Pontoon Party Boat Is Revered as Work Horse
Author: ChrisNewman Total views: 8 Word Count: 865
If you hear the word pontoon and think party boat puttering on a lake, you lack the experiences of marine construction professionals. These unique vessels have earned a reputation - among those in the know - as some of the most versatile and rugged workboats. Boats that easily adapt to various and sometimes dangerous tasks. Tasks that fulfill the needs of a slew of private and public entities, including fire, recreation and wildlife protection agencies, marinas, fish and game departments, and demolition or construction crews.
Pontoon boats, particularly Chinook Boats from Metalite Industries, have earned respect because their design specifications can be tailored to payload capacity, work environment and weight demands. Width, length and buoyancy can all be modified. And bow and stern shapes can be altered to allow for the best utilization of surface space and work requirements.
In short, each customer of pontoon boats begins with a platform that is designed for its durability and flotation stability. The end product entails the customization of everything from tie-downs, riggings, cleats, steering and enclosures - canopies, tarps and or cabins. Depending on the complex or simple nature to fit the owners business.
The Columbia River weaves its way through the Pacific Northwest before entering into the Pacific Ocean near the Washington-Oregon boarder. With the river's heavy flow and elevation drop this makes for an ideal spot for the 14 hydroelectric dams. This is home to many important fish species which play an pertinent role in the local economy and ecology. Dix Corporation knows this playing field well.
Armin Vogt, one of the operations and project managers said Dix purchased its first Chinook pontoon boat in 2002 after the sad end of an inferior pontoon: "It got crunched," he supplied. The Chinooks have now assisted in sophisticated projects on the Snake, Columbia and Deschutes rivers. Several lock and dam rehabilitation as well as development and construction of a young fish bypass system at Rocky Reach Dam are some of the feats of Dix.
"We've hauled our pontoons all over the Northwest. We use them as a work platform doing just about everything. And we use them for hauling guys and toolboxes to and from job sites. With the type of work we do, a boat is important and stability is huge. That's one of the things the Chinook Pontoon Boats give us: You can stand on the edge and not rock that boat. You're not tipping at all," he said, adding, the stability of the pontoons has proved popular with divers. "We work a lot with divers. It seems that our boat is the boat everyone uses because it's so easy to get off and on. And, when hauling people back and forth, you can pull up to the dock, keep the engine on idleit's an easy platform for loading."
Dix recently purchased a 30-foot pontoon that is being used to push barges on the Deschutes River. The boat was designed with special push bars on the bow, to which rubber tires have been draped to create a buffer between the pontoon and modular barges.
The barges haul everything from personnel, construction materials to crawler cranes. Vogt said that the Chinook was being used as a "mini tugboat," it is also providing work platforms for the construction crew building a six-story, 80 x 10-foot porous box that will settle 300 feet below the water surface. A base structure to help regulate water temperatures in the river for Bull Trout, and endangered species.
The pontoon boats are lifted into the enormous structure's interior to access work instead of building a dock. Equipment was rigged on the boat to make such aerial lifts possible. Also, the boat was outfitted with auto-engine winches and A-frame gantry cranes to allow the boast to be anchored to rock or concrete faces with mooring lines.
When Dix moved a bridge in Portland, Ore. this last feature was particularly important. The bridge was loaded onto a barge and floated downstream, when it reached its destination the bridge was set on new abutments. A twenty foot Chinook once again provided access to the site, by allowing crew members to set mooring lines and other procedures for the following workload. This demanding job cried for a reliable water vessel. The Chinooks are made of 0.125" to 0.188" marine grade aluminum, being filled with Coast Guard certified two-pound density polyurethane.
"We bump into things. But the way the Chinook is built - the pontoon is foam filled - its durable. Even if you punched a hole in it - no problem. And there's enough payload that the boats can haul a pretty good load. Even something as large as a pickup truck, if we wanted to," Vogt said. "Everybody thinks of a pontoon boat as a party boat. that's not it. They cut through the water very well. We move at forty-five miles per hour with our two 150-horse power engines. People don't expect that from a pontoon boat, but we demand it from our Chinook boats--and we're not disappointed.
My Articles Directory Free Web Content Provider
About the Author
Chinook custom pontoon work boats use the highest quality materials in the industry to insure years of trouble free performance. Chinook Boats have been used for fire boats, cable laying, surveying, construction and material transportation. You are welcome to reprint this article - but get your own unique content version here.
Copy and Paste Article Code.
Remember: The article body, title, author bio and links may not be changed or removed. By publishing this article, you agree to all the terms in our Terms of Service.