Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

[bjennings79]

After selling my Hurricane last year, I've been searching for a pontoon project boat to fix up. Finally picked up this beauty today. It's an 89 Monark with Merc 60. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions as we go along. The plan is to completely strip the interior, give everything a good polishing, new furniture, sandblast and repaint the trailer, and whatever else comes up. Wish me luck! This is my first attempt at boat restoration.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

She is a little rough but a nice platform to start with, before you ask about the dented end cap I am going to tell you to leave it alone, there is really little you can do with it other than replace it which is going to cost you a bunch.

Overall she is in pretty good shape and should turn otu to be a nice boat when done.

Make sure you take notes when taking it apart, not uncommon to strip it down and forget how it goes back together.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Looks like a good project. I'm curious as to why the logs look dirty above the waterline?

 

[5150abf]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Probably on a lake with lots of waves and that is from the water sloshing up on the tubes for years.

 

[bjennings79]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.




Made a little progress today. Furniture was practically falling apart in my hands. Got all of it removed, along with the carpet. Plywood is in fair shape. There is one spot up front there the top layer of wood is peeling off, then a spot that is a little soft under where the flip flop seat was. They were using it as a bait well, which explains that.

5150, I guess that dent will have to stay. Ther are several spots in both pontoons that need some work, but I may just let them go. I've been digging through the forums for dent removal info, but I'm not sure if I want to get into all of that.

 

[Big Bubba]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

bjennings79,
That looks like a real nice project pontoon boat. You will have to post pictures of your progress as you guy like your doing now. It will turn out to be nice finished project. Are you getting new furniture for it?

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Yea thats a good looking boat. I belive it will serve you very well.

 

[bjennings79]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Seem to be having trouble finding marine plywood locally. Is there anything that can be done to regular treated plywood that will make it suitable for use as a new floor? The current floor is probably good for several more years, but I think I'll go ahead and replace it so I don't have to rip everything out in a few years. It does have a couple of slightly weak spots.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

People dont keep a lot of marine plywood on hand. You often have to drive a good distance to find it. As far as replacments just dont use pressure treated it eats aluminum I can honestly say when I replaced mine I went back with marine and I had to drive 300 miles. For me it is simply knowing its the right stuff.

 

[bjennings79]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

I think I'm going to give the advantech a try.

 

[Jeep Man]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Looks like a worthy project. Reminds me of my previous pontoon, an '88 Lavigne. Same color scheme and similiar condition.

 

[bjennings79]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Yes, new floor and furniture. Made a goot bit of progress this weekend. Railing is off and most of the floor is out. Had to chisel just about every screw out of the floor because of corrosion. Will try to post some pics tomorrow.

 

[bjennings79]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Finally got the console out after wrestling with it for about an hour. Just have two pedestal holders and two sheets of plywood left to remove. Also picked up 5 sheets of Advantech this afternoon. My intentions for the floor are to have a bedliner\rubberized type coating on both sides of the wood, and eventually make some custom fit snap in carpet. Any suggestions on what to coat the floors with would be great. I've seen some people suggest the white elastomeric roof coating, but has anyone actually used it? Failed to get any pics this evening, will try again tomorrow.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Did you happen to see the deck ideas in this thread?

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=550249

Fourth post.

PS. Looking forward to those pictures. Sounds like you made amazing progress.

 

[bjennings79]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Finally got some pics of my progress today. this evening I was able to get the last two sheets of flooring out, cut about two dozen splices out of the wiring harness, cleaned all the crap up that I had strown all over the yard, and did some organizing of the few parts I am going to keep.

I have a few questions.

What is the material the my bunks are made of? It looks like some sort of plastic or PVC. It's bowed badly and doesnt even support the tubes in most places, so I will replace it.

Is there a good source for stainless hardware? Mostly I need some elevator bolts to attach the new flooring. I saw some on pontoonstuff website, but not sure of the quality.

Is there anything that I need to know before I disconnect the steering cable from the engine? I've never worked on this before, so I just want to make sure before I do it.

One of the pics shows a patch job of jb weld and silicone that was once covered with aluminum tape. Once I find any other leaks, I'll take it to a welder and get them patched up. Any ideas on what the cost of patching the holes might be? I've never paid anyone to weld anything before.

Thanks for the links, EricJRW. I'll keep those in mind.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

I thought this thread was interesting about the cost of fixing a leak (leaks):

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=550229

And the welder is in Plano. Not exactly around the corner from Lufkin, but at least it will give you an idea on price.

PS. Maybe the bunks are that plastic Trex Deck stuff (very popular for docks and decks, I see similar products in Lowe's and Home Depot). It's expensive, so maybe carpeted wood is better?

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Normally bunks are carpeted 2 x 4`s, some use PT and others don't. I plan of finishing rebuilding my trailer this summer and using PT 2 X 4`s and wrapping them with a heavy plastic sheeting and carpet.

 

[EricJRW]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Normally bunks are carpeted 2 x 4`s, some use PT and others don't. I plan of finishing rebuilding my trailer this summer and using PT 2 X 4`s and wrapping them with a heavy plastic sheeting and carpet.

Aren't you worried the that the plastic will trap water? After all, you are going to drill holes in them. I guess the plastic would solve the PT interaction with metal, as long as you use stainless steel screws, but I think a decent grade lumber (carpeted) would work just fine... But then again, I don't even own a trailer.

 

[bjennings79]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Found a guy down the road who welds aluminum. He patched up all four welds where the bracked attaches to the rear of the pontoons. They were all leaking. I got some Aluminex at Academy a few weeks ago and decided to try it last night. Seems to work pretty well. I had to make several applications with a pressure wash between each. I've decided ( actually my wife decided for me) that I will swap the pontoons around so that the prety much dentless inside will be on the outside. The dents on the outside are much more apparant when the pontoons are clean. I'll hopefully be building an engine stand tonight. I was really wanting to avoid removing the engine, but I have no choice now.

 

[bjennings79]

Re: Meet the Sea Buzzard! 20' Monark project.

Made some more progress. Finished stripping the boat and trailer. Fresh paint on trailer. I ordered some stainless hardware to attach the new bunks to the trailer. Just need to pick up some carpet and stainless staples and hopefully will be able to get the bunks done and start reassembling this weekend. The pontoons cleaned up really well with a combination of AC coil cleaner and Aluminex. The Aluminex is far superior to the coil cleaner, but the coil cleaner is much cheaper. Made several applications of the coil cleaner with a power wash between each, followed by the Aluminex.