Wednesday, October 10, 2007

DIY Pontoon Build Update 6

Update 6 shows alot of progress and the first water test!

Here we have her sitting on the trailer, getting ready for her first (and hopefully not last) dip in the drink.







And it hits water! Thats my little brother doing his best to get out of the water as the slab of concrete at the boat landing were very slick.






The first real test as I hop on it, no creaking or splintering so far...








Time for lifejackets and paddles. Chris, my youngest wanted to come with at first but decided there was more to life then what could be a very short ride in a decidely small boat and bailed.






Instead, Josh came aboard! Here we are about half way to our destination, the beach across the lake from the boat landing. This is where Josh, fresh from a 12 hour work shift, wanted to call it quits and let the wind drift us back to the landing.





I did give him two options, one, he could continue paddling and we could finish or two, he could swim. Funny thing about the lakes in MN when fall comes, they get cold. He chose to keep paddling.




We did make it across, unfortunately the camera's batteries
crapped out again (alkalines don't last long in digital cameras) and
by the time the wife got back with new batteries I had taken off with the boat again and let myself drift back to the boat landing. When we got it up on the landing, I had a surprise waiting, it had taken on water, about 5 gallons between both pontoons would be my guess.
So right now the boat is back in my garage, I'll hopefully get it flipped over and do another couple of coats of glass and resin to provide a better seal against water getting in. The crazy part is that we didn't have a clue we were (slowly) sinking and had been on the water for at least 2 hours! I'm chalking this up to being a sucess and am planning on getting it into the water at least once more before it freezes.

Monday, October 8, 2007

DIY Pontoon Build Update 5

Update 5... seems like just last week I was at Menard's buying the plywood and other misc supplies I'd need.

Here is the front view of the pontoon after a coat of flat white. The bags in the back are weights, but more on that later. As you can see the garage is still a mess and will be until the boat is done and has hit the water at least once as there currently isn't much room to work in the garage, much less clean it up.


Here is the left view of the boat, not too different from the front view. You'll have to excuse the timestamp on the image. The batteries died and after a long day of working on the boat the last thing I wanted to do was fiddle around with a camera to correct the date.





Right side of the boat. I got a bit sloppy at the end when it came to applying the fiberglass to the support beam but I know it'll hold alright (this was the third coat of fiber and resin, build only requires two).






Finally, the rear view of the boat and as you can see it looks like a group of bandits went through my garage, but nope, it's all me. The bags of coal are just some extra weight to hold the supports in place while the resin dries. I received all the charcoal for christmas, my mom said I deserved it....





Final build update will have pictures of the boat either sinking or floating, with me on it in either case and hopefully a good tale to tell too!