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Loose baffle in pontoon

J

Jay and Patricia Jones

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We had a pop noise when loading the boat onto the trailer. Inspected pontoons and no noticeable exterior damage. There is a clanging when docked from pontoon. Is this a loose baffle in the pontoon? How dangerous is this?
 
A simple pressure test of the pontoon will tell you if you have a problem.

1. Pressure test center compartment of pontoon. If pressure holds proceed to Step 2 (this means that center compartment is good). If pressure does not hold, you have an external leak(s) in the center compartment.
2. With center compartment still pressurized, open the valve on forward compartment completely. Center compartment should still hold pressure. If forward compartment starts hissing, the forward bulkhead separating center and forward compartments has an internal leak. Proceed to Step 3.
3. Pressure test forward compartment. If pressure holds proceed to Step 4 (this means that forward compartment is good, and also that bulkhead between forward and center compartments is good as well). If pressure does not hold, you have an external leak on the aft compartment.
4. Pressure test aft compartment. If pressure holds, with aft compartment still pressurized open the valve to the center compartment. Aft compartment should still hold pressure. If center compartment starts hissing, your rear bulkhead has an internal leak.

If either of the bulkheads leak, the pontoon needs to be replaced, as you cannot repair an internal bulkhead. If it's just one of the compartments has a leak, find the leak and repair it.
 
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I will add, "BE VERY CAREFUL" with pressure testing!! These do not have much pressure originally, I think someone once said around 3-4 psi, might be best to have a dealer do / investigate depending on the year of the boat also could be a warranty issue
 
Very knowledgeable TCPIP. Great advice for someone like you or CWag but for me and other clods like me I would not attempt, I would bring it to the dealer
 
I would not attempt to pressure test. Contact your dealor.
 
I believe a loose baffle would be covered under the lifetime structural warranty.
 
Yes, I would have the dealer do it as well. I would advise the dealer to follow that procedure. It's too easy to simply pressure test any of the compartments and if it holds pressure you think you're good to go. The problem with that is that if one (or worse, BOTH) of the internal bulkheads have a crack in them and you puncture one of the pontoon compartments, you have a potential "Titanic" situation where you could end up flooding all three compartments. By following the test procedure I described you can know for certain whether or not you have a bulkhead issue.
 
It could also be a loose baffle plate , under the deck , on both sides of the motor tunnel . I lost one of these this year, and didn't notice it until fall when we took it out for the winter. These plates are just held in place with pop rivets , and with the flexing of the structure, can become loose, and fall off.
 
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