3rd toon or no?

[belercous]

This year I ran into a submerged tree which bent the front of my 3rd pontoon. Actually, it's only a 2-1/3rd pontoon since it's only about 10' long. Doesn't leak. I have a 1994 Tracker Party Cruiser which weighs 5800 lbs dry. With full fuel, water, a few people, beer & accoutrements & the boat's around 4 tons.

I can get a used 24' pontoon, have the damaged front of my 3rd toon cut off & have the back end of the new toon cut off & welded to the front of it. I'm not sure if that will be a good idea. It'll keep the front end riding higher when I have 6 or more people up front, which is good.

What I'm concerned about is the fore/aft balance with a full 3rd toon. The rear end sits low ( a tad lower than I like) with nobody on it. Most of the weight is in the aft 10' (40 gal. main fuel, 2 [portable] aux fuel tanks each holding 8 gals, a shower tank which must hold 40+ gals [I keep it 1/2 full], a water tank for the sink [25 gal?], 2 batteries & the engine) & if 2-3 people sit on the back shelf, that lowers it even further.

Adding a full toon will keep the front end higher, but I'm concerned that it will shift the center of gravity [C.G.] back further causing the rear end to sit even lower. Water already runs over the engine's control cables & the aux fuel tank shelves when under power. This boat is slow & does not come up on a plane. I also expect to lose some speed with a 3rd toon due to the additional induced drag a full 3rd toon would generate. Especially when algae covered.

I know how to calculate weight & balance on an aircraft, & am certain there is a way to do it on boats, but I have no idea where to get the initial information from. Tracker is not very helpful about support for their older boats. Even if I had the weight/balance info, adding a 3rd full toon would move my C.G. fwd at static. Trouble is, when the boat gets moving & the front end lifts up a bit, the C.G. will move aft causing the rear end to sit even lower.

I won't know anything for sure until I add a full 3rd toon. But then it will too late & I don't want to spend a lot to make my boat sit lower in back & keep my boards wet. (Yes, it is underskinned, but water still gets past it, just not as much.)

Any ideas?

[JohnO]

So your center toon is towards the back of the boat? Is it integrated with the motor pod?

Usually adding flotation is always a good idea.

[belercous]

The center toon runs about 10' from the back of the boat. It has the transom & a live well just ahead of the transom.

[margaritaman]

A longer pontoon up front will give you additional weight up front which will lift up the back end.

[belercous]

Yes, it'll do that to a degree, but I'm concerned that it may lift the front end up too much while under power & with a light load of pax. I don't want it to lift up too much & cause the rear end to sit lower.