Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

A buddy and I picked up a project pontoon and I've eagerly been reading theses forums to gather ideas. The deck was 1/8" aluminum and everything seems pretty solid. All that was inside was a car seat at the helm, and a console.

We've stripped everything and removed the flooring. We have plywood and vinyl on the way from pontoonstuff, and have a general idea of the furniture we are going to order. This will primarily be a fishing platform with very occasional use as a swim platform and 'party' barge.

Here's how she sat when we picked her up:



and this is the floor plan we are going with:

That's a 4' fishing/swim platform in the front, and there's a front gate (not shown)

Disassembly process:

Interior before starting



removing the rails/fence:

everything removed (except the floor):



Floor removed:

The aluminum floor didn't have any extra support, and after TRYING to get the carpet off, we decided to keep our sanity and go with plywood.

I put some 1 1/2" pvc in to run the wiring. I'll be leaving pull strings in place for future wiring. I ran one piece down the starboard side with a 1ft opening under where the console will be. Pulled 4AWG wire for the front trolling motor. Waiting on my wiring harness to arrive before continuing. I think I'll put 3 pieces of conduit from side to side (one aft, one fore, and one where the console is). Still trying to figure the best way to attach the side-to-side pvc.

Awesome idea! Can you screw through the support into the pvc for the crossmember ones? Check out the link in my sig for tips and what not to do!

I'll definitely check out your rebuild thread. Thanks!

I ended up drilling holes in the top of the crossover pvc and screwing it down to one of the cross members (keeping it away from where the floor will be screwed down).

We actually put the plywood down and tacked it in place today. I'll finishing screwing the floor down tomorrow (and take some pics).

I need to get a few more wiring odds and ends, plus a master disconnect switch, and a circuit breaker.

welcome!

Looks good so far! Unless you are planning on adding an aluminum skin below the PVC I'd recommend that once you are finished with your wiring, you seal the ends of the PVC, especially up front where the trolling motor wires are. That PVC is liable to fill with water while underway and leave your wiring sitting in water, which probably isn't the desired effect.

I think trying to seal the pvc won't let it dry when water does get in it (and it will...). It should end up self draining, but I'll think about it.

Plywood installed and ran the wiring harness to the bow and stern, leaving it coiled under the console location. I also measured and figured out the additional wiring we will need, and get that ordered. We won't be able to continue work for 2 weeks.

Just returned from 10 days of fishing at Lake Powell. We filled in the deck screw holes that were countersunk, and sanded one plywood joint that was slightly raised. The vinyl is on the deck and we'll glue it down in the morning. 100F during the day and we quit after doing a rough trim of the vinyl to give it time to lie flat before glueing. I'll post pics tomorrow.

The deck screws were a pain. Even after pre drilling, I broke a few impact rated #3 Phillips bits, and think I burned up my dewalt driver. I also purchased a dewalt impact driver that didn't seem to work at all. I finally purchased an electric 1/2" drill and was able to complete the screwing down of the deck.

Here are some of my wiring notes just to give an idea of where I'm headed. I welcome suggestions or ideas about other options.

Are you using a livewell aeriater timer?

bansil wrote: ↑

Sat May 12, 2018 10:46 am

Are you using a livewell aeriater timer?

I was going to mount a bilge pump on the bracket at the rear of the starboard pontoon and run a hose to the cooler/livewell. That will just be a fill. I'll probably put an upper hole in the cooler with a small hose over the side to prevent overfilling, along with the main drain to empty.

I'm debating adding an internal (to the livewell) aerator wired to a switch... do any of them have timers built in, or is that usually added on the power wire? We may just empty and refill every hour or two. Main use is going to be for white bass, and not keeping fish alive to return to lake after weigh ins, etc.

You are describing my setup, have you seen it?

I did bilge pump to fill and livewell pump in tank to make a rain fall/aeriator, plan is a timer or just remember to turn on, also have outside overflow to change out hot water

I havent check on timers yet, i just know that the livewell pumps duty cycle time is not full time on