Posted: 10/09/2009 at 1:11am | IP Logged

Hi all-

Last year, after living very happily their last 22 years on the lake, both of my parents passed away--9 months apart.  Along with their lovely home, my brother and I inherited this: 

A man my brother knew wanted to buy this 1989 Bass Buggy (even after seeing the pictures!).  My brother and I decided $400.00 would be a fair price, but I told him to hold off a few weeks, because, I had found on the internet a great web site that had a forum to help you redo your pontoon boat.....and I wanted to check it out some more.  Well, to make a long story short, after reading almost every single post in this forum, I decided to buy my brother's half from him. He already had a bass boat and really wasn't interested in keeping it and fixing it up. My husband and I didn't have a boat and we wanted something to putter around in when we came to the lake on the week ends, but, we didn't want to invest a lot of money in a boat. Because you all posted pictures and told about your 'struggles'and amount of time you spent on your redo's, I knew there was no way I could do the majority of the work on this boat.  I was amazed as well as encouraged by your stories!!!  Anyway, my son found a Marine shop in a small town that agreed to tackle the 'extreme makeover'.  I found out it was like building a house--furniture, colors, design, fabrics, carpet, so many other decisions.  I wanted it to be a 'fun' boat, which is why I chose the colors I did. I 'installed' the stripes and name myself and also the umbrella, which I plan to replace with a bimini top next summer.  I also want some of those little swivel fishing seats (and I know exactly where to go to get both!)  My brother said (way back in Feb. when he tested the motor to see if it would even start) that the 28 h.p. Johnson ran like a cream puff.........which is why I named her--Cream Puff:

So, to all of you who have posted---many,many thanks..........I never would have even considered this 'extreme makeover' if I hadn't read this forum first.  You are a great bunch of 'Tooners'!!!!

****resized one pic and removed a lot of white space at the bottom for better viewing***

Posted: 10/09/2009 at 6:42am | IP Logged

Hello Flower Lady, welcome to the forums. Got a great bunch of people here. Glad to see you come join us. Be sure to post some pics of your boat(s) in the 'Show Off Your Pontoon' section (or rebuild depending if you have before/after pics), as we'd love to see them. Also tell us your story in How did you come to join the forums? (just click on the red link and tell us all about it ).  You probably did like a lot of us have. Looking for pontoon accessories and either found it through www.PontoonStuff.com ebay site or web store. Jim (administrator) and Andrea (pontoongirl) Myers (our hosts) have excellent staff members to help them help you find whatever it is you're looking for your boat and has excellent shipping and customer service. Have fun and happy boating. Be sure to edit your signature line to include details of your boat and motor so folks won't have to ask for it if questions arise later. Also visit our other sections like Where are you? so others will know what part of the country you're from. If you need any help editing your uploading your photo's, check out our primer here How To Upload Your Pontoon Boats Image, if you need help resizing them check out Software that helps you with pics & such. Be sure to review the posting rules and policies of the forum. If you have any issues with seeing photo's this link will explain it Issue regarding seeing photo’s on site. Please read all the posting rules. Some forums have additional specific rules for that category.

Very nice looking boat, There is a nice selection of fishing seats at our other site here .  This is also a member of the Pontoonstuff family of web retailers.

Posted: 10/10/2009 at 10:59pm | IP Logged

Thank you all for your kind words.......the boat seats were rebuilt and upholstered by the marine shop.  They told me they could make anything I wanted-the problem was I didn't know what I wanted and 'boat seat design' was not something I knew too much about.  They gave me a big 'chart' with marine fabric samples and colors that I stewed over for about 2 weeks.  I drew what I decided I wanted on a piece of paper and they took it from there.  The live well is still under the 2 cushions in front of the console.  They built a new console, but used the same steering wheel and control panel (they were repainted with vinyl spray paint).  They made the 'captain's seat' from a marine cooler.  The back seat is just two cushions on a carpet covered box in the back.  All of the old furniture had to be thrown away.  They used marine grade wood to build the furniture. The cost ran about the same as if I had just ordered the nice furniture from pontoonstuff.com or some other web site.  The web sites didn't have the colors I wanted, but the one advantage of their furniture is that it does have 'molded plastic' bases which I  know would be better than the marine grade wood.  My husband told me to post some more pictures, so here I go.  Mr. Wildcat Dude please feel free to fix them for me...

Posted: 10/10/2009 at 11:17pm | IP Logged

The engine is a 1988 Johnson, 28 hp.   Goes a a whopping 10 miles and hr.(See the next to the last sentence in my original post)  My Dad was concerned about the amount of gas the engine would use when he purchased it with the Bass Buggy back in 1989, which is the reason he got a small motor. He took very good care of it (unlike the rest of the boat  , lol) and it runs great!!!

Posted: 10/11/2009 at 7:53pm | IP Logged

Flower Lady,

This is one of the cutest rebuilds that I have seen. I have to compliment you on your choice of colors and coordination of furniture. Congradulations on a job well done.

Posted: 10/22/2009 at 1:40pm | IP Logged

Yes, we catch fish from the bank almost all year.......crappie in the Spring, catfish, bass, and other 'surprises' the rest of the year.  This is a cove off of the main body of the lake and of course, the fishing is great out there!

Posted: 10/24/2009 at 11:39pm | IP Logged

Congrats on you toon! Looks great!