My pontoons on my 26' Tri-toon have three compartments in each pontoon (so 9 total compartments) to pressure test. Of course, the bung holes are top dead center (a royal pain to get to), and the bunghole plugs are red plastic turned pink/white from the elements and impossible to remove in one piece. So, some careful attempts to extract them were chipping away with angled pliers. What worked the best was melting them with a propane torch and a couple of round steel wire brushes (bent to hit the holes). My advise, don't bother spending hours in the ridiculously tight top center accesses. Leave your current (working) plugs in there. Slosh the boat while on the trailer and listen for where the water is. Make your own 3 inch "patch" with threaded center for a new brass plumbing plug or large aluminum nut and bolt and weld it at 10 or 11 o'clock inboard or outboard on the pontoon.The standard plumbing plug may make future air pressure testing easier because uf fittings available. Pressurize with a few pounds of pressure. The leak is likely below the mean water line , hence, why its retaining water. If the crack or pinhole(s) are in a precarious place or you are concerned with blowout attempting to weld (because aluminum doesn't change color before melting and requires super clean, dry surfaces), then J B Weld can really work surprisingly well. Good luck! This is relatively a huge pain in the azz! Just sayin !
Any weld shop that can TIG weld can fix this for you, PERMANENTLY, for about $40. I had a pontoon boat a few years ago, I rigged up with 'in-lines' like you added at the top of the pontoon, ran them into an under-seat locker...and with a little oilless compressor, could 'check for leaks' anytime I needed to...marina, wherever...just add a bit of air, watch for bubbles while at the lake. EASY CHECK, and if you can TIG weld, very easy to fix, too!
Any weld shop? I disagree. Most do not have the experience to weld thin aluminum. If you can find a shop specializing in repairing boats, that's another matter. However, for a small hole like this, one of the alternative low temperature propane brazing materials (alumiweld, etc) might be a better choice.
The repair on mine cost me about $300. Two welds about 6 inches long. I think the clean up and preparation cost more than the welding. I had put silicone on the bad welds the summer before. I thought about the JBWeld for aluminium but, went with silicone thinking removal when I had it welded would be easier. Maybe not.
Thanks! I did this exactly on our Harris Fote Bote. I did the pressure test first and found 3 welds that were faulty. I didn't need to pressure up even to 5 psi. Maybe 1 or 2. The welds hadn't broken the welder had moved too fast, I think. Harris say they i spect and test but apparently they missed this one. The boat is 7 or 8 years old so with about 500 hrs, 100 of those this summer. Took a few days to get the water out. The way the boat was listing, it had to have 800 pounds - close to 800 gallons - of water in the tube. I used my shop vac, duct tape and drip system tubing. Had to use real small tubing to suck water out because when the 1/2" pipe coupling was welded on top of the tube, the weld almost closed off the hole biggest tube I could get in was 3/8 OD but that tubing wouldn't hang straight. Found some old drip system tube that was real limber that did hang straight. Got about 5 gallons an hour.
I got air pressure in the tank by connecting the output (blowing) of a shop vac to the outside of the drain housing using a 2" hose and a hose clamp and just let it run. No compressor needed and no chance of too much pressure.
You can add a schrader valve to pressurize at the threaded drain hole. Lowes has a schrader valve to 1/8 male NPT (brass) and you fit to a brass adapter sized to your threaded drail hole: STAR Water Systems Brass Adapter Item #955573, Model #148112 Schrader Valve to 1/8-in male NPT fitting Proline Series 1/8-in x 1/4-in Threaded Male Adapter Bushing Fitting Proline Series 1/8-in x 1/2-in Threaded Male Adapter Bushing Fitting Proline Series 1/8-in x 3/8-in Threaded Male Adapter Bushing Fitting
much simpler than this- just buy a tire nozzle and mount it in the nylon pontoon plug (3/8" drill) total cost about $10 and 10 minutes worth of setting up- then you can pressurize the pontoon to 5psi with a compressor.
@@jeredmattson9 I actually had those two fittings in my shop junk drawer thats why I used what I did.. not sure how you could get a valve stem to seal on a 1/2 threaded hole ???
I thought about doing that.. But, as @scriv2000 has mentioned its not that expensive to have it welded... so I didn't want to chance our safety... Plus, I'm not sure if JB weld would have an adverse reaction with the saltwater and Aluminum....
that I'm not sure.. But,my guess would be when we put the boat in the water the pontoons were hot and when we put it in the water the water was cold so it sucked the water into the hole as the air inside the pontoon cooled & contracted
@@richardfuerst5286I i was never fearful out on the water until I had an issue with a leaking toon... now when I go out on the water I keep thinking the boat feels heavy and then it scares the shit out of me.. I head in and load up... my wife says why are we going in so early...I say ah that enough for one day...lol
Mine was in exactly that spot and if it's been there since beginning, heating and cooling the 'toon it draws water in as the air inside expands and contracts. Even water in the air. Moist air sucked in as it cools then condenses. A 1/4 cup a day over several years is only 5 galons a year then additional when water is being splashed up. It adds up... Good suggestion one commentor had hooking up compressor and checking while in the water.
The day after we came home and washed the boat it was still dripping water in that area.. I was pretty sure is was not still wet from the night before...
Guy, it would take considerably more pressure to "blow that damn tube open." To repair indented pontoons, I've seen pressures approaching 150psi or more, with the pontoon pounded with wood or rubber mallets, without damage.
