how is the best way to get lift

[rlcrews]

i have already been warned by someone not to mention a certain product by name or the developer of that concept . i am sure someone here has already read between the line on that . so that being said what do the pros here suggest i do to get more lift from the boat i have now .
i have a 80 something playcraft with u tubes , 24 foot , the toons has a very dense foam i find very hard to penetrate with a rod i can stick thru the back of the toons ( i did this from fear of the foam being soaked with water )

i read here in places about something call strakes .

please give me some websites to look at . thanks

[HandymanHerb]

Welcome, You can say tap fins if you want, but strakes seem to be the only way to lift the toons out of the water, but then if you have an 80's model your pontoons may be on the small side, size makes a differance to pontoons, 23 inch DIA will have more floatation than 19 inch tubes.

[Shopguy]

Yeah and remember the talk about welding to toons with the foam in'em......I don't really . Can you do that?

[Texoma Toon]

I would add underskinning to your toon if you haven't already. How large is the motor on your toon? You can search the forum and find several guys that have added underskining and the results.

[margaritaman]

Welding on pontoons filled with foam? I don't know about that!

[HandymanHerb]

Welding on pontoons filled with foam? I don't know about that!

Puts off some real nice gases you wouldn't like

[lakerunner]

Voyager welded my friends logs and they have foam

[The_Hellbilly]

Welding on pontoons filled with foam? I don't know about that!

Wasn't even the slightest concern when I had a leak welded up.

To the OP, I recommend you talk to Playcraft about the foam. The foam used now is "closed cell" meaning it won't absorb water and gives the logs more structural integrity and bouyancy if you get a leak, but I don't know about the foam in logs that old.

If you want pics of strakes let me know. I posted a bunch of mine awhile back

[Bamaman]

I too have an old pontoon boat (Starcraft) with the U Shaped foam filled toons. I believe U shaped toons may be made of slightly thinner aluminum, and I wouldn't suggest you go about welding angle metal the whole length of your boat.

Sometimes we have to be satisfied with what boat we have, because they all have limitations one kind of another. I would be hesitant to spend too much on an older pontoon boat.

[ToonGuy]

Strakes are not continously welded, so a competent welder can stitch weld them on with out igniting the foam. Still, if you have the old 19" wide U logs you are getting the horse in front of the cart. You need flotation as well, you migt be better off adding a 3rd log/underskinning or selling it buying what you want/need that's ready to go.