Small personal Pontoon for fishing

[timnphx]

Hello,

I was just wondering if anybody has ever made or seen plans for a small pontoon type boat like the ones you see as personal watercraft used for fishing on calm lakes and such? :?: I was just thinking about doing the pontoons in a sealed wood like floats with possibly filled with floatation foam and building the frame and all out of wood. I think it would be a bit more appealing than the blow-up floats. :!:

Tim

[mrthethird]

Awfully odd you should ask.....I've been working on pencil drawings for such a craft for a little over a year (I'm CAD illiterate). I've been looking around locally for a supplier for neat little brass fittings for the thing. Even thought about a crab-claw sail for coming back to shore with the wind.

I want to make it ALL wood (except the brass accents, of course), no aluminum tube seating and stuff. Attaching the pontoons to the seat in a manner that makes them easy to take apart and put together AND sturdy has become a bit of a snag finding the right hardware that will hold up.

[openboater]

Bolger has plans for a small pontoon that they made for picking up litter on a small lake. I don't remember the name, but it looked close to what you are taling about.

[barryhill]

The Bolger design is Trashcat. His Fishcat is similar. I've considered it for fishing at my wife's family's lake cabin. With a flat deck she and the kids could use it for the swim platform they've been bugging me about. Would also scoot When the kid hot rodder took over in me.

[lewisboats]

I played with a few sketches a year or so ago...I'll see if I can dig them up.

Steve

[Brad]

Here's one.

[Jim McLaren]

Try here:

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/pontoon.php

Free downloadable pdfs

[barryhill]

Brad

For about the cost of the pink stuff the floats could be coolers!

[Brad]

For about the cost of the pink stuff the floats could be coolers!

Dual purpose floats?

[Ken_Potts]

Wouldn't there be a danger of overballasting the coolers?

Oh! I see! Once the coolers are full and the boat is on the bottom you've got that nice water chair to sit in while you reduce the ballast! Genius...

[Guest Oyster]

Speaking of full coolers, what a year of fishing, Ken, and BRENT. :wink: They are still biting, speckled trout especially, and weather couldn't be any better. 8)

[kydocfrog]

Seems to me that that picture floated (if that's the right word) around here before. Someone commented at the time "That's wrong in so many ways..." Amen.

DocA

[Ken_Potts]

Oyster - Nice to hear from you.

Fishing? What's fishing? Oh wait - I remember - Fishing is the thing I did on my birthday trip back in April! That was a lot of fun. It's nice to know that some folks with more wisdom than I have accumulated have chosen to live a nice life (fishing, sailing, posting pictures to make the rest of us jealous) while fools like me travel to the cold midwest to repair the robots that make the cars that get us to work so we're not fishing...

Wait a minute - Why am I not fishing? I can't remember - So tired...

Tim - Have you seen any pontoon designs that interest you yet? Please keep us posted.

[timnphx]

Well, I have come up with my own design you might say. I am thinking of calling it a Kayactoon due to the shapes as you might fiqure out. I might do a strip-ceder like design for the 2 floats and fill them with floatation foam and so on. see my basic thought image.

Kayactoon-1.doc

[Barry Pyeatt]

Here is a link to one with free plans. Don't know about how good it is, but the price is right.

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/pontoon.php

Have a friend that used 4 of the poly barrels and a flat wooden platform he made from scrap 2X6 and plywood. Added an ebay 28# thrust electric trolling motor. He has been happy with it on some small lekes here in the Northwest. Handles two quite easily with space for a couple alum. folding deck chairs and two coolers. One for the catch and the other for liquid ballast. Pretty easily handled and hoisted into the bed of his pickup to haul it around. T'aint purty or fast, but he catches a lot of fish from it.