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HarryK HarryK is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Oct 2010
Posts: 220
Default Getting a pontoon boat to plane

On 11/1/10 11:15 AM, Frogwatch wrote:
A friend of mine built a custom pontoon boat roughly 34' long with
beautiful woodwork. It is powered with a 90 hp and he claims he had
the prop pitched by an expert. He attains 18 mph so he is planing
some but gets very bad fuel economy, I'd estimate 1 mpg. Underway,
most people sit on the foredeck so she probably is bow heavy. Is
there some way to get her to plane better? He does have one of those
Dol-Fin things on the motor but I think he needs more planing surface
along the pontoons.



This might do it:

http://tinyurl.com/367x6pm

I don't know what a custom 34' pontoon boat weighs, but I'm guessing two
tons or more. That's a lotta weight and length for a 90 hp outboard to
"plane better." I doubt a lower unit wing is going to make a difference.