pontoon boat build- on hold, but some progress

[desertmoose]

Well, after trying kayaks and float tubes, we've decided that single person pontoon boats would be better for fly fishing. Problem is, we need two of them, and they run several hundred dollars apiece.

So, in the same spirit of making my own teardrop, I'll make a pair of pontoons.

I didn't get pictures of the block, but there was a huge billet of foam that was pretty battered at work. It's 2 pound per cubic foot, and measured 8 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet. They were throwing it in the dumpster when I asked if I could have it.

I made a wire cutter with a couple of pool cues and a pine board. A battery charger provided the power.

Using the edge of a length of ply for a guide on each side, I sliced the foam into 12" by 14" logs.



Here's an idea of how battered the billet was.



I had to join chunks to make four 8' by 12" by 14" blanks



I sliced the enda of the blanks at 35*



Then I pointed the ends at 30*








A chamfer on the bottom edges completes the shaping of the pontoons



To hold the pontoons to the deck, I decided on inlaid nutplates and eye bolts. I sliced out strips for the ply nutplate mounts.

Jig for cutting grooves.



There are three nutplate grooves on each pontoon. Here's a strip test fit in place.



The nutplates are a 1/2-13 nut welded to a flat washer. buying eyebolts would have been about $5.00 each, so I welded a lock washer to the head of a bolt to make my own.



Here's a shot of the four pontoons waiting for the nutplate mounts. I did glue a strip of pine on all the pointed ends to take the abuse of running up on shore, etc.



I glued (with gorilla glue) and used three screws to attach the nutplates to the inlay strip.



Twelve nutplate assemblies that will be glued in place soon. Wood end strip is visible on the pontoon behind the sawhorses.



Sam

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Thats sweet! Can't wait to see these finished!

[S. Heisley]

Wow, wow, wow! This is great! More power to ya!
Thanks for sharing! We look forward to seeing more!

[Shadow Catcher]

So now ya just gota fasten them together to float the tear
I have thought about it quite a bit but most of the water around here is in the form of streams and rivers and I just do not want to risk Lake Erie or Michigan.

[GPW]

Moose , that’s very COOL , and a Great find on that chunk of Free Foam !!!

Hint : I would paint over the foam with exterior Latex paint to help waterproof the pontoons ... Beadboard won’t sink but it will get slightly waterlogged after soaking a while ... Paint will stop that ... Bon Voyage !!!

[WMassHikers]

Desertmoose,
That's brilliant! How much weight can each support? Can't wait to see the finished product. Cheers!

[desertmoose]

After thinking about it, I decided to take the unfinished floats to the lake and try them out before I put all the work and expense into skinning them with ply and bedsheets.

I knocked out a quick and dirty deck for the prototype sea trials. No footrests or oarlocks yet... We'll take a kayak paddle and our waders with fins for kicking.



1/2 ply, a 2x4 to take the load, and as I had planned, one of the seats from my fishing boat.



I put a series of holes front and back of the centerline so I can shift the seat location to get the thing to float level, or close to it. Once I determine the best location, I'll be able to use it when I make the permanent decks.

Anticipated sea trial saturday morning, depending on weather, and if Kat gets over a cold.

Sam

[GPW]

Sam, it looks Great !!! Should float high in the water... that much foam would probably hold up an Elephant ... Should be really Stable too ...

Could you tell us more of your hot wire experience when you get a little time ... ?

[parnold]

Those are big enough you can mount a cooler, grill, and a sunbrella!

[Woodbutcher]

I kinda like yer thinkin.

That is a cool project. I think Paul is on to something. That could make a nice party boat while waiting for fish to bite!

[atahoekid]

Now that's how to go fishin... Where are you headed to?

[desertmoose]

Now that's how to go fishin... Where are you headed to?

Local lakes, mostly south of Carson. Indian Creek Reservoir, Spooner, Caples. Some times I get up 395 towards Frenchman's and Davis, Pyramid. Rarely I get up towards Boca, etc.

We tried to take the proto out for the sea trials on Saturday, but there was whitecaps on the lake. Didn't figure we'd learn much other that how wet we could get, so we went back home. Sunday, it was calm, so we went out again. Had to break ice to get out into water deep enough to float it.

Was well worth the trial. We have plenty of flotation, and it feels real stable. The one thing we didn't anticipate is that using the boat seat put us WAY too high up. Kicking with the fins was next to impossible. We need more than just our feet in the water to be able to control things. We took the seat off and sat on the deck, and it was fine. So, back to the drawing board to figure out a lower seat design.

Also found out that pushing it thru the ice chewed the heck out of the foam on the nose. We've decided that we'll live with the added weight of ply skinning just to protect the foam from the handling dents.





Sam

[wagondude]

If you build your deck with a drop well where the seat goes, you will get down lower. The other choice would be to just remove some foam from the hieght of your pontoons. It sure has nice trim in the water.

[GPW]

Moose , why not try a canvas/fabric skinning , like a canoe ? .... Save ya’ lots of Weight and trouble ... Won’t be fun to haul around when it weighs 100 lbs. , plus It sure floats Nice now .... Just painting it with a couple coats of exterior latex will harden it up a lot!!! I’d save the plywood to make a rudimentary transom for an ETM !!!

Darn, now I want one and am going back down the bayou for more foam blocks ...

[desertmoose]

I’ve been asked to describe the foam cutter I threw together, and talk about my experiences using it.

The foam cutter had to span over 3 feet, and reach over 3 feet to be able to cut the huge billet I had. I found a couple of old pool cues to use for the legs. I took a pine board about 3 inches wide and drilled a couple of oversize holes for the pool cues to fit into. A nail crosswise through the cue kept them from sliding in and out of the hole. I took a length of 12 gauge solid wire I had, drilled a hole through the end of the cue, poked the wire through, and formed a hook on the end of the wire. This gave me a place to wrap the cutting wire around for both mechanical holding, and electrical contact. The cutting wire is a length of .030 diameter copper plated steel wire from my mig welder. Other choices could have been nichrome, guitar strings, or stainless.



The rest of the 12 gauge solid ran up along the leg, thru the hole in the pine board, and along the board close to one side. I wrapped the wire around the board the give a place to hook the clips from the battery charger to.



Since the wire expands as it heats up, a spring is required to keep it tight. I used three bungie cords hooked to bent nails.



To cut the billet down, I placed a 2 x 12 plank against each side, and ran the cutting wire along the top of the plank as I pulled it down the 8 foot length. I should have got help for this. I couldn’t see where the wire was riding on both planks at the same time. Several times the wire not in sight lifted off the plank and gouged the foam above the intended cut line.
Something else I found out is the guide for the cutting wire needs to be smooth. I kept hanging up on rough areas on the edge of the planks. Any pause in cutting melted a big groove around the wire.

For the next set of cuts, I tried using ¼ inch ply strips pinned to the foam with 16d nails. Worked better than the plank, but every so often, the cut wire would burn into the ¼ ply and stop sliding along. Yet more grooves, just smaller ones.



I finally used aluminum tape along the edges of the ¼ ply guides to keep it smooth and prevent the cut wire from burning into the ply. This worked great. The final cuts using this approach were flawless.



Cut speed was determined by the amount of foam being cut. Just put a steady pressure on the bow and let the wire do its thing.
With the battered surface on the billet, and the grooves I made during the learning to cut period, I decided to skin the floats with ply. This has been real easy actually. Put the ply down, set the float on it, and trace along the edge. Use my Makita track saw, set the bevel angle to match the foam, and cut along the marked line. Gorilla glue and lots of weights to clamp it, and that panel is done. I’m cutting the ply a bit oversize and trimming after the glue dries with a hand rasp.



I'll round the edges along the corners before wrapping the bed sheets waterproofing.



Sam