plywood vs plastic base furniture

[cicora]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice. I recently bought a used pontoon boat. It's a 2000 20ft Playtime 2122, with a 50hp Mercury engine. I got a good deal on it, but part of the reason is because the seating was in horrible shape. No big deal, as the wife is having fun redecorating her new room.

My question is, does anyone have an opinion on wood frame versus plastic frame furniture? I know that plastic won't rot, is lighter and is slightly more expensive. The boat will be on a private lake that is about 310 acres, if that matters. Thanks.

[HandymanHerb]

I'll go with the plastic, I had a brand new wood one on my 91 when I bought it and it went to hell quick and the furnture that came on the toon when it was made is still there.

[lakerunner]

Wood will be ok for about 10 years if you keep the weather off it. I have had both and would go with plastic.

[slingshot]

No brainer. Plastic. Costs a little more but well worth it. I'm not sure any pontoon manufacturers still use wood furniture.

[mike]

my plastic furniture is still holding up great after 10+ years

[dahogman]

Rotomolded seats are the way to go. Never rots or gets waterlogged.

[WaltF]

Mine are plastic....
Works for me!

[KenC]

For me, plastic is definitely the way to go. Even if your wood base doesn't rot, which most do over time, it will get heavier over time just from the moisture.

KenC
'97 SunTracker Fishin' Barge 21'
'97 Merc 90hp
NE Oklahoma

[FloterBoter]

replaced my furniture with plastic based furniture.
replaced my wood deck with extruded aluminum.
only way to go.

[VaGent]

replaced my furniture with plastic based furniture.
replaced my wood deck with extruded aluminum.
only way to go.

I have my new furniture on order & waiting for the carpet to arrive. What type & thickness aluminum sheeting did you use & how much did it cost? I've heard 4X8 aluminum sheets are pretty expensive but a lot better then the wood decking. I'll need 6 sheets to do mine if I decide to go that way. It all depends on how much money the wife will allow me to spend.

[cicora]

replaced my furniture with plastic based furniture.
replaced my wood deck with extruded aluminum.
only way to go.

I have my new furniture on order & waiting for the carpet to arrive. What type & thickness aluminum sheeting did you use & how much did it cost? I've heard 4X8 aluminum sheets are pretty expensive but a lot better then the wood decking. I'll need 6 sheets to do mine if I decide to go that way. It all depends on how much money the wife will allow me to spend.

Where did you order your furniture from? Right now I'm between pontoonstuff.com and Pontoonspecialists.com. Pontoonspecialists have a better price, but their shipping policies (requires you to offload furniture from the truck) seems more of a pain.

[FloterBoter]

This is the stuff I used. 6" wide, 2" tall, about 0.100" thick aluminum. A friend of mine had enough for me to do my whole deck for free. I priced some other stuff that was similar. It wasn't cheap. The other stuff had a more intricate keying together to block water intrusion. I lined every side channel with a bead of high quality silicone during deck installation. No problems so far. I went with vinyl flooring instead of carpeting and love it. No more worries about carpet stains, just hose off the vinyl. No more wood floor to rot, no more wood furniture bases to rot. The seat tops have wood in them, but my original all-wood seats lasted 30+ years, so I think I'm good for a lot more--I'll be dead by then.

[FloterBoter]

furniture from http://www.americansofttrim.com

vinyl flooring: MariDeck by DeckRite, bought through Overton's. had a great sale plus had a discount code to apply. ended up with a great price.