Spontoons

Any body use spontoons?
Thinking about putting some on my boat. What effects do they have other than help float the stern? Do the add drag and hurt speed, make it harder to plane out? Are they worth the $$$?

Type in the word sponsons in the upper right search field of the page and you will get pages of results. I would of sent you direct links but there were just too many. Good luck!

Jim

You mean something like this?

No i was talking about floatation pods on the back of the transom, your boat looks awsome though, do you use it for comercial purposes?

I use it for a LOT of purposes :mrgreen:

Unfortunately, I had to take those sponsons off. As the bow of the Dura-Craft doesn't sweep upward like a Zodiac, having those sponsons on there was actually not safe crossing heavy waves, it allowed water to ship right over the bow and almost swamp me. Also, since the material of the tubes was only .050", any time I bumped into a dock with them, they got dented, or they flexed enough for the paint to crack and chip, requiring constant touch-up.

At the time, it was a good idea, and it looked cool, but in actual usage, it was impractical.

Haha well atleast they looked cool, learn from your mistakes right? Your must have spent a fortune on thost things though

mwassman said:

Haha well atleast they looked cool, learn from your mistakes right? Your must have spent a fortune on thost things though

Click to expand...

Those sponsons were made from 10 inch diameter aluminum irrigation pipe (like what you see used on 'center pivots' for irrigating farmland) I think the 2 20 foot lengths cost me about 300 dollars total.

But that was NOTHING, compared to the amount of hours I had in fabricating those things! Getting those angles cut just right was a very critical and precise operation, and especially so on material that was only .050"....you can't afford to have gaps in the fitup of something that thin, or it's a real PITA to weld.

And even with good fits, that .050" was still a ***** to try welding, especially making it pressure tight. I could charge them up to 15 PSI once I had it done, though.

The good thing about it was that I designed the sponsons so they attached to the gunwales of the boat with clips, riveted in place. So, at least they were easy to remove, with no real permanent damage done to the boat.