Newbie question - Skinning

[badmoonrising]

Boats with marine plywood decking are more structurally sound than those with aluminum decks. They just don't flex as much when bigger waves hit.

There is zero flex with Duradeck. My boat took a hell of a beating and nothing got tweaked (on deck at least), lol. This is a boat used regularly in rough seas.

Any Tracker owner will tell you Duradeck is better than plywood on many levels.

[Nusse]

Well.... Maybee my newbie question was not that bad... This thread really got going and myself and other newbies seem to be well instructed.
Thank ya'll.

I was thinking about what someone already made a mention on.. How does Shark Hide do in salt water?
And how about pulling it up and down a trailer often? Would not that wear out the "hide"?

Cheers,

[Nusse]

G3 pontoons, owned by Yamaha, come with underskinning standard.
Shark hide is a great product but not sure how well it would hold up in a saltwater environment. A non copper based bottom paint from the water line down is the best solution.
A couple of questions for you
Will you be carrying lots of people on your pontoon?
Will it stay in the water most of the time or will it be on a trailer after use?

Hello Texoma Toon

Well, I dont really know yet. ATM I am exploring and assessing what possibilites and what hinders there is to join the tourist industry and offer pontoon rides on one of the worlds most beautifull lagoons.
There is already some competition, but I would like to offer something special as well as more exclusive then large scale.

There is this one http://213.52.246.162/public/;jsessioni ... tails.html
It goes a ride of a few minutes if not less to drive the guests of one of the islands most exclusive resorts on and off the little islands it sits on. They used to have a walk-way bridge over to the island - because it is not more then some 100 feet off. But now they them on this "Catamaran" instead.
I would not call this competition though.

There is this one http://www.bishopscruises.com/rates.php
Consentrating on 2 different islands (Rarotonga and Aitutaki), staff, wedding packages and the whole large-scale deal....
Or their competitor http://thevakacruise.com/
a 21 meter Catamaran of Polynesian style.... Well, they pretty much always go to the same island, bring larger amount of people on the boat. If you take this ride on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, January, July or October.... This year, last year or 2005 it wil be pretty much the same.
Then there is this company http://www.kiaoranacruise.com which is doing pretty much what I would have in mind but instead on a Pontoon as well as offering "Star-light cruises", Island taxi, Island drops and why not offer wake-boarding of a toon.
Aitutaki has recently been apointed one of the best spots in the world for parasurfing/Kitesurfing. I bet some those guys and girls would like to do something else for a change.

Well, back to your question....
I dont know yet how many people I will carry, sometimes only 2 and sometimes hopefully more. I dont want this to be too large scale, because then you are loosing all those people who want a more serene experiance. Perhaps I should go for a smaller toon with large engine for some kick-ass kite surfing and skiing as well as getting a larger luxury toon that fits some 12-15 guests.

About pulling on trailer or keeping the boat in the lagoon.... Well, considerations is made to have a lift - so that the pontoon can get washed off often with fresh water.
I would need to have trailers. That is a must for those few days with a cyclone. Otherwise the boat may be found in Hawaii, Niiu Islands or most probably 5Km below on the ocean floor. I tell you, I was enjoying the experiance of a few cyclones in Feb 2005. That was one of them that took the bridge to that resort. It also took the fishermans club building - they have not found it yet... One house I seen the day before, the day after there was just a cement floor and all that was left was the stove in the middle of the florr. The rest was gone. A good tie is not enough.

Cheers,

[Nusse]

Sharkhide is a really thin protectant that fills the pores on aluminum and other metals. The biggest problem is getting all of the black aluminum oxide out of the nooks and crannies after polishing. When Sharkhide is applied, the oxide makes black streaks. The cleaning of the toons with lacquer thinner and massive amounts of manpower is required before applying Sharkhide.

Hello Bamaman

I am not sure there.... I dont think the black streaks are aluminium oxide.

Aluminium oxide, called Alumina, is not black, It is gray. I am on my laptop right now but will look after a picture how it looks like.
While melting aluminium you have a large oven with between 3,6-5 Volts only, but how about 2-500 KiloAmps (depending on the plant - the most modern plants is now building 500KA ovens).
In the bottom you have the bath and the bath is the cathode. On the sidesof the oven you dip large charcoal compound "Chisels" that is connected to the Anode. These are black.

But I doubt there will be any remains of chisel left in the aluminium.

The molten aluminium is collected in a large tank and driven through the huge halls called Reduction to a faschility where the molten alumium is casted, either into large motes or into long pieces of solid material. The motes are sold to different kinds of manufacturers and my guess is that when whoever makes the pontoon logs have aluminium material that has been melted 2-4 times and any chisel charcoal or alumina would be long gone.

I have been on site of several aluminum melter plants, working with equipment used in the process, seen less modern plants in poor countries in eastern europe as well as the most modern plant in UAE. Seen the reduction cells, the ovens, felt the magnetism and got dirty. I may be wrong.... But I am still interested what the black streaks is.

Cheers,