Rigging a Pontoon

[T_om]

You guys put my little pontoon to shame, but here it is.

It is a PlayBuoy 1419 Eagle. I wanted a 16 footer but this one came up at a price I could not turn down. It has a brand new 20hp Suzuki 4-stroke, and a brand new trailer. i paid for the motor and the trailer and the boat was tossed in for free.

The deck was still perfectly sound (which amazed me), but the seats had pretty much seen better days sitting out in the weather. And even worse, the previous owner had mounted two pedestal seats in front of the forward fence thinking people could fish from up there. Nope, nope, nope. Launched the thing, got two adults up front, and had about 4 inches of freeboard. Even a jet ski wake would have washed right over the bow.

Out they came. I pulled everything except the console (it will go next year), and replaced the seats with Coleman Xtreme marine coolers. Two 120 qt. and two 70 qt. Coleman, unlike Igloo, still uses stainless steel hinges instead of the plastic Igloo uses. I didn't even consider Yeti since they joined the gun control movement. Cushions on top of the coolers will serve for seating and dry storage in the coolers should be no problem. A Minn-Kota PowerDrive 45 pound trolling motor with remote foot control in up front.

I have two four-rod Millennium Spyder LOK rod holders ready to mount tomorrow. And a word here about them: They are really exceptional quality. If you are looking for rod holders i don't think you can beat them.

Tom