1985 Harris Flote-Bote rebuild

[Mel85CJ]

This is a thread in regard to my family's 1985 Harris Flote-Bote 240 Heritage O.B.

(my husband and I also own a '92 20' playbuoy)

We bought the boat in 2010. We really liked the boat because
a) it has a full enclosure with canvas, which is nice
b) it has a vintage look, but not too cheezy
c) It has a 17 person capacity! (which is great for when you have a bunch of kids)

Over the years we have done the following to it:
- Replaced the transom board
- Replaced the steering cables and box
- Installed a new bluetooth radio and speakers (not new wires)
- Installed a fuse block and housing with new wiring
- It originally had a 40hp 2-stoke, then we got a used johnson 88spl (which gave us a ton of problems), so in 2013 we splurged and got a brand new 90hp yamaha 4-stroke and new controls installed at a local marina (Deep Creek lake, md)

We have kept it inside in the winters, but, time has finally caught up to the original boat seats and carpeting.

We decided to take on a restoration of the boat as a family. After much discussion and figuring out a budget, this past weekend was the start of the project with the disassembly (pix attached)

What we decided upon to do is:
- We have brand new 3/4" marine grade plywood
- We have marideck "teak" vinyl flooring ordered
- We have the stainless fence bolts, fence risers, deck screws, seam tape and flooring glue ordered from pontoonstuff
- We have all brand new seating ordered (premium seats from pontoonstuff)
- We have new corner caps ordered (they were pretty beat up)
- We have underdeck and underseat lights ordered

We are not replacing the helm, it is still in good shape, and should come pretty close to matching the old seats, plus it will still give our boat somewhat of a "vintage" look since there was some actual wood in the helm.

Fortunately, my husband and I have a big garage building that we can work on this in. We had a lot of help for the disassembly and we hope that things work out and we continue to get a lot of help for the assembly. The flooring is supposed to ship today or tomorrow, so we could possibly start working on the rebuild this weekend. (we already have the plywood)

I was thinking of polishing the actual pontoons before we start back on the build. And I need to replace the speaker wire and we need to inspect the lighting wiring to see if anything needs replaced on that.

If anyone has any tips, or suggestions, let me know.

[curtiscapk]

welcome! good luck at least you have a garage! We did ours outside! ask away with questions.

[Mel85CJ]

Thanks!

That is the same color and type seats we are getting!
(Though we don't have room for the lean backs up front)

Do the seats come with mounting hardware?
And did if so, was it adequate?

[Mel85CJ]

Curt - how did you re-do your sundeck?

Did PS do it for you, or did you buy vinyl and do it yourself?

Also - whose ladder is that you have? I didn't see it on the PS website.

Thanks
Melanie

[curtiscapk]

Curt - how did you re-do your sundeck?

Did PS do it for you, or did you buy vinyl and do it yourself?

Also - whose ladder is that you have? I didn't see it on the PS website.

Thanks
Melanie

The sundeck I used PS plywood and carpet and old pad was still in great shape!)

rear ladder
http://www.pontoonstuff.com/collections ... oon-ladder

side ladder updated version no holes need drilled.
http://www.pontoonstuff.com/collections ... less-steel

[Mel85CJ]

Some progress... marine plywood is down and after some touch up sanding..., the vinyl flooring has arrived and is next on the agenda

[curtiscapk]

at least the dog knows how to dry boat!

[Mel85CJ]

Mari deck "teak" vinyl is down

[curtiscapk]

[Mel85CJ]

seat mockup. (pic was big and my friend was making a funny / not very flattering face, so a revised pic is 2 posts down)

[Stayclassy]

Good looking build! Really like the floor!

[Mel85CJ]

Revised seat mockup picture... and "repurposed" cupholders from previous furniture lol

[haganjeff]

Great job. It's looking terrific!

[ROLAND]

It looks really good.. man, I love that flooring... beautiful.

[Mel85CJ]

I haven't really posted anything lately, mainly because I don't have any really exciting pictures to share... but things are moving along..

- Fully assembled the seats

- We got the railings bolted down

- I ran new wiring for the lights and stereo the whole way from the helm, under the boat to the new locations & I wired everything into the helm & replaced the switch for the docking lights.

- I installed the underseat lighting and the underdeck lighting and new switches for them. The underseat I am trusting the 3M double stick-tape that came with it, but for the underdeck, I drilled a pilot hole and installed SS screws two per 4' section.

- I installed a new flip-up LED stern light that I got from PS on the rear of the metal canopy and replaced the front all-around white light that was on the front of the canpy. The rear one from PS is really nice, the other one, I got from Amazon, I am disappointed in, but am going to live with.. it is cheap and flimsy.. but the one I took off was broken.

- We sanded and repainted the rear tow-bar

- Rebuilt the original chrome front navigation lights (they go just under the deck)

- replaced the ID# stickers with new stickers + replaced the old pretty-much illegible capacity sticker with a new sticker I had printed up to match the old sticker.

Things we still have to do:

- reinstall the very front, short railings and front end cap
- cut a larger hole and install the LED stainless cupholders on the helm
- cut holes and reinstall the speakers in the seats
- Install the metal canopy back onto the boat and finish that wiring
- screw the seats to the floor and railings
- I got some LED strip navigation lights I am going to mount to the front short railings - have to install them + the regular navigation lights under the deck and on the sides
- Install new LED docking lights I bought
- Reinstall the table bases in the floor
- Put all the things we took off the boat back in the boat (life jackets, anchor, safety equipment etc.)
- Get it out of the garage and clean up the pontoons
- Haul it to the lake!

I will post more pix when something more interesting occurs lol.