Having water in your pontoon is an extremely bad sign. If you don’t do something about this quickly your pontoon will start gathering more and more water, which will affect the stability and safety of your pontoon. So let’s see how we can check if a pontoon has water in it and how to get rid of it.
A pontoon boat shouldn’t have water in it. If your pontoon boat has water in it you will hear sloshing water sounds coming from the tubes. Another way to check if your pontoon has water in it is to look for cracks, holes or dents in the tubes if you find any than water has most likely entered into the tube.
To remove the water from a pontoon boat you can open the drain plugs found on each tube. Depending on where the hole or crack is in the tube you can also just take the pontoon out of water and let the water drain.
So this is the short answer, now let’s take a more indepth look at how to check if there is water in your pontoon, how it got there, how to get it out, and how to prevent this from happening in the future.
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How to Tell if Your Pontoon Has Water in It
As I said a great way to tell if your pontoon has water in it is to get close to the tubes and see if you hear any sloshing water. Even if your pontoon is in the water you should be able to distinguish the sound coming from the water from the lake hitting the pontoon and the water inside the tubes. The sound you are looking for is a lot damper and has a metallic tone.
If you hear this kind of sound you probably have water in your pontoon tubes. If you are not sure you can always double check by using one of the other methods.
Another clear sign that your pontoon boat has water in it is that it started handling really poorly without any clear reason. When water gets inside the tubes they will become considerably heavier and probably sink a little, and as a result the pontoon won’t handle as easy as before.
Closely related to the last sign is the one that your pontoon might incline to the front or to the back. Depending on where the hole is, most of the water can gather to the front, back or middle of the pontoon. If water gathered to the front or to the back, the pontoon will slightly sink in that direction.
The final and most efficient way to see if your pontoon has any water in it is to take it out of water and try to remove the water from it. If there is any water in your pontoon this way you will surely know, and also get rid of it.
Now let’s see how you can do that.
How to Drain Water From a Pontoon Boat
With the exception of newer models, a lot of pontoon boats have drain plugs on them. The purpose of the drain plugs is to simply remove any water that might have entered your pontoon boat.
If you have a drain plug on your pontoon, things will be very easy. You simply have to get your pontoon out of the water and up on the trailer and open the drain plug and let the water drain. When all the water has come out make sure you put the cap back on as tight as possible, you don’t want water getting in through the drain plug.
One quick mention about drain plugs that I have to make is that it’s possible to find multiple drain plugs on the same tube. This is because most pontoons have a multi chambered tube design.
So when water gets into the tube it won’t flood the whole inside, instead only one section will get filled with water.
If you have a newer pontoon model than you might not have a drain plug, so things will be a little more complicated, but nothing that can’t be handled.
The first option that you have is to take the pontoon out of water and find the crack or the hole in the tube. If the hole is near the bottom of the tube you should slightly incline your pontoon in such a way that the water will come out through the hole.
If the hole is near the middle of the tube, this method will get too complicated. So the next method comes into play.
The second option that you have is to drill a new hole near the bottom of the tube. While it sounds like a bad idea to drill a hole in a pontoon, the truth is that there is no other option left. Just make sure that the hole is not too big, sio you won’t have any problem patching up later.
Now that your pontoon is water free is time to see what you can do to patch up the holes in the tubes.
How to Patch up Holes in a Pontoon Boat
While there are countless DIY methods to patch up a hole, you don’t want to take any risk when it comes to boats, so there are only two ways I would recommend you to proceed.
Steel Putty
Using compound steel putty is one of the safest and easiest ways to repair a pontoon boat. Steel putty is very malleable and becomes hard as steel once it hardens, so there is no chance that it will fall off, or crack.
To use it simply have to the area with the hole or crack, apply the putty according to the instructions on the package, and then sand down the area after it dries. It usually takes about an hour for the putty to be harder, so the whole process shouldn’t take more than 90 minutes.
Welding
The other option that you have is to weld the tube. If you know how to weld you do this like you would with any other welding job. If you don’t have any experience with welding it would be better to leave this to an expert, you don’t want to make the situation worse than it is.
A professional welder shouldn’t ask you more than $50 for such a simple job.
How to Prevent Getting Water in Your Pontoon Boat
Now that the water is gone and the holes are all patched up, let’s see what you can do to prevent this from happening again.
Fenders
Fenders have saved my pontoon boat quite a few times from some really bad accidents.
Fenders are small plastic protections for the sides of your boat. So if your boat were to hit anything, it will hit the fenders first, protecting your boat.
Regular Maintenance
Sometimes cracks are not the result of a boating accident, they can simply appear due to normal use. So taking your pontoon boat once or twice a year to a mechanic for maintenance will let you know if there is any problem with the integrity of your boat, and prevent cracks from appearing.
Epoxy Seal
Another way to prevent cracks is to regularly apply waterproof epoxy seal to the surface of the pontoon. The epoxy seal can act as a protection layer which can stop damage to the integrity of the boat.
Final Thoughts
Water in a pontoon boat can start as a small nearly unnoticeable problem, but it can turn really ugly really quickly. So you should solve it as soon as possible.
Now let’s make a quick recap of everything we discussed.
To check if you have water in your pontoon boat you can:
- See if you hear sloshing water inside the tubes, the sound should be damp and slightly metallic.
- If your pontoon suddenly become harder to handle it can have water inside
- If the pontoon is slightly sunken in a direction it can be due to the water in the tubes
To remove the water from a pontoon you can do the following:
- Get the pontoon out of the water and up on the trailer
- Remove the drain plug from the pontoon, if you have a newer model you might not have a drain plug.
- Let the water get out the same way it came in, if the hole or crack is slightly higher you might have to slightly inclined the pontoon.
- If the hole or crack is too high, and you don’t have a drain plug you will have to drill a new hole near the bottom of the tube.
After you are done draining the water you can take the boat to a welder to patch it up or use some compound steel putty.
To prevent further holes and cracks in the pontoon you can:
- Use fenders to protect the pontoon when you hit something
- Take it to maintenance regularly to check its condition
- Regularly apply an epoxy seal that will act as an extra protection against cracks.