1984 Aqua Patio Budget rebuild

[Autotec]

I guess this will be the start of the rebuild process, even though it started 2 1/2 months ago.

This entire build started after a few too many beers while sitting on a dock watching a ton of boats float by on Lake Wisconsin. I mentioned to my Brother In Law that I could get a "free" pontoon that runs good. He thought is was a good idea and offered some help. That was all I needed to pick the boat up and get started. That was the last time I saw my Brother In Law.

All in all, the boat ran ok, even with gas pouring out of the carb. I saw potential, after a few drinks........

Here it is on the rented trailer just after picking it up. In the picture you will see my wife, I didn't tell here about my new project. All I have to say, this is the first time I brought something home that she liked. This includes a few Corvettes, Harleys and other cool vehicles. I was in awe, still am. I got the blessing to continue.

[Autotec]

Here are a few more pictures showing the wonderful condition of the boat. We found no less than 7 wasp nests, 4 mouse nests, a snake and a racoon. Plus a crack pipe. After further inspection, everything was rotten.





[imghttp://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y418/autotec2/pontoon2_zpsb5be4679.jpg][/img]

[curtiscapk]

Wow welcome and more pics needed!

[Autotec]

Lets see if I can get back on track with this thread. Football, work and other family activities have kept me away from the computer.

I don't think I said it in any of the other posts, but I put myself on a severe budget with this project. $500.00 w/o the trailer. But if I could find a trailer for $46.00, (whats left in the budget) I would be happy. But I don't think that will happen.

Below is the picture of the boat ripped down to the pontoons. I didn't take any pictures of this stage, but I should have. As you can see, there really isn't anything left. Everything that could be saved was. It filled a ziplock bag.



What I learned was there really isn't that much to these things.

[Autotec]

Once the final pieces of the wood was removed and braces cleaned, I cleaned the pontoons the best I could. Many years of neglect took it's toll on everything. The pontoons cleaned out ok, but there are so many deposits left I think it'll take a grinder.

I looked high and low for marine grade ply for a decent price, but came up empty. During that time I started work on the railings. After degreasing, scuffing and taping, it was time for a quick spray. I let my 10yr old pick the color, I'm trying to keep her involved as much as I can. I went from poo brown to well teal. I kinda like it. Paint was cheap too!

[Autotec]

After looking at the structure and going over the 80's build quality, I noticed the braces were attached to the toons with 1/4 hardware without any washers. ALL of them had loosened over the years and oblonged the holes. None of it was even stainless. Half of the bolts were rubbed through and almost sawed in half. In went all new stainless 5/16 bolts, washers and nylon lock nuts for the braces.

Menards finally had a sale on wood and I picked 4 sheets of 3/4, treated plywood up. I know it's not what people like to see, but it's what was on there. The braces are galvanized, not aluminium. Corosion will not be a issue, I hope. Wood was attached with 5/16 carriage bolts with washers and caulk under the wood and between the seams. Just like it was when it left the factory in 1984. As my daughter said, we now have a dance floor.

[curtiscapk]

that is awesome where is that thing parked???

[Autotec]

Next up was the carpet, this proved a hard thing to do on such a tight budget. I looked over sales everywhere. After alot of bugging people, someone called me back. One of the home improvment stores received a extra roll of outdoor marine carpeting on accident and offered me the carpet at 5% above cost. It's not the color I wanted, but it works. Some outdoor carpet glue attached it and my Argon bottle from my welder rolled it flat. We have carpet! Railing were bolted on shortly after.

[Autotec]

that is awesome where is that thing parked???

In my friends storage lot. He's a repo guy, so he rents a secure lot about 100yrds from my house. I'd like to see someone try to scale those 18ft walls to get their car back. I call it my compound since there is room for 100+ cars in there. My daughter drives her go-cart in there, LOL.

[Autotec]

In the picture above, you can see the rub rails are already on. I wasn't happy that they were held on with 2 rivots, so I put a screw in every foot along the edge. I doubled up on all of the hardware in the corners too. Now there are 4 bolts holding the tie downs to the main structure. Plus I built a new front hook brace. It now connects to 3 braces instead of only one. I don't want this thing to fall apart.

[Autotec]

Now I know there are many manufactures out there that build great seats and consoles, but this boat was built from plywood from the start. I saved the old console and seats to use as templates for the new ones. On a side note, I can't tell you how much I HATE spiders. I put all of the old seats and console in the shop for storage, bad idea. The spider population has gone up X100 in here. (shop) Huge spiders.

Anyway, I designed the console on SolidWorks to be 25% bigger than the original. I should have went bigger. I used 3/4 instead of 1/2 and made all of the front panels removable. I want to do it over again, but this thing needs to get wet before the snow is here. This one will have to do for now.



old console on the left, new one on the right.



And here is is carpeted with leftover carpet and the steering box cleaned up. It's ready to go in.

[Autotec]

Next up was the seats, I started with the bases and went from there. All I did was copy the old ones, but made a few improvments along the way. The old ones were screwed from the bottom, I wanted to bolt them in. I added braces so I could. Below is the final and original layout of the boat. Alot of the wood I used was from the patten shop right next door, so it was free. The best thing about it, it's pattern wood. 3/4 plywood held together with epoxy, good stuff. If I could could afford it, I would use this stuff for everything.

[Autotec]

Seat bases carpeted and installed. It's starting to take shape.

[nathan]

great job!

[curtiscapk]

Awesome job!