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The Coon Toon Project (pic heavy)

I was looking at the polished pontoons as well. Can you describe the process you used to achieve this?

Sunset Marine said:
The polished pontoons look amazing, enjoy your new boat!!!
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Maynard G. Krebs said:
Good point, I've been wondering if the trailer could have been too deep, I'll have to go back and try winching up from a more shallow position. Another variable is the ramps at the lake are all different angles, in the pictures I'm on ramp 2 but yesterday they closed it off and opened the third ramp. I haven't used that one in years but as I remember it's more flat.

I need to come up with a fix for all three ramps, I don't want to do something embarrassing like lowering the bump stops and then end up with the rub rail hooked over the top of them.
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The only way you might end up higher is if a wave came in and lifted the boat. When the boat is almost touching the stops, It would act like the "pivot" point and would change minimally with even a 3 foot rise to rear of toon. I would just back in less and winch further ..... :D
 
Jeffrond said:
I was looking at the polished pontoons as well. Can you describe the process you used to achieve this?
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It's a lot of work...and once you start you have to complete the project.

The worst areas were first wet-sanded by hand with 600 grit, then everything was wet-sanded with 1500, followed by 2000. They had a low shine at that point and anything that looked a little rough got polished with Mothers Mag & Aluminum polish. The Mothers cuts pretty well and smooths the surface up nicely. I tried getting the high shine with Gord's applied by hand but it's nearly impossible. Then I tried my 10" random orbital car buffer but that didn't work either. Finally bought a Makita 9227C and that was the ticket, used it the way Gord does on his website video. The tight areas where the buffer couldn't reach were done by hand with a mix of Mothers and Gords.
 
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Maynard, had the same problem with mine, the trailer part. I only pull mine out once a year and back in the spring.

My solution, and it may be too much trouble for someone who has to trailer alot. Knowing mine will be 6" back, I moved the whole ladder and stop assembly forward 6" to load and when I get it to level ground, I slide it back. Not to bad for one haul but every week would get old. Steve
 
Maynard G. Krebs said:
It's a lot of work...and once you start you have to complete the project.

The worst areas were first wet-sanded by hand with 600 grit, then everything was wet-sanded with 1500, followed by 2000. They had a low shine at that point and anything that looked a little rough got polished with Mothers Mag & Aluminum polish. The Mothers cuts pretty well and smooths the surface up nicely. I tried getting the high shine with Gord's applied by hand but it's nearly impossible. Then I tried my 10" random orbital car buffer but that didn't work either. Finally bought a Makita 9227C and that was the ticket, used it the way Gord does on his website video. The tight areas where the buffer couldn't reach were done by hand with a mix of Mothers and Gords.
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From the pics it looks like you polished the inboard side of the toons as well. That takes some real dedication.
 
lakebum said:
Maynard, had the same problem with mine, the trailer part. I only pull mine out once a year and back in the spring.

My solution, and it may be too much trouble for someone who has to trailer alot. Knowing mine will be 6" back, I moved the whole ladder and stop assembly forward 6" to load and when I get it to level ground, I slide it back. Not to bad for one haul but every week would get old. Steve
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Clever Steve. Until you wrote that I hadn't realized the ladder wasn't a welded part of the trailer. The weather around here is boatable year-round and I'm only ten minutes from the lake so moving the ladder a couple of times each week would indeed get old.

I walked down and looked at the newly opened third ramp this morning and it's really flat compared to the second one, so that solves the need for a quick fix anyways. The lake is down about 25-30 feet and we're going to need a lot of rain to make a difference.
 
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Added an important item to the Coon Toon this week. Found a brand-new-in-the-box Weber Q 120 on Craigslist for $120.

IMG_0188_zps1dadcee4.jpg


Cheap and simple mounting system. I took a cutting board from the kitchen and trimmed it to fit the opening for the livewell. Four bolts hold the Q to the cutting board. It's stable as can be and to remove I just grab the handles on the Weber and the whole thing lifts out.

IMG_0192_zps510bb1c5.jpg
 
Very nice!
 
I love the Weber Q. Been wanting one myself, but the goofy legs don't lend well to rail mounting on a pontoon boat. But, your mounting this to a cutting board got me thinking...

If the cutting board was longer, and extended back behind the grill say a foot or so (wouldn't have to be that much), one could put a rod (PVC or metal) through two of the lifting eyes on the bow-end of two pontoons (on a tri-toon boat), then you'd set the grill on the rod, with the weight of the grill forward of the rod, and the extended end of the cutting board fitting under the rub rail, cantilevering the grill out over the rod that's between the eyes. Hope you can envision what I'm saying. You'd have to be beached to use the grill as it would face outward, but you could just as easily face it inward and then sit on the bow next to it and grill while anchored. This way you wouldn't have to mount a post on the boat, or scratch up the rails with a bracket, and it would all come apart simply for storage without the use of tools.

So, my question is, where did you put the bolts through the legs? I don't see them in the picture. I had discounted getting a Q because the shape of the legs doesn't lend them to easy mounting to anything really, but since you've managed to do this, I'm curious how you did it.

A close-up pic would be great, but a simple explanation works too!

Thanks!
 
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One other question - How high is the Q with the lid closed? I've seen dimensions online, but the ~24 inches tall dimension has to be with the lid open. I don't recall them being that big when I've looked at them in person, but it's been a while.

Just curious if the grill would fit under my lounger.
 
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I placed them in this location because the feet are flat there and it's next to the vertical brace which is the strongest place. Hardware is 1/4-20 screws and nylon locking nuts. The heads were countersunk on the bottom so they don't catch on the carpet. I needed to have this sit exactly in the right spot on the board so the holes in the bbq legs were drilled first, then I placed the Q where I wanted it. A broken toothpick was then dipped in flour and pushed down into the holes. Lifted off the Weber and I had four perfect white marks on the black board.

The Q 120 sits at 15" high with the lid down. Surprisingly, my larger Q 220 I keep on the patio is only 1/2" taller but has way more cooking area. If your going to be cooking for more than four at a time I would get the bigger Q if you have the storage space.
 
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Thanks for posting that pic. My recollection was the legs came to a sharper point at the tip, which would have been difficult to mount. But I see from your pic there is a decent sized flat spot at the end of the leg to put a bolt through.

Never used flour to mark a hole! I'll tuck that one away in the back of my head for future use.

Also, thanks for the tip on the 220 being only 1/2 inch taller than the 120. I will have to consider that model when I get around to buying one. I think my lounger only has 14 inches of headroom, so sounds like the grill would have to go under the helm.
 
Had to post a pic of this little fighter. It took me 30 minutes to catch him, he spit the hook 3 times and broke off twice before I got him onboard. After removing three hooks and a quick photo op he was released in good health.

 
Very nice! The project came along great!
 
kaydano said:
I love the Weber Q. Been wanting one myself, but the goofy legs don't lend well to rail mounting on a pontoon boat. But, your mounting this to a cutting board got me thinking...

If the cutting board was longer, and extended back behind the grill say a foot or so (wouldn't have to be that much), one could put a rod (PVC or metal) through two of the lifting eyes on the bow-end of two pontoons (on a tri-toon boat), then you'd set the grill on the rod, with the weight of the grill forward of the rod, and the extended end of the cutting board fitting under the rub rail, cantilevering the grill out over the rod that's between the eyes. Hope you can envision what I'm saying. You'd have to be beached to use the grill as it would face outward, but you could just as easily face it inward and then sit on the bow next to it and grill while anchored. This way you wouldn't have to mount a post on the boat, or scratch up the rails with a bracket, and it would all come apart simply for storage without the use of tools.

So, my question is, where did you put the bolts through the legs? I don't see them in the picture. I had discounted getting a Q because the shape of the legs doesn't lend them to easy mounting to anything really, but since you've managed to do this, I'm curious how you did it.

A close-up pic would be great, but a simple explanation works too!

Thanks!
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Here is another option .Here is the mount .http://www.amazon.com/Grill-mount-bracket-set-Pontoon/dp/B006707CP8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367251507&sr=8-1&keywords=pontoon+grill+mount

Here is the grill .http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-PerfectFlow-Propane-Camp-Grill/dp/B002M47P64/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1367251477&sr=8-4&keywords=pontoon+grill+mount
 
Time to get caught up with a few mods I've done.

Someone mentioned in another thread about putting screen material on the overflow tube to keep small bait fish from escaping. I got a bag of wiffle balls for a few bucks and drilled a 1" hole in them. Works perfect.



Installed a new head unit and amp. Both from Craigslist, the head unit was new in the box and the amp was used. $125 for both.





The F85 fishfinder worked but pales in comparison to what's available these days.



So I installed Garmin's 551dv

 
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Really glad I used screws instead of rivets on the wave shield, it made running the transducer cable so much easier.

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Very impressed with the color and resolution of the 551. I'm using a split screen, dv for structure detail and 77kHz for fish arches.

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Note the arches indicating fish to the left of the bump on the 77kHz screen. They show up on the downview screen but not well enough to take a picture of them.

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Wow! You've been busy Maynard! Thanks for the updates. That fish finder looks good, I wouldn't mind having that down vu imaging or whatever they call it to see real looking shapes on the bottom. 
 
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