Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

So I picked up a project pontoon last summer late 80's Tracker 18ft Bass Buggy. Paid a few hundred bucks for it. The Pontoon itself looked to be in rough shape, but it came with a nice galvanized trailer and clean 2005 50HP Johnson motor that made the deal worth it. Especially considering how little I paid for it. The seats were shot, carpet was faded, but deck felt solid enough to use for a while. I've always wanted to setup a small Pontoon for fishing with an open floor plan. My other boat is too nice to fish out of and this would have made the perfect beater boat.

However I discovered several pinhole leaks on one of the pontoons. This project just got a little more complicated as I was only anticipating having to buy new seats and setup electronics etc.

The leak is slow enough that it won't sink or anything. But enough water drained out of the pontoon that it concerns me.

My question is as follows:

Should I repair the leak or just bite the bullet and replace the pontoons for bigger diameter ones? It's something that I'd likely keep for a long time once I put the time into fixing it up. I've got so little in it that it's probably worth it in the end.

I have not had much luck in finding a place to repair it, and I don't think it's something that I want to do myself. Does anyone know of a place in the VA/DC/MD area that repairs pontoons?

If you can find all the holes, there's a lot of marine epoxies that are pretty tough for a temp repair...that would probably wind up being permanent. Would at least buy you some time.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=aluminum+epo ... nb_sb_noss

I guess you need to figure out if the leak is from corrosion or a puncture.. If its corroded, the metal could possibly be thin in other parts of the toon as well and you might have a never ending battle of patching holes. If its a puncture just repair it with metal or epoxy and enjoy.

I am in somewhat the same boat ( so to speak). I have a pontoon that takes on about a gallon or two of water every trip. Thought I had it fixed, but apparently not. Is there some trick to finding holes / cracks ? I looked and sealed up some, but still taking on water.

John Pen wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 23, 2020 11:23 pm

I am in somewhat the same boat ( so to speak). I have a pontoon that takes on about a gallon or two of water every trip. Thought I had it fixed, but apparently not. Is there some trick to finding holes / cracks ? I looked and sealed up some, but still taking on water.

Fill 'em all the way up with water and see where it comes out ha ha.
Can rig up a fitting where the top plug(s) are and use very low pressure air and soapy water I reckon.
Slime needs to get into the pontoon business.