Is log cleaning nessessary?

[Richard]

I want to get a pontoon, but am hesitating because of all the treads about sanding and acid washing, etc..
We would be on inland lake in Florida. Have a choice of keeping pontoon on trailer or is slip. I don't think I care if it is a shinny toon, but it probably needs to be kept smooth clean.
What is the minimum that I will have to do to maintain the toons?

[jimrs]

If all you do is boat during the weekend then cleaning the toon is a lot less important. Most of the crud that builds up is from a very dirty lake and when the boat sits in the water for weeks. I had a toon on a lake in texas and never had to clean the toons with anything but soap and water. The lake I'm on now after a long two days there is a scumline.

I buy the toonbrite cleaner and use as directed at the end of the summer and its not a big deal. It just makes it easier to clean off the crud. It is an acid but not like something that would eat everything it touches. It will kill grass under the boat if you do it in the yard. The worst part of owning a toon is all the upholstry you will have to clean. there is a lot of that and the mildew is worse than the crud from the water.

Just buy one and enjoy it, it makes it easier if your wife will help you clean. If not it is just a day and it's done and then you can enjoy your toon.

[lakerunner]

If you keep it on a trailer then just clean the logs with what ever you clean the boat with. If you keep it slipped then you might want to annually pressure was logs. You don't have to do anything if you wish not to.

[HandymanHerb]

I keep mine on the trailer in Florida and just wipe them down if I leave it in the water a few days, you have more trouble keeping the furniture area clean.

[scfishnman]

Mine has been in the water for three years (only taken out for oil changes and then put right back in). A thin layer of crud has built up on the pontoons. It takes a few MPH of the top end speed but not enough to bother me yet. In our lake it only takes a few days for the crud ring to develop but it apparently never builds up too much.

[mike]

I trailer mine and never have had to clean mine yet! I may try to polish them next spring just for the bling factor...

[JohnO]

I had mine in a slip all summer. Took it out of the water yesterday. Had some growth on the back end but minimal anywhere else (it's a covered slip so only the backend gets any real sunlight).


Get yourself a few scotchbrite type pads and when you are swimming give the tubes a good scrub down. I can do all three tubes a very thorough scrub down in about 30 minutes or less. Of course this is divided between all the swimming we do for the day so it's not drudgery at all. I figure if I'm going to be in the water anyway I may as well pass teh pad over the tubes.

I figure a short session with a scrub brush or power washer will remove the stuff that's on there now.

So while some cleaning is needed it's not a big issue at all.

[mikeherb]

Mine is in a slip all summer for 5 months or so. I used to pull it out mid-year and clean the toons, but now I just wipe the toons down with a rag while I'm out swimming. I can do this once a month or so and the toons are clean except for a small scum line at water level.

I don't worry about the scum line until spring when I spray on wheel spoke cleaner or coil cleaner (acid), let it sit for 2 minutes, then power wash the toons. Takes no time and is very little maintenance.