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1989 Sun Tracker Party Barge 24DL into Tritoon bui |
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posted: 01/23/2020 at 4:39pm |
Hello All,
Last summer the family and I came across a '89 Sun Tracker Party Barge 24DL for practically a steal, so we took the plunge and bought it. Like many pontoons of this age, she was in very rough shape, Rocky Raccoon and family made home in the boat for a long while... ![]() I have a question about the lifting strakes for the more experienced out there. This middle toon has the Harris PII performance strakes, which are negative angle. I was going to weld strakes on the inboard side of the outer tubes. Can these strakes on the outside tube be positive angle? Do strakes have to be all the same angle (positive or negative)? Can you mix the two? I'd like to do all my welding to the toons while it's light and I can flip it over easily to weld down instead of on a trailer and up. I have pics to post of the progress so far, I have to upload them this weekend. |
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Here's a few pics from end of last year to now. Getting ready to drag the boat into the barn to start working on her.
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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I was fortunate to find a center toon as a warranty take off. This center toon came off a 2016 Harris, it has Harris's PII lifting strakes. I need to find a gas tank. The toon was pulled for a pin hole in the weld and since welding aluminum is no biggie for me. This was an awesome score. This toon and motor pod are a foot and some change longer than my current 24ft. toons. I also have some 2x2 .125 wall box tubing left over from some other project. I will use this to strengthen the rear of the boat for the extra weight. I want to adding lifting strakes to the inboard side of the outside toons. This is the help I need.
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Took advantage of some good weather to move the pontoon into the barn and stage the center toon for measuring. What do you guys think is the best distance to set the transom? Currently it's 18" behind the outer toons.
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Stewystew ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/18/2020 Location: Simpsonville SC Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Nice, looks like its coming along!
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Had a little bit of time to play with the toon last night. I took off the old z bars that were just just supports and placed the box tube across to get an idea of placement and meaurements. I think in the rear I may place the box tubes on 12" centers? Do you all think that is overkill? I would like to hang a 250 or ....
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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So I've decided to add some more 2-1/2" box tubing to the entire boat. The current Z-bars are on 24" centers, So I think to add a little more comfort...at least in my mind
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Ok...so I got my extra box tubes layed out in the rear and across the rest of boat. In the rear transom area, I will have the box tubing on 12" centers to match the original z-bars spacing, which was 12". I then added an additional 5 bars, to fill the rest of the crossbeam sets. Now I have to get the center tube as perfectly lined up as possible and begin laying out all my drill hole locations. I think while I have it down to a skeleton, I may replace all the OE carriage bolts that hold the toons onto the crossbeams. They are corroded real bad.
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gerard143 ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 07/20/2017 Location: NY Status: Offline Points: 58 |
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Well that ought to stiffen that thing up like a champ!
Great work. Keep the pics coming. |
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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![]() ![]() Haven't made too much headway with the boat...had my best helper (my son) grind all the rotted screws down and metal finish. I got some aluminum sheared and bent to make lifting strakes on the inboard side of the outer toons. I will TIG weld those on in the next few weeks. We also bought new 316 stainless hardware, to replace all the old rusty originals. ![]() Best Regards
Edited by abrasivereshaping - 04/30/2020 at 6:12pm |
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Hello all,
Hopefully everyone is on the lake and enjoying sun & fun. I finally have some pics of progress on the tritoon build. These are of the lifting strakes I put on. They are 5052 Aluminum .125 thick. I did them 6" x 6". TIG Welding 30 year old crusty aluminum tubes, took a lot of prep work. Also another challenge was dealing with all the dents and crush points from being cribbed up over the years. I used the extruded box tubes clamped to the M-Brackets as my zero point for measuring points on the lifting strakes. We tried other ways, but the tubes themselves have lots of distortion from being cribbed up. We focused on making sure the running surface was the same height between both sides. I did stringer welds of 6" every 20" on center. Still love my Miller Sycrowave 350! She may not be as fancy as some of the newer welders...but she is solid and dependable! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Edited by abrasivereshaping - 06/22/2020 at 8:55pm |
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Got the Tritoon build splashed over the holiday weekend. With the 90hp Johnson V4 she came with, GPS 24mph with 14x13 3 blade prop. Only the wife and I onboard with 30 gallons of fuel. The boat jumps up and out of the water quickly and smooth. The lifting stakes seem to be doing their job.
With 8 people, 1 small dog and 3 coolers full she still GPS 23mph. I do not have a full interior quite yet. I have an issue with prop blow out at 18-19mph, to get into the 20's is a delicate tweaking of the throttle. The prop is a Michigan Wheel Vortex 14 x 13. VERY VERY HAPPY. Edited by abrasivereshaping - 07/07/2020 at 3:48am |
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Motor7 ![]() Newbie ![]() Joined: 02/07/2014 Location: Tennessee Status: Offline Points: 13 |
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Looking good and I am jealous of your aluminium welding capability's. You nudged me to buy a spool gun for my Millermatic 210 & picking up the new gas bottle and wire this week. Fortunately I have access to a lot of scrap aluminium to practice on as there is a horse trailer mfg nearby.
First project with it will be to weld up a 6' extended cabin roof to my Party Hut that is being disassembled now for new flooring. Any idea how much a 1/8" 4x8 sheet of aluminium weighs? trying to decide on Al or ply for the roof....leaning towards Al. You might try a 4 blade prop, but proper pitch application can be hard to pin down.
Edited by Motor7 - 07/19/2020 at 1:18pm |
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Thank you for the complement on the welds. Definitely practice on lots of scrap to get the setting right. I read someone on here had a few leaks to deal with after using a spool gun. The wire pierced the puddle and left a pin hole. Just something to look out for. Make yourself a simple pressure testing gauge setup and you will be good to go.
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abrasivereshaping ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 01/14/2020 Location: Clinton Townshi Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Some updates on the project Tritoon. I still have bad ventilation issues with the new prop.(Turning Point Hustler 14 x 13). I can spin 5500 rpm WOT, but only getting 19-20mph GPS. I'm constantly fighting to get the prop bite the water. I currently have the motor buried deep, my cavitation plate is 2" below the bottom of transom. I have manual trim on this old 90HP Johnson. I've left the trim pin at it's lowest setting, 0 trim, you could call it. I've tried to raise the trim but that exacerbates the ventilation issue. My thoughts and BMAC hopefully can chime in, is the negative angle of the strakes on the center toon is trapping air and funneling it to the prop. I've noticed Harris does not have their strakes go all the way back to the transom anymore. So this morning, I decided to cut off the last 3ft. of strakes on the center toon.
The boat rides high and wonderfully smooth. We had one rough day on Lake St. Clair over the weekend, 3-4ft. with heavy cross chop and she comfortably ran through them. I look forward to putting a 200-250hp on her. However, I want to make sure the water isn't getting aerated by the strakes. It would be the same conversation, different motor ![]() |
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