Pontoon Refurb

[Matt Gent]

About 2 years ago I "acquired" a pontoon boat for free. It was a salvage and had no title, but was basically complete including a 10hp longshaft remote electric start johnson. Since we live on a canal I figured it would work fine for cocktail hour in the evenings.

It took $300 and a year and a half for the FWC to grant me the title after declaring it abandoned.

So this is a small, simple project compared to others on here (including my ongoing restoration http://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php ... am#p125319 , had to take a break during a couple knee surgeries and recovery). Since I bought the wood at BBC I'll put up a couple pics.

Boat as I got it, rigged up some supports on the trailer for my center console to get it to my canal.





It is ~16x8, with the deck about 14.5'. Made by Stardust in the mid 90s, the development where it was abandoned was giving them away as a bonus for people who bought a townhouse. All Aluminum and Stainless construction, and it was in fresh water, so its in surprisingly good condition other than the rotten deck.

The transom is actually really solid. Would be easy to re-do, and I may if I have some extra material from another project, but its fine for the 10hp for now. Zero rot, not sure what it is treated with.



Stripped all the hardware, then fencing, then the deck.





I bought 4 sheets of 3/4" Greenwood XL Fir last week. Unfortunately the SS large-head decking bolts I ordered didn't come in on time, so I put it down with some temporary pan-heads just to get something done. I still need to figure out whether the railing is salvageable then trim the deck to fit.

[tech_support]

The metal is in great shape.

[Matt Gent]

Snuck in a little time over the weekend.

These deck bolts are nice for pontoons. Large head, lies flat, claws grab into the plywood. Couldn't find locally, ordered from restorepontoon.com



For flooring I'm using MariDeck, a vinyl/rubber textured covering. It comes in 8.5' wide rolls cut to length. There is a transverse weld every 8' but not very noticeable. If anyone is to use this stuff, they supply the glue. Reports on the web were that it didn't cover what they claimed area-wise. I bought double what they suggest and used about 2/3 of it. It has a consistency like elmers glue and doesn't spread all that well.



I need to repair some of the aluminum trim, but almost ready to bolt it all back together.

[gk108]

I'm not sure if you know about them, but greatlakesskipper.com has a bunch of pontoon parts.

[cape man]

Did you seal the plywood with epoxy before bolting it down?

[Matt Gent]

Not sure why the picture got clipped, it is full-width on photobucket.

The plywood is Greenwood XL (sold on this website), CCA pressure-treated fir. It is pretty rot-resistant raw. I did use some epoxy with blended filler to fill a few gaps and flaws on the surface prior to putting down the floor. I also used silicon-seal on the aluminum cross-members at the joints between sheets so that water doesn't drive up and try to lift the vinyl.

[Cracker Larry]

Not sure why the picture got clipped, it is full-width on photobucket.

There is a size limit on this forum of 640X640 pixels

[Matt Gent]

The boat is essentially done. I got all the trim on (had to replace RF corner, found ~similar extrusion), picked up some cleats at Marine Connection, and put the fencing back on. It could use some clean-up and I may put some vinyl graphics as it all looks a bit gray.

Re-using the console, a friend gave me a flip/flop cooler seat, and I found the bimini on craigslist. I'll have to keep my eyes out for some cheap pontoon furniture, preferably an L-shaped couch to run across the back and port side.

The 10hp that came with it needs a little work. It will have to do for now, maybe by next summer I'll look for a 25 or 40 4s. This is basically our 3rd boat so I don't want to put any real $$$ into it.

[sitandfish]

Matt, she looks really nice. I have never seen the pieces and parts that hold a 'party barge' together so, this has been enjoyable to watch. Doesn't look like you needed much (any ) help from any of us. You whipped it right out.

The boat probably went a little outside of what most of the boat rebuilds are about for this forum but, I'm glad it's here. The integrity of this boat (as I see it) rests mainly with the structural condition of the aluminum framing and pontoons. All of that looks in great shape. You could likely get more life out out of the deck if you used the methods developed by BateauDotCom but, as you said, "It's a third boat". Kind of like a 7th beer. Quality is not as important.

Give us some shots of you enjoying this ship, uh.. boat, uh... barge, ummmm... whatever. I really wish I had one.

[sitandfish]

Not sure why the picture got clipped, it is full-width on Photobucket.

The pictures are no problem. Most people know that if you open them in a new window, they will show the full image. I would rather have the bigger pictures and have to make a extra click (if something is not showing) than have smaller pictures posted.