Maxxon PT-10 Pontoons review by TBP

[Lee Arbach TBP]

Maxxon PT-10 Pontoon Cataraft tubes are 10′ long, 18.5″ around, and weigh 40 pounds per pair. The price for a set is $689, and we usually have the gray color but not always the blues. Call 925-820-2628 if you want to check stock. The 10′ is the smaller one in the foreground of the picture, but there is no longer a circumference seam at the bow & stern where the nose turns up. In other words, the current version is “seamless” except for the lengthwise joint that runs along the bottom.
Maxxon PT-10 Pontoon Cataraft

Maxxon PT-10 Pontoon Cataraft tubes are a beefy and economical alternative to the various American made brands, though they are a glued pvc product rather than utilizing welded seams. From the first year we handled Maxxons, we’ve sold them with the buyer-beware caveat that eventually all things pvc & glued will come apart. The last fifteen years though have shown that despite the theoretical shortcomings, Maxxon PT-10 Cataraft Pontoons tubes really do hold up a long time. “Long time” meaning typically eleven or twelve years in hot climates and up to fifteen in cooler locales. So for the price, this seems to indicate a very, very good value. The downside is that someday in the next couple decades they will have to go into a landfill, whereas an equivalent product from AIRE – which is welded and bladderized – can go 35 years or more with one change of bladders. For more info about the potential pitfalls of glue & pvc see the F.A.Q. section of our site. There is also more information under the description for the Maxxon 14′ or 16′ sizes

All Maxxon PT-10 Pontoon Cataraft tubes we stock feature use an incredibly tough 2200 X 3100 denier polyester base fabric, so they are as close to rip-proof as you are going to get at any price, and they inflate to roughly the same stiffness as the AIRE cataraft tubes. All sizes except the special-order nine footers have two chambers per tube, and all but the nine’s have four large D-ring patches per side (sixteen for a pair of tubes) and black 1100 denier frame and bottom chafers that average 11″ wide. The P-10′s are popular with the fishing crowd and also make an astoundingly good solo whitewater rig with a custom rowing frame & 7’6″ oars (typical dimensions of that frame being 45″ wide and 60″ from front to back). In fact, for one person in technical class V water, you would be hard pressed to come up with a better pair of tubes.

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