I can't believe I've stumbled upon these videos. I've been dreaming of converting an old pontoon boat into a houseboat. My friends think I'm nuts. I just gleaned a ton of ideas from this .Thanks
Please upload videos when you build it!! We'll watch them and a lot of other people will too. I'm sure we'll get ideas from you as well. Thanks for watching!
love what you have done with the project so far its really awesome . if you ever consider putting more solar panels on the roof a torqeedo electric outboard would be perfect to drive this houseboat and make it a truly green machine . you should really check out the torqeedo cruise 2.0 its plenty powerfull and almost completely silent . it would be such a natural fit but of course its a question of funds really . i am in the process of planning my own pontoon houseboat here in germany and i want to make it completely electric but only time will tell if it will pan out like i want it to . anyways wish you guys the best of luck and i look forward to see it finished and in the water . take care
+Crushonius I have been researching the Torqeedo for about 2 weeks. I would love to put a pair of them on the back of the boat. I watched a video recently about a man who installed 2 of them on a catamaran and it performed great. Funding would definitely prevent us from doing it right now. I hope you decide to video your pontoon project and post it on UA-cam. If you do, then you should video all of it, even going as far as to video prospective boats as you shop for them. People really want to see your experience because it helps them with their project. We would watch all of your videos and we appreciate when you watch ours :)
wow that is cool its funny how like minded people seem to just naturally gravitate to the same things . here i am telling you about torqeedo and you have allready researched it . hopefully one day you will have the funds needed to buy the torqeedos it would be such a perfect match to your boat . my project is like i said still in the planning phase but hopefully i will be able to start next year . however i will definitely video all of it and put it on youtube . until then i have at least your project to admire :) . i am subscribed and i watch your videos alot they give me inspiration . keep it up and get that beauty in the water i will stay in touch
Crushonius It's amazing how far technology has come since I've been alive. It's hard for me to imagine an electric boat motor that runs on batteries which are charged with solar panels...free electricity, quiet and clean.
+Nelson Machine It's good to be working on it again! I sure hope we make it to the lake in time. Winter's coming fast and there's still at least two weeks worth of work to do on it. Oh well, if not this Fall, then we'll get it in the water this Spring lol.
Hey guys, I wanted to pause the video right on the topic of that front white light you placed on the roof. I understand & it's a great idea to make yourself visible, but shouldn't you put your green & red navigation light up there? It would make it legal and those red/green navigation lights are even more visible from a great distance at night versus a white light. You can have the white anchor light on the rear side of the roof. This type of set-up will also show other boaters which way your boat is pointing, especially if your running at night, which is the whole point of red/green on the front of the craft and white as the anchor light in the rear. I know ya already have navigation lights on the front railing, but you wouldn't even need those if you mount a single red/green up on the front of that roof. That was a great idea and VERY visible from a great distance. But from a great distance in darkness, I know from my own boating experience that a tiny white light is hard to discern from a porch light of a house way off in the distance on shore. The red/green light would easily be recognized as a boat & will definitely be a safer alternative for the front up on that roof, plus it's legal of course. Some folks run wide open on the water at night, and they would spot that red/green right away and know your there on the water, instead of confusing a white light with a house farther away. Or you could keep your current navigation lights PLUS have the additional forward facing red/green up top too, for areas of high boat traffic at night. I understand the red/green is only required while running, but they sure let other boaters know your a boat and NOT a house farther away. Just sayin'.
+Howabouthetruth You're probably right. The only reason we didn't put the navigation lights on top is because we believe we will eventually have to replace the Coroplast on the roof. It's not much fun roofing the boat, so we left off as many lights and stuff as we could so that there would be less things to disconnect and reconnect when the time comes. What we did instead was to put two 360 degree lights on top, but in a place that is not on the Coroplast. We also wrapped two strings of lights around the boat close to the top for extra visibility.
I agree. No one is going to miss that brite white pontoon with all the other lights on it, and having 2 white lights on top may make things more confusing to other boaters. Otherwise, really enjoy all that you do....and wish my wife was as capable with thing like this.
Bret Becky Just buy the smallest tubes you can get. try different ones until you find the best one for your application. Silflex might be the most bang for your buck, but test it before buying large quantities.. Marine products are much better than home or RV products. If it's good enough for the North Atlantic or the Bering Sea, it will be great for you pontoon boat
Bret Becky The product you choose must not only have good adhesion properties, it must also be reasonably flexible. Give the mated surfaces a good cleaning with alcohol ( or acetone if it don't melt the plastic) to remove anything which may impede the product's ability to stick. KORITFW
I wish that we had weighed everything before we screwed it in place but we didn't so I can only guess that we added about 500 lbs. I'm going to run it through the scales at the local gravel pit, but I'll have to drop the boat in the water first, then go weigh the trailer, then weigh the boat and trailer together and do a little math to get the weight of the boat. It's more than just a curiosity, the law requires a placard that is displayed with the weight. Ugh
No, not at all. We've finished the boat, the heat wave that was keeping us indoors in the ac has passed, now we're just waiting on the weekend to hit the lake :)
I can't believe I've stumbled upon these videos. I've been dreaming of converting an old pontoon boat into a houseboat. My friends think I'm nuts. I just gleaned a ton of ideas from this .Thanks
Please upload videos when you build it!! We'll watch them and a lot of other people will too. I'm sure we'll get ideas from you as well. Thanks for watching!
AMAZING WORK YOU TWO!!!!!
+carol bellinger Thank you very much!!
love what you have done with the project so far its really awesome . if you ever consider putting more solar panels on the roof a torqeedo electric outboard would be perfect to drive this houseboat and make it a truly green machine . you should really check out the torqeedo cruise 2.0 its plenty powerfull and almost completely silent . it would be such a natural fit but of course its a question of funds really . i am in the process of planning my own pontoon houseboat here in germany and i want to make it completely electric but only time will tell if it will pan out like i want it to . anyways wish you guys the best of luck and i look forward to see it finished and in the water . take care
+Crushonius I have been researching the Torqeedo for about 2 weeks. I would love to put a pair of them on the back of the boat. I watched a video recently about a man who installed 2 of them on a catamaran and it performed great. Funding would definitely prevent us from doing it right now. I hope you decide to video your pontoon project and post it on UA-cam. If you do, then you should video all of it, even going as far as to video prospective boats as you shop for them. People really want to see your experience because it helps them with their project. We would watch all of your videos and we appreciate when you watch ours :)
wow that is cool its funny how like minded people seem to just naturally gravitate to the same things . here i am telling you about torqeedo and you have allready researched it . hopefully one day you will have the funds needed to buy the torqeedos it would be such a perfect match to your boat . my project is like i said still in the planning phase but hopefully i will be able to start next year . however i will definitely video all of it and put it on youtube . until then i have at least your project to admire :) . i am subscribed and i watch your videos alot they give me inspiration . keep it up and get that beauty in the water i will stay in touch
Crushonius It's amazing how far technology has come since I've been alive. It's hard for me to imagine an electric boat motor that runs on batteries which are charged with solar panels...free electricity, quiet and clean.
Good to see you working on the boat again. are you going to try it out on Norris soon?
+Nelson Machine It's good to be working on it again! I sure hope we make it to the lake in time. Winter's coming fast and there's still at least two weeks worth of work to do on it. Oh well, if not this Fall, then we'll get it in the water this Spring lol.
Hey guys, I wanted to pause the video right on the topic of that front white light you placed on the roof. I understand & it's a great idea to make yourself visible, but shouldn't you put your green & red navigation light up there? It would make it legal and those red/green navigation lights are even more visible from a great distance at night versus a white light. You can have the white anchor light on the rear side of the roof. This type of set-up will also show other boaters which way your boat is pointing, especially if your running at night, which is the whole point of red/green on the front of the craft and white as the anchor light in the rear. I know ya already have navigation lights on the front railing, but you wouldn't even need those if you mount a single red/green up on the front of that roof. That was a great idea and VERY visible from a great distance. But from a great distance in darkness, I know from my own boating experience that a tiny white light is hard to discern from a porch light of a house way off in the distance on shore. The red/green light would easily be recognized as a boat & will definitely be a safer alternative for the front up on that roof, plus it's legal of course. Some folks run wide open on the water at night, and they would spot that red/green right away and know your there on the water, instead of confusing a white light with a house farther away. Or you could keep your current navigation lights PLUS have the additional forward facing red/green up top too, for areas of high boat traffic at night. I understand the red/green is only required while running, but they sure let other boaters know your a boat and NOT a house farther away. Just sayin'.
+Howabouthetruth You're probably right. The only reason we didn't put the navigation lights on top is because we believe we will eventually have to replace the Coroplast on the roof. It's not much fun roofing the boat, so we left off as many lights and stuff as we could so that there would be less things to disconnect and reconnect when the time comes. What we did instead was to put two 360 degree lights on top, but in a place that is not on the Coroplast. We also wrapped two strings of lights around the boat close to the top for extra visibility.
I agree. No one is going to miss that brite white pontoon with all the other lights on it, and having 2 white lights on top may make things more confusing to other boaters. Otherwise, really enjoy all that you do....and wish my wife was as capable with thing like this.
If your using home or rv caulking on that plastic your always going to be resealing leaks. Use marine sealants, 3M 5200 4000 or Sikaflex
+Mazda rx7 Thanks!!! We didn't know that. The silicone caulking we applied to the roof if peeling off. I'll order some marine sealant today!
Bret Becky
Just buy the smallest tubes you can get. try different ones until you find the best one for your application. Silflex might be the most bang for your buck, but test it before buying large quantities.. Marine products are much better than home or RV products. If it's good enough for the North Atlantic or the Bering Sea, it will be great for you pontoon boat
Mazda rx7 Thanks again! Info like this is incredibly helpful. The caulking we applied originally only lasted about 6 months. :(
Bret Becky
The product you choose must not only have good adhesion properties, it must also be reasonably flexible. Give the mated surfaces a good cleaning with alcohol ( or acetone if it don't melt the plastic) to remove anything which may impede the product's ability to stick.
KORITFW
how much weight u reckon you've added ?
I wish that we had weighed everything before we screwed it in place but we didn't so I can only guess that we added about 500 lbs. I'm going to run it through the scales at the local gravel pit, but I'll have to drop the boat in the water first, then go weigh the trailer, then weigh the boat and trailer together and do a little math to get the weight of the boat. It's more than just a curiosity, the law requires a placard that is displayed with the weight. Ugh
hopefully you haven't given up on this project
No, not at all. We've finished the boat, the heat wave that was keeping us indoors in the ac has passed, now we're just waiting on the weekend to hit the lake :)
cool can't wait to see it
Sorry, I accidentally 'unliked' some of your videos. I don't know which ones, but I actually still like them, anyway. :)
+digitalarteest Well...as long as you still like them :P
They turn blue when you "like" them.
Does your wife have a single twin sister? lol
+Philip M Crow Sr I wish she did, because I would wed her too! lol Thanks for watching....Bret
LOL... I would to if I was you!