Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Just stopping in to say hello and introduce myself. My name is Mike, and I'm in the Hall County, Georgia area. Our local lake is Lake Lanier and I'm in the process of getting our old 1976 24' Harris Flote-Bote back on the water. It's been in my family since it was new, and has been out of the water for 2 years, but sat neglected in the water (as well as on the silt bottom during the droughts) for years before that. It's in rough shape, but I'm going to do my best to get it back out there if for nothing else than to be a redneck party wagon!

welcome Mike! We love pics!! Your's is 20 years older than mine!

welcome from another classic owner

My Starcraft is an 1985 model, and I bought it 6 months old--27 years' of good service without a scratch or dent on the toons.

Welcome to the forum from Missouri!
If you're going to restore it you might want to look at the Rebuild & Restoration section. Could be lots of good ideas there, as well as money saving tips.

Welcome to the group, we do like are pic here so when you can

Hey you can make it new again, we are working on my 91 Grumman that was in need of new furniture but then we got the chance to replace every new from the deck up, it's a little bit of work but it worth it when you get done, look in the pontoon rebuild section a few of us are in process or have rebuild ours already, and any questions just ask, or and we get a 10 percent discount from Pontoon Stuff on parts for the boat.

Here the link for the rebuild section

viewforum.php?f=16

Unfortunately we don't have the funds for a full-on restoration right now, so I'm going with the "That's good enough" plan just to get the old girl back on the water. I'm seeing a few lawn chairs and a canvas tarp for a top for the foreseeable future I'm doing all of the "free or cheap" things right now. The pontoons are in pretty rough shape visually, but surprisingly they only have a couple of small dings in them. Pretty good considering the neglect it's been subjected to over its' life span with my dad. That's not to say he just didn't care, because he did; it's just that it wasn't unusual for him to work 45 days straight, 12 hours a day, and work was a little over an hour away. So you can see how some things could get pushed to the side.

My Uncle David bought it brand new, and took good care of it, then sold it to my dad sometime around 1982. Funny but true story: when the boat was being delivered to the dealership he bought it from, it somehow dropped off the trailer going down the expressway, so it's amazing that it ever made it onto the water in the first place.

So my dad has owned it since that time, but it has been at least 3 years since it has moved on water under its own power, so he gave it to me. I just had to help him swap the motor off between another pontoon he bought. It started life with a Chrysler 45 HP, and my dad never changed the water pump. Ever. Needless to say it blew up on him one night heading home from one of his juke-joints on the lake. He replaced it with a Mecury Black Max 150 HP six cylinder. Way too much for my tastes. I never rode on it in that configuration, but my older sister did and she claimed it to be a hair raising experience. It now has a Johnson 115 HP V4. I'm thinking that will be a little better suited for it, if not just a little overboard.

OK, so on with a picture of what I'm working with. I must be to even be fooling with this thing, and if it hadn't been for the sentiment of it, it would've been sold off long ago!

When we got it to my house:


After a couple rounds of Toon-Brite:



And what I did after work today:

that is a good start. I am starting to think that a lot of the older pontoons are center consoles.

Welcome! & keep us posted with updates!

We had one guy who used coolers to sit on and had cushions tied on the rails behind them, I used the pool furnture for a while, at long as you can use it is all that counts

If I remember correctly, the original position of the console was in the normal starboard side location. My dad replaced the deck & carpet sometime in the early 90's and decided he wanted it there instead. I'll be moving it back to the original spot, and I'm also thinking of moving all of the railing forward 24".

Definitely a good start, look forward to future progress...

Welcome and there are plenty of guys here that can help with the rebuild

Welcome aboard!!!....lots of useful info here....I've used alot.....