1985 Harris Flote-Bote rebuild
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 9:57 am
This is a thread in regard to my family's 1985 Harris Flote-Bote 240 Heritage O.B.
(my husband and I also own a '92 20' playbuoy)
We bought the boat in 2010. We really liked the boat because
a) it has a full enclosure with canvas, which is nice
b) it has a vintage look, but not too cheezy
c) It has a 17 person capacity! (which is great for when you have a bunch of kids)
Over the years we have done the following to it:
- Replaced the transom board
- Replaced the steering cables and box
- Installed a new bluetooth radio and speakers (not new wires)
- Installed a fuse block and housing with new wiring
- It originally had a 40hp 2-stoke, then we got a used johnson 88spl (which gave us a ton of problems), so in 2013 we splurged and got a brand new 90hp yamaha 4-stroke and new controls installed at a local marina (Deep Creek lake, md)
We have kept it inside in the winters, but, time has finally caught up to the original boat seats and carpeting.
We decided to take on a restoration of the boat as a family. After much discussion and figuring out a budget, this past weekend was the start of the project with the disassembly (pix attached)
What we decided upon to do is:
- We have brand new 3/4" marine grade plywood
- We have marideck "teak" vinyl flooring ordered
- We have the stainless fence bolts, fence risers, deck screws, seam tape and flooring glue ordered from pontoonstuff
- We have all brand new seating ordered (premium seats from pontoonstuff)
- We have new corner caps ordered (they were pretty beat up)
- We have underdeck and underseat lights ordered
We are not replacing the helm, it is still in good shape, and should come pretty close to matching the old seats, plus it will still give our boat somewhat of a "vintage" look since there was some actual wood in the helm.
Fortunately, my husband and I have a big garage building that we can work on this in. We had a lot of help for the disassembly and we hope that things work out and we continue to get a lot of help for the assembly. The flooring is supposed to ship today or tomorrow, so we could possibly start working on the rebuild this weekend. (we already have the plywood)
I was thinking of polishing the actual pontoons before we start back on the build. And I need to replace the speaker wire and we need to inspect the lighting wiring to see if anything needs replaced on that.
If anyone has any tips, or suggestions, let me know.
(my husband and I also own a '92 20' playbuoy)
We bought the boat in 2010. We really liked the boat because
a) it has a full enclosure with canvas, which is nice
b) it has a vintage look, but not too cheezy
c) It has a 17 person capacity! (which is great for when you have a bunch of kids)
Over the years we have done the following to it:
- Replaced the transom board
- Replaced the steering cables and box
- Installed a new bluetooth radio and speakers (not new wires)
- Installed a fuse block and housing with new wiring
- It originally had a 40hp 2-stoke, then we got a used johnson 88spl (which gave us a ton of problems), so in 2013 we splurged and got a brand new 90hp yamaha 4-stroke and new controls installed at a local marina (Deep Creek lake, md)
We have kept it inside in the winters, but, time has finally caught up to the original boat seats and carpeting.
We decided to take on a restoration of the boat as a family. After much discussion and figuring out a budget, this past weekend was the start of the project with the disassembly (pix attached)
What we decided upon to do is:
- We have brand new 3/4" marine grade plywood
- We have marideck "teak" vinyl flooring ordered
- We have the stainless fence bolts, fence risers, deck screws, seam tape and flooring glue ordered from pontoonstuff
- We have all brand new seating ordered (premium seats from pontoonstuff)
- We have new corner caps ordered (they were pretty beat up)
- We have underdeck and underseat lights ordered
We are not replacing the helm, it is still in good shape, and should come pretty close to matching the old seats, plus it will still give our boat somewhat of a "vintage" look since there was some actual wood in the helm.
Fortunately, my husband and I have a big garage building that we can work on this in. We had a lot of help for the disassembly and we hope that things work out and we continue to get a lot of help for the assembly. The flooring is supposed to ship today or tomorrow, so we could possibly start working on the rebuild this weekend. (we already have the plywood)
I was thinking of polishing the actual pontoons before we start back on the build. And I need to replace the speaker wire and we need to inspect the lighting wiring to see if anything needs replaced on that.
If anyone has any tips, or suggestions, let me know.