Rescued 1997 Grumman 18' Fish n fun

[dragonx]

Wanted a fishing boat for the family, but on a budget. After looking high and low across the state of Florida I found this one and the price was right.

[dragonx]

Brought it home and did the first clean up and this is what it looked like after the dirt washed off

[dragonx]

First thing in getting it ready is to rebuild trailer while Florida winter is here, so spent the weekend trying to do just that what a project.

[dragonx]

Day was a long one but enjoyed every moment of it.

[dragonx]

Finally got to see the patch hidden in part by the trailer, no water in pontoon but it doesn't look pretty.

[curtiscapk]

wow is that some hole! Are you having it fixed?

[dragonx]

Not sure if its a hole or a huge dent, bottom angle not bent, weld on back not broken, going to have to undo this mess with the welder and see what it really is. people I bought it from said it never leaked and water line is even on both sides, so really not sure what I will find.

[grouser]

A good welder can do some good there. My suggestion would be put a large patch on it getting back to good metal on the toons,,,, nice project ya got going there

[Ercarp]

what is the white "plastic" looking stuff on the 2x4 bunks, on the trailer?

[dragonx]

Going to start picking at the patch this weekend to see what it is, lined up patch material if its a rip. The white stuff on bunks are fence post covers cut in half wanted to give it a try as most of our boating will be in salt water and I do not want the bunks to hold the salt.

[dragonx]

Well spent 4 hours on my back with a sanding attachment and my drill and here is what I found, now can anyone lead me to a filler that is marine compatible?

[Gonefishing]

Looks like someone tried welding and dint know what they were doing. I would think the best way to repair would take it to a shop who can weld it up the proper way. Since it will be in salt water. Walt water tends to eat away at any kind of boundo type patch I would think. I would also consider having the toons painted it will save you a lot of cleaning. Believe me I know I also have mine in salt water and after several years have learned to get them painted. Not cheap put I fell it was worth it.

[margaritaman]

Do the air pressure check on the toon to see if it has a leak. I would not trust the word of a seller. There are lots of postings on how to pressure test a toon if you use the search feature on the upper right of the page.

[dragonx]

Well..........Started to cleanup the pontoons two weekends ago, found corrosion on both logs where boat had sat on bunks. After lightly cleaning with Scotch Bright pad on drill I notched that I had at least 3 pin holes. Did leak test today and found that I have 5 pin holes all in corrosion areas. The huge dent and ugly weld didn't have a single leak go figure. Hopefully welder will be out this weekend to look at it and see what we can do. Ordered Marine Tex repair kit and waiting for that to show up at front door (hope I get it before the kids running up and down the street do). Have to figure out a way to get plastic nuts out of top of the rear sections as they are in between the supports and do test on those.

[GXPWeasel]

The white stuff on bunks are fence post covers cut in half wanted to give it a try as most of our boating will be in salt water and I do not want the bunks to hold the salt.

I did the same thing to my trailer because I was tired of our boat sticking really badly to carpet, and the carpet ripping.