check while waiting for boating season (mid May in my area).

I have the opposite problem - mine is too front heavy for any real speed. My old 25' boat has two 23" tubes, and is full of seating for 16 people. The nosecones continuously plow! If I cram 6-8 people all in the stern seats, the bow lifts up and I gain 8 MPH.