Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

My new-to-me 79 Crest needs a new console--the original one is rotted at the bottom. It's just a basic pulpit because there are no gauges, clock, radio or anything other than the wheel & throttle and key, kill, choke and light switches.

I'm a decent woodworker and could build one from solid wood or marine plywood & varnish the heck out of it. I could cover it with foam & vinyl but upholstery isn't one of my talents so sewing in nice piping & such probably won't happen.

I'm not really considering a pre-fab console because all I see available are wide ones with room for 10 gauges and satellite TV.

My mischievous side wants to re-purpose something odd into a console...but I'll probably end up with "simple".

Suggestions & photos all appreciated

I think an old wooden barrel or a beer keg would be cool.

I've seen a couple toons recently that the counsel was on a raised platform. Nice for a little better visibility. I've also seen a guy that had his counsel moved to the middle of the boat. Show us some pics when your done.

I see Pianos on craigslist fairly often...trim one of the old freebies down (narrow/shorten) could be fun.

I made my console 22 years ago because I couldn't find anything I liked. It is 1/2 and 3/4" plywood with a fiberglass skin.
The only problem I had was it started to ingest water at the base. I made a Trex ring for the bottom and made that problem go away.

Having a raised console would be nice. Think I would opt for oil rather than varnish. It penetrates and it will never peel.Watco make a nice product a little thinner than straight tung oil and seems to penetrate better.
doc

If you make the console out of teak or IPE, the oil might work but your real problems are usually right at the deck where water gets trapped.
Plywood is the worst for this since the edge of the plywood is in the worst spot.

GregF wrote:I made my console 22 years ago because I couldn't find anything I liked. It is 1/2 and 3/4" plywood with a fiberglass skin.
The only problem I had was it started to ingest water at the base. I made a Trex ring for the bottom and made that problem go away.

Good idea on the Trex. Got a picture of your console?
Couple days ago I was walking through Lowes and noticed they carry Trex trim boards that are 1x8x12ft. I suppose I could build the whole thing out of composite with SS pocket screws holding it together. They have a medium brown that would fit my intended color scheme.

Ok that's on the list of possibilities.

IIRC that Trex is fairly flexible.. you could make a semi-circular helm with a little shaping and lots of screws.

This is the console. There is an 18 gallon gas tank in the seat.

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/console.jpg

You can see the trex ring in this picture

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/umbrella%20mount.jpg

If you were making the whole console out of trex I would joint them together. I made some wide panels by cutting off the bevel edge, using my biscuit jointer and epoxy to glue it up. You just have to be careful about squeeze out with the glue because it will stain the joint. A little dab will do you. A little painter's tape will help that. Put the tape on before you cut off the bevel edge to get a clean line, both on the trex and the tape..

I built my deck out of Trex, and it was about 4 1/2 times as expensive as doing it out of 5/4 x 6 wood. They talk about how it won't rot, but they didn't say that it would stain and weather badly. Now, I've got to use a deck cleaner like they use on wood decks.

But, one long piece of Trex would be all that's required to do the job.

It might be easiest to just buy a basic console @ Overtons for $219. You might also check Great Lakes and/or Pontoonstuff.com.

I bought a fiberglass console to mount on top of a base I made out of plywood and covered in the same carpet I used on the floor. I wanted to utilize a seat cushion of my old boat, and give me storage. If doing it over, I would have fiberglassed the base. I suspect it will last long enough for me, but hindsight and all...you know?
I have some pics....I think I posted them here. Yup, found it. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8099

The guy in Ohio I have been talking to about building me a boat makes an aluminum console I have been looking at. It does seem, to seal up better when closed up.

I think a really efficient built in cooler or space for a removable cooler would be nice. The space inside of my console is totally wasted other than storing my spare prop in there.

STEVEBRENDA wrote:I think a really efficient built in cooler or space for a removable cooler would be nice. The space inside of my console is totally wasted other than storing my spare prop in there.

I don't have any built-in coolers yet...