My Pontoon Restoration Adventure

When we bought our home in 2005, we inherited a 1996 Monark Suncaster pontoon boat.  That made the boat roughly 10 years old and every component on it was beginning to show its age.

2005: Condition of boat still mostly intact

Click on this picture to enlarge it and where the blue seat cushion is, you can see the seams separating and the foam showing through. That same process was taking place on all the seats.

Notice the zip ties and bungee cord holding the bimini top in place!  Classy, huh?

Can't seem to beat the black mold overtaking the seat covering.

The carpet was beginning to wear through to the deck and it was impossible to keep up with the black mold.  However, we still enjoyed taking her out on the lake for a day of family fun or fishing.  Water was everywhere and getting the boat out onto the lake was easy.

Enough water to do 360's in the canal....even in the pontoon boat!  Approximately 7' deep.

Look to the right of the boat and you'll see the dock that my brother-in-law built for us.  The water level was high enough to walk from the dock directly onto the deck of the pontoon boat.  This made getting in and out of the boat an easy task. 

But then came the years of drought.  Three of them to be exact.  The water receded more than 6 feet.  And making a long story short, I waited too long to get the boat out of the lake and she became grounded.  Literally, grounded.  The pontoons were sitting on dry ground.  She stayed there for three years and rotted away in the brutal Florida sun, rain and heat.  And this is what we were left with:

And then the drought starts....

Yep, that's the same dock my brother-in-law built.  Clearly a 6-10ft drop in water level.  That made any boating impossible.  This is where the boat was grounded for almost 3 years.

Yep, that's the same canal we used to be 7' deep!

Then for a lovely, but brief time it rained...just long enough to raise the water high enough to get our pontoon boat out of the lake.  But before we did, I spent a day stripping all of the old furniture out of the boat.  It was a bigger mess than I thought.

My friend Todd Panzer, my son Daniel and I backed the trailer into what was just enough water to load the pontoon (not without great effort).   With the Monark back on her trailer, we made a commitment to restore her to her former glory (or as close as possible).

It took my Ford F350 diesel to pull that beat up boat out of the water.

Thanks, guys!  I couldn't have gotten it out without you~!

And now the real work begins....
The photos that follow will show our adventure in restoration. (click on pics to enlarge)

We had already torn off most of the furniture before I decided to keep a digital record of our restoration but you can get an idea from the condition of the console what the seating must have looked like.  Perhaps you can also tell that in advance of tearing off the fencing we also cleaned and polished the outside of the pontoons.  Look at the inside of the right pontoon....that's not a shadow!  It's the result of sitting in the mud for three years.

We had hoped to be able to reuse the decking material to save costs, but it was too far gone.  The top layer of the pressure treated plywood had begun to separate and it would have been impossible to glue down new carpet on such an irregular surface....so off it came.

Not looking forward to disassembling the steering, throttle and electrical circuits.

We removed everything all the way down to the ribs.  The next part was disconnecting all the wiring into the console including the steering and throttle cables.  The bigger challenge will be reinstalling this properly in the new console.

Now she's completely stripped down to the bare aluminum and ready for new flooring. (you can also see that the trailer is going to require new bunks and carpet as well as new tires which were completely rotten)


I wanted to use 3/4" pressure treated for the floor, but my research (which was lengthy) told me that I should avoid PT.  Has something to do with a corrosive interaction between the chemicals used in PT and any metals (especially aluminum) that it comes in contact with.  So I ordered 3/4" marine grade plywood from Belleview Building Materials in Belleview, Fl.  It's our local mom & pop lumber store and they gave me a much better deal than both Lowes or Home Depot.  It still probably added $250 to my total flooring costs over the cheaper alternatives....we'll see if it's worth it in the long run.  We also sealed all the edges with multiple coats of Extreme Weather outdoor latex paint.  Maybe overkill....maybe not.  For an extra $15 I'll take my chances.

Prior to putting the plywood on the ribs, we put down an adhesive backed "deck tape".  This tape, which is slightly padded, keeps the wood from coming into direct contact with the metal and adds a little bit of "anti-vibration" benefit.  We squared the floor up, pre-drilled the holes we wanted and then screwed it down to the ribs with stainless steel self-tapping screws.  Next came the marine grade, rubber-backed carpet. (All carpeting and flooring accessories were ordered from PontoonStuff.com)

 Since I've been doing this rebuild mostly on my own (with an occasional gracious hand from my wife) I've had to become creative with the bigger tasks, like glueing down the carpet.  I knew the glue was going to set up quickly because it was such an unbelievably hot day so rather than working in sections from front to back, I folded the carpet on top of itself over the entire length of the boat so that a section of 20'x4' of bare wood was exposed.  I applied the marine adhesive to the entire length of the boat and then folded the carpet back onto the section with the glue.  I immediately took a residential linoleum roller (which I rented) and rolled the carpet into place making sure there were no air pockets or bubbles.  I flipped the other side of the carpet onto the section I just glued down and repeated the process.

This was the hottest day of the year!  After installing the carpet I looked down at my knees and they were literally blistered from the heat (use knee pads!)


Next was a new prop for the motor, new wiring, lights, carpeted bunks and "E" rated tires for the trailer.  Unfortunately, the more you tear into this.....the more stuff you find that needs repaired or replaced.

Useable props need the WHOLE blade to function properly!

The next step in the process was to take care of the fence railing and panels.  They were in pretty bad condition.  Most of the decals were peeling off and the white paint was completely faded in more than one place with the bare aluminum shining through.  So we decided to strip off the old decals, sand down the panels, prime and repaint.

After my wife and I scraped off all the decals, we used a degreaser, steel wool, sandpaper and lots of elbow grease to get the old fence rails back to the bare aluminum finish.  Then, while I was at work, my wife taped off the fence rails and panels so that when I got home I could spray paint them.  Good teamwork.

We used an aluminum primer spray paint by Rustoleum for the fence panels and then a lightly textured latex paint for the final color we wanted.  New decals were soon to follow.

Next, we reinstalled the aluminum floor trim, tie downs and cleats....then the fence rails.

We painted the interior panels that we knew would not be hidden behind the new furniture we ordered to give it some continuity. 


Next came the new decals...

And a new 8' X 10" bimini top which I ordered from "The Canvas Guy" on Ebay.  I was very pleased with the quality. I did have to put it together, but everything fit splendidly and was very easy to assemble.

After rewiring the trailer lights and adding some new navigational lights, I also decided to include some docking lights for good measure.  

The new console, gauges, switches and steering wheel are here.  The furniture should arrive in about 1 week.  Then we can move this project toward completion. 

It's Here!

So, the furniture arrived today.  I ordered my furniture from Veada Industries out of New Paris, IN.  If price is the most important element in your rebuild, then pick just about any pontoon boat furniture retailer on the internet.  Their prices are all very competitive.  If you have to have your boat furniture tomorrow.....don't pick Veada.  They tell you upfront that it will take 8 weeks to receive your furniture.  Mine came exactly 1 day shy of 8 weeks.   But I chose Veada for a number of reasons;  (1)  They build your furniture to order.  That's why it takes so long.  (2)  The price was very competitive.  (3) When it arrives it's packed securely, padded and completely assembled.  The only thing you have to do is secure it to the deck.  Following are some pictures of the placement of the furniture (apologies for the repetitive pics)

This morning I finished securing all of the new furniture to the deck and then moved on to what, in my opinion is the most challenging part of the project.  Making sure the steering cables, throttle controls, binnacle and wiring are re-connected properly so as not to blow up all my hard work to this point.  

Man, it's hot in here!

So far.....so good!