1997 Premier rebuild

[bobbo268]

UPDATE (5/14)
So if anyone else here is like me, you don't want to thumb through pages of pictures and posts and yadda yadda. So I'm putting a before picture and an after picture of my projecton this first page. If you want to go through all the pictures, please do, and feel free to comment. After the next two pictures (before and after) the rest is the original first post then pics throughout my process. Please check the end of page 2 and start of page 3 for final before and after pictures. I hope to have it on the water next week!!!! If you've been tagging along please comment and let me know what you think. thanks again.

BEFORE

CURRENT

Original Post:

I have a bunch of posts asking questions, but figured i'd start one of just the rebuild and comments from people (all positive hopefully or at least constructive) for your viewing pleasure and an easy way for me to see things as they progress as well. One thing i do wish is that there would be an easy and cheap way to hide the gas tanks on the one side and the batteries on the other....

After I installed some LEDs along the sides and cut the front gate to fit my trolling motor....

Bought this boat this fall with the intention of leaving it the hell alone..... we all know how long that lasts..... the siding came out extraordinarily easy with a mini sledgehammer, no finesse used! Seats and console have been dropped off at an upholsterer, said I will have them back around february or march (no rush)...

View attachment 217538

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

Here I start sanding the carpet glue, took about 2 hours for the first half, a little over an hour for the second half, once I found the perfect technique with the handheld sander and 60 grit

Ended up being a little wavy which would be hell for vinyl but i hope the carpet and glue will fill it in just fine (never noticed it before)

In the end I used 4 coats of Spar-Urethane from home depot. the wood seemed alright and the hardware in the floor was a hex head bolt and they were full of old glue and whatever else, would have been a real PITA to drill them all out. the wood was still very very solid, just a little wavy.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

Carpet is 26oz carpet... turned out to be a lot lighter of a tan than I had hoped, but too late now and i'll just do the best to keep it clean. The boat is meant to have fun on. If stains and spills happen, oh well. I'll treat it with scotchgard before winter storage and every spring, and shampoo as needed


Here it is just laid on, rough cut.

Its darker if you look back to front, and i figured as you sit you look back to front, so thats how i laid it. And as you could tell I did the lazy route and didn't feel like pulling all the electric and controls, since I just re-did it all, so i just threw the carpet around it. Its covered 85% by railing and console anyways. A blind man will never see it.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

Here is what it looks like now! Just kidding, though i do like the decals.

So I made templates for cutting my own vinyl out of printer paper and microsoft powerpoint

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

Got started on the side panels. In the video I watched it took the guy all of 5 minutes to do... in reality, it took about an hour a piece from prepping cutting etc... to finish.

 

[maryhannaj]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

Hey bobbo268. Nice barge man. I'm glad to see you back up again. Great thing you got some good pics of your progress. I know I'm just looking at pics and they don't always show good detail, but that deck looks dang slick all shiny and urethaned. Nice work man. My best freind is about dying to get a barge just about that size. I keep trying to convince him into picking one up for restore. Maybe if he saw your pics he'd do it.
How did your console crack repair turn out for you?
Looks great man. Keep up with the great work and try to keep posting.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

havn't got to the console yet. I just finally picked the seat colors (after changing it 3 times) so when i get a sample piece from the upholsterer i need to take it to a body shop to try and get a color that will go good with it.

Had i known that i was going to do all this work, i probably wouldn't have paid as much as i did, but then again, for some reason these 16ft pontoon boats are super hard to come by and i lost out on the first 3 i found because they sold within hours.

 

[maryhannaj]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

I bet you'll still be happy with it though. The extra work and changing things around to suit your needs is a good thing in my opinion. I don't ever really consider the time and money spent doing that type of a thing an investment. I always call it, or consider it "making it my own".

I think it's a good thing. I can never just leave something alone either. There is almost always something I can find that needs changing. The whole " if it aint broke, don't fix it" thing to me is kind of hard to live by.:lol:

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

Really like your project. Will be tagging along.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

oh i'm definately happy. The only thing that i regret, but i'll get used to, is the carpet. Its way lighter than i thought it would be, but i have to deal with it. I did take a sample and rubbed in some mustard and bbq sauce, and it rinsed right out. I let some mustard sit overnight and it rinsed right out too. I have a mini shampooer so no real worries.

The railing is proving to be a real pain. the tabs fold back easy enough, but when they installed it from the factory, those tabs were probably at a 90 degree angle so they just drop the panels in, but then they added silicone to both side and then folded the tabs down, so there is nothing but friction when trying to slide the pieces. it took 4 of us to get a small section of the back railing done. We have to take the SS rivets out of the doors to do the rest. SS rivets are also a real pain and they sure make it clear that once you put those in, they are not meant to come out...

AND i won't have the seats back for a few months, so once the railings are done, unfortunately the boats going to storage for the rest of the winter. Once the upholster (that i found on craigslist ) gives me a call, the project will finish up.

AND i sent this picture to a bodyshop nearby that has done work for me and they said because its molded colored plastic they can't paint it, seems strange to me but i guess i have to rattle can it afterall, or get a second opinion.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

You could try using the plastic's specific Krylon rattle cans on the console. Not the 1st time I've heard the quick & expensive VS slow & less expensive upholstery dilemma..... Hopefully in plenty of time to get 'em installed & squared away post hibernation so it's ready for use once the weather is agreeable..

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

If you want to paint that plastic console I highly recommend you take a look at this...
How To Prep Polypropylene Plastic for Paint - YouTube

 

[maryhannaj]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

I have used the krylon plastic and vinyl paint on dirtbike plastics. It worked great! It never peeled or flaked. You just prep the surface area very thoroughly, shake the can real good and spray. Wa-laa! It really did work great and I just picked It up at an auto parts store. You might consider checking it out. Maybe you can even find something that matches close.

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

If you are at the auto parts store see if they also have some ''adhesion promoter''. Used to use it on textured panels that needed to be painted. Help provide bite for paint. Good luck.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

i love the krylon for plastics, i've used it a ton, but i like the idea of that youtube video of getting all that release agent out first.

Here are some updates. I'm going to put siding on the uppers of some of the back railings. I'm contemplating how far to come towards the door, due to being able to hang buoys on the open railing, but i like the look of the boats that have the rear closed (either way a seat is covering the hole). Also added LED nav lights to accompany the LED search lights (lol) on the front and led anchor light. They are a set of $60 attwood lights found on ebay NIB for 5 bucks each side.

I think we made two dents/creases from bending it or forcing it the wrong way, but as you can tell, you can probably only see them if you know where they are or looking at it like crazy. Still better than all the dents on the last ones. And not sure if my decal idea is going to work. I cut some aluminum sheeting in the shape with an electric snip and it still isn't a perfect line. Calling around to local shops to see if they can work with my vinyl that I bought and just draw it in their computer for a small fee. If not, i'll try and freehand cut in the vinyl but i'm scared it will look like hell. Maybe I should have just spent the extra 150 to have it done, but i always try to save money when i can (which is not evident by this project haha). And i still have to get the plastic protective covering off which will be no fun at all seeing as how its smashed in on every edge.

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

Nice work!

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

so tonights the all nighter, going to finish rewiring the dock and new led nav lights, tidying up, and cutting the graphics. I ordered my reg numbers and Premier logo online to put inline with the graphics i'm cutting so i may do half of the decals since i don't know where the rest will go. The most fun part, will be trying to get all the protective film off the side panels since they are smashed behind the rails..... i may just have to take a sharp blade and carefully score it at the rail and try and get it from there..... should have thought about that earlier. like i say though, oh well!

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

so instead of paying upward of 2 to 300 or more in decals for the boat, i bought the supplies myself, two 10' rolls (one of each color) and one 300' roll of transfer tape (they didn't have any shorter rolls) and it ended up being around 60 bucks. My sheet metal idea didn't work because i couldn't get a clean cut because the metal wanted to get curvy on the edges, so instead the design above, this is what i decided on. Started with drawing ideas on paper and it went on from there.... the hardest part was "eyeballing" the stripes on each side of the rail since i couldn't go under the rails, that was a pain. I hate to see the other side once i get it out of the garage since as you can see i only had about 6 inches to stand back to eyeball the lines. Guess thats why they make vinyl removable

I'm waiting for my registration decals to come in the mail this week so i can put them inline with the big stripe (should be the exact same brand and color decal and same height as the large stripe). Then i'll put the rest on, along with the new Premier logos and boat name. My decal work isn't perfect, but it work, and i saved some money, and as for all the little imperfection..... "a blind man will never see them"

 

[bobbo268]

Re: 1997 Premier rebuild

Also, in regards to the console top... i tried the method in the video above, used a propane torch and heated it up, and it melted.... j/k. I didn't get the results in the video, meaning nothing came out, and it was getting really hot so i gave up. I purchased some adhesion promoter and sprayed a section on the backside, and then covered that with generic yellow spraypaint. I let it dry for 24 hours and it seems to be doing fine, i scraped it with a razor blade and seems like it held up. I would just hate to paint it and then have it flake off and then it would look like a bigger pile of **** than i started with. Is there any way to cover something like that with vinyl material without it looking like a rummage sale find?