Robert Hudgins recently sent us photos of his custom-built pontoon boat, and we had to know more about it. Here’s the story: “I’m a local Anne Arundel County guy and a long time boater. My wife and I saw something similar built by a guy in Michigan (you can find him on Facebook under Danger Boatwerks), so we decided to build our own version.
We bought used pontoons on Craigslist out of Delaware with a title and started the build in September of last year; still not done with it yet. After the main structure was built, we did a test cruise in October. The furthest we have gone so far in one day is probably five miles. We have LED navigation lights for running at night. I also added LED lights under the umbrella that are controlled by an app on my phone.
We have a trolling motor for power with two battery banks. The main are two six volt golf cart batteries in the bow box, and a group 31 in the rear handmade pirate chest as a backup battery. I believe that I can get about eight hours of run time off the main golf cart batteries in the bow box and another three hours on the group 31 in the rear pirate chest. Max speed with two people and a lighter load (cooler and gear) is around 2.5 knots. Fully loaded with eight people we max at around two knots.
The build was just meant to be a raft up/ tender boat to hangout on, but I realized how cool people think it is when owners of 100-foot yachts talk to you at the Annapolis Yacht Basin. We recently got boarded by the USCG. The guys loved it. It even passed the safety inspection!
Looking forward, I still have some woodwork to do, and I plan to make wood name plaques as well. I also plan on repainting the bottom. You can find pics of the Rum-N-Around on Facebook and Instagram under #rumnaround.”
All photos courtesy of Robert Hudgins.
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Tuesday, August 23, 2016 - 08:30
Robert Hudgins recently sent us photos of his custom-built pontoon boat, and we had to know more about it. Here’s the story: “I’m a local Anne Arundel County guy and a long time boater. My wife and I saw something similar built by a guy in Michigan (you can find him on Facebook under Danger Boatwerks), so we decided to build our own version.
We bought used pontoons on Craigslist out of Delaware with a title and started the build in September of last year; still not done with it yet. After the main structure was built, we did a test cruise in October. The furthest we have gone so far in one day is probably five miles. We have LED navigation lights for running at night. I also added LED lights under the umbrella that are controlled by an app on my phone.
We have a trolling motor for power with two battery banks. The main are two six volt golf cart batteries in the bow box, and a group 31 in the rear handmade pirate chest as a backup battery. I believe that I can get about eight hours of run time off the main golf cart batteries in the bow box and another three hours on the group 31 in the rear pirate chest. Max speed with two people and a lighter load (cooler and gear) is around 2.5 knots. Fully loaded with eight people we max at around two knots.
The build was just meant to be a raft up/ tender boat to hangout on, but I realized how cool people think it is when owners of 100-foot yachts talk to you at the Annapolis Yacht Basin. We recently got boarded by the USCG. The guys loved it. It even passed the safety inspection!
Looking forward, I still have some woodwork to do, and I plan to make wood name plaques as well. I also plan on repainting the bottom. You can find pics of the Rum-N-Around on Facebook and Instagram under #rumnaround.”
All photos courtesy of Robert Hudgins.
[gallery type="rectangular" link="file" ids="15419,15420,15421,15422,15423,15424" orderby="rand"]