Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

[newbie4life]

Well, some of you know I started this pontoon project about 3 weeks ago on a Tuesday night at 4 p.m.... and mostly finished it by Friday.

This is what it looked like initially when we picked it up. I looked at my dad who came to help me load it, and he said, "Well, it's got potential." He's a pretty optimistic guy.


When we got it home, we started ripping and tearing it apart, rails, seating (which were absolutely rotted out completely.), wanting to put new carpet on it... and then fell through the floor, and decided to replace the floor. We had the new plywood down by 9 p.m. on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, we installed the carpet before going to work -- and installed the finish trim and helm when I got home. We also dropped off a couple of the couch seats with my friend up the road that does upholstery.



We rebuilt all the seating with new plywood, and took it to my friend on Wednesday, he had one of these done thursday a.m. and the other one done Friday a.m.



More pictures in the next post --

 

[newbie4life]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

And Here's the picture of my friend and his helper working on our seats:



And a little more progress -- painted and installed the new 'railing inserts' on Thursday evening:



Designed some quick decals and cut them out.... Not really stoked about them yet, but it was stuff I had -- didn't want to order more vinyl for my project -- maybe later this year I'll do something a little more involved:



And then this past week, I couldn't stand looking at the trailer anymore. Sand-blasted, primed, painted and new lights on the trailer. Looks a little better... Decals will be cut out and installed later this week... no hurry, at least the rust is gone. Tires are ordered and should be here tomorrow.



This was a 3 day project, starting Tuesday night, Wednesday early a.m., and late eve, Thurs. early a.m. and late eve, and Friday a.m. If the weather would've been decent, we would've taken 'er out on Friday afternoon, but it rained... and then rained Saturday... and Sunday. Finally, monday we took it out.

Still have more work to do on it, but it's been fun so far. At least it's usable right now!

Thanks much to E-glide and Steelespike for all the info so far. Very, VERY helpful fellas.

 

[newbie4life]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

We decided where the 'puke green chair' was, to build a 3rd couch. It's at my friend's place right now getting upholstered. Seems like it was a better plan, and easier to balance the load from front to rear as well as port and starboard. There's still some things I want to do yet -- but again, it works finally -- The sucker hasn't been on the water for over 10 years.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

That is quite an improvement, well done and now you have a boat that you built yourself which is always pretty satisfying.

 

[atlapp]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

Very nice job for 3 days....way to go!!

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

Very nice job in a limited time. Final pictures will be appreciated.

 

[The Rooster]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

Excellent "Newbie". Anything special you had to do w/the motor? Love to see new life "breathed" into older barges.

 

[jjohnson120]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

Not sure if you mentioned, but what year is the boat? It looks great now. I know if I spent the time on that I'd show it off.

 

[newbie4life]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

We took it to another friend of mine up the road from here. I dumped out the old gas replaced the primer bulb line from the tank to the motor, added fresh premium fuel, and oil. It would start, then die. So, he pulled off the carbs, cleaned the moss out of them, 3 new bowl gaskets, cleaned the fuel filter, and put all new fuel lines on. Ran perfect. Took it for a ride, and it sounded like it was down a cylinder. Pulled the plugs, looked fine. Pullled the carbs off again, and a piece of dirt managed to get into the top carb again. Cleaned all three again, put them back together, and it runs perfectly again -- all day this time.

Other than that, it was the usual, drain the lower unit, replace the impeller, clean fuel filter, etc. Other than that, it was pretty simple.

Over the winter, we will be putting new rails on it (I'm not loving the ones that are on it, but they'll work for right now -- so last night we decided to just replace them from the pontoon stuff store.), and replacing the convertible bimini top when we do that as well. Again, it's not fully done -- there's still some stuff I want to do... The 3rd couch is almost done, and when I get that, I will fab and install a custom cooler under that seat -- possibly a small live well also... We'll just see how much room there is. Radio/CD player still to come. New lights are ordered and should be here in a day or two (I would hope.)

I've never had a pontoon before -- but I will say this... Not only is it enjoyable to float around in your living room essentially.... It's unbelievably easy to load/off load. I had witnessed people at the landing before when we had the boat -- it took them FOREVER to load/unload. I just don't know what they were doing wrong (or maybe I'm doing something wrong that it doesn't take much time at all.).... The only complaint I have is it's wide on the road.

It's been a fun project so far. I'm mostly pleased with how it's turning out. It still looks like an old rig to me -- not sure what would fix that other than dropping $15k that I don't have for a new one.

 

[newbie4life]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

Not sure if you mentioned, but what year is the boat? It looks great now. I know if I spent the time on that I'd show it off.

Thanks jjohnson... It's a 1984 with a 1984 Yamaha 40 on it. It still looks old to me. But at least I don't have to worry about my folks and in-laws falling through the floor.... Like I did.

 

[jjohnson120]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

Lol, well not falling through the floor is definitely a plus. I mean sure it looks like an older model, but other than that it looks new, almost like a retro toon. Being a laker is more about having a good time than looks, but having something that looks good is always a plus. If you really wanted to clean her up painting the motor cowling and everything would really freshen up the look. Just a thought.

 

[Volphin]

Re: Pontoon rebuild -- pictures included

Newbie, this is an outstanding job! Those couches look absolutely fantastic! Keep us posted!

V