2nd hand pontoons

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Anyone know of any 2nd hand pontoons anywhere that might be for sale?

I'm on the management commitee of the Peterborough Sea Cadets, and we've got a green light for putting some pontoons out on the river behind the unit.

The local council have been great and offered loads of support, financially and otherwise (including their architects to help with designs and drawings, and their maintenance teams to help keep the building safe)

We've also done loads of fund raising, and the kids have raised a great big chunk of cash, and we've potentially got some grants lined up.

Its the unit's 70th anniversary this year, and we've been selected as the main boating station for the region.

Only, initially enquiries have shown a 20m x 1.5m pontoon is approaching £10k without the costs of installing it and the neccessary piles etc. (we're going to see if the Royal Engineers or Navy are able to help here)

Now, we'll keep pushing to raise it, as it gets an awful lot of kids in boats and gathering vital personal and social skills and experiences, but its a lot of cash for a small charity!

So, if anyone knows of a decent secondhand pontoon or two, i'd be most interested!

 

[Magaz97]

You could try contacting the mooring committee at the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club, who have just made a number of pontoons, a lot cheaper than that, IIRC. They could help with your design and build specs.

 

[JSYmartini]

Walcon Marine are a big global company that do pontoons amongst other marine stuff. They're in the process of replacing all the pontoons in La Collette marina in Jersey. They've taken away all the old stuff and presumably shipped it back to the mainland, not sure what they're doing/done with it. May well be worth a call

 

[penfold]

Anyone in the unit handy with a welding torch? The local boatyards have pontoons of similar dimensions put together by their welder; steel flotation tanks with cleats and a frame to accept decking(and even a duct for leccy or a water pipe) are pretty simple to fabricate. The tricky bit is the gangway that accommodates the fall of the tide as your insurer may insist on a plated one. Steel for one that size should be ~£1200.

 

[Athene V30]

Neil

The Sea Scout group I used to be involved with went down the route of a 'plastic' flexi pontoon but I cannot remember the company we used.

It came in squares that were pieced together and then we added a sacrificial wood rubbing strake.

If you want more details let me know and I can put you in touch with the group.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Hi Peter,

Yes, we've talked to them already..

Thanks all for the useful ideas and pointers.

 

[Frankie-H]

Brightlingsea in Essex made their pontoon over, a few years, from 2nd hand units from the boat shows. I don't know if this still works or not.

 

[sarabande]

I have seen an MoD disposal site simialr to these

http://www.edisposals.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/Disposals-Public-Site/-/-/-/Default-Start

http://www.ljacksonandco.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=67

http://www.leavesley-international.com/search.asp

http://www.mod-sales.com/direct/vehicles/,36,/Miscellaneous.htm

and it had a number of ferro pontoons. BUT I can't find it now ! B something.....

 

[mtb]

how about

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30ft-Narr...773?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3a6f9b736d

30ft should be about right
I'd ring all the scrap yards re a steel gantry as a walk way which shouldnt be to hard to find fit rollers one end shackle it shore end
I'd use steel scaffold tubes as mooring arms for the barge
some years ago I made pontoons using a style of scaffold and 45 gallon drums it was simple enough, four sections of scaffold which was around 3ft ish deep two each side three barrels per side 4" angle welded each end. covered in timber and chicken wire as anty slip EASY lol very sturdy and cheap

cheers
Mick

 

[trishH]

I bought two second hand 15m walcon pontoons and a second hand ships gangway from Maritime Solutions in Portsmouth.

http://maritimesolutions.co.uk/ Kevin was very helpful and all his details are on the website. The gangway we have is too heavy to easily get to the location where we want to put it so if you are interested in buying that off me, please let me know. If not, good luck with Kevin. The condition of the pontoons was great.

 

[Narrowboat]

hi get intouch with nene engineering just over the town bridge i am sure they could weld some up for you at a good price.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Thanks,

But fortunately, we managed, with a bit of grovelling, to get several small grants from various sources, including the council and the SCC, and along with some really hard work by the kids doing fund raising, its enabled us to buy one of the nice modular plastic systems, that is now installed and working brilliantly.

As a consequence, the kids are getting a lot more time on the water, and we've been able to add several Picos and a Mirror to the fleet (again, supported by the kids fund raising, and a really touching donation by a retired gentleman who was a cadet at the unit in the 1950s)

 

[Leighb]

I don't know if they have any available, but Woolverstone Marina near Ipswich are in the process of upgrading, and have certainly disposed of some redundant pontoons. They may have more, might be worth giving them a call.

Tel 01473 780206