Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Well the toon "hit" two mile marks....the boat's one year anniversary and...

I finally ran into the dock and suffered the first dent on my new toon. Here's the frustrating part! I rented a weekend slip and usually get a 10 foot wide slip. This weekend I ended up in a 12 foot wide slip! I guess maybe I got cocky docking quite easily all weekend until I docked the final time of the weekend. First mistake... I had both Bimini tops up and it was like a sailboat in the wind! After two attempts and perhaps a little impatience I went for it on the third time. As I entered the slip I put it in reverse but too late as I heard that terrible metal sound. Luckily it wasn't a toon, but the bumper guard surrounding the boat that took the hit. I now have a pretty good dent...one nice man who helped me pull it the rest of the way in said something pretty funny. He had a small ski boat and said "that thing is like docking an aircraft carrier"

Moral of the story when docking....be patient and go slow....

....and the part of the story I left out...don't blame the wife...that part didn't go well and is censored due to language...

Yea it can and will happen, and I know its a temp slip, but i added some rubber horse matting to mine just for that reason , and it sure helps. I doubled it up so its 1 inch thick.

Ouch! That sucks! Thats why I bought a used toon. It already has some dents and dings in it so whatever I put in it wont matter to me. Although I rarely dock my toon, i have owned cabin cruisers and talk about a bitch to dock. You cant see the dock as well out of a cruiser.

MH Hawker wrote:Yea it can and will happen, and I know its a temp slip, but i added some rubber horse matting to mine just for that reason , and it sure helps. I doubled it up so its 1 inch thick.

MH Hawker: Off topic a little, using your toon's front eyelit to secure to the cleat off to the side like that is a good way to break it off and possibly crack the pontoon. Those are designed to take pressure from the front or top but not side to side.

I hadn't thought about it but your right. I used to do a lot of metal work and your spot on the strain factor. I will have the marina staff move the cleat