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A pleasure boat with two lengthwise pontoons A pontoon boat is a flattish boat that relies on floats to remain buoyant. These pontoons (also called ''tubes'') contain much reserve buoyancy and allow designers to create large deck plans fitted with a variety of accommodations including expansive lounge areas, stand-up bars, and sun pads. Better tube designs have allowed builders to put ever-increasing amounts of horsepower on the stern. Pontoon boat drafts may be as shallow as eight inches (20 centimetres), which reduces risk of running aground and underwater damage, this allows it to come close to shore to pick up and drop off loads.


History

A pontoon ferry crossing the Zambezi at Kazungula The 1951 invention of the pontoon motorboat in the United States is credited to a farmer who lived on the Horseshoe chain of lakes, near
Richmond, Minnesota Richmond is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,422 at the 2010 census. Richmond is part of the St. Cloud, Minnesota metropolitan area. History Richmond was platted in 1856 by Reuben Richardson, a farmer f ...
. Ambrose Weeres put a wooden platform on two columns of steel barrels welded together end-to-end, creating a sturdy deck that would be more stable on a lake than a conventional boat. Living in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", Weeres thought this idea might be marketed. The first boat was "The Empress". He built a few boats and sold them with the help of dealers. He started Weeres Industries to meet unexpected demand. Weeres, later called "Mr. Pontoon", was elected to the Minnesota Marina Hall of Fame.


Designs and uses

Common pontoon boat designs are a
catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-sta ...
with two hulls, or a trimaran with three hulls. Boats with three hulls are sometimes called ''tri-toons.'' Pontoon boats are used for pleasure on lakes and rivers, and in some cases on oceans close to shore. Pontoon watersport activities include tubing, waterskiing, wakeboarding. Common pontoon accessories include an inflatable slide, diving board, sun shades, and bimini tops. They are also used as a small vessel ferries to cross rivers and lakes in many parts of the world, especially in
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. Pontoon ferries may be motorized, such as the Kazungula Ferry across the Zambezi River, or powered by another boat, or pulled by cables. A type of ferry known as the cable ferry ("punts" was what they were called in the medieval times and in modern
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and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
) pull themselves across a river using a motor or human power applied to the cable, which also guides the pontoon. Pontoons may support a platform, creating a raft. A raft supporting a house-like structure is a
houseboat A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Most houseboats are not motorized as they are usually moored or kept stationary at a fixed point, and often tethered to land to provide utilities. Ho ...
. A pontoon boat keeping a sauna cabin is called a sauna boat.https://emperorrafts.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-a-sauna-boat Small inflatable pontoon boats are one or two-person, catamaran-type boats, designed for leisure and fishing. Their pontoons are made out of abrasion-resistant PVC and nylon with aluminum, steel, and plastic frames for support. In today’s setting, more and more people prefer to use frameless pontoon boats. They are powered with paddles, oars and often with electric trolling motors using deep cycle
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. Commonly they are equipped with motor mount, battery storage area,
fishing rod A fishing rod is a long, thin rod used by anglers to catch fish by manipulating a line ending in a hook (formerly known as an ''angle'', hence the term "angling"). At its most basic form, a fishing rod is a straight rigid stick/pole with ...
holders, canopy, fishfinder mount, small
anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek � ...
, and other required fishing gear. Such boats are suitable for ponds, lakes, rivers, and seas during calm weather. However, due to their light weight, they are susceptible to waves and windy conditions. Nonetheless, such boats are often used even for big game fishing.


Safety

The pontoon effect is when a large force applied to the side capsizes a pontoon boat without much warning, particularly a top-heavy boat.


See also

*
Pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses floats or shallow- draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry ...
*
Barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...
* Raft *
Buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of y ...


References

{{Authority control Multihulls