Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

[USM89]

After putting off replacing furniture for a few years the old plywood frames have started failing to the point seating is limited. I am sure everyone has gone through this but if I am replacing the furniture I believe the carpet will need to be replaced. If the carpet is to be replaced the fence comes off so update the faded fence. With the fence and carpet off why not go ahead and replace the deck... I think I am totally rebulding my boat.

Where do I find the correct plywood? I see kits on Iboats, but I did not want to do the packaged kit. Checked Lowes no go. From online research I think CCA Marine plywood is suggested

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

http://www.pontoonstuff.com/pontoon-boat/35-marine-plywood-boat-decking.asp

 

[Mr Crabbs]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

YEA! We love project boats. Keep the pictures coming!

I think you're doing the right thing by stripping it down to the joists.

 

[USM89]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

http://www.pontoonstuff.com/pontoon-boat/35-marine-plywood-boat-decking.asp

Thanks for the link I don't know how I overlooked. I will order on Monday

 

[reddogg]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

Unless your going to build them yourselvs, you can get pre-made toon furniture shiped to you. I just got an overton's catalog and they had some nice stuff it it for toons.

red

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

The question is what is you boat going to be worth after you recondition it?

I have an 85 Starcraft 24' pontoon boat that I reconditioned 5-6 years ago--new carpet and some plywood. Unfortunately, the plywood I replaced on the stern is now rotted, and I need to replace two sections. (You cannot use pressure treated plywood on a pontoon as the chemical will react badly with aluminum.) My seats are starting to show 1" tears, and water has rotted the wood touching the carpet. I think I can splice new plywood inside the existing furniture and hold it over another couple of years. Or, I could spend $2,200 and get new furniture. My motor is a 1985 model, and who knows how long it's going to last.

I think I'll remove the molding around the boat and unbolt the fencing to lift up the back end. Then, I'll remove the bad plywood and recarpet the back of the boat. On the seats, I'll do minor rebuilding.

Sometimes, it's just not worth throwing good money after bad money. A 25 year old pontoon is still a 25 year old boat, and not worth throwing $4K into to get in tip top shape. The modern tri-toons with their plush furniture are just sooooo nice. We'll eventually get a more modern boat--when it's time.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

I would price this project and make sure you want to spend that much on your boat because as bamaman said, it won't really make the boat worth more, certainly not what a rebuild will cost.

I did rebuild my boat(not a toon) but I knew I would be keeping it for a long time and it is very satifying to take out a boat you rebuilt yourself but new furniture, even the cheap stuff will set you back $600-$1000 and true marine grade ply is about $80 per sheet, just kow what you are getting into before you get into it.

 

[USM89]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

I would price this project and make sure you want to spend that much on your boat because as bamaman said, it won't really make the boat worth more, certainly not what a rebuild will cost.

I did rebuild my boat(not a toon) but I knew I would be keeping it for a long time and it is very satifying to take out a boat you rebuilt yourself but new furniture, even the cheap stuff will set you back $600-$1000 and true marine grade ply is about $80 per sheet, just kow what you are getting into before you get into it.

Yeah I've looked at the cost of a more modern boat. verses the cost of refurbishing current boat I would probably come out a little better with a new boat for a short period, but if I keep the old boat for a number of years I don't think it will make any difference,

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

consider using alum for the deck, no rot, cost will be greater but worth it if you are keeping it.

 

[Mr Crabbs]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

Last year we bought our first pontoon, a Suntracker Partybarge 20. It's an introductory boat and you can't really compete with a smaller low trim boat on a rebuild if you are worried about return on your dollar. You can see a great savings on a rebuild of a longer upscale boat though. The savings could be $10K or more, depending on what you are comparing yourself too.

If you plan on keeping it then it's probably a wash, but the knowledge you may gain will be worth a lot too.

 

[colofiremedic]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

I did the same thing about 6 years ago. Complete restoration of a 1992 24' Pontoon. I ordered all of my stuff from American Soft Trim. The furniture was great and has lasted well. I had some minor issues with a seam on one of my seats and they stood behind the product. The price was fair and the quality was very good. As for the railing, I had mine powdercoated. The color was matched to the base color of the furniture. The project took me about a month to complete after recieving the furniture and carpet. Not too hard to do, just kind of labor intensive. Good luck on the restoration! Its a very rewarding process!

 

[USM89]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

I did the same thing about 6 years ago. Complete restoration of a 1992 24' Pontoon. I ordered all of my stuff from American Soft Trim. The furniture was great and has lasted well. I had some minor issues with a seam on one of my seats and they stood behind the product. The price was fair and the quality was very good. As for the railing, I had mine powdercoated. The color was matched to the base color of the furniture. The project took me about a month to complete after recieving the furniture and carpet. Not too hard to do, just kind of labor intensive. Good luck on the restoration! Its a very rewarding process!

I would like to powdercoat rails thats a nice look. I kind of kicked that out because I imagined it would be expensive...

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

My uncle had a toon for many many years where the furniture had rotted out. He replaced it with two large storage boxes with padded lids (one on each side) that he built and a couple of deck chairs like these:

You could then move stuff around however you wanted and it was so easy to hose off the deck to keep everything clean. The only things permanently mounted was the console and captain's pedestal seat.

 

[USM89]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

My uncle had a toon for many many years where the furniture had rotted out. He replaced it with two large storage boxes with padded lids (one on each side) that he built and a couple of deck chairs like these:

You could then move stuff around however you wanted and it was so easy to hose off the deck to keep everything clean. The only things permanently mounted was the console and captain's pedestal seat.

OK started tear down this weekend; this was a good decision plywood floor was still in solid shape but is in early stages of deteriation but I now have questions as modt of you know marine grade plywood is hard to come by. I spoke with a plywood expert and he suggested using the non treated exterior grade plywood as the glues are water proof. I am concerned about voids and how to seal the non-marine plywood. Will spar varnish be sufficient? Any sealant suggestions?

 

[shadetreetx]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

I did the same thing about 6 years ago. Complete restoration of a 1992 24' Pontoon. I ordered all of my stuff from American Soft Trim. The furniture was great and has lasted well. I had some minor issues with a seam on one of my seats and they stood behind the product. The price was fair and the quality was very good. As for the railing, I had mine powdercoated. The color was matched to the base color of the furniture. The project took me about a month to complete after recieving the furniture and carpet. Not too hard to do, just kind of labor intensive. Good luck on the restoration! Its a very rewarding process!

We are in the process of planning a restoration on a 1990 24' pontoon. May I ask how much powdercoating the railing set you back? We were looking at it, but thought it might be cost-prohibitive.

 

[USM89]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

I would like to hear more about powder coating of the railing.

Although I have refinished replaced most everything above the toons I am not satisfied of with the railing or the replacement fence metal, I can see me re-doing both after boating season.

 

[a1nowell]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

USM89,
I rebuilt my 24" JC Tritoon 2 years ago. With reguard to the marine plywood for the deck I think you need to asked a couple of questions. Do you keep your toon in the water or on a trailer? Do you keep it covered (garaged)? If your boat is trailered and covered, go with 3/4 BCX or CDX plywood. Also, The new borate chemicals used for treating wood wiil damage your aluminum the old CCA treatment will not.

I used 3/4" BCX plywood and coated all edges with Olympic WaterGuard. As for carpet, I bought the medium grade carpet kit from pontoonstuff. If I had it to do over I would have used a vinyl, my carpet is only 2 years old and already pretty stained up. Also, something else to consider. I never likes how the aluminum edge around the deck looked, bent, scraped etc. I covered my edge with P shaped dock edge. It made the boat look better and gives you a tuff cushion when you bang the dock or a stump.

You will find almost everything you want at:
www.pontoonstuff.com
r www.everythingpontoon.com.

Just my 2 cents worth.

I have pictures of my rebuild in the rebuild section of this forum.

 

[USM89]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

USM89,
I rebuilt my 24" JC Tritoon 2 years ago. With reguard to the marine plywood for the deck I think you need to asked a couple of questions. Do you keep your toon in the water or on a trailer? Do you keep it covered (garaged)? If your boat is trailered and covered, go with 3/4 BCX or CDX plywood. Also, The new borate chemicals used for treating wood wiil damage your aluminum the old CCA treatment will not.

I used 3/4" BCX plywood and coated all edges with Olympic WaterGuard. As for carpet, I bought the medium grade carpet kit from pontoonstuff. If I had it to do over I would have used a vinyl, my carpet is only 2 years old and already pretty stained up. Also, something else to consider. I never likes how the aluminum edge around the deck looked, bent, scraped etc. I covered my edge with P shaped dock edge. It made the boat look better and gives you a tuff cushion when you bang the dock or a stump.

You will find almost everything you want at:
www.pontoonstuff.com
r www.everythingpontoon.com.

Just my 2 cents worth.

I have pictures of my rebuild in the rebuild section of this forum.

I did quite a bit of research into the plywood issue and got some really inconclusive results but to sum up what I think I learned and what I based my decision upon; According to APA and other sources Marine and outdoor rated plywood use the same waterproof glue. The same sources felt the CCA/Borax issue to be oveerstated. Now that said and I hope I did not unleash a firestorm here is what I did. I ordered Marine plywood, I keep my boat in a covered slip mostly year round except when I trailer home for maintenance etc. I ordered the Marine plywood because the difference in the marine and the outdoor rated is the lack of voids in the interior of the plywood. Outdoor ply can have larger and more voids than marine which will retain moisture. That and I still do not feel the aluminum and newer chemical reaction issue was answered entirely to my satisfaction. I do not plan on redecking this boat again if I can help. Its hot here in Mississippi reaching 100+ over the last several weeks and has slowed progress a lot.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Replacing Furniture on Pontoon

It's sure great to know that you can invest in a new pontoon boat, and that it'll be around 25 years from now if kept under cover. When you wear the engine out, just re-power with a used engine, rebuilt engine or another new engine--and run it another 25 years.

2011 is a very demanding year, with boat dealerships and manufacturers dropping like flies. As far as I can tell, the only boat that's really selling well is the pontoon boat. And used pontoons continue to hold their value due to low maintenance and simple aluminum hull construction.

PONTOON BOATS ARE A VERY GOOD VALUE FOR THE LONG RUN!