Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

My toons expand and contract significantly with temperature changes much like a sealed gas can that moves from hot to cold environments and vise versa. When this happens, one of the toons "dents" inward (cold) or outward (hot), making a very loud "boom". My boat sits in the water about 200 feet from my house, and I can hear it from within my house (doors and windows closed) when the temperature drops at night. It's really annoying, and it's starting to tick off my neighbors.

Has anyone experienced this before, and, is there anything I can do to fix this?

I'm in the process of refurbishing the boat and have the thing stripped down to just the toons and the cross-members. I figure now is as good of a time to address this than any. Is there such thing as a water-tight pressure relief valve I could install on the top of the toons?

It's a 1988 JC 820

My last U log toon had a tube on top side I was kinda like a laying down S. It kept the pressure equal.

I had the same problem with my toon and it made loud bangs sitting in my driveway. I solved the problem by keeping low air pressure of 2psi on the tubes in the winter and released the air in the hot months.

All pontoons will experience some canning effect in general but mostly it's usually not an issue. Your case though isn't what I'd call typical in circumstance. With the strong spring sun and leafless trees the sun has the entire pontoons to work upon to transfer it's energy upon. Once the trees come out in leaf or you get the deck installed the canning will become a lot less extreme. In the meantime if you're pontoons have drain plugs installed try loosing them up or removing them until it's ready to hit the water. Anyway it looks like a good project and please share your progress with us.

I'm glad to see this subject brought up for discussion as I have the same problem with my "U" shaped logs. I've pressured tested them & have no leaks anywhere so I've just learned to live with it.

When I bought my Manny, you could see the nosecone on the center tube oil can. It would suck in and out and "POP". I was on the beach one day when it was really doing it. I called Greg@manitou on my cell phone and told him what was going on and then put the phone to the nosecone, he heard it! We went to work on the Barracuda design and a few weeks later the boat was taken to the factory, all 3 toons were replaced and tested. Very happy and they are still being put on all the SHP's. The VP is the old style nosecone with a re-inforcement bar welded to the outside to keep the nosecone in shape. Each pontoon section is built with a air inlet and pressure gauge thread, they do pressure and vacuum tests on every pontoon section before they are welded together, then they are pressurized for the final time and sealed. To this day I have not heard of any problems with this from Manitou. I think being completely "round cylinder shaped" makes a difference in the integrity, also. The design of the U shape logs are more prone to it.
Premier uses a system of "Breathers and vents" running on top of the pontoon sections to keep the pressure equal. But the nosecone is flat and bulky and the center pontoon is U-shaped, I could see them oil canning, but have not witnessed it yet. Not real sure of any others, I know Manitou like the back of my hand, since I was with them for 5 years, but I have not really torn into the Premier. The PTX was proven years ago, where the SHP was a brand new design in 06 with the old style nosecones, its still in service is now called the VP and Barracudas were designed for mine and used on all SHP's, since 2007.

My JC (with U shaped toons) does it quite often. It is pretty loud at times, but it doesn't bother me. Bout time to hit the water !

Thanks for the replies, all. Glad to hear that I'm not the only one experiencing this issue, and that it doesn't necessarily mean that something is wrong with my toons.

I think I'll take the advice of removing the drain plugs until it's time to put her back in the water.

My logs on my riviera cruiser have 2 plugs in the top that have a very small maybe 1/16th" hole drilled into the plugs. Even my center that I added ( no clue on the brand) has the same thing. They are small holes but enough to let the logs breath so to speak.

RiverLiver wrote:Thanks for the replies, all. Glad to hear that I'm not the only one experiencing this issue, and that it doesn't necessarily mean that something is wrong with my toons.

I think I'll take the advice of removing the drain plugs until it's time to put her back in the water.

just remember to put them back in before putting it in the water...

My boat is on a lift under cover, but does get some morning and late afternoon sun. I've never heard that sound and I'm less than a 100' from the boat.