Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I want to underskin my tritoon. However I have some concerns/questions. Tritoon does not have a lot of exposed underneath area, however it definitely gets "grabbed" by the waves..

I boat in salt water, and I am afraid of sealing up the underneath, to the point that I won't be able to flush the salt away after boating. I know salt water will find its way through the underskinning. Thus I was thinking that just skinning the majority of the exposed beams between the toons, but leaving say a inch or so from each side, then I could still have some area to be able to get a hose in for flushing. I would think that this would stop most of the wave/crossmember interaction. Albeit not the perfect solution.

I know I could install skin with screws and remove them from time to time, but this is alot of added work I do not really want.

What does anyone think???? I am just paranoid

I think your concerns are justified. Here is an idea I thought of once. Run a 1/2 hose or pvc down the center of each bay and install spray nozzles between each crossmember with a garden hose fitting at each end. Skin over that. when you are done in salt water just attach you garden hose and let the spray heads do the work. I thought of using the small spray heads used for irrigation lines.

I think your idea sounds good to me and see no reason why it won't work.

Even with the skin on you'll be able to get a hose in from the side, between the deck and the tubes.

See what kind of stainless sheet metal screws you can purchase in bulk at a fastner place like Fastenal. (Forget Home Depot or Lowes.) Rivets would be nice, but it's hard holding up sheeting while drilling holes--so you can use the rivet gun. And it takes twice as many rivets as screws to do the same job.

Go to a boat dealership and look at how factories have installed their sheeting. Since the middle toon was added, you shouldn't have to buy too much sheet aluminum. I'd also use the same thickness as manufacturers use.

The above suggestions are also good as how to flush out the cavities.

cwag911 wrote:Even with the skin on you'll be able to get a hose in from the side, between the deck and the tubes.

There is no way on mine to get in from the side as the uprights on the tubes are solid one piece the whole length of the tubes.

NH Tooner wrote:I think your concerns are justified. Here is an idea I thought of once. Run a 1/2 hose or pvc down the center of each bay and install spray nozzles between each crossmember with a garden hose fitting at each end. Skin over that. when you are done in salt water just attach you garden hose and let the spray heads do the work. I thought of using the small spray heads used for irrigation lines.

Do you mean from side to side???

Not much to add, mostly just following along. However here is a picture of the bottom of a tri-toon Sun Tracker that I took a couple weeks ago. I had more but somehow 'lost' the phone that I took them with.. (I left it on the front deck of the pontoon as I drove down the highway.... ) If you click on these youc an see more 'full sized' pictures (I guess I was smrt enough to upload them to Photobucket before losing my phone!)









From what I've read on here, I see many fewer rivets than the 'do it yourself guys' are using..
-ron

Can you cut a hole in the underskinning, between stringers, big enough to get a spray head into and spray around 360 degree's, then just cut a square plate to cover the hole and use 4 aluminum (soft) rivets to hold the covers in place. Then you can just drill 3 rivets out, slide the plate around and rinse. Slide the plate back over the hole and re-rivet.
Just a thought???

Mine has about an inch down both sides and seems to work fine.... just sayin

rbiederwolf wrote:

NH Tooner wrote:I think your concerns are justified. Here is an idea I thought of once. Run a 1/2 hose or pvc down the center of each bay and install spray nozzles between each crossmember with a garden hose fitting at each end. Skin over that. when you are done in salt water just attach you garden hose and let the spray heads do the work. I thought of using the small spray heads used for irrigation lines.

Do you mean from side to side???

I would run 2 hoses down the center front to back between the toons. Might run one on each of the outer sides too..

Bryden24shp wrote:Can you cut a hole in the underskinning, between stringers, big enough to get a spray head into and spray around 360 degree's, then just cut a square plate to cover the hole and use 4 aluminum (soft) rivets to hold the covers in place. Then you can just drill 3 rivets out, slide the plate around and rinse. Slide the plate back over the hole and re-rivet.
Just a thought???

I not sure but I'm thinking he is looking for a way to clean it quite ofter.