On Sep 10, 9:52*pm, wrote:
On Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:38:39 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

've seen pontoons on Carlyle stand some pretty good chop. White caps?
er... I don't think so. But there is a fella that has made a curved
aluminuum plate that lips up between the toons and will sled over the
tall chops , so waves don't go flushing over the floor. I wish I had a
pic of it to post so all could get a good grasp of the idea.

I saw a boston Whaler down in the keys (Grassy Key campground) that
they had cut off most of the bow rise and glassed in a flat deck to
use as a fish guts dumping boat. They had a horizontal fin across the
front for the same reason. This thing would hook a wave and go under
but the fin popped the bow back up.
I thought the same idea would work on a pontoon. I know I have been
caught out in mine and they do tend to *want to "dive and level off at
periscope depth" when the forward deck goes under. The ones with the
playpen all the way forward just crash into the sea and drown you. I
have seen the sheet metal blown out of the track. Usually what happens
is they pitch down so bad the prop comes out of the water and you pop
backwards. You can get around it by quartering the sea and
ballasting/motoring your boat to hold the fore most pontoon as high as
you can get it. It is still going to be a wet ride because when that
corner comes up it throws a bucket of water over everyone. You can get
back OK if you take it slow and easy, trying to work with the sea, and
not fight it too much.

Yes, the high wind waves can be troublesome. In those situations,
would a tri-toon be better?