pontoon rebuild deck question

[crush]

Hello everyone, I was hoping to get some feedback on a couple design ideas on a pontoon rebuild project I'm doing. I bought a 1982 JC Pontoon 824. It has 24' pontoons, and a 22' deck. The pontoons are U shaped, and are 20" wide and 23" tall. The stated dry weight of the boat with stock furniture, etc. is 1280 lbs without motor, and a carrying capacity of 2980 lbs. My motor is a 1982 Mercury 115 hp.

I plan on making this a "monster" boat in order to allow me to enjoy my many different hobbies (fishing, waterskiing, scuba diving, taking wife/kids camping, brewing beer, partying, poker, and more)

SO. The first thing I want to do is strip it down to the substructure. Currently there is aluminum sheeting on the bottom, and a wood deck on top of (I'm assuming) some kind of aluminum crossbeams that are welded to the pontoons. I want to rip out the wood, and replace it with either wood or aluminum. But I want to elevate the deck about 10 inches or so, to give myself a whole bunch of storage space under the floor for putting the gas tank, freshwater tank, livewell, plumbing, electrical, and storage such as a rod locker and more. Then I want to create a cage of some sort over the motor that is strong enough to attach a ski rope and pull a skier, and let me make a sun deck to better make use of the area above the motor (which currently sits recessed between the pontoons)

My questions are:

1) What is the best material to make my deck? Obviously I want to keep weight down, as I will have lots of additions to the boat but still want to take a dozen people or so out on it. Money is always an object, but I'm willing to spend more here...
2) How to attach it? If it's aluminum, do I weld or rivet? How thick of aluminum would I need? I'm thinking welding. I've seen some plastic decking, but still seems to be heavy
3) Will the 10" lift cause any problems? I'm surprised more pontoon boats don't do this...By doing this, I know I'm giving it a higher center of gravity, but I can't imagine 10 inces will impact this too much. I also though it might add a lot of wind resistance making it difficult for me to control in the wind when I am on my foot operated electric trolling motor and fishing. I can't see any real big problems with it, though.
4) What to use for the supports for the deck (the beams)
5) Any thoughts on the roll cage as far as shape, and material. I am thinking 2 inch aluminum square tubing and making basically a half of a box, if you can imagine the box sliced diagonally and placed over the motor with the hypotenuse slanting from the top stern down toward the bow. I am not sure how big I need to make it, though.
6) As I get farther and start placing stuff stuch as furniture, how concerned do I need to be with balance fore and aft? It has a big motor on it, and though I haven't taken it on the water yet, I'm guessing it's probably riding with the nose pretty high. But I'm worried if I balance it more by putting batteries and the livewell, etc. up front then it will nose into waves when I put people on it... We can sometimes get waves to about about 3 feet or so here in AZ.

Sorry for so many questions!!! I know I'm asking a lot, but I will be happy to post my results (for good or bad) and pictures after I'm done. If you have a though on one or more of my questions, please throw it out there.

Thanks

[ted655]

:mad: What you want to do is right on the edge of what you can do. A pontoon boat is VERY load sensitive. The best way to approach this is to think.... modular. You will not make that size a pontoon boat a "monster" boat & have it all always on board. You can have a "versitile" boat.
Start the design by FIRST... Taking a ride on a similar boat. Then load it with ice chest full of water. If you know how much water or fuel weighs & how much you want to carry, then chests full of water will show you if those things are possible. Where to put them, etc.. Add your people too. Play around with a real boat to see IF your design will work.
There is a direct corellation between money & weight of materials. Aluminium is what will keep all your ideas possible. It costs (I know, as I have 3 aluminium boats). Machines & tools to work it with will be needed. I use a "Aluminium and Stainless Inc." catalog to design with. Get one or something like it.
Try to make as much as possible removable. Water sking & family camping are at oppisate ends of the boats ability. If it wasn't for the sking requirement, I would advise a 3rd. center pontoon. Likev this.
http://www.partycamper.com/
As long as you don't add solid walls or fabric filled railings, I don't see a big problem with 10" deck raise. This is a calm water boat???
Find out what things weigh, keep accurate track of every ounce & keep that all important safety margin and I think you can get most of your ideas on the boat. It won't be cheap.
http://www.macraesbluebook.com/search/company.cfm?company=486992
:) :)

[crush]

Thanks for the reply. I'm glad that the 10 inch deck isn't out of the question, and I really like the idea of going out and moving containers of water and weights around to figure out the best balance. I can actually take this boat out, after I strip it down to the deck. I'm thinking I'll strip it down, build the 10 inch lifted deck, and then take it out and move containers around to get the balance right.

Funny you should mention the "modular" concept. I was thinking the same thing myself, by using a lot of pedestal mounts. You know, like on a bass boat, where you can mount "butt" seats or regular seats on a pole that slides into a hole on the deck, reinforced by a mount. The cool thing is, you can build all kinds of custom stuff that attaches to the pole, and this way you can change the layout depending on what I'm doing that day. I can create bench seating, or a bed, that has 3 or 4 poles on it. Individual fishing or sitting seats will have one pole, and tables will have 1 or 2 poles depending on the size. The possibilities are endless. Especially if I can get some storage under the deck, then I don't need the typical furniture that has storage cabinets built into them. Also, the weight is very low on pedestal seating.

I figured the cost would be high, but I'm willing to spend a bit to get what I want. I have decided on aluminum. I just need to figure out what thickness of aluminum sheeting I need with crossbeam supports that are, say, 24 inches apart.

As far as tools go, I have a pretty good selection already. I believe I have everything I need (all kinds of power saws, angle grinder, sanders, router, buffer, hand tools) though I need a welder. I am looking at buying one now, just trying to figure out which one. Also, I might need some kind of rivet gun.

I would get a third pontoon, definitely, if it wasn't for my trailer. I have the style that fits in-between the toons, so I would need to replace my trailer. I don't have the kind of money to do that yet, so it is what it is.

Thanks again!
Cheers.

[ted655]

My boats are a combo of 1/8", 3/16" & 1/4" plate. I use a "metal Devil" circular saw to cut it. You CAN use a regular circular saw, just don't expect a long life. The special blades are the secret. You'll need a chop saw. The nature of light, concise, custom aluminium work will mean you NEED a welder from the get go. A hand "banjo" is the best accesorie to add I think. A "pulse unit is the best type welder. Saves grinding & makes pretty welds.
T bar is widely used. Get the catalog I mentioned. Alum is a different cat. Don't start with ANY ideas based on past building experience! Lern all anew. Size, spaxing, almost everything is different.
The floors in my boat are not supported by conventional spacings of supports. The floor is fastened to the stringers by holes drilled through the plate, exposing the stringer underneath. Then the plate is welded to the stringer through the holes and filling the holes back up at the same time. Saves a ton of backbreaking overhead welding.
Use saw horses to space out your "ideas" on, c clamp the plate you "think" you'll use and mock everything up, then walk on it & see what you think. Just a tip.
Good luck & take pictures.

[Buttfrog]

Hello, I'm thinking about using an existing pontoon and building a small tent\popup camper type shelter onto it. i've never done anything like this before and am having problems finding similar (home made) items. Basically I want to be able to take it out fishing in the day and be able to play poker in and sleep in at night. I probibly would keep if very close to shore using it almost like a floating dock. any suggestions, help or pics of similar things would be helpful!

[ted655]

A lot of insperation & ideas for what you want can be found by looking at what "Bass Masters" are offering as accessaries to their "Tracker" line of pontoon boats.
If you or someone close by can run a sewing machine Then "Sail Rite" sells all the goodies.