First post and a little long!
We recently purchased a 1997 Playtime Pontoon and it needed some work. Some pictures are soon to follow. The engine was recently rebuilt. It was in the process of being restored and the person we bought it from needed some money. It is 24 feet long. The only original items on the boat are the 50 HP Force engine and the toons. We bought the boat for $3,000 no trailer. We took it from the home and took it to the dry storage where we have it stored now.The marine plywood was put on the boat in 2010, and we installed carpet on the boat. We got a high end outdoor carpet that isn't your typical marine carpet (darker tan color with ribbed pattern). We purchased a 24 foot role for $190 and the carpet comes with a 5 year warranty.
The railings on the boat are from a 2004 Bennington 225L. The graphics were shot and the paint was awful. We sanded it down to nearly bare aluminum and used Interlux topside paint, flag blue. I cannot believe how well it turned out. It shines in the sun and looks glossy. Even the guys at our dry storage could not believe how well it turned out. We painted it with two quarts. I must say it was a lot of work sanding it down, but paid off in the end. I did get some on the railing but a paint stripper and elbow grease will remove it easily.
I got the registration vinyl from Boatus and purchased the graphics from Pontoon Stuff to wrap around the railing. We purchased two Bennington logos for the side for $35 (older style not newer style Bennington logo). The older logo that is 5 inches in height by 12 inches in length which is what we will need in order for the graphics to fit properly. We just purchased the smoke gray and tan decals from Pontoon Stuff. We liked some other decal patterns better, but the length they had matches our boat perfectly. I hope to put them on sometime next week.
We sold the seats on the boat for $900. We originally wanted to reupholster them but the prices were unbelievable! They ranged from $2500-5000. We felt it was best to just buy new seats with a warranty. We purchased Deckmate seats from Pontoon Stuff. We wanted the sand/chestnut/gold seats from Wise and were going to buy on iBoats, but the seats are on backorder on all sites (********, here, etc) and we would not have received them for 30-45 days. The Deckmate seats are ivory, dark blue, and tan. They actually look really cool. We took the $900 and put towards the new seats. We got a new console, captain?s chair, L-Shaped rear group 56 in x 66 in, and two 55 inch front seats with a very nice boat table to go along with it. We had to come $1000 out of pocket. The seats were $1900.
We purchased two marine vinyl bean bags from E-Sea rider. My fianc? refused to let me get fishing seats so we purchased these. Let me tell you? they are freaking awesome! They are sturdy and extremely comfortable. We got the armchair style custom color white and tan. I am 6?3 250 pounds and I can fit in them with no problem. They are cool too because you can move them to the front of the boat or anywhere for that matter. I never imagined bean bags for a boat, but everyone that has looked at them has asked me where we got them from because of how comfortable they are.
We also got 6 LED battery operated lights to put on the boat when needed at night. They were $40 from ********. The boat should look awesome once it is complete. I got a 6 switch panel with pre wiring from Great Lake Skipper, and it will be in next week. It was only $49 and from a Premier Pontoon boat.
The toons were a mess. I will post a before and after picture to see since I have it now. The marina was going to charge us $180 to clean them and we purchased an aluminum cleaner from JLL for $30. We used a 1500 PSI pressure washer to wash them down. It came off so easily we could have used a standard hose. We tried Toon Brite originally and tried it on a small area and it left white residue on the small portion of the toon we tested. I am not bashing the product, and being new to boat work it could have been a user error. For $30 JLL was a miracle product? you almost have to see it to believe it. Our toons do not like brand new, but they look as good as most of the toons I have seen out on the lake.
We got 2 mounted marine speakers and 2 insert speakers for the CD player.
We purchased the Bimini Top from Vortex. We looked a Sunbrella and make no doubt about it, it is a better product, but our Bimini top held up just fine. We purchased a top 10 feet long top.
The above deck tank was only 3 gallons and we purchased a 12 gallon tank and went ahead and put a new fuel pump to the engine. We purchased an air filter, new hosing under the cowl, and re-clamped all the hoses? better to be safe than sorry. The engine at max will only go about 16 mph, but that is all we need.
If you made it this is the few questions I have (sorry for the rant just proud of what we have done to the boat). : )
1. We would like to build a sundeck for our boat. I need a V-Shaped rail to cover the transom. It measures 15 x 15 inches. I need the railing for it. The boat is 96 inches wide, and I want to keep 36 inches open. I need a 60 inch rail for it. Then I need to purchase a 24 inch rail to connect to the transom pieces. I cannot find any site that offers custom railing; only the complete kit. It just seems to me there is an easy way to this, and might even be able to purchase the products needed from Lowe?s. If anyone has built a sundeck I would greatly appreciate any advice. I can cut the plywood to go over it, buy some seat foam and vinyl and just staple it down. You will a picture of the back attached to this post.
2. The decals on the engine are shot, and I cannot find any Force 50 decals. Does anyone know where we can purchase these decals? I would like to paint the cowl and put on new stickers.
3. Is there a product to put around the sundeck kit to make the engine not as loud? Only having 50 HP with 6 on a boat can get pretty loud.
Thanks again for your help with this! Right now we have right at $5700 in the boat, and with the sundeck hopefully that will be the only remaining work. Plus everything but the engine and toons is practically brand new on the boat, and should last us for several years.