Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

BABY STEPS! Frickin FINALLY

No vroom until Friday. As the temp drops in my unheated shed. Wrenches will cool off and turn blue and miserable. Snow forecast. Perfect evening to touch 'er off
Hopefully it all ends something like this

im not sure how fast your tune is gonna be. But are you worried at all about how much wind your "shack" can take?

pond tuuunes wrote:im not sure how fast your tune is gonna be. But are you worried at all about how much wind your "shack" can take?

I had that same thought.......

pond tuuunes wrote:im not sure how fast your tune is gonna be. But are you worried at all about how much wind your "shack" can take?

The thought crossed my mind. It was originally built by the old woodsman Al quite sturdily although lightweight. I have continued to upgrade since. Single lengths of conduit bent from floor to ceiling to floor all in one swoop. Steel angle at top and bottom of walls to weld it all together. A combination of vertical 2x4s and 2x2s at the corners. 1/4" plywood with u clamps bolting it to the conduit in quite a few places stiffens it up greatly. I also tied into the rails for further strength front to back. The roof is generally built in the same way with the front edge especially beefed/sandwiched to take the blast.
When I did all that a year ago, I wasn't so much concerned about lake wind (although its been through 60mph plus wind at the dock). I expect top speed to be somewhere near 50ish. Rather, the risk is on the highway when I am doing 50 and I meet a pulp truck coming the other way at 70. On the trailer, the dang roof is about 4 feet above the truck. Kinda scary the first time. I have tested it up to 70 behind my truck with oncoming traffic and it just keeps taking it year after year.
I LOVE IT!
It rattles, it bends, it creaks when I sleep. The beauty of wood with a thousand stainless screws. A little give makes it very forgiving. The wind leaks thru just enough for fresh air but still bugproof. And heated just enough. I sleep like a baby on it, and no drunk driving.

Thats good, you should have a great toon. Im guessing 45 to 50 mph, as its going to be fighting alot of wind drag. But still a respectable speed. JT

Having a **ck of a time doing the alignment. No room to swing wrench.
Those of you that have never had the pleasure/pain of using a crowfoot, be thankful.

Actually had to remove engine to do rough alignment. Then crowfoot one stinkin face at a time. Tell me again why I bought an I/O?
At any rate, I got'r done and....vroom frickin vroom....finally

Engine is now winterized and I am movin' on

OMG, sounds awful. I will come up and haul it away. . You need to put more prop on there...

Vrooom, vrooooooooom indeed! Great progress! Congratulations on the big steps taken so far. It is a lot of fun watching this project move forward so thanks for sharing the pictures. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but this has been easy. I have not even broken a sweat on this whole project!

ronb wrote:OMG, sounds awful. I will come up and haul it away. .

Let me trash it on a reef at high speed in the wee hours first. Then you can have it.

You need to put more prop on there...

Did it ever occur to you that you were looking at a jet drive?

woolznaz wrote: I don't know about the rest of you guys, but this has been easy. I have not even broken a sweat on this whole project!

It is comforting to know that you are not overexerting. I won't be breaking much of a sweat myself from here on out. We've already had several light snows. Running heavy wire feeds with my paks on...with fingers blue and stiff.

So somewhere earlier in this thread I think, I was bragging up my RoundTop Plastic shelter for Al and how it had lasted four whole winters?
Wellll, you guessed it. I jinxed myself and that sucker tore most of the way off about a week later in a high wind.
I contacted Shelter Logic about a replacement cover (12' x 24' footprint). They would do it for about 300 dollars. They also had a custom cover maker nearby that used much heavier fabric. I decided to try the good stuff and paid about $900 for fabric that was about 3 times as heavy. It also came with a ten year declining warranty.
Today was the perfect late fall day to install it. 55 degrees in the sunshine and not a lick of wind which is critical on a sail that big. As the main tarp weighs in at about a hundred pounds alone, it was recommended to use Pam on all the pipes as I slid the thing on and adjusted its fit. Worked like a charm, although things got a little hairy with overspray on the ladder rungs As the old boat barely fit and the new one is 6" wider and a couple taller, I'll probably have to spray a little Pam on IT to slide it in there. Maybe use a shoehorn as well. It's for sure gonna stick out the front a few feet also.
Got 'er done. I like the white better than the gray that I had.
Note the new scaffold that I put in so that I can easily brush off snow from the outside.

The logs are lathe turned and will be used as rollers when I move the wheelhouse shack over. They have already done duty as forms for bending the underskin. They will be used a third time as part of a tall outdoor hoist point. That way I can still pull engine if needed, as I will no longer be able to fit the boat in pole shed.

woolznaz wrote:Vrooom, vrooooooooom indeed! Great progress! Congratulations on the big steps taken so far. It is a lot of fun watching this project move forward so thanks for sharing the pictures. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but this has been easy. I have not even broken a sweat on this whole project!

I know what you mean, I haven't even scraped a knuckle!

Just Laxin wrote:

woolznaz wrote:Vrooom, vrooooooooom indeed! Great progress! Congratulations on the big steps taken so far. It is a lot of fun watching this project move forward so thanks for sharing the pictures. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but this has been easy. I have not even broken a sweat on this whole project!

I know what you mean, I haven't even scraped a knuckle!

Yea, he makes this sound like a big project..... seems easy to me from here. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks so. In fact, I cannot wait to see what we do next!

Tuned, obviously we are just kidding and are really enjoying your project. Great work, and good luck the rest of the way!

tuned wrote: As the main tarp weighs in at about a hundred pounds alone, it was recommended to use Pam ..... Worked like a charm]

She's quite the trooper, I guess. It was nice of them to recommend her and I'm impressed they knew she would be willing to help.

Nice work on the new shed.

woolznaz wrote:

tuned wrote: As the main tarp weighs in at about a hundred pounds alone, it was recommended to use Pam ..... Worked like a charm]

She's quite the trooper, I guess. It was nice of them to recommend her and I'm impressed they knew she would be willing to help.

Not only willing to help, but supplied the right amount of lubricant. Only problem is she got it all over my old plow truck (which I was carefully using as a ladder extender). Although I had to clean the windshield so I didn't make 'muddy oil', the body will probably never get washed. I figure it is now doing double duty as rust preventative