Custom Pontoon Boats?

[Runejl]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if any of you have ever welded a frame up your own toon? Did you go off a design? How much did the pontoons cost? Im sure there are whitewater enthusiasts that do, any help would be awesome. Thanks,

Josh

[Jerry Daschofsky]

I'm not a welder, so I've never welded my own. But I've designed alot, and had quite a few custom frames built (for whitewatering and fishing). Pontoons cost as much as you want to spend really. You can range from $500 up to about $3500 (haven't shopped them for a bit, so could be more or less). Just depends on how big of tubes you want and what brand you get. I've spent up to $2,000 for a pair of tubes (just tubes nothing else), and that was almost 20 years ago. That was a 16' set of tubes. Just depends on what size you want and how much you want to spend. Plus, certain tubes are better for fishing (flatter hulled tubes), especially if you want to fish from the boat.

[speyfisher]

Dig around on the wec. Sites like Sotar, for example, show many different frame configurations. When it comes to catarafts/frames, there are a lot of possibilities. Just depends on what you want. Or think you want.:D Tubes sold separately.:)

[Pat M]

I've done it and it was alot of fun to customize your own boat with what YOU need and expect. I had the pontoons for about 4 years just laying around because I bought them from a fly shop that was going out of business. Those are the Cardiac Canyon 11 foot toons. Once I had put everything together I wasnt real happy with the transducer set-up(pic #2) so I took my daughters kickstand off her bike (since its always laying on the grass and she doesnt use it) and attached it to the rear deck. Just reach down and lower and swing it back up when your in shallow water. If you have any questions shoot'em to me.

[Dirk Pitt]

Some pics of my custom boat. Xstream toons with custom frame.

[NDflyfisher]

Stillwaterflyfisher, is their a reason why you didn't mount your transducer to the bottom of your electric? Why use the bike kickstand? I have mine mounted to the bottom of my electric and I have never had any issues. Just seems like something else to mess with going to shore and you already have to pull the electric up. I am just wondering.

[Pat M]

Stillwaterflyfisher, is their a reason why you didn't mount your transducer to the bottom of your electric? Why use the bike kickstand? I have mine mounted to the bottom of my electric and I have never had any issues. Just seems like something else to mess with going to shore and you already have to pull the electric up. I am just wondering.

I actually had it mounted to the motor at one time. To me it seemed more of a hastle. I have my cables all ziptied to the frame so for me to cut all of those and reattach them were waisting time. Plus I can run in very shallow water with the kickstand. The problem with it on the motor is if you have it 2 of 3 feet in the water you are not going to get an accurate reading on your finder. Your going to be off 2 or 3 feet. If I choose not to use the motor but just row or kick I dont have to worry about mounting it again. The great thing about the way I've done this is if I decide to float down the river with this boat I just flip it up and its out of the way.

[trekker]

Dirk, That's a sweet boat.

[Dirk Pitt]

Thanks, Trekker.