Hey Tom, I restore pontoons as well. For the back side of the brackets I use 5200lb epoxy, then...I put my shop vac to the drain hole to suck the epoxy into the cracks from the inside. Hope you find it helpful. Jim
@GuhortSmith, can you give a product name and purchase source please I googled 5200lb epoxy and only had 1 website that popped up and they wanted me to contact them for a quote. (That generally means I can't afford them) Any help will be appreciated
@@sonnylaughlin1382 hey Sonny, it's JB weld brand. I get it at lowes. I'm pretty sure wal mart also carries it. We only use it on the back side of the pontoon deck supports because cracks are commonly directly underneath them. Nearly all the rest(nose cones, beach bars, seams, etc...) can be welded. I hope this isn't hijacking Tom's thread. If so, I apologize.
Tom, I love your practicality. Highly recommend a "Tig Button" for out of position welding. It might make you life just a tiny bit easier. When welding roll cages or car frames it save a significant amount of time.
@@tomspontoons here is the video where I learned about it from. It has saved me a ton of time. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OW1Mh3vOJDM.htmlsi=pXJty5HIuCTMeO6r
@@jondavidmcnabb That is incredible. Thank you for sharing the link too. It's not compatible with my machine, but when I upgrade (looking at the PrimeWeld) it will definitely be an accessory I add. I can picture so many places that I could use that where I'm dinking around with my foot pedal more than getting to focus on the weld at hand!
Glad it was helpful! Hoping I can keep putting out some more welding content for folks like me who have gotten into welding later in life and want to pick up the skill
I haven't. I think when I researched it last it wasn't compatible with my machine. I was just welding a transducer bracket onto a pontoon yesterday sitting on the ground using the back of my knee to push my foot pedal...normal operation for me, and I'm getting pretty good at it!! 🙂
The benefit of silicone over JB weld or other hardening epoxies is that it makes it far more difficult if it ever needs to be welded again in the future. Silicone is easy to scrape right off
Great video. Super helpful. I have the same issue with an old pontoon boat that I just bought. I brazed a couple small cracks and put silicone behind the bracket. So far after a few outings no leaks.
As long as the cracks don't expand with more use and abuse you will likely get by just fine for a while! Eventually it might need more TLC to stay dry.
Tom I have a G3 V20 pontoon boat with a 90hp on the back end. I noticed that when I launched the boat it sits way low in the water like it wants to sink. I feel it has water in the tubes...I can't find any drains so I need some guidance where to start
You'd need to take the boat to a local welder and have them install drain bungs in the stern on each pontoon. From there you could pressure check for leaks. Does that model have U shaped pontoons or are they round? Typical round toons have bungs on top for pressure checking. Typically you can hear the water sloshing if there's a leak by pulling forward slowly with the boat on the trailer and hitting the brakes. If it's foam filled U shaped logs that might be more challenging. All in all, a 90 hp on a 20' pontoon is going to sit pretty low, that's a ton of weight back there without much in front of it to counter balance.
Nice work Tom. I really like the way you explain what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Your skilled repairs on that old pontoon boat will allow the owners to enjoy their boat again with minimal worries.
If I can to pick one it would be TIG…however, having both is extremely handy. MIG (spool gun) is great for getting stuff done hot and fast, but not a good for leaks and water tight builds. There are pulse and push/pull MIG welders for aluminum that are great, but the cost on them is still far too high for someone like me who isn’t welding full time!
Would you be opposed to using np1 masterseal polyurethane sealant instead of silicone? In my experience it's last a whole lot longer and sticks better to metal surfaces
I’m 100% sure that there are better long term options for sealant out there. In this case, the silicone should last a very long time since it’s out of the sun. Additionally, it’s easiest to clean off if a weld repair needed to be made in the future, compared to some options that are hard to grind or sand off.
I don't know, those tools looked pretty beat up and aged out. I probably would've just replaced then and maybe gained more length also. But it's all pricey, I get it. Nice video Tom. Appreciated
They’re way old and plenty beat up!!! It’s one of the things I love about pontoon boats…some people want polished toons and high end finishes while others just want to be on the water and don’t care about the details. Either way both groups of people get to have an amazing time on the water making memories!!
What ever works the cheapest on a old boat mine is a 1969 Weese 24' just done some welding on it to fix a couple of hole and weld a cross brace back on.
It’s the beauty of aluminum…in most cases it can be repaired over and over and will still last hundreds of years. I just did some patching up and reinforcing of a 1970s Sylvan last week!
I'd say that the majority of pontoons are 0.080", however some of the old ones are 0.063" and some newer toons are up to 0.100". As long as you remove any drain or air pressure plugs they're thick enough to not blow through easily with a TIG setup. MIG is hit and miss as it's easy to blow pin holes through at finishes or when joining a thicker bracket to the thin toon aluminum. I TIG everything that's going to be joined to a pontoon.
@@tomspontoons I appreciate the response! I’ve been rig welding aluminum for a while and I need to replace the drain bung on one log, but haven’t worked up the nerve to do it yet!
@@BargainPaper I just welded one in the other day for the first time and it honestly went really smooth. The aluminum bung I added melted in really smooth for being cast, I actually had to get my arc on the pontoon melted in first, then slide over onto the bung. Could have almost just fused them, but I almost always add filler.
Appreciate the knowledge! Has the structural design changed a ton over the years to prevent issues like this from the way the brackets connect to the toons?
Yes and no. Some brands have brackets that have more welds or the brackets have more welding to distribute the force, especially in the rear where there’s significant torque. Some even have full welded brackets the length of the toon which offer even more support. I always tell folks that the late 1990s is when the industry started beefing things up a bit.
Thanks so much!! I just gave my customer the information and let him decide how deep down the rabbit hole he wanted me to go. I think it was the right choice for that boat too.
You should look into a product called PRC it is used to seal aircraft fuel tanks and the pressure Vessel. For this Application I would use b2 prc 1000 times better than rtv only down side Might be expense and it’s smelly and messy, up side the prc would last the remaining life of the pontoon …. Side note do not use roloc pads to clean Aluminum before welding like he stated in the video sanding discs followed up by a stainless steel brush works great.
My only fear with anything super permanent as a sealant is that IF someone ever wants to weld on it to relate structural stuff later they’ll have a lot of work to do in cleaning to prepare. Thanks for watching and the information!
Hey Tom, Crew can u show me how u set up the tig welder please, I've got all the equipment, just unsure how to proceed with an aluminium weld. And actually show the welding👍🌈
Every welder is so different, but I will try to put something like that together eventually. I’ve learned pretty much everything I know from RU-vid channels like Pacific Arc TIG Welding, TimWelds, and Welding Tips and Tricks
That seems to be the consensus. Here I thought comments might be a little more negative, but I’m thinking folks are understanding the situation! Thanks for watching and your input to confirm too!
Thank you for the video. I had similar leaks on my brackets and my welder recommended the exact same thing. His choice was JB Weld Marine. Is that what you plan to use???
I use a marine silicone on the backside just in case my customer ever wants it repaired with patches. JB weld is just such a problem to weld near later on and requires way more prep work to clean it all off.
@@awakenedtotruth8419 this was all TIG welded, so the foot pedal adds more heat the more I press it down. My spool gun (MIG) actually doesn’t have an adjustment for wire speed on the fly, which makes it really challenging on thinner aluminum. TIG is my favorite method by far because I get to watch the base metals melt into a puddle, then I add the filler rod as reinforcement as needed. It’s therapeutic, art, and flow state all in one!!
