Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I currently have a mid 90's pontoon with no strakes and a 2013 Yamaha 115. My original plan was to weld strakes on my pontoon, to get more speed and fuel economy. But I am nervous about welding on these older pontoons that have an unknown thickness. My current plan is to buy a center toon with strakes and intergrated motor mount and leave the original pontoons alone. Do any of the manufactures ship there tritoons with strakes on the center toon but NOT on the side toons? I am obviously curious about performance characteristics with this configuration.

I am guessing there is a chance I won't gain any speed with only 115hp. If it helped in ease of turning I probably would be fine with the $3000 to $4000 investment. But if I lost speed that would be a disappointment given my top speed it at 25 mph right now.

There is always a chance I might eventually upgrade to a Yamaha 150 to 250, but it would require $$$ I don't have right now. If I did, does anyone think that not having strakes on the side toons would cause performance issues.

I have considered buying a whole new boat, but this boat has a cool hard top that we jump off of, and new boats with this feature are hard to find and are very expensive.

Most tritoons with lifting strakes on all 3 toons and 115hp engines only run into the low 30's. The lifting strakes on the inside toon only can work, but you will typically have a less efficient hull design vs your two toon boat up to planing speed (high teens to low 20's typically). A friend bought a tritoon Bentley with a 115 a couple of years back and I told him on a good day, one person, half a tank of gas he'd be lucky to hit 35 and he didn't believe me (I had cheated and looked at the performance bulletins). A two toon boat without strakes hit's high 20's to low 30's with the same configuration. They do have a redesigned motor pod that almost acts like a third toon or that pontoon water glide on the newer boats that run mid 30's on a two toon with a 150.

Bottom line is that you will possibly see some performance increase if you match the toon to yours but it has strakes. If you go another route and get a larger diameter middle toon or drop the middle toon down a couple of inches you should see improvements in turning and maneuverability. In reality you are really below a HP range that see's a big gain from adding the third toon. From my experience you really need to be in that 135-140 hp range to see gains, but 150 and up is really where you see a difference as the boat is able to plane out all the way. Add the lack of strakes to your lower HP and I don't know if you will get your money's worth out of that type of investment unless you do indeed plan to repower down the road.

Edit to add:
Our new toon came with the lifting strakes on the middle toon and insides of the two outer toons but none on the outside. We lost a little speed vs strakes on all sides but they also drop the middle toon a little over an inch as well which makes for a good handling boat. So far I have noticed with the drop toon configuration it handles boat wakes more like a v hull with side to side roll unlike a tritoon with strakes on all sides that plows through it, so it isn't quite as smooth sometimes as some of the other tritoons I've been on. It is fun to be able to nearly lay the rub rails down in the water though when taking a tight turn.

If your pontoon was relatively new, a 3rd toon addition might be a decent investment. But on such an old pontoon, you may not get much return on your investment.

On a newer boat, I'd tell you to get an express tube with strakes. Mine is just as fast as the same model with the full length toon, and it provides maybe 90% of the handling of the full length tube.

The whole trick to speed and efficiency is getting your nosecones out of the water, and a 2 tooned boat will be faster than adding the third toon. But 2 toons will not handle like 3 toons. To those doing water sports, handling does matter especially. To cruisers going in a straight line, simple lifting strakes will fill the bill.

Welding strakes on .080 aluminum needs to be done by an experienced, qualified welder. And you could copy the geometry and materials being use on another manufacurer's strakes. That would be the best bang for your buck.

Bamaman wrote:If your pontoon was relatively new, a 3rd toon addition might be a decent investment. But on such an old pontoon, you may not get much return on your investment.

On a newer boat, I'd tell you to get an express tube with strakes. Mine is just as fast as the same model with the full length toon, and it provides maybe 90% of the handling of the full length tube.

The whole trick to speed and efficiency is getting your nosecones out of the water, and a 2 tooned boat will be faster than adding the third toon. But 2 toons will not handle like 3 toons. To those doing water sports, handling does matter especially. To cruisers going in a straight line, simple lifting strakes will fill the bill.

Welding strakes on .080 aluminum needs to be done by an experienced, qualified welder. And you could copy the geometry and materials being use on another manufacurer's strakes. That would be the best bang for your buck.

I didn't even think about that....you are right an express toon package will probably do better with this setup. On our boat the express toon type package ran mid 40's and ours with the full third toon runs high 30's/low 40's with a 150hp. Lifting strakes aren't really that hard to do as long as the welder knows what they are doing. A friend added the huge ones like Sweetwater uses to an old early 90's pontoon. He had a fab shop bend aluminum and a local service welder come out to his house and put them on based on the specs he measured on a Sweetwater. The trick is finding not only an aluminum welder but preferably someone who has welded on pontoons before. This guy had to do a lot of patching on pontoons when the powers that be used an herbicide with copper to kill the hydrilla on our lake (someone wasn't thinking). Whoever welds it, please make sure to pull the plugs out of all chambers of the toons. Some scary stuff can happen when you heat those toons up welding and they are sealed.

You've mentioned changing buoyancy of the boat, performance of the hull and increasing horsepower. That may be a lot to ask of an older boat.

If you're willing to drop a few grand now, it might be worth looking into trading up.

A four year old tritoon on the used market could be a pretty good deal.

Good luck!

Quite a few manufactures offer 3/4 or full length center tubes with strakes on the center only. It's usually the "value" performance option. You would likely see 32-34mph with a light load and a 115hp engine given you currently have at least 23"+ outer tubes. With only strakes on the middle you probably would not cleanly "plane off" until 20+ mph so your cruise speed would be fairly high and around the 5-6 person mark will not have enough power + lift ratio to plane and would slowed down to "old 2 logger" speeds. I just finished retubing my pontoon and went with a fully straked center and full length strakes on the insides of the outer tubes and I cleanly plane @ 17mph light and 20mph with 5 people. Top speed is 38 light and 34 with 5 people with my high reving 115 (Suzuki 140 = strong 115hp class torque with 2-3mph more speed)

I thought about what you are doing for a year and finally did it over the winter. Added center tube, added lifting strakes on all tubes both sides. Wish I had built fuel tank into center tube but didn't. Dropped center tube two inches lower, and 18" longer than outer side tubes. Went from 115 hp to 250 hp Mercury verado. Cruised at 15 mph @3500 rpm and 25 mph @ 5500 rpm wide open on a 23.6 ft Party Craft by Gofery mfg. I can run 50 mph with top open at 6400 rpm. Cruise at 25@3500, 40@4000, ran 45 with 8 people and 4 coolers. I just love it now. Now I can go out with the guys and ride somewhere. Still not cruising over twenty five with the lady's. My toon is a 2007 in great shape. I don't plan on saleing So I made the investment. To buy a three or four year older tri toon with just a 115 hp around here they want twice what my great clean 2007 would sale for. So I spend the money to fix mine like I wanted and have a new engine with the hp I wanted. Hard to fine more than 150 hp on most tri poon.

First, thanks for all the input!

I know this topic is rehashed all the time, probably because it can be confusing with all the options. I am pretty stubborn about keeping this boat. Mainly because its been in the family but mostly because it has a hard top that is meant to sun bath on and jump off of. New boats with this option are hard to find on the lot and are expensive to order. Even though it really isn't that more expensive to fab.

The current toons are 23" by 24 feet. It is so tempting to weld strakes on these. Either myself or hire a welder. This boat has been buoyed for its life time with no care to removing the scum. A couple years ago I tried all the tricks but without luck. It would require heavy sanding to prep the aluminum for welding. Welding without creating leaks will be a challenge.

I like the center toon with strakes idea, because of the option to upgrade to at least 150hp in the future. My current transom is only rated for 115hp. My son who waterskis is only 10 years old and has not learned how to slalom yet. At some point if he learns how to slalom it will be a moral imperative to get this boat to 32 mph so I can pull him proper. As of now, 25 mph is more than enough for tubing, 2 skiing, and beginner slalom skiing.

My only concern is that the boat slows down after adding the center toon.

Add the strakes, I had a welding fab shop do my work. I haven't welded in 20 years. And didn't have a way to been the strakes. They made a big difference in the handling. I only go straight, I don't have kids to pull around. It comes up on plane so easy, handles like a boat now. I actually starting to love the pontoon after slugging around for four years. Do the strakes now and when you can afford it up grade to at least 200 hp.

I added a center hull to my boat with no strakes but I built the bottom flat . Just made the strakes built in . Increased top speed with the new power to 35 from 21. My mid 90's boat did just fine with the additional hull.
I am happy and only out the cost of a new motor.

You almost seem perfectly setup to add a 3/4 straked tube with a 24' like you have. I know Bill in MO had a few 19'-20' tubes with 2 strakes on them when I was there to pickup my 3 tubes. The U tubes (G3) he has are universal mount and would be the right height to match 23" round tubes at 25" tall (I used 21.5' U tube to build my transom tube)

willy13 wrote:Do any of the manufactures ship there tritoons with strakes on the center toon but NOT on the side toons? I am obviously curious about performance characteristics with this configuration.

rancherlee is correct, it looks like the Manitou VP boats are the exact configuration I am talking about. According to there website it looks like they have straked center toons and NO strakes on the side toons. Anyone with a Manitou VP want to comment on the performance of there boat? I am interested in top speed with what HP and what length of toons. And how easily it plains off with only strakes on the center.

Thanks in advance!