Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

My 24' pontoon boat runs pretty flat with just me and my lady on board but when I have three or more passengers on board my boat lists significantly to port due to the arrangement of seating on my boat. There is very little weight in stored items I can shift to starboard to compensate and changing the seating would be a huge investment, just about impossible it looks like to me. The seating arrangement appears to be fairly standard for a lot of manufacturers. Do you guys worry over this characteristic? I'm new to boating and I haven't experience control issues when underway but the wake is really cock-eyed and I wonder if there is something to be concerned about that I am not aware of. Your assistance is appreciated.

I just move people around untill it's level.

I try to place the lightly clothed, good looking, skinny women on the port side in front of me. The ugly men and women are asked to sit behind me. This unfortunately creates an issue with load balancing and listing but I am more worried about me than the boat.

On a serious note....if the boat rides level with just you in it then all is likely fine. If it is listing with just you then you may have water in your pontoon. Besides rearranging people (which we all do when the boat is full), you could re-route your battery if it is on the port side. Personally, I would not worry about it and just move people around.

Its nothing to be worried about, its normal.

I agree with others in that it's probably just the way people are seated. Just ask them to move around a bit, and more towards the rear of the boat, if possible.

Thanks, guys. I appreciate you chipping in with some ideas. BobL I thought of the clothing angle but everyone on the boat is already naked so that's not much help

I don't notice any alerts about handling or any danger associated with the list so I'm glad for that. I'll try to move folks around more next time out.

Thanks, again, for your assistance.

I'm a short time tooner, but I had a little fishing boat, and it was CRITICAL that it was loaded correctly.

So I'd try moving people around.

For grins and giggles, I'd have everyone stand on the starboard side. If it still lists to port, I'd investigate more.

But if you have 5 or 6 on the port side and it lists to port, and you move them starboard and it lists to starboard, I'd suggest having your friends drink more Lite Beer.

My 24 gallon gas tank sits on the rear of the port pontoon. My battery is in the rear too near the middle. When fully loaded it seems like all the passengers ALWAYS want to pile onto the rear couch on the port side. It's obvious the boat is listing but I still have to ask them to move up front and sit a couple people on the starboard side at least until we burn off a little gas. I just about have my wife trained to do it without asking after three years. Just about..........................................

blueskies wrote:Thanks, guys. I appreciate you chipping in with some ideas. BobL I thought of the clothing angle but everyone on the boat is already naked so that's not much help

Post pics and I'll do my best to analyze your situation. (Unless you have a boat full of guys.)

It's much less of an issue with 3 logs, but I remember that weight distribution on my old 2 log was important. One night I had one poor guy who wanted to sit up front. Unfortunately he weighed around 280 # and with the other people up there I had a serious fore to aft problem! Had him move to the center and put 4 folks across from him and everything was great. Just couldn't go very fast with the 115 hp Evinrude!

I throw people off until I get the boat where I want it.

It's funny, the data plat says "13 people", but the only way I'm ever going to see that many people on my boat is if I'm rescuing the Norwegian Women's Beach Volleyball team... We like it just fine with TWO.

A little pontoon humor from a February ride on my friends 16 foot pontoon. To say it was overloaded in the front was an understatement.

In the middle of the lake, he backed off the throttle. As the stern wake caught up with the pontoon, it was like the Captain of the Boat yelled, "dive, dive, dive" and the nose started going under water. It did not stop until the lake was pouring over the rail.

Shin deep in water, I lifted my legs waiting to surface once again. Everyone had wet pants, but we kept our cocktails dry.

Sometimes, there's too much load to balance!

I think this is an appropriate Video given the 'Norwegian Womens Volleyball Team' comment.