The Pontoon Water Glide is under new ownership and it shows. In February 2010, Dave and Ginger Schaefer purchased the company that produces a revolutionary product that enhances the performance of pontoon boats. Dave brings his 20 years of marine construction and engineering background to this unique patented product and when asked why they bought the company the Schaefers love to tell their story:
The couple bought a 21-foot pontoon boat with a 115 hp engine in the spring of 2009. They immediately noticed how much it dragged in the water and knew it could go faster if it could get up out of the water. The Schaefers found the Pontoon Water Glide on the Internet and decided to give it a try. "The difference in the boat was unbelievable. We went from 22 mph to 32 mph and could turn in half the distance we could before," says Dave. "When in a turn the boat now leans into the turn instead of digging in on the outside. The bottom line is we decided this was a great product and we wanted to promote it. In a nutshell, we liked the product so much we bought the company!"
Since the purchase there have been some major changes. The product has been refined to promote ease of installation. It is now sold as a kit containing the Performance Sheeting to skin the underside of the boat and it includes all the stainless steel hardware required to install.
"Probably the most significant difference has been the development of a program that balances the boat and determines the exact location to mount the Water Glide for maximum performance," says Dave. "With the information that was gathered through years of installing the Water Glides, the software program was developed to reduce installation time and maximize the boat's performance."
The Pontoon Water Glide is a fiberglass foam-filled planing hull that mounts under the center of a pontoon boat. It has 700 pounds of flotation built into it, which, along with the planing characteristics of the hull, lift the boat, greatly reducing the hull's drag in the water.
"The idea of a triple pontoon boat has become pretty common in the pontoon boat industry over the last five years, but what the Water Glide does that a standard third pontoon cannot do, is get the boat up on plane with less than 100 horsepower," explains Dave. "Every day we see these high performance triple pontoon boats with 200hp engines screaming across the water, but what does that mean to a guy with a 24-foot boat and a 90hp motor? If you install a third pontoon on a boat like that you will gain stability and reduce submarining. However, there will be no appreciable increase in the speed of the boat, a matter of fact. Unless you add planing fins and more horsepower you may lose speed."
According to the new owner, the Water Glide provides a solution for the existing boat owner that wants to step his performance up a notch without buying a new boat. "Many people buy a new boat planning to purchase a Water Glide immediately," says Dave. "They like the idea of running with less horsepower, more efficiently, faster, using less fuel, with more stability."
The Pontoon Water Glide was previously owned by the inventor Leroy Price and his daughter and son-in-law Donna and Trent Burkdoll. Visit www.pontoonwaterglide.com to view CAD drawings, videos, installation instructions, reviews and photos of the Pontoon Water Glide. You can also call 888-311-8313 for more information.
