By terry harrison (Th3) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

im working on building some removable pontoons for my max iv. i need more payload ability during duck season (4 hunters-guns-decoys-ducks). my first plan is developing some design problems. has anyone else tried pontooning their aatv?

By Howard Hoover on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Terry,
Have you thought of using a Co2 type cartridge
or an air compressor to air up an inflatable type of pontoon that way you could take them apart easily and they would store more compact. I think the Co2 would be a really fast way to set up the pontoons once you get to where you are going.
The other way you would have to have an on board air compressor on your atv or your truck or carry an air tank but I have no idea of how big of a tank you would have to have and then you would only get one use out of it. I know you can use an old A/C unit off of a car for an air compressor I have no idea which unit would be best for it but the old Chrysler units have 2 cylinders I would think those would pump more air than a single cylinder unit. I have seen four wheel off roaders use this set up with air tanks so they can power their air tools,deflate tires for more traction off road and then air them back up before they hit the road.

By terry harrison (Th3) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

i have worked out most of the problems with the design and made a few changes. i have decided to go with dual 8 1/2" pontoons on each side. ill be cutting and welding the support arms together today along with mounting the recievers to the roll cage.

when finished the pontoons will attach to the side of the max by sliding the dual arms (medium wall 1 1/2" square tube stock) into dual recievers (thick wall 2" square tube stock welded onto the roll cage). it will be like the reciever hitch on the back of a truck and will lock with flip over locking pins.

i am using 8 1/2" polly pipe to make the pontoons with. this is the light weight, dual wall pipe not the solid wall, heavy pipe. i figured out how to cut the ends so i can pull them down to a point on each end.

i have some 8 1/2" metal pipe i will cut 1 1/2" wide rings out of. i will cut a slit in the ring so to spread it and slide over the pontoon. when released the ring should clamp back down on the pontoon. the support arms will be welded to the rings before sliding the rings over the pontoons.

the pontoons will then be wraped & sealed in fiberglass.

when not in use the pontoons will store on top of the roll cage. i may weld some recievers to the top of the roll cage to store the pontoons with but im still working on that. i think i can just use a couple of ratchet straps and avoid some welding. i wont know till i finish the pontoons and see how they sit on top of the cage.

By barryhh3f on Unrecorded Date: Edit

You may want to rethink the size of your pontoons. The ones you describe will only displace 122 pounds if you make them 5 feet long. If you use them for stability they may be OK, but if you want to use them for additional buoyancy 240 pound doesn’t sound like much. And don’t forget you have to deduct the weight of the pontoons from that 240 pound displacement figure.

I have used CO2 inflated floatation bags on helicopters and they work real good, once. Then you have to repack them, not something you want to do in the field.

I also carry a 12 Volt air compressor in my truck to fix flats. You would be surprised how often you find thing to puncture you tires in Alaska. One of the tings I discovered is that those little compressors don’t put out much volume. It can take up to 15 minutes or more, to bring a 16 inch truck tire up to 50 PSI.

I have tried the same compressor on my 13 foot Avon inflatable. After a half hour we gave up for fear of burning up the compressor, with no real amount of air in the bags. The foot pump had it inflated in 15 minutes. If you want to use bags consider a foot or hand pump.

By Marc Stobinski (Jerseybigfoot) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

I photographed a Hustler980 a few years ago that had swing arms off the front windshield to support 2 smaller floats to increase the stability in water. http://www.route6x6.com/photogallery/images/pg162.jpg
The owner said they worked very well. The 980 has narrow tall tub and is not very stable in the water with all the gear he used for camping.
The 2 floats are stored on his rear rack.

By martyrd on Unrecorded Date: Edit

go to funtothemax website. they make after market products for 6 x 6 machines. they made me some floats and they worked great. marty

By Mark Gallant on Unrecorded Date: Edit

besides rideing my Max ll, I also prospect for gold...the pontoons for my 5" Keene gold dredge can also be used as outriggers for the Max..go thru Google or someplace and see how the Gold Dredges are put together.

By terry harrison (Th3) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

i have put together a set of pontoons. they store on top of the roll cage until needed. i am only using two pontoons for now but i will add two more in the near future. i have a pic of them in my profile. just click on my name at the top of this post.

By terry harrison (Th3) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

here is a link to my pic page. look under aatv for more pontoon pics.

look at pics 2,3,4,5,and 6 at the bottom of the page.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/th3mud/album?.dir=b59f&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

By Motown's (Bigwolf) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

The new pontoons look great Terry! Nice Job!

By budman (209.115.67.76) on : Edit

Why not use the exhaust as a source of inflation?? you could use the hose that repair stations use to route the exhaust gas outside.

By terry harrison (Th3) (63.67.88.15) on : Edit

exhust pipe too hot to mount rubber hose to. even if you did, reducing the exhust pipe down to a half inch hose may not let the engine idle, cause it to die.