Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I've been researching now for a couple weeks on adding a toon to my 06 20' Odyssey with an 06 90 Merc 4s with 23" logs. My goals are: getting it to sit higher in the water and an increase in speed.

I'd like to add a center toon with a transom built into it. From my research it seems that building a transom into the center toon is more preferable than a pony log placed up front. I'd also like to try to add lifting strakes on this center toon. I have a good friend that fabricates aluminum/stainless/steel for a living and does beautiful work.

After beefing up the transom with the new center toon, i'd like to send my ECU from my 90 Merc. to Simon Motorsports to have him flash it to his 115-120hp tune. From my research the Mercury 90 and 115 4s are the same with the exception of the ECU and the gear ratio and Simon said it does not hurt reliability at all.

What i'm doing currently is trying to locate a toon that i can build off of. I've found a 19.5' toon but it is 'U' shaped: 19" wide and 21" tall. The price is right on this toon, but i'm not sure about the width. It's also in great condition. Will lifting strakes on these toons provide enough lift, or should i keep looking for a larger toon? I also plan to underskin my underside after the addition of the toon.

The last thing i'll need to do is find a prop. I'm currently running a 13 1/4"x13 4 blade on my pontoon and i hit 25mph gps at 58-5900rpm. I tested a bunch between different pitches and 3/4 blade and settled on the 4 because it hooked up so well and accelerated great. Now i'll be starting over since i'll hopefully get on plane, will be adding more power, and my max rpm range will now be 5800-6400. What would be a good starting place? 15 pitch 3 blade/4 blade? 17 pitch? It may just be a bunch of trial and error.

Just looking for some advice/opinions here guys. Feel free to chime in if you think i'm going in the wrong direction. Thanks

Derrick

I don't think the "u" shaped log is the way to go. I'm pretty sure they are foam filled and tough to weld on and it won't match (it's gotta look good too). I know some others will chime in wit places to find a log. As far as a prop is concerned, wait till you do your mods and see where you are with what you have. IMHO if you do too many things at once, you'll get confused. At least I would. If anything you would want the center tube to be larger than the outer tubes.

Where you located? MO has two log dealers?

I'm in central NC. There's a place about 4 hours from me in SC that makes great looking new toons with the transoms made into them, but that's more money than i'm wanting to spend.

My only hope for the 19x21" toon would have been to space it down to the same depth of my other tunes and add strakes, but if you guys don't think that will work i'll keep looking.

Most of the individual toon's around are going to be 25" toons unless you have one made.

The best sources of single toons are Great Lakes Skipper in Racine, WI , 90 miles north of Chicago and T&M Marine, north of Minneapolis. Finding single toons in the Southeast may be expensive. U toons and round toons don't need to be on the same boat--for resale value.

If you're already getting 25 mph out of a 90 hp, 23" toon'd boat, it's running at optimum levels. Many 115 hp boats won't hardly run that.

Unless you need substantially more weight carrying capacity, I would suggest you and your welder friend go to some dealerships and take measurements of lifting strakes inside and outside of your current toons. Getting the nosecone out of the water is the trick to getting more speed. Then, see how your boat performs.

If you still need a little more oomph, then see about an ECU reflash.

Sometimes you've got to accept the limitations of a boat. Adding a 3rd toon to a 23" boat would be more of a job than I'd want to tackle. If the boat is not meeting your needs, sometimes it's best to put the boat on the retail market and replace it with something more substantial.

Thanks for the reply Bamaman. Trying strakes on my current setup has crossed my mind as well. I've been studying those as much as the tritoon option. I did find a 20' 23" tube, but cannot get an email response so it may be gone.

The reason i thought tritoon was because i was unsure if i would have enough surface area with my 2 23" toons to create enough lift to get my nose cone up with only strakes.

I would look for a 25" tube, with it mounted between the 23's, you would be into a SHP design. I think you would love the performance you would get, and turning? Wow....
Thats how I would go!
As far as the prop, you are right on the trial and error! But if your Merc is RH rotation, you should have plenty of buddies to grab a prop and try. As far as the ECU, I'ld try to find a 115-120 ECU from a junk motor to try. It would be cheaper than having Eric Reflash yours. He did mine, no complaints... But no used 300's were to be found for my Verado.
Good Luck and keep us posted!

DRock wrote:I'm in central NC.

Where in NC?

Bryden24shp wrote:I would look for a 25" tube, with it mounted between the 23's, you would be into a SHP design. I think you would love the performance you would get, and turning? Wow....
Thats how I would go!
As far as the prop, you are right on the trial and error! But if your Merc is RH rotation, you should have plenty of buddies to grab a prop and try. As far as the ECU, I'ld try to find a 115-120 ECU from a junk motor to try. It would be cheaper than having Eric Reflash yours. He did mine, no complaints... But no used 300's were to be found for my Verado.
Good Luck and keep us posted!

I thought the same about having a larger center toon. Even if i had a 23" toon i had thought about dropping it an inch lower than the other two. I've been on the lookout for a used ECU out of a blown 115 but have had no luck. I will continue to look, but on the plus side $650 for a flash is easily half the price of a new ECU.

If i decided to go through with 3 toons i'll probably try strakes on just the center at first, and if i need/desire more lift strake the inside of the other toons.

cwag911 wrote:

DRock wrote:I'm in central NC.

Where in NC?

I'm in the Durham/Raleigh area. I take the pontoon and fifth wheel to Jordan lake for 3 day weekends usually.

Remember that you'll be adding a significant additional amount of drag with that third log... I don't think you'll gain any speed - even by bumping the motor up. My .02 cents.

Since he will be turning his displacement hull into a planing hull, it should pick up speed, handle waves a lot better, and see better fuel economy, even with the stock 90. I really don't think he will notice a ton of difference with the extra 30 from the SMS ECU, but he will see some more R's and be able to pitch up. Should be a fun project, too!

Well i thought i had good news. Found a 20' 23" toon for a decent price. Lined up everything to go get it tomorrow and my wife is livid with me...... Probably because we're getting ready to possibly get another house............even though it's some of my cash "play money". .....oh the joys of being married

We'll have to see how this goes, i may have to end up doing just strakes on what i have