Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I got 2 sample strakes this afternoon to play with angles and placement. They were initially bent at 45* and i hand bent them from there. One strake is 5" and the other 6". I took some pictures of them at different angles and wanted some opinions. Keep in mind that i'm going to be moving my bunks inward about an inch before i add the strakes.

I think the 5" strakes look more "at home". The 6" strakes will be sticking out a good amount past the tubes just waiting to snag the dock or the trailer upon loading. As for size/placement, i'm going off of Sylvan's strakes. Their strakes look to be about 5" as well and the placement would work with my trailer bunks. Here's a pic of their strakes:





Here are pictures of the 5" strakes:

Less angle


More angle (my favorite and IMO closest to the pics above)




6" strakes:

Less angle


More angle


You guys let me know what you feel would work best. More/less angle, up or down on the tube, etc. It will probably be a couple weeks before we get the final pieces bent and welded on so we've got some time to play with it. Thanks!

Since you've got a boat to go to school on, I'd suggest sticking with the size and angles of the Sylvan.

They look about right.

Bamaman wrote:Since you've got a boat to go to school on, I'd suggest sticking with the size and angles of the Sylvan.

They look about right.

I wish i had a boat to go to school on locally! I have a Sylvan/Sunchaser dealer about 15 minutes from me but none of the Sylvan or Sunchaser's have strakes. A couple of the Sylvans have the rpt tubes but that doesn't help me any. The same dealer has Encore's but they have the small 2-3" strakes.

Another dealer has Benningtons but the only ones with strakes are triple toons. Here are the pics of took of them on the outside toons:







Here's another pic of my 5" strakes with a pinch more angle, similar to the Bennington's:



My last "mock up" will be with 5.5" strakes. I took measurements of the Bennington strakes and they measured 5.5" so i'll give that a try tomorrow. Everyone feel free to give advice/opinions.

Off topic, but I've always found it odd that in NC you have to title and register a trailer but not an outboard but in SC you have to tittle and register an outboard but not a trailer. It makes buying boats between states a PIA.

crspang wrote:Off topic, but I've always found it odd that in NC you have to title and register a trailer but not an outboard but in SC you have to tittle and register an outboard but not a trailer. It makes buying boats between states a PIA.

Yea some states are different when buying/selling. I've bought boats from VA and TN and both were slighly different. I don't think either registered the outboards or the trailers though. I bought my pontoon out of SC(Lake Keowee) but they were from NC(they had a lake house) so it had NC registration and trailer was titled as well. It worked out pretty good.

Well i've done my last "tweak" to the strakes. These are 5.5". It will be between the 5" strakes(similar to Sylvan's) and 5.5"(similar to the Benningtons).

Here's 5.5" strakes with less angle:



Here are the same 5.5" strakes but with more angle, and these are pretty much what Bennington uses:

Alright guys, help me decide. There are 4 options. It'll be between the 5" and 5.5" strakes.

Here's option A. 5", similar to Sylvan strakes:


Option B. 5", with a little more angle:


Option C. 5.5":


Option D. 5.5", similar to Bennington strakes:

My uneducated guess would be option A. I would think you would want a flatter surface where the strake meets the water.

Those are all so similar, go with what ever gives you the most surface area. That's what get the boat ontop of the water! I went with the manitou style when I did mine. I have my center log lowered and their boats seem to handle awsome so that what I went with on my old small logs. I did both sides of all three logs.

Liquid Asset wrote:Those are all so similar, go with what ever gives you the most surface area. That's what get the boat ontop of the water! I went with the manitou style when I did mine. I have my center log lowered and their boats seem to handle awsome so that what I went with on my old small logs. I did both sides of all three logs.

Thanks for the comment/picture! I wish i could do strakes between what i'm doing and your set up but my trailer won't allow it. I figured if Bennington and Sylvan do their strakes similar to what i'm wanting to do, then it's good enough for me. There doesn't seem to be any one company's strakes that are far superior. They're all different but all seem to do the job.

I was thinking the same thing that you were about more surface area equals more planning surface and easier planning. I just wonder that if at some point, does too much strake(too wide) become a hindrance because of drag?

I think L.A. is right on the money with the SHP style stakes for performance. Comparing my Premier 36 PTX (Bennington Style) to the my old Manitou SHP. The Manny sure outcornered the Premier and would outrun it any day. Of course it weighed about 800 pounds less than my Premmie, too. Even when it was boxstock. I think with the strakes protruding more into the water creates alot more drag, because you are increasing the wetting surface of the hull, but getting more lift. The PTX planes out faster and rides higher in the water. Also rides flat with uneven loads. The cool thing with the PTX is it is so quiet in the water! Both designs have their benefits. There again, we are comparing a Camaro to a Caddy. For speed and performance SHP. For comfort the PTX. Put them straight out like wings, might get the best of both worlds! Hey,
Good luck with the project!