Page 1 of 1

1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Sat May 16, 2020 7:05 pm
by mwarren
My wife decided she wanted to get a pontoon boat. Our two boys are 13 and 16 and she says there's only a few more years with them around the house and we better make the best of it. We do a ton of things in the winter (we live in Vermont) but we don't do too much in the summer. Figured a pontoon boat would allow us to get together with family and friends and make some great memories!!!

I've had plenty of motorized things (dirtbikes, motorcycles, snowmobiles, side by side, ATV's, even an original 1923 Model T) but I've never had a boat.... We were looking at new boats but the prices were too much for something that we are so new to, along with the fact that our boating season is really only 3-4 months at most. After looking around I saw so many great restorations that I thought it would be a fun project (I love projects...) and we could make the pontoon whatever we want it to be.

After looking around, I found this 1998 Sylvan Nexus, 21 foot with a 90 Mercury. The motor runs fine, but the tilt/trim pump needs a rebuild. The compression in the motor is 130 in all three cylinders and the boat has only been in fresh water. The boat had no seats in it when I bought it which is good because it saved me from having to take them out.

We brought the boat home yesterday and today we stripped it completely down. Had a heck of a time getting the old carpet out until I used the winch on my Side by Side to pull it off....Worked like a charm!!!

Hoping to order new wood and vinyl flooring Monday along with new seats, new metal for the side fence, a new helm, new lights, etc. Basically, this thing will be brand new when we are done with it. Not sure how long most of your projects take but I'm hoping to have this done by the first week in June. The thing that will take the longest is getting the supplies delivered. Since this is something my wife wanted, I don't have any trouble finding time to work on it. Plus, since Corona has shut so many things down, there isn't too much to do anyway...

Here are a few pics of the progress we made today.
IMG_2893.JPG
IMG_2893.JPG (1.22 MiB) Viewed 3216 times
IMG_2895.JPG
IMG_2895.JPG (872.27 KiB) Viewed 3216 times
IMG_2897.JPG
IMG_2897.JPG (1.01 MiB) Viewed 3216 times
IMG_2903.JPG
IMG_2903.JPG (1.4 MiB) Viewed 3216 times
IMG_2904.JPG
IMG_2904.JPG (1.11 MiB) Viewed 3216 times
IMG_2906.JPG
IMG_2906.JPG (1.55 MiB) Viewed 3216 times
IMG_2907.JPG
IMG_2907.JPG (1.74 MiB) Viewed 3216 times
IMG_2910.JPG
IMG_2910.JPG (1.1 MiB) Viewed 3216 times

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Sun May 17, 2020 4:28 am
by bansil
welcome to the party :nana :nana :nana

You guys will have many great memories.....

SxS winch is the perfect tool for carpet removal. You will fit right in :smoke

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 6:49 am
by curtiscapk
Damn nice work!!!!!!!!!! Check out the link in my sig for any tips or failures we came across! :drink

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 6:28 am
by TWB
Sorry I'm late to the "reply party." Looking great so far. We just finished restoring ours. My wife and I did every bit of it together. Had a great time, and thanks to The Covid, we were done in 8 weeks.

I hope you have as much fun as we did! Keep the progress pics coming. :nana

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 7:33 pm
by mwarren
Worked on the pontoon some more today. Everything that I ordered came EXCEPT for the glue to glue down the new vinyl flooring....Oh well, Nice long weekend and we can't do much other than replace all the metal on the fence. At least that job will be done by tomorrow. My plan for tomorrow and Monday (Memorial Day) is to get the new marine grade plywood installed, get the fence finished, figure out where everything is going to go so I know where my new helm can be mounted. I need to make sure the cables and wiring will reach before I start drilling holes in the floor. I'm planning to lay out the furniture, put some marks on the plywood so I know where everything will be, make sure to measure everything out, and then cut the holes for the wiring and cables to run.

My boat has a full aluminum skin underneath which is good because it protects the underneath of the boat but it makes it hard to run wires or cable from underneath...Here are a few pics of the progress on the fence...
IMG_2925.JPG
IMG_2925.JPG (742.48 KiB) Viewed 3158 times
IMG_2928.JPG
IMG_2928.JPG (812.35 KiB) Viewed 3158 times
IMG_2922.JPG
IMG_2922.JPG (1.39 MiB) Viewed 3158 times
IMG_2923.JPG
IMG_2923.JPG (1.28 MiB) Viewed 3158 times

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 10:06 am
by Kytoon
looking good.

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 11:05 am
by bansil
So I was like.... :beer2

Why did he take a picture of a drill, print it off and tape to the front corner :donno
IMG_2925.JPG
IMG_2925.JPG (742.48 KiB) Viewed 3134 times

Then I realized the corner lights where out :happy

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 6:41 pm
by mwarren
That's Funny..... I decided to remove the lights since the seating that I ordered won't fit tight to the fence if I leave the current lights in there. I ordered some LED lights that should look really nice. I just need to figure out where I want to mount them.

I finished up the fence railing today. TOTAL PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!!!! (I actually have two small doors to do but I'm basically done.) I put the railings in place, put some of the seats on where they will be mounted and traced them out in pencil on the plywood so I can start to figure out where I'm going to mount the console. The old setup had a sink/helm all in one huge unit that was pretty gross so I decided to ditch the whole thing. I didn't think we would ever use the sink so now that it's gone, I think I can move everything towards the stern of the boat a bit to free up some room up front.

The rest of the parts I ordered should be here tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to get most of it back together this week after work.

Forgot to take pics of today's progress. I'll add some in the next few days to keep you all up to date on my progress.

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 7:50 pm
by mwarren
Did some more work to the boat the last two days. Got the new plywood on and set in place exactly where it needed to be. Then I placed the fence rail along one side so I could put the front seats in to determine exactly where I wanted the helm to be positioned. The new layout is a bit different from the previous layout so I wanted to make sure I have enough room for the cables and wiring to fit while making sure there was enough room for the full front bench and reclining seat. I had just enough room I was able to move the helm a bit so I can fit a cooler between the helm and the front seat. I figured it would be a great place to secure a few things out of the way of the foot traffic. Once I had everything where it needed to be I was able to mark the floor with a marker where the helm was going to be mounted which allowed me to cut the hole in the floor exactly where I wanted it. Once the hole was cut, I ran my new wiring harness under the plywood. Next I screwed in all the plywood and prepped it for the flooring. I have seen many posts from people that filled the screw heads with a putty as well as the cracks in the plywood. I chose not to do that (Just in case I ever replace this deck again in my lifetime....Not likely!-). I didn't think it would make much of a difference but you can definitely feel the crease between the plywood sheets. There are only two screws that I couldn't get completely flush and one of them is noticeable (very little) and the other you can't see. I don't think anyone other than me would ever notice. I'm not trying to make this boat perfect, just really nice. A few imperfections are not a huge deal to me since this boat is 22 years old and I'd rather start using it sooner than later. Our season in Vermont is fairly short so the sooner I get out on the water the better. Here are a few pics of the progress. The last pic has the side trim pieces on but they were not fully attached as I was only test fitting them to see how everything lined up.
thumbnail-4.jpg
thumbnail-4.jpg (120.79 KiB) Viewed 3102 times
thumbnail-5.jpg
thumbnail-5.jpg (101.71 KiB) Viewed 3102 times
thumbnail-6.jpg
thumbnail-6.jpg (181.22 KiB) Viewed 3102 times
thumbnail-7.jpg
thumbnail-7.jpg (211.99 KiB) Viewed 3102 times
thumbnail-8.jpg
thumbnail-8.jpg (175.03 KiB) Viewed 3102 times
thumbnail.jpg
thumbnail.jpg (175.28 KiB) Viewed 3102 times
thumbnail-1.jpg
thumbnail-1.jpg (173.59 KiB) Viewed 3102 times
thumbnail-2.jpg
thumbnail-2.jpg (139.29 KiB) Viewed 3102 times
thumbnail-3.jpg
thumbnail-3.jpg (151.24 KiB) Viewed 3102 times

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 6:37 am
by Kytoon
Looking good!

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 7:19 pm
by mwarren
I was able to get some more done on the pontoon today. I fit the aluminum side rails on, I placed the railings in place to make sure all the holes would line up and the doors would all fit the way they needed before I drilled any holes and mounted the side rails permanently. Once I double checked everything, I started at the back of the boat and started drilling the holes and mounting the fence and side rails. It didn't take too long (about 3 hours start to finish today) to get all the side rails and fence bolted down. All the doors fit the way they need to but I haven't finished replacing the metal in the doors yet so I'll have to finish that this weekend.

I put all the seat bases on the boat where they will be mounted to make sure everything fits correctly. I have plans tomorrow so on Sunday I'll mount the helm, get the steering cable connected, get the wiring finished, mount the seats and hopefully get most of it completed. I'm sure there will be other stuff to do but I've got plenty of time. I don't anticipate being ready for a test ride for another week or two. I have to register it at DMV (which is a bit tricky with Coronavirus....) and I still have to take my online boating safety course. I have a good friend that has been boating his whole life who is going to go with me the first day to make sure everything is working as it should... Anyway, here are a few more pics from today. It's really starting to look finished...It's been two weeks since I brought it home!
image0.jpeg
image0.jpeg (727.63 KiB) Viewed 3084 times
image1.jpeg
image1.jpeg (928.49 KiB) Viewed 3084 times
image2.jpeg
image2.jpeg (876.31 KiB) Viewed 3084 times
image3.jpeg
image3.jpeg (899.12 KiB) Viewed 3084 times
image4.jpeg
image4.jpeg (1.03 MiB) Viewed 3084 times
image5.jpeg
image5.jpeg (1009.05 KiB) Viewed 3084 times

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Sat May 30, 2020 2:32 pm
by bansil
Looks Great :thumbsup
Get some pictures of her on the water!

Re: 1998 Sylvan Nexus Restoration

Posted: Sun May 31, 2020 7:06 pm
by mwarren
It was very cold here today but I was able to get some more work done on the boat. I mounted the docking lights, the navigation lights, the battery and the helm. I also got most of the electrical stuff done. Here are a few more pics.
8FE239B1-7363-4CA5-B8EC-B93CE394E7A2.jpeg
8FE239B1-7363-4CA5-B8EC-B93CE394E7A2.jpeg (87.52 KiB) Viewed 3053 times
3F7DB273-7B76-4B0E-90FB-3F0CB167BBBE.jpeg
3F7DB273-7B76-4B0E-90FB-3F0CB167BBBE.jpeg (93.42 KiB) Viewed 3053 times
14D703F2-309A-4654-B284-7FB96416A82C.jpeg
14D703F2-309A-4654-B284-7FB96416A82C.jpeg (115.43 KiB) Viewed 3053 times
DA639390-C5E1-4D8C-8F90-5E811B7CE13A.jpeg
DA639390-C5E1-4D8C-8F90-5E811B7CE13A.jpeg (111.47 KiB) Viewed 3053 times
A32A4CCD-68F2-4D6D-A43F-A4846854D81F.jpeg
A32A4CCD-68F2-4D6D-A43F-A4846854D81F.jpeg (92.78 KiB) Viewed 3053 times