Greetings and Salutations

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Rivergoer

Rivergoer

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Hello there, loooonnngg time South Lake Powell family here...well perhaps not as long as WG...but we definitely share the passion for this beautiful lake in God’s country.

After years of RV camping at Lone Rock to boat camping as far up as Hole In The Rock, it was time to get going on a houseboat. In 2006 we found our ‘project’...in Idaho. A 1980 12x36 Kayot for $4K. Cost almost that much more to have it hauled from Twin Falls, ID to Parker, AZ.

For the next 10 years, we chipped away at restoration. Had we known what we were in for we’d probably never started...BUT, how does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

So in May 2016, we hooked up the Ram and towed our finished (now ‘trailerable’) houseboat 380 miles from Parker, AZ to Lake Powell. Former Seven Crowns Resort rental boat #12 was formally re-christened “Yachtzee” and our new Lake Powell memories began. What a blast!

In the interest of brevity, a LOT of detail has been omitted here. If you are working on a project of your own and have questions, feel free to PM and hopefully we can share stories/tips.

Thanks to Wayne and all who’ve contributed to the wealth of knowledge herein. Looking forward to seeing y’all on the Lake!

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Welcome and now you have a new home you can come to at Lake Powell to fish and play any time you want. Thanks for sharing your story.
 
Funny you guys should bring up “finishing”

I distinctly recall a moment about a year into the project, laying on my back inspecting the port pontoon bottom and discovering hundreds of holes like Swiss cheese. And this, I had thought, was the GOOD pontoon. The starboard side had holes the size of my forearm.

Thoughts of never finishing started entering my mind. The realization this project was going to cost far more than the boat would ever be worth because it needed a complete re-skin on both sides, bow to stern.

But...in for a penny, in for a pound...we decided to press forward.

In the end, I can’t take full credit. If it wasn’t for some very good friends and acquaintances, this boat would have never come back to life.

After 3 seasons, the family agrees 100% it was worth every penny/pound.
 
Rivergoer said:
Funny you guys should bring up “finishing”

I distinctly recall a moment about a year into the project, laying on my back inspecting the port pontoon bottom and discovering hundreds of holes like Swiss cheese. And this, I had thought, was the GOOD pontoon. The starboard side had holes the size of my forearm.

Thoughts of never finishing started entering my mind. The realization this project was going to cost far more than the boat would ever be worth because it needed a complete re-skin on both sides, bow to stern.

But...in for a penny, in for a pound...we decided to press forward.

In the end, I can’t take full credit. If it wasn’t for some very good friends and acquaintances, this boat would have never come back to life.

After 3 seasons, the family agrees 100% it was worth every penny/pound.
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I restored a 1963 Ranchero and I bought it when I had just got out of the hospital and didn't see the real problems till I started to disassemble it.I Too looked at it for a moment as a total lost. As stated it's like eating the Elephant one bit at a time. Managed to finish the project in the next year and gave the car to my daughter. She drove it as a daily driver for 4 years and won many trophies at local car shows with it. Like yourself I did everything from making the sheetmetal , welding and the paint in my garage. Put a 5.0 with a 5 speed and Air-conditioning , disc brakes. I just seem to get consumed with the idea of being able to finish what I start, really helped when interviewing for a new job. Never kept track of the time or money because the results are PRICELESS. Once again Excellent Job on your houseboat.
 
Took 3 years to finish my 54 ford customline and was so happy to get rid of it. Kept messin with me. Now a houseboat on the other hand. What did you do about the pontoons? Patch ?
 
birdsnest said:
Took 3 years to finish my 54 ford customline and was so happy to get rid of it. Kept messin with me. Now a houseboat on the other hand. What did you do about the pontoons? Patch ?
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Pontoons...they were bad, very bad...no surprise as these nearly 40-year-old steel pontoons are famous for rusting from the inside out. This boat was originally from the Lake Mead Seven Crowns rental fleet and I found it retired near an airstrip in Twin Falls, Idaho. My guess is after retirement from the rental side, it spent a decade or more as a ‘dock queen’...a floating hotel room for weekenders.

Luckily the ‘Swiss cheese’ holes were at/below the waterline. There was one 2’ x 6” hole on top, inboard located under the kitchen sink (where years of dishwater had been draining directly onto the pontoon due to a broken drain pipe).

Since the plan was to put the boat on a gooseneck trailer and only launch for a week at a time (no long-term mooring or docking) it was decided reskinning the pontoons and welding steel patches over holes above the waterline would extend the life/usefulness of the boat.

Through a friend in the machine shop/fabrication business, we purchased eight 5’x10’ sheets of galvanized steel (forgot the gauge but it was slightly thicker than the original steel). Using a wooden template traced from the aft end of the pontoon, we had a profile to form the metal on a brake into the proper profile.

The pre-formed 10’ pieces weighed about 150 lbs, so using ratchet straps we raised the metal into place and my neighbor did all the welding...LOTS and LOTS of welding. At the seams, we made ‘doublers’ welded overlapping the seams by about 6” on each side. The new metal covered the entire bottom and about a foot up each side, well above all the badly corroded areas.

All welds/seams the entire length of the boat were grinded then caulked with Tremco Vulkem 116 Polyurethane sealant. After a week for caulk curing, the pontoons received a fresh coat of Carboline Bitumastic 300M Coal Tar Epoxy.

We have put about 150 hours on the boat over 3 seasons with no issues. We do keep both 12v and 110v electric pumps and plenty of hose aboard just for peace of mind.

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One of the larger holes can be seen to the right of the red ladder.

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Pre-formed galvanized steel

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birdsnest said:
wOw what alot of welding. Do the pontoons serve as holding tanks or fuel tanks? Thanx for sharing
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Well over 200 feet of welds, took a couple of weeks working around the weather (wind is your enemy).

With this particular design, the pontoons are solely for flotation. Fuel and holding tanks are separate.
 
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