Pontoon Back Rack

[clarkbre]

I've been browsing this forum and researching pontoon boats off and on for the last year. Well, last night I finally bought an 8' pontoon boat off of Craigslist and got a great deal. As of now, it has an anchor set up but no back rack.

I'm looking at a space that measures 23" wide by 14" front to rear. I'd like to have storage for a small cooler (not for boozin'), pump, spare oar, and other misc. items. So, my question is, what has worked for you guys? Metal or cloth? Solid or mesh? Tie down points? Please let me know as I want to build something before the fishing season really gets underway.

[Curtis]

dont go for a mesh back, not too strong. They seem to be pretty specific to the brand of pontoon, due to dimensions.

[ral]

I had a mesh back on my pontoon. I replaced it with a piece of 1/4" plywood and used hose clamps to attach it to the pontoon frame. I then tie the cooler to the frame as well.

[chadk]

Maybe try some marine grade plywood cut to fit with edges sanded down and with a few holes drilled in the corners. Attached with heavy duty zip ties. You could add a few rings for tie down points.

[clarkbre]

Maybe try some marine grade plywood cut to fit with edges sanded down and with a few holes drilled in the corners. Attached with heavy duty zip ties. You could add a few rings for tie down points.

I actually ended up going a totally different route. Today I went to a welding shop and got 3 pieces of 1/8" thick diamond plate aluminum. The main piece is 23"x16" and then there's vertical front and back pieces at 23"x4" I'll have it done and on the 'toon tomorrow. I know the metal weighs a little more but it looks really clean and is totally custom to my boat. The base will be held in with 4 pins and the angled aluminum used to attach the vertical pieces will be a good spot to secure bungee cords. We'll see how it works on the water. It will only add 7.5 lbs to my boat. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow.

[clarkbre]

Here's the pics of what I ended up building for a cargo rack. The total cost was $61.29 for all the materials. It's 23"x16" and extremely strong.

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/gallery/data/18057/thumbs/P1290028.JPG (http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=26013)
http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/gallery/data/18057/thumbs/P2020028.JPG (http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=26016)

[pastorbrian]

can you post where you got the materials??

[clarkbre]

can you post where you got the materials??

I sure can:

1/8" Diamond plate aluminum $46.95 Glenn's Welding
1"x1"x1/16" Angled aluminum $5.96 Home Depot
(3) 10-24 3/8" Screws & nuts $2.94 Home Depot
(2) 1/4" Pins for cargo area $4.36 Home Depot
#10 Lock washers $1.08 Home Depot

The grand total was $61.29 including tax. Glenn's Welding is located in Lynnwood off of 164th. They cut the pieces for me right there and were very easy/great to work with. If you'd like any more info or drawings on the rack let me know.

[salt dog]

Very nice looking Clark.

I purchased an aluminum box on ebay to attach to the back rack on a two man cataraft. The box was too heavy, and a little large for the space, but perfect for storage of all the accessories that come off when the cataraft is broken down for travel and locks up nicely while camping. Live and learn. :rolleyes:

[Mumbles]

You might even be able to fish from that...my boat is a bit different, and at times I have straddled my "tool box" that is on my aluminum diamond tread deck and made some casts.
Yours looks sweet.

[clarkbre]

You might even be able to fish from that...my boat is a bit different, and at times I have straddled my "tool box" that is on my aluminum diamond tread deck and made some casts.
Yours looks sweet.

Thanks man. The sad part is, the weather's been so crummy I haven't even tried it out yet. I'm looking for a way to add a wheel system to transport it from my car to the launch. Hopefully this weekend will be nice and I can give it a test row. Any fishing will be good at this point.

[Mumbles]

The sad part is, the weather's been so crummy I haven't even tried it out yet.

The fish don't care about the weather nearly as much as we do. Get that thing wet already. Why not get a ridiculously cheap bike, remove the front fork and wheel, find a way to clamp that fork steerer tube onto your toon and then lift from the rear and walk. I saw a guy with such a simple setup up front and he had some backpack straps to connect to the rear so he could use his hands for balancing and his shoulders and back for the lifting part. I even saw one guy that placed a large wheel, maybe a mountain bike size 26" wheel between his two foot braces. He rotated one foot brace to accept the axel extension he added and then rotated it into place, locked with the pin and off he went.

I'm still grabbing mine by the foot braces, putting it on my back and walking. I can't do that much longer.