Pontoon Boat Maintenance

please help me with any ideas, maintenance, hints etc...

Here's a big tip...before puting in the water...check the drain plug and make sure it's in.

2007-03-17 06:47:30 by Roger S.

Paddle King builds boats and products that don't require lots of maintenance because our products are simply built and don't have lots of ...

I am planning to build an electric pontoon boat. I would be using it on a shallow harbour bay with lots of sandbanks, which is why a jet seems like a good idea to me rather than a propeller.

As far as I am concerned, the easiest way to build my own, electric jet drive would be to buy a DC pump with something like 4kW and position it cleverly on my pontoon boat, powering it with lead acid batteries. I want to make it electric, because it will need to recharge by wind rotors while moored. I am trying to achieve a zero-maintenance cost boat, or something approaching it.

But would that work? And would it be reasonable? Or are there better choices?

I have to keep reminding myself that not all questions on this forum are jokes and that I need to be positive and helpful... so that said...

The battery bank required to run a DC pump would be so enormous it would be impractical. Furthermore, the number of solar panels required to charge those batteries would exceed the size of the boat. Furthermore, the charge controllers required for those solar panels would even further the already exorbitant cost.

Let me say that there is NO such thing as a zero-maintenance boat. Forget about that right now. Try doing no maintenance on your car... and see how far it gets you.

Propellers are not going to be a problem for you... if you're in sandy areas you'll be better off with a prop than you would with a pump trying to digest sand. At the speed you'll be doing with an electric motor, you're not going to hurt a propeller. That said, if you need more thrust than a trolling motor and pair of group 29 or 31 deep cycles can provide you, look into a Torqeedo electric outboard. They're made in Starnberg, Germany, and judging from your use of "harbour", they're closer to you than they are to us in the States. Check out westmarine.com.

2008-09-10 17:34:53 by Chaco-Yekke Downyonder

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