Posted: 09/03/2009 at 11:47am | IP Logged

Hi all!

A little background on myself: I’m automotive forum junkie for my rock toys and daily drivers.  Some of the best advice and insight I’ve received working on my many project has come from individuals like you off a forum.  I’ve been reading post here for a few weeks since the toon was dropped off at my house by my father-in-law.  Might I add that this forum has proven to be the most resourceful I’ve come across in my many searches of the web.  On to the project

My in-laws picked up this 24’ 1996 Monark Sunspa 240 w/ 70hp Yamaha 2-stroke for $3000.  Around here a toon this size and condition usually list for $6000-$8000.

We spend most of our time on the lakes fishing.  My wife and I have a 6 and 2 ½ year old.  Plus night fishing can be a can be a little uncomfortable on our 18’ Lowe bass boat.  So, I guess the in-laws (since retired) decided to trade speed for comfort.  And this way the whole family can go out and enjoy the fishing trips with out worrying about a kid taking a header off the boat.  Back to the toon…..

As you can all see there is a lot of work to be done.  The plan is new carpet, furniture, and full bimini top.  We’re contemplating extending the fencing to the front of the toon to enclose the front fishing seats for the kid’s safety.  In my searching it appears the fence addition will have to be custom made at a welding shop.  I have yet to find aftermarket support for fence additions instead of total replacement.  Here’s a sketch (made with goggle sketch) of our plan minus the fence addition.

We started with striping all the furniture and fencing so the carpet can be pulled.

The console was left intact while determined the condition of the motor.  My father-in-law is a 3X Master Automotive Tech and I’m a gear head so, we’ll be doing the motor work ourselves.  I started by ordering a Yamaha Full Service Manual for 1995-2004.  If you need any diagrams for those years 4 or 2-stroke send me a PM.  The fuel cell was full of 3+-year-old gas that has turned to varnish.  So, the carbs will need to be cooked and rebuilt.

When my father-in-law went to pick up some 2-stroke oil for a trial firing of the motor he scored a table top for $3.  They said they found it in the back a priced it to sale.

Now you are all up to speed while I wait for the carpet, furniture, and motor kits to be ordered.

***removed unsupported formatting codes***

Posted: 09/03/2009 at 11:31pm | IP Logged

Boyscout,

Good Luck with your rebuild. Nice grab on the table!

Posted: 10/25/2009 at 10:14am | IP Logged

It was 60 degrees yesterday. So it was time to get some work done. I started by cleaning all the fencing. I had to remove two dents in the rear corners of the fence. It took me the better part of the day to scrub down all the fence and deck edging.

My original goal for the day was to get the edging on. Once my father-in-law showed up we didn't stop. The rear section of the fence was ready for install so, we just kept going till dark. The rear fence is 90% installed. I still have to locate or replace some missing hardware. For storage purposes we set the front fence on the deck and to keep it covered and clean. But once it was up there I started placing it to see how big the extension would need to be to move the front fence forward. That's when I noticed if I moved it 1” back it was the size of the side gates.

Question: any one know where I could just buy a 30” side gate?

In all my searching I could not fide just a gate for sale. You can find hinges and every type of latch imaginable. This week I'm going to take one of the gates to a local fab shop and see what they will charge to reproduce two of them.

Sorry no pics yet. Like I said we worked till dark. I'll take some pics next time I uncover it to get some more done.

Posted: 11/07/2009 at 1:54pm | IP Logged

It's a beautifully weekend so I think I'll take some time to work on the toon. Here's some pics of the rear fence in place and the front setting (not installed) in it's new location.

Originally we were going to move the front fence all the way to the front of the deck. After some thought I realised that left no room on the front of the toon for docking. Plus the front gate was going to strike the stops on the trailer when opened. So, I'm going to leave 18” to stand on when docking and allow for the gate to open. This will also leave room to mount a trolling motor and the motorised anchor. Considering mounting the anchor on the rear in the privacy room.

After some searching I believe I've come up with a local place to buy tubing with a radius edge instead of a sharp 90 degree edge. I went to a local fab shop to see about having some bends done in the tubing to continue the sweeping lines of the fence. But, I have not had any luck finding a shop set up to bend square aluminium tubing. So, my plan is to drop the hight of the extension about 3”. This way the 90 degree corners will be less noticeable next to bends in the original fence.

The plan for the fishing seats has changed. Now that I'm leaving a ledge in the front it would be crowded to have 4 fishing seats. So, we are going to have 2 in the front (behind the fence) and the fold out benches behind them. This way we'll have lots of room in the front for the kids.

Posted: 11/15/2009 at 5:30pm | IP Logged

I worked yesterday mainly on assembling the furniture.  There was also a lot of plotting on how to rebuild the sink or build on from scratch.  I found searching on eBay that you can get small plastic sinks.  The key phrase to use is 'RV plastic sink.'  I know you're probably why do you need a sink.  It's just there was one on the toon when we got it, and once you get the thought in your head it's hard to shake.  With everything invested in this project everyone wants the ideal experience on the lake.  Ideal with kids is a potty and sink.  My mother-in-law told me that with the vinyl she bought to redo the sun deck she has more than enough to wrap a base for the sink.  the original sink bowl is cracked at the base.  So, now the plan is to fiberglass the sink bowl to repair it.  This will be my first attempt to use fiberglass so it should be interesting.  But, since they now make a fiber cloth to use it should be rather simple.

This morning I headed out early racing the rain to get a few things finished.  I still had to attach the old gates to the fence as extensions.  This proved to be a little interesting.  I took off measuring and drilled to holes to join them.  Only to find out the stripes didn't match because the factory had lose tolerances for the height of the gates.  I got lucky after I aligned the stripe because my mis-drilled hole were not in the way.  I had to make some custom risers for the shorter new section of fence.  I used some gray PVC electric conduit that was in the garage.  There is a visible difference at the bottom of the fence, but your eyes gravitate to the horizontal stripes which are lined up.  The other side gate was the same size but the stripes on the panel were lower so I had to drop it down a little.  The supplied spacers worked just fine and the stripes distract the eye from any differences.

With the fence finished I shifted the furniture in to it's proper place.  After taking the pictures below I realised I forgot the back to the drivers flip-back seat.  So, I took a second to finish the seat.  Before I could retake the pics the rain creped in.  That would leave flipping the front gate to swing inward to another day.