Few things are as astonishing as this before and after pontoon renovation. Located just outside of Austin, Texas, Andy Wunder has turned his love of tinkering with pontoons into a hobby that keeps him busy all winter. He said, “I love making old boats look new. It is a fun hobby and it is amazing what you can find on YouTube to help!”
He found this Bennington 2275 Cruiser on marketplace that had been absolutely trashed. “Bennington’s a good name, and I know they make great boats,” Andy said. “The floor was solid and the motor was worth more than the cost of the boat, so I knew I could redo everything else.”
The fencing, furniture, and awning all came PontoonStuff.com, and Andy gave them a glowing review. He said, “They have the most amazing customer service. It is insanely good. I received one box and found some bolts were missing, so they overnighted me the missing bolts with sincere apologies. It was incredible.”
Andrew added, “The hardest part is always the motors. I can calibrate and repaint the motor and do all the basic mechanics on it, but I had an experienced outboard mechanic attach it to the boat. The biggest problems on pontoons tend to be the steering and motor mechanics, so I didn’t want to mess that up!” He’s waiting on new logos from Mercury, though the he’s starting to like the “stealth” look.
Though many may consider a pontoon renovation a once-in-a-lifetime project, Andrew’s had so much fun that he has no plans to stop.
“This one came out so nice, that I’ve already bought a 2010 Harris to redo into a complete Tiki pontoon that I’d like to rent out. Why not make it fun?” he said.
When most people buy their first boat, they don’t usually take it down to the cross members. But Todd Thornton and his wife Alicia from Lore City, Ohio, felt up to the challenge. Todd said, “We’d never owned a boat, but a friend took us out on his, and the bug bit us.”
They bought a Godfrey Sweetwater FC180 that was functioning but in dire need of TLC. It also came with a worn-out Johnson 40hp engine.
Todd said, “Over the next few years, YouTube was our best friend. I’m very mechanical, but had never worked on a boat. After many videos, scavenging other boat parts, re-decking, new seats, new helm, new wiring, new higher railing to support the seats, new metal, new graphics we drew and had another friend cut in vinyl, and making several one-off parts, we set sail.”
Not being boat savvy, his words, Todd and Alicia soon realized the extra weight on the old `toons and motor was not a good thing, so they added a new E-TEC 90hp outboard. The also went from 19-inch diameter, 18-foot-long pontoons to 25-inch diameter, 21-foot-long logs the following year. It made a world of difference.
They picked out bright, fun colors, and because they’re both music lovers, Todd and Alicia named their boat [Soul Shine], with treble clefs in place of each “S.” The seats came from Everything Pontoon, and they did the embroidery for a small fee.
“Being on the water makes our souls shine, and it’s our favorite Government Mule song. Alicia found the lyrics to the song with the band’s signatures, and I made an epoxy table with that as the focal point,” Todd said.
The couple worked side by side the entire project.
“We broke bones, bled quarts, and sweat and froze while doing the build,” concluded Todd. “In the end, we would not change a thing. It is exactly how we want, and the perfect size for us. We are very pleased, and honestly proud, of what we learned and how things turned out. We know this boat inside and out now, because we did it ourselves.”
A pontoon renovation is all fine and good, unless a tornado comes along and destroys all your hard work. Then you might have to re-do the re-do. That’s what happened to Nate Block from Edgar, Wis. He bought his Bentley 240 Fish in April of 2022 and re-skinned the railing from white to black. Just two years later, the area was hit by a tornado and the boat took enough damage that the insurance totaled it out. Not to be deterred, Nate decide to give it another facelift so it hardly looks like the same boat.
