Second Chance — Completed

Pontoon Rebuild

Pontoon boat

A 24-foot family pontoon bought for $3,000 with the engine and trailer included. It was stripped to the tubes and rebuilt over eighteen months — new deck, new woven vinyl floor, new furniture, a reworked electrical system with a separate lithium house bank, and a power bimini. Most of it happened a weekend at a time, with the kids helping.

A finished build, written up after the fact. The earlier projects on this site are reconstructed from records, photographs and memory rather than logged as the work happened — Project Tremor is the first being documented part by part, in real time.

Why it was bought

This wasn't a random salvage find — it was a father-in-law's boat, headed toward being sold as life circumstances changed. It was bought for a few thousand dollars rather than watch it go to someone else; the kids already knew it as Nanny and Pop's boat, and that was worth more than the asking price.

What it needed

It wasn't stripped and it wasn't in wonderful condition, but it didn't need to be. The rebuild was about a new deck, an electrical system upgrade, and getting the engine caught up on deferred maintenance. The whole project stretched over about a year in calendar time, but amounted to only a couple of months of actual work — fit in around a large family's schedule and, where possible, with the kids helping.

Where the parts came from

Nearly everything structural and soft came from PontoonStuff — nine orders between January 2024 and June 2025. Their clearance section carries furniture with small blemishes or cuts, which is where four of the lean-back seats came from, and shipping was the best part of dealing with them: free FedEx over $100, usually a few days door to door. The videos that actually helped were Tom's Toons, who restores pontoons full time in Michigan. Worth saying plainly: he is a PontoonStuff affiliate. It doesn't make the videos less useful, but you should know it.

Gallery

Additional photos

Scroll the row, or click any photo to enlarge it.

Notable components

Deck

PontoonStuff

Fully replaced. Six sheets of 8 ft CCA-treated marine-grade plywood with 3 in pontoon deck bolts.

$824.34

Woven vinyl flooring

DeckMate

Tan woven vinyl, 24 ft by 8 ft 6 in, with 2 in Xylan-coated self-tapping deck screws.

$1,145.99

Seating — corners, benches and captain's chair

PontoonStuff

Tan and beige throughout: a reclining captain's chair on an 11 in pedestal with seat slider, three 28 in corner seats, a 55 in bench, two 38 in benches and a 28 in bench.

$4,184.91

Lean-back seats — clearance

PontoonStuff

Four lean-back seats bought from the clearance section, where furniture carries small blemishes or cuts. Ordered across four separate orders as they appeared. Some of the marks do show once installed — they are minor, and on a boat that gets used they will be joined by ordinary wear soon enough. At this saving, worth it.

$1,283.96

Console

PontoonStuff

Luxury Deluxe console in beige with the premium gauge and switch package.

$557.99

Fence frame

Original, kept. The structure was still sound, so it was stripped and powder-coated rather than thrown out with the panels it was holding.

Fence paneling

PontoonStuff

New. Five panels of 18 in black metallic paneling, plus the bolt kit. The old skin was past saving even though the frame behind it was not.

$574.94

Wiring harness

DeckMate

24 ft pontoon harness, fitted during the electrical rework.

$149.99

Under-seat lighting

PontoonStuff

Cut to each seat length — corner, lean-back, and 28, 38 and 55 in bench runs.

$122.89

Power bimini

SureShade

Black anodized frame, black fabric. Bought on eBay rather than new. The one part of this boat that gets remarked on every time out.

$1,198.40

AGM cranking battery

Starting duty, kept separate from the house bank.

≈ $360.00

Lithium house bank

House loads, with a DC-DC charger providing an emergency path from lithium back to the AGM.

≈ $280.00

DC-DC charger

≈ $205.00

Battery monitor

Victron

≈ $160.00

Fish finder

Added during the electrical rework.

≈ $377.00

Livewell bench

DeckMate

38 in complete drop-in kit.

$154.99

Engine

Came with the boat, along with the trailer. No major repair needed — fluids, propeller, and deferred maintenance caught up.

$11,580.40logged for components listed above — figures marked ≈ are from memory, not receipts

Financial summary

Boat purchase: $3,000
PontoonStuff: $9,667.94
Power bimini: $1,198.40
Power and electronics: $1,462
All-in: $15,328.34

The build came to $12,328.34 on top of a $3,000 boat. Most of that is one supplier: nine PontoonStuff orders totalling $9,667.94, spread across eighteen months. The shape of the spending tells the story better than the total does — a single $5,950 order in February 2024 when the boat was stripped to the tubes, then a long tail of small orders as things came up. The last one, in June 2025, was a dehumidifier bucket and a motor flusher. PontoonStuff and the bimini are receipted to the cent. The electrical figures are from memory and are marked as such.

Lessons learned

Not everything needs replacing, and the unit worth judging is often smaller than the part. The fence looked finished, but only its skin was — the frame underneath was sound, so it was powder-coated and kept while the paneling was replaced. Judging the whole fence either way would have meant throwing away good steel or living with bad panels.
PontoonStuff's clearance section — furniture with small cosmetic blemishes or cuts — was one of the best sourcing experiences of any project on this site. The marks are visible if you look for them. That was the right trade.
A family project doesn't have to happen all at once. A year of calendar time and a couple months of actual work is a realistic pace with kids and a full schedule.