I need help with my Pontoon!

Good Morning!

So, a serious issue that may require a more comprehensive solution has to do with the pontoon tubes. Specifically, the starboard side tube.

Those of you have been following my trip on www.Hopeontheriver.com are familiar with this issue!

I attempted to mitigate any leakage by coating all viewable and accessible areas with sealant. While that appeared to be a solid fix for most of my 8 hour trip from Rockport to St. Charles yesterday it's clear it wasn't the more permanent fix I was hoping to achieve.

While the first 7 hours appeared to go smoothly the last hour of the trip saw the starboard stern of the raft list once again. The amount of water wasn't as pronounced as previously but it is clearly a situation that I have to address if the trip is going to continue as planned.

Today I will travel from St. Charles to Grafton -- a distance of about 17 miles. Once there I will drain the tubes and see how much water has accumulated.

My hope is that it will be next to nothing. However, if any significant volume is in the tube it's clearly evidence that whatever slow leak we've had in the tube may, in fact, be accelerating.

So, sealing the tubes 100% can only happen if the raft is removed from the water and the tubes are removed from the raft so that the very topside of them can be accessed and a full seal/wrap of the tubes are conducted.

The other option is a 100% replacement of the existing tubes which, I assume, is a costly process and one that may eat up additional travel time for this trip.

We are going to attempt a pump fix to see if that solution provides a robust resolution to the water coming into the tube in a real-time way. Perhaps if tubes are placed inside and pumps can be running regularly or allow me to turn them on intermittently throughout the travel day then I can manage the water.

Those of you in the St. Charles/Grafton/St. Louis area please let me know if you have any access to people who might have some insight and/or ability to help remedy the issue in any of the ways I've described above or some other way.

I've grown more confident -- not cocky -- in my ability to manage this trip downriver based on my experiences I've had since I've begun the trip.

I've got two more locks and dams to go and then into wider water with bigger tows and barges. If I can successfully fend off the cruisers than I feel sanguine that wise planning and prudent use of my motors can remove me from harm's way of the bigger tows and barges even if it requires me to park the boat out of the way until they pass me by.

But, without reliable tubes, or ones in which a reliable solution can be developed to manage them, I'm anxious about the outcome of this trip.

Thanks for your helpful ideas and solutions.