This is a new one... bullet hole in our pontoon!

[WinnsHawkII]

So... got a call from BF Exec Svcs yesterday that our houseboat was listing dangerously to port after being put on the buoy less than 24 hrs before (for the first time this season). Offshore calls after it arrives and says there is a hole in the pontoon, and they drilled a second lower one to drain. Turns out the original culprit is a bullet hole! Somehow our boat was either shot while dry docked at Offshore over the winter, shot while being transported on Thursday, or shot while sitting on the buoy for less than 24 hrs. Really?? How and why??

 

[Goblin]

Unfortunately pontoons are in season. Take comfort that the 'bag limit' is one (1) and Pontoon season ends soon.
This is the haul from last year....not to worry, there were five(5) of us.

And this is a friend 'field dressing' a nice pontoon:

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist,
Goblin

 

[WinnsHawkII]

Awesome, thanks for the laugh Goblin. Need it right now!

 

[Docker]

Wow! Someone is heartless! How are you certain it's a bullet hole? The drain hole looks very similar to the "bullet" hole. If it is a bullet hole I would have to guess it was shot while in the yard at Offshore. It's too low in the water to have been shot while on the buoy and I don't think anyone would shoot at a moving target driving down the road...but then again I wouldn't think anyone would shoot a pontoon in the first place!

 

[Docker]

I took a second look at the picture and now I'm pretty sure they are both drain holes. They are in two different bulkheads. I'm guessing while on the ramp they made the hole in the rear bulkhead. Then once they had it on blocks they probably realized there was water in the bulkhead forward of the rear one and so they tapped a hole in there too.

Here is what is used many times to tap a hole in the pontoons to drain the water out. As you can see the spiked piece could make a hole that mimics a bullet hole.

 

[WinnsHawkII]

Thanks Docker. Per Offshore they drilled the drain hole that has the water coming out in the pic (needed to be at the lowest spot possible on the back of the pontoon for gravity drainage), and the only other hole is the other one farther down the pic, the one we are thinking is a bullet hole. Its a pretty smooth and reound entry point according to Offshore, they say its from a rock. We have a hard time believing a rock could create a hole like that in a spot like that. And both holes are in the same bulkhead, I was questioning the same thing as well because of the weld lines.

 

[PBH]

how large of a hole is it? .223?

Anything bigger would be over-kill for those coyotes. Your picture appears (to me) to be much larger than a .223.