Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

After a few weeks of ups and downs regarding whether to sell my boat, the wife and I realized that we can't compromise on a boat. We decided to keep the toon and slip it! I'm tired of working on the trailer, so this is our best option I think. We slipped out boat for the next year at Keystone Lake!! Woo! Today was pretty exhausting though. After limping my trailer to keystone, setting up the slip, and carrying a bunch of stuff back and forth, we think we have it set up nicely.

On a side note, I had two hubs leaking grease on my trailer during the drive up there. Seems like everytime I add grease to a hub, it blows the seals even though it is designed to be able to flush the hubs with grease. I'll be installing two new hubs when I pull the boat for winter, but I'm not worrying about that now.

Do you guys have any tips to a guy new to a wet slip? I lifted my motor out of the water and tied bumpers to all the posts. Any fishing tips for a guy new to keystone? Maybe I'll catch up with one of you guys out there!

i have been keeping mine on a wet slip for 7 years and other than fenders its no big deal, i leave my motor down, unless its below freezing no need to lift it, the only thing i do is to run the carb dry at the end of the day

So much easier having a slip, and more time to enjoy boat.
I leave motor down. I was told it's better to do so, forget the reasoning, but I've had a slip for various boats for 9 years, and always have left motor down.
Also looked around 98% of the 375 plus slips leave motor down.

I have some front bumpers on my toon that I like. It helps keep from banging up the front.



I like using the EZ Fenders for the side fenders I have on the boat. I also tied 4 of them to the slip so they're always ready for me to slip into the slip.

A broom is handy to sweep up cobwebs.

And if you have electric and water at your slip (mine does at Shady Creek Marina on El Dorado) then a hose and a battery charger are nice to keep handy.


Also, I have a locked Rubbermaid Cabinet on my slip.

It's handy for keeping extra pop, beer, bottled water in during the boating season.

I also stow the pull toy, rope and air pump in it.



As for the prop, I leave mine tilted up out of the water. It keeps the lake gunk off of it. Tilt the motor down when you first step onto the toon.

Then I grab the broom/brush and swipe cobwebs and spiders off. If needed, I get out the hose and hose down the deck. (One reason I like vinyl)

Pull out the stowed life jackets and the throwable float. Pull the cover off the GPS/Depth/Fish finder. By the time you've got all of that done, the motor is fine to start up. The school of thought I heard was that tilting the motor out of the water drains the water out and the oil level isn't right. A few minutes of being tilted back into the down position while you get ready to leave the slip and you're good.

Then finally, when leaving the toon after a day on the lake, get used to double checking a personal check list.

Mine is:
All 4 Lines Tied?
Motor Tilted?
Drain Plugs Pulled?
Life Jackets/Throw Float Stowed? (sometimes strap them to the bimini frame to dry)
GPS Covered?
Boat Key Removed?
Cell Phone back in Holster(I keep mine in a floatable cover while on the lake. "Waterproof" isn't any good if the iPhone is 60' down.)
Trash Bag of trash ready to go?

Just don't ever forget the Admiral.

You'll NEVER hear the end of that.

I'm going to recommend at least one spring line to keep your bow off the dock should a storm come from your aft quarter.

I had a bad blow hit my slipped toon from behind and the waves took it up high enough for the nose cone to come down on the dock. One welding job: $300.

What's a spring line and what is the best way to use them?

C_M_25 wrote:What's a spring line and what is the best way to use them?

Simply put, it would be one diagonal mooring line from your boat to a dock or piling. I think these pictures would be worth a thousand words.

Spring lines aren't just for staying attached to the dock. They can help you move your boat into position in conjunction with your engine.

https://www.google.com/search?q=mooring ... z9cicXM%3A