"Fishing Boat" Pontoon Built From PIckup Ladder Rack

Fishing Boat Pontoon Built From PIckup Ladder Rack FARM HOME Miscellaneous “Now that I’m retired if I get silly and want to try building something I go ahead and do it ” says Robert John Freeburg Ill who built a “fishing boat” pontoon from a pickup ladder rack The pontoon measures 12 ft long by 7 ft wide and floats on six 55-gal plastic barrels The ladder rack forms the frame of the pontoon which supports a wolmanized plywood floor covered by carpet There’s an 8-ft long hinged storage box on both sides and a pair of swivel-type boat seats in the middle An umbrella can be installed above each seat The pontoon has two 12-volt trolling motors; one on front to steer and one on back that’s fixed in a straight position to provide extra speed Both motors are operated by big marine batteries housed under the seats The batteries also operate a pair of floor-mounted headlights A control console at one end of the pontoon contains a toggle switch to go forward or reverse and has used electrical wall outlets on one side to operate the motors “I built it a year ago and use it as a fishing boat It works great and is very stable ” says John “The ladder rack is made from 1 1/2-in box tubing so it makes a good solid frame for the pontoon I didn’t add side railings because they would have been in the way for fishing and I didn’t want to build a party barge I keep my fishing rods and gear inside the storage boxes The small size of the pontoon makes it easy to maneuver “It looks quite different The first day I was on the water facing one way with the umbrella up when I heard a voice calling me I looked over my shoulder and saw a little old lady on the other side of the lake yelling for me to come on over so I did Right away she pulled out a camera and started taking pictures The pontoon also has an ooga horn which people get a kick out of ” John already had the ladder rack which he got from his nephew but had never used The rack was 12 ft long but too narrow for the pontoon so he brought it into his shop cut it into 2 pieces and welded in new material to make it 7 ft wide As he was building the pontoon he set the frame up on top of milk crates to keep it off the floor “I had to flip the frame over 3 or 4 times while working on it ” he says The barrels create a lot of drag because they don’t have pointed ends like on an aluminum pontoon “I wanted to use aluminum barrels but couldn’t find any and I couldn’t figure out how to add a nose cone to a plastic barrel ” says John “I wanted to use 4 barrels on each side with solid barrels going from one end to the other but because of bracing added to the frame there wasn’t room ” The barrels are strapped to the frame with galvanized pipe strap hangers “I wanted to use stainless steel hangers but couldn’t find any ” says John The 2 batteries are controlled by a fusebox block he bought at an auto parts store “Everything is fused the way it’s supposed to be I installed an amp meter on the control console and can check each battery’s voltage by pushing a button ” notes John Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Robert John 6500 White Oaks Club Rd Freeburg Ill 62243 ph 618 539-3269; rjjohn@att net

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