Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

ok as I start to plan my rebuild on my 77 playcraft over the next winter or the one after I have an idea. I want to build a cabin on the boat. just a small one that my wife and kids can get out of the sun and so we can stay out at night on it. I was thinking of a 10 or 12 foot long cabin. what is the best and lightest material to build it out of. my pontoon is a 24 foot. I plan on keeping the front open. any ideas? picture of similar projects would be awesome!

that thread is what gave me the idea. would wood or aluminum be better? I am trying to keep it light.

If I was going to be putting substantial time and money into a project, I think it'd be better to start with a boat that was newer than 35 years old.

I'd be looking for a 28' boat with 25" toons.

Your modified boat would be a better value than the older hull.

I wish I had the money to get a newer boat but I don't. I have thought about doing something like the sun tracker party cruisers just on a smaller scale.

I've followed many others as they have attempted to build and design their own houseboat. Almost exclusively they've always failed in the process, generally due to building in to much excessive weight. It can be done though but you will haft to proceed with caution throughout the entire process of your build. Maybe review this post Pontoon Houseboat Plans for maybe some information that may or could find helpful.

Some advise:

Use what Sun Tracker does for the party Cruisers, that being the only plywood is the cabin roof. Use all aluminum structural, and laminated foam composite board for the cabin sides.


Don't do what this guy did. It flipped over last year in a storm and his wife was trapped under it, but was pulled out in time:

badmoonrising wrote:Some advise:

Use what Sun Tracker does for the party Cruisers, that being the only plywood is the cabin roof. Use all aluminum structural, and laminated foam composite board for the cabin sides.


Don't do what this guy did. It flipped over last year in a storm and his wife was trapped under it, but was pulled out in time:

Holy crap!!! How was he able to keep that thing in the water????

Just a thought, bimini tops will keep you out of the sun. And if you are leaving the front open a tent could be used to spend the night on the water and easily removed to have more room.

evinrude2stroke wrote: Holy crap!!! How was he able to keep that thing in the water????

That thing is so heavy the logs were almost submerged. Our marina didn't want him in a slip there at first. He went to another marina and one day last year he took it out in windy conditions and it flipped.

His marina uprighted it and thye were back out on it 2 weeks later.

Original it was a house boat with aluminum cabin...then he added all that heavy wood

Haven't been out yet this year so I don't know if he's still on the river with it.

Heatman wrote:Just a thought, bimini tops will keep you out of the sun. And if you are leaving the front open a tent could be used to spend the night on the water and easily removed to have more room.

now that is an idea and it will keep with the redneck theme I am going with.

There are quick-deploying tents for pickup beds--I wonder if one could be adapted?
Do you currently have a canopy? An old-style aluminum one would be well suited to designing an enclosure to fit.

Bamaman wrote:If I was going to be putting substantial time and money into a project, I think it'd be better to start with a boat that was newer than 35 years old.

I'd be looking for a 28' boat with 25" toons.

Your modified boat would be a better value than the older hull.

Below the deck pontoon boats haven't changed much in 35 years. It would be a shame to discard all that expensive furniture on a new boat. IMO the final value of such a project will be less than what's invested--so start cheap.

I can tell that the boat originally had a hard top on it but at this point it only has a bimini top on it now. I have thought about just doing a top them use plastic side to enclose. anyway I go it will be light.