Nussy's PonTIN boats

[Waterwings]

Nussy,

If you want really want to shine those pontoons up, checkout this product: https://www.sharkhide.com/mpinfo.html. Sharkhide is a protectant applied after cleaning and polishing the aluminum, but it lasts quite a long time.

Here's a Tracker tin with the Sharkhide treatment:

 

[Nussy]

There's a few mini toon companies out there that I've seen. I'm stealing the best of their ideas within reason.

Water wings, I thought shark hide too, but theses pontoons have some "history" and I think the sharkhide polish might accent a few blemishes. I think it looks awesome and I love the idea on a newer boat. The Zing really brightened them up. Not perfect but a definite improvement with little work.

Update, decking will be here Thursday. Stopped by my fab guy and he's still not sure when the other set of tubes will be done, guess i'll work on what I can this weekend. Also picked up a hatch and some other goodies from Cabelas. We will see what I can figure out for some storage.

 

[Waterwings]

...Waterwings, I thought shark hide too, but theses pontoons have some "history" and I think the sharkhide polish might accent a few blemishes. I think it looks awesome and I love the idea on a newer boat. The Zing really brightened them up. Not perfect but a definite improvement with little work...

Understand, just a suggestion. That's gonna be a great rig when you're done!

 

[truckhuntfish]

i'm not sure how far you want to go with the polishing, but , when i polish the tanks on my semi , they always have rock chips in them , fine sandpaper takes the nicks right out , then you need a polishing wheel on a 8in. grinder , you can make them look like chrome. there is a chrome shop for semis in appleton , can't remember the name , but they should have anything you need for that

 

[fender66]

Although I'm totally impressed with this project.......I'm more jealous of the clean garage space you have!

Way to go man!

 

[Nussy]

That's funny....the garage just looks clean. Go back to pick 1 of this thread and you'll see what the other half looks like

 

[fender66]

Yeah sure....you should see mine. On second thought....I don't think I want anyone to see it. #-o

 

[2007NNBS]

Any updates?

 

[Nussy]

Well I just got back to working on the boat today(I had to get out and catch some walleyes yesterday while the run is on . I got the decking cut, it's a product called Last Deck. Essentially tongue and groove extruded aluminum planks that are powder coated. A little pricey but I'll never have to redeck again and I can simply spray it down with a hose to clean it.

I fastened the decking down with #8 SS sheet metal screws. I decided to make the deck on boat shorter than I had originally planned because I thought it would get too much weight over the front taper of the pontoons and ride nose heavy. I'm going to put just a aluminum sheet cap over the front section you can see in the pics. The deck will be about 8.5'. I also decided not to go with any storage for this build as this is boat I will sell and didn't think I'd get the return on it to add a hatch and box. Build 2 I'm keeping and will put a little more into it.


I decided to go with 1" x 3" x1/8" angle for the edge trim. It was about 1/3 the cost of normal pontoon trim and just couldn't justify spending extra. Unfortunately it came a little scratched up so I'll have to buff it up a little when I'm done. I was able to get two sides attached and one corner cap on before I decided to call it a day before a storm rolled in.....plus the Masters is on :LOL2:



I got the corner cap from Marine East based on the post in the mod section for materials. Thanks to whomever posted the link, I really like them and saved a bundle.


I also finally got the second set of pontoons back from my fab guy yesterday and cleaned them up this morning. They turned out pretty good, but he said it was a nightmare of a job to weld aluminum so thin. Only cost me a $100 for the entire job which I thought was a great deal. Here's a pic of one tube. It's the back half of the original and I had him just put a flat nose on the front at an angle.

Should be able to finish boat #1 with only 3-4 more hours work. It goes a lot faster when you don't have to paint anything...

 

[fender66]

Sweet.....what kind of BBQ pit are you going to mount to it? :LOL2:

 

[Nussy]

Yesterday I was able to get back to working on the boat. I finished up the edging and the corner caps and started on the seat bases... then I decided to cut the underfloor storage box for boat #2 since the scrap of that will be used for the seat base backing to spread the load out across a larger area.

Since I never cut aluminum sheet before I followed Bassboy's recommendation to a T. Built a guide and used the recommended blade. Worked great!!! Here's some pics.

 

[Brine]

Nice Man. This is a great build. =D>

 

[fender66]

I want to do that too now. My wife will kill me though!

 

[Nussy]

Got a little more done this morning. After messing around for a couple hours yesterday trying to mount the first seat base, I came up with a good idea and it took all of 20 minutes today to mount the seat base. I used the scrap from the box I cut out yesterday. I traced the hole from the seat base and cut it out with a jig saw so that the base fit in the scrap. Then I drilled out all the holes so as to use the scrap as one big washer and support below the deck.


I was also then able to use this as a template to cut the deck hole.


Then I attached everything. Yesterday I had problems with the bolts bending. So today I screwed them slowly and everything went fine. Just that that was weird. Wondering if the friction caused too much heat... Here's a pic from below. They are rock solid.



Just about done. Just need to mount the trolling motor and attach the battery box. Also need to figure out what I want to do with the front section. Wish I would have just made the deck bigger like the plan originally called for. Thinking just a aluminum step or place to mount a tackle box or anchor box, etc.

Here's the pics as it sits today.

 

[dyeguy1212]

Looking good. You got a nice clean and finished look just by keeping it simple.. I like it!

 

[FishinFL]

This is a awesome looking project. Something like that could be fun here in FL. You are doing a great job. Some of the lakes I fish here have small one man pontoon boats, which this is between a one man and full size. I am taking notes.

 

[Troutman3000]

Lookin good Nussy. I think that thing is gonn be great to fish off of. Plenty of room to stand and very stable. Do you have any ideas for rod storage?

 

[Nussy]

Lookin good Nussy. I think that thing is gonn be great to fish off of. Plenty of room to stand and very stable. Do you have any ideas for rod storage?

Thanks guys,

This first boat will be pretty plain. Just trying to keep the cost down so I can sell it a little easier and make some of my investment back. I should have it done this weekend.

Boat #2 will be a little nicer. I live on a small lake and I plan to use the 2nd boat there. It will have the bike seats and adjustable peds. I want to keep the deck clean so that I can pull the seats off and the kids can use it as a swim raft. The plan is for some underfloor storage for the battery, maybe an onboard charger, life jackets, tackle, etc. I was thinking about putting in some flush mount rod holders in the deck that insert at an angle so that they would point off the deck edge(something like this)


.....but I'm not sure how that would work. I'm worried they might get in the way for casting and landing fish. I'm the kind of guy that goes out with 4-5 rods instead of changing baits. Second thought was to have a velcro strip(or bunjee) on the deck and just strap them down. I'm also considering a small railing on boat #2...either corner railings or a just a kick plate of 1x1 Angle to keep things from falling off the edge..

 

[Troutman3000]

I would worry that just having them on the deck that they would get stepped on. You could make something portable to place in the middle of the deck. I have seen people use the pvc holders screwed to a five gallon bucket for easy transport. That way the bucket, cooler, or whatever container you use can be removed each time. I attached some to my bait tank and I love them. I can still cast from both ends because the rods are in the middle and pointing straight up.

Something like this attached to a bucket or something.

 

[Nussy]

Finally finished the first boat here's the final pics. It's for sale($2200) if anyone is interested.....






Now on to #2...stay tuned.