The last float, the rear deck, and exterior trim... Yay!! Wow, mounting those 7 flotation devices was a bigger job and more time consuming than I expected, but they're now finished. The additional floats turned out very nice, and made for a clean installation. I got the rear deck framed out with treated timber, installed synthetic deck boards (Trex), and got most of the exterior trim panels modified and installed. Here's a few pics...
Rearmost float installed, treated timber ripped to 2.5" and installed, and ready for decking. This will provide the support for the generator, heat pump outdoor unit, and LP tanks. A hand rail will be installed around the edge of this.
A photo as seen looking towards the front of the boat from behind. You can see the bottom of the 7 flotation units, they mount about 5" higher than the main pontoons, providing additional stability.
In this photo you can see the aluminum mounting bars that support the batch of floats, as they exit the structure and are secured to the rear deck framework.
This is the batch of Trex for the rear deck, all trimmed to length and ready to install. This worked out nicely, it was the parts left over from building the front patio.
Here's a couple of pics of the rear deck with the Trex installed. A small engine mount will ultimately be installed off the rear edge of the deck assembly. The engine will only be used to move the houseboat around in the marina from time to time.
A pic from the front of the houseboat. The frontmost float can be seen in this photo. I plan to fabricate an aluminum plow to mount just ahead of it.
This photo is of the rear deck, just after the fasteners were all installed, the bits cleaned away from countersinking the screws, and it was time for a break.
Here, I'm testing the trim fitment after a few mods. I'm able to use some of the original perimeter trim from the old 1990 Lowe Sunbird pontoon boat.
The 3 pics above show the side trim repaired and fitted, including the mounting blocks that had to be installed to reattach the trim panels. This will be painted "in place" to match the pontoons.
I need about 4.5' more of this aluminum side trim to complete dressing around the rear deck. This is gonna look pretty good, once painted!
A final photo, just before dark, of the Houseboat with the side trim panels installed. That really cleaned up the look, nicely!http://www.NCFishy.net
