They are not Pontoons!

to me your first definition describes it perfectly, a floating structure (last time i checked), (random example, not imperative to the definition), that is used to support a bridge (sounds a lot like a trampoline to me)...
thats just my opinion. I definitely think they're pontoons

catamarans have hulls, pontoon boats have pontoons

I was almost had by that interpretation of "bridge"!

noun: pontoon; plural noun: pontoons
a flat-bottomed boat or hollow metal cylinder used with others to support a temporary bridge or floating landing stage.

a bridge or landing stage supported by pontoons.

a large flat-bottomed barge or lighter equipped with cranes.
either of the floats fitted to an aircraft to enable it to land on water.

MN3 wrote: catamarans have hulls, pontoon boats have pontoons

if i put a mast and sails on a pontoon boat would they then be hulls?

I guess another question is if you take the hulls off a cat and make a pontoon boat, are they still hulls?

Tom

benedict wrote: I guess another question is if you take the hulls off a cat and make a pontoon boat, are they still hulls?

Tom

thats deep...

Is it the shape or the purpose that makes a hull a hull?

I thought nuts had hulls. 😆

Perhaps that's the difference... still I'd rather have hulls than pontoons!

I would say purpose. A rose is a beautiful flowering plant, unless it is growing in a football field since then it would be a weed. A boat has a hull, a pontoon boat is basically a floating dock with a motor.

Once a hull gets major soft spots it becomes a pontoon. Your cat is then only good as a floating deck. 😆

What difference does it really make? A good way to run off newcomers to any sport is to insist on knowing certain jargon which really makes no difference. For example, I once went into a bike shop to look for a new "seat". The sales gal says, "you mean a saddle?". Yeah whatever, she came across as a real snob. Now some nautical/sailing terms are important to know, but that's not one of them.

What difference does it really make?

+1 It doesn't make a damn bit of difference.

Several have quoted one definition as the devices to enable an aircraft to land on water.
I have several thousand hours in float equipped aircraft, mostly Turbo Beavers & Twin Otters, they were NEVER referred to as pontoons...it was floats, as in, "you working wheels today, or floats?"
The endorsement on your pilots license is a "float endorsement", the training manual is titled, "Flying Floats".
Perhaps it's a regional thing, sort of like you say toe -mate- toe, I say toe-matt-toe.

I suppose it makes no difference at all. It is indeed a semantic discussion and I am really concerned with the meaning of words though. Call them hulls bananas if you want! Right? It definitely makes no difference at all when your bananas are going 10+. At one level I really agree with that.

For me it's just a pet peeve - I hate the sound of the word if it is being used to refer to a catamaran.

I want to know the correct terms for anything I get into and do not consider it a turnoff when somebody politely lets me know that I am using the wrong term. I wonder if the Oracle team talks about "flying a pontoon"... (Does anybody say that?)

sure it does

Boats have lots of unique names, parts and history for a reason....

is a sheet also a rope? yes, but it has a proper name on a boat for a reason. you don't pull a rope on a sail, you sheet a sail.

how about that thingy-ma-bober on the front of the boat. you know you need a new one, but since you can't explain to the guy on the phone from murray's what the name of the part is .... you waste his time, and make yourself look like a noob and risk not being able to get the right part.

how about this one: "Hello 911 - there is a pontoon boat right outside Start Island. The skipper is having a heart attack and needs assistance right away .... the coast guard will now be looking for a pontoon boat instead of a catamaran

+1 It doesn't make a damn bit of difference.

Edited by MN3 on Sep 11, 2013 - 07:39 AM.

if i put a mast and sails on a pontoon boat

I have always wanted to do that. and some lee boards too of course.

I have to weigh in on this--I can't stand some of the non-sailing morons that try to use sailing terms:

Mask? No, it is a MAST
Ruter? Nope, rudder
little flippy things on the back of the boat? Again, rudder and on the stern
Tarpouline? Trampoline

And the WORST?

Sponsons. I'll accept pontoon, but I just can't take the term, 'sponson.'

I agree with Dan, "pontoon" doesn't bother me but I draw the line at "sponson". That just sounds ridiculous.

For the record, "rutter" is a mariner's record of a sailing route. "Rudder" is the fin thingie on the back of the boat.

And if that wasn't fun enough, for our next lesson we'll teach you the proper pronunciation of "forecastle" and "leeward". 🙂

On a more serious note, I could totally see a bunch of cats in mast-up storage discussing the philosophical implications of all this.

"I am my hulls. But if another boat takes my hulls, are they still mine?"
"For that matter, are they still hulls?"
"If the other boat is a power boat, does having your hulls make it a sailboat?"
"No, because I am also my sails."
"But if another boat takes your sails, are you still then a sailboat? And what do you call your hulls?"
"What is the sound of one halyard slapping?"

Then at the far end of the boatyard the hoodlum cats are saying, "DUDE! We were like going almost 20 knots, and get this! Get this! I TOTALLY STUFFED A HULL! You shoulda seen his face. HAHAHAHAHA! Dude was like, 'Nooo!' and I was all like, 'OH HELL YEAH!', and then he was all like..."

It's all sailing. It's all fun.

Tom

"What is the sound of one halyard slapping?"

"But if it happens after the crew fell off & I'm drifting miles away, does it make a sound?"

Sponsons. I'll accept pontoon, but I just can't take the term, 'sponson.'

The water bombers,(flying boats) that operated in the summers for forest fire suppression called the small floats,(whoops, I better term them "appendages") at the end of the wings sponsons. The lower portion of the aircraft, that provided buoyancy was the hull.
http://www.bombardier.com/en/aerospace/amphibious-aircraft.html

Edited by Edchris177 on Sep 11, 2013 - 03:21 PM.

Other than calling our hulls "pontoons" the other comment that makes me cringe equally and frequently is telling me that my Shiba Inu "looks like a fox". If I had a dollar for each time I've heard both I'd be stinking rich!

I actually heard one of he America's cup announcer say "lee-ward". Ugh

This thread is, well, entertaining. Carry on.

Here is a pontoon boat

It's just missing that stick... You know, the stick you hang this funny looking flapping fabric. And what's the deal with that bunch of cables and ropes all over the place? Oh yeah, how about theze piece of plywood you stick in the center of the pontoon. Have no idea what's for...

And why does every non-catsailor call ALL beach cats, Hobiecats?? My mother does that all the time and it drives me nuts! That's like calling all refrigerators Fridgidairs or something

Which reminds me about pronouncing windward and leeward properly. I live in Norfolk, VA and you can always tell the out-of-towners by the way they mispronounce local city names:

Norfolk - they say nor-folk, it should be norfuck or for the old timers, Nahfuck
Suffolk - they say Suf-folk, should be Suffuck
Portsmouth - they say Ports-mouth, should be Portsmuth

guy at McD's was actually afraid that my shiba (sitting quiet and still) was a wolf dog and would jump out of the passenger seat into the drive up window and kill him. he wouldn't open the window all the way to prevent that from happening

(sorry for the hijack)

lawrencer2003 wrote: my Shiba Inu "looks like a fox". If I had a dollar for each time I've heard both I'd be stinking rich!

Edited by MN3 on Sep 12, 2013 - 08:26 AM.

Have ya tried the decaffeinated coffee?

😉

DanBerger wrote: And why does every non-catsailor call ALL beach cats, Hobiecats?? My mother does that all the time and it drives me nuts! That's like calling all refrigerators Fridgidairs or something

Which reminds me about pronouncing windward and leeward properly. I live in Norfolk, VA and you can always tell the out-of-towners by the way they mispronounce local city names:

Norfolk - they say nor-folk, it should be norfuck or for the old timers, Nahfuck
Suffolk - they say Suf-folk, should be Suffuck
Portsmouth - they say Ports-mouth, should be Portsmuth

Yes..."Hobie Cat" = Generic term for Beach Cat.

Oh well that explains it. The next time someone tells me to go Nahfuck myself I will react differently.

I HATE it when someone calls my 5.7 a hobiecat (one word said that way). Yes I know that all catamarans are hobie 16s but mine is WAY bigger than that. And faster. Plus the pontoons are shaped way different.