Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Well I finally got my pontoon home. I spent a couple of hours going over the boat and I'm generally happy with my $1500.00 investment. Lots of things to like and a couple of things not so good which is typical for a 14 year old boat I guess.
First the good.
1. The deck is solid no soft spots
2. The furniture is rotomolded.
3. Full set of working gauges.
4. Wiring seems to be in excellent shape
5. 23" tubes in excellent condition, no leaks or corrosion.
6. All parts are with the boat
7. Rails and fence are in very good shape, only one small dent on one corner of the fence.
8. Outboard runs on muffs and shows 105lbs compression on both cylinders. Tilt and trim working

Now for the bad:
1. Vinyl is bad on the seats. ( I see an industrial walking foot sewing machine in my future )
2. Bimini fabric is shot and it is a weird 3 bow buggy style so replacement fabric may be tough to find.
3. Cross members are steel and very rusty.

Now for some photos:
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... 0006_1.jpg
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... %20003.jpg
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... %20002.jpg
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... %20019.jpg
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... %20018.jpg
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... %20017.jpg
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... %20016.jpg
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... %20015.jpg
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... %20013.jpg
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... %20008.jpg

My biggest concern is the rusty cross members. My thinking so far is to coat them with a rust converter then paint with oil based rustoleum. Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Wow over 30 views and not one comment.....

HarryO wrote:Wow over 30 views and not one comment.....

Ok.... Those steel cross members look like they are rusted to hell and back and no amount of rust converter will restore their structural integrity if it is already compromised... I'd be very leary of continued use in salt water...

Teecro you're correct they do look pretty bad, but when loading the pontoon onto the trailer my 3500lb ATV winch just stalled. We had to take turns using a big come along and snatch block to haul it up on the trailer. The first cross member bent about 3/4" down and that was probably due to the angle of the come along and the trailer bed being tilted. I'm a pretty big dude 6'5" and close to 400 lbs and I couldn't feel any flex in the deck while I was searching for possible soft spots.

I'm going to take a very detailed look at the motor pod. I don't fancy watching it fall off while motoring across the river.
The boat will be used in fresh water only, although it was last used in salt water and there is no sign of corrosion on the toons.

It looks like the front cross member is also cracked. I would seriously consider replacing them. You might try sanding the rust off of a small spot to see how severe the damage is. If you don't have anything left when you sand on them for a while then they need to be replaced. I would be Leary of taking the family out on it till I was completely sure the integrity is still there. Swimming to shore is one thing. Swimming to shore with a family on your back is another.

We have been blessed with some extremely warm weather so I've been able to do a little work on the Weeres.
What appears to be a crack on the cross member is actually rust scale. I had a chance to carefully sandblast the first 4 cross members and there's a lot more steel left on them than I originally thought.
My new plan is to pressure wash the rest of the cross members and then apply a rust converter. I will probably then paint them with rustoleum marine paint.

Until the weather warms up enough to allow rust conversion and painting I will be working on reupholstering the seats.
I'm still trying to figure out how much fabric to purchase. My plan is to add 1 inch foam over the current foam applied with 3M spray adhesive. This should fill out the cushions nicely.

Just my 2 cents worth. If you are going to invest in a rebuild I would replace the cross members. They look rough and with continue use will only get worse even with painting them. Always better to be safe then sorry. You seemed to of got the toon at a good price and you are putting money in it might as well do it right.

My plan is to fix what's there now and when the deck needs replacing to also replace the cross members, most likely with aluminum C channel. This is my first pontoon so I'm gonna try it first before investing a ton of money to rebuild it.

Those cross members look worse than they really are.