Pontoons/Platform
If your plans would be to convert your existing pontoon boat, the manufacturers rated "people capacity" of the original pontoon boat configuration would be the starting point in calculating the new capacity of the houseboat. For example, our inital prototype boat started life as a 24 ft Voyager pontoon with a rated capacity of 1,800 pounds or 12 people. We removed 600 pounds of furniture, carpet, railings and accessories and replaced that with 1200 pounds of cabin structure, interior components, systems and railings. This resulted in a new capacity of 1,200 pounds (1,800-600) or 8 people, per the original manufacturers rated capacity of the pontoons. It's noted that these capacities are based on the pontoons being 50% immersed in the water.
A primary consideration as to flotation capacity is the diameter of the pontoon. As an example, a pair of 25 ft long pontoons at 24 inch diameter will support 4,523 pounds (50% immersed) whereas the same tubes at 27 inch diameter will support 5,726 pounds. If your project boat has smaller-diameter pontoons, adding a third center tube during the initial build stage will provide substantial added payload capacity.
Sources of Pontoons (if you don’t already have one)
Ideally, you would want a used boat with clean undamaged tubes and structure, a good solid outboard and road-worthy trailer. Crappy sun-shredded furniture would be an added bonus in this regard (grin). If you don’t find one locally, you can join the Facebook group “Used Pontoon Boats Under $10,000”. It’s a private group with 133K members. You’ll find lots of ideal project boats.
If you want to "start-from-scratch" and assemble the pontoon platform from the ground up, we suggest that you contact Chicago Pontoon Parts. They carry a wide selection of new factory-surplus pontoon tubes and structural components. See them online at: www.chicagopontoonparts.com
Additionally, there is a limited number of pontoon fabricators who build new tubes for custom orders.
American Pontoon, Manning SC usapontoon.com
U-Fab Boats, Smith Falls, Ontario Canada u-fabboats.com
Technikal, Grand-Mère, Québec Canada technical.ca
Deck Material
Unlike an open pontoon boat where the above-deck components are relatively easy to remove, the removal of a houseboat cabin to re-deck the boat is less than practical. Keep that in mind as it relates to deck material.
CCA Treaded Marine Plywood seems to be the industry standard for pontoon boats. While many/most manufacturers tout a “lifetime warranty”, I would expect there to be some gotcha’s in the fine print somewhere. Unless your conversion boat is nearly new with little or no degradation of the plywood, I would strongly suggest replacing with new. It would be crucial to keep all penetrations in exposed locations well-caulked and sealed. Underskinning is a requirement for plywood longevity. With proper installation and maintenance, the right type of quality plywood could last as long as the boat. There appear to be good reports about Pontoonstuff.com, at $160 a sheet , free shipping.
Coosa is a material that we’ve used on a couple of builds and highly recommend. Granted, it is pricey at roughly double the cost of plywood, however it will never rot. It is high-density, closed-cell, polyurethane foam impregnated with layers of fiberglass and is somewhat lighter than plywood. It does not hold a screw like plywood, so attachments should be through-bolted. In our mind, the never-rot piece of mind makes it money-well-spent.
Aluminum (sheet or plank extrusion) is another no-rot alternative. It’s comparable in price to Coosa (double that of plywood) and heavier than both. Some find it “noisy” and a little less stiff. Sheets should be no less than 3/16” thick. Extrusion planks could get by at 1/8”. Sourcing this material at a competitive price can be a bit more of a challenge.
Composite Deck Boards (Trex) Don’t….
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