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DIY Make Your Own Pontoon Boat Cover | Pontoon-Depot

How to Make a Pontoon Boat Cover Video provides step-by-step instructions for sewing a custom cover for your pontoon boat. You can learn how to create your own great fitting cover for trailing, storage or mooring in this comprehensive video.

This video will show you how to determine the amount material needed, pattern right on the boat, create darts, add chafe protection, create boat vents, and install snaps and support poles.
Find all of the materials needed for this project at http://www.sailrite.com.

How to Make a Pontoon Boat Cover Chapter List:
• Measuring & Sewing Fabric Panels -- 0:33 min
• Installing Boat Vents -- 6:22 min
• Patterning with Darts -- 11:43 min
• Creating Slit Openings & Marking Fabric -- 21:05 min
• Patterning Fabric on a Flat Surface -- 27:48 min
• Adding Stern Facing -- 34:53 min
• Sewing Darts, Chafe Patches & Hems -- 39:07 min
• Adding Triangular Panels -- 49:09 min
• Finishing Slit Openings -- 54:40 min
• Installing Snaps -- 59:10 min
• Materials List -- 1:03:00 min

"Pontoon Boat," from A Prairie Home Companion | Pontoon-Depot

Tips for Pontoon Boating with Dogs | Pontoon-Depot

1. Get a good fitting life jacket and have the dog wear it a few times around the home before they get on a boat. Any pet life jacket should have a handle to easily lift the animal out of the water.
2. Familiarize the dog with the boat slowly - don’t just get on the boat and leave the dock right away. Ideally, bring the dog to the boat for the first time without leaving the dock, and give them a chance to sniff around and get their sea legs. It may help to start the engine so they are used the sound.
3. Plan for falls overboard, either from the boat or dock. If the dog falls overboard underway – or jumps in – you may be able to circle back and retrieve Fido just like a fallen water skier, pulling up slowly, cutting the engine and luring the dog to the swim platform with a treat. If you don’t have swim platform, smaller dogs may be lifted over the side by their life jacket handle, but bigger dogs may require a different solution.
4. Get a Dog Boat ladder. It is easy enough to go overboard but quite a different story to haul in your 50 pound baby. Once your dog is accustom to the boat, the water ladder will be an easier transition in and out of the water for your pooch.
5. Bring plenty of water and make sure there’s some place the dog can get out of the sun and stay as cool as possible. Know the symptoms of dog stroke heat. While seasick dogs may vomit, that’s also one sign of heat stroke. Rapid, loud or difficulty breathing, extreme thirst, thick saliva, disorientation and a bright red tongue and pale gums are a few of the others.
6. If you’re going to be out on the boat for more than a few hours, plan on how your dog will relieve themselves, and pick up after your dog, no matter where they go. If you see where someone else didn’t pick up after their dog, pick it up for them. You don’t want to give any opportunity to show why dogs shouldn’t be allowed in your marina, and your boating friends will love you for it

Find out more about your pets and the outdoors at the outdoorchannel.com

Springtime is a Good Time to Change Your Oil | Pontoon-Depot

Just like a car, Pontoon boats need to have their oil changed. The frequency will vary by model but a good rule of thumb is to change the oil every 100 hours of operation or once a year.

Unfortunately, there aren't any quick change oil shops for Pontoon boats, so you either have to change your Pontoon boat’s oil yourself or take it to your local dealer. Luckily, changing the oil in your boat’s engine is easy and can be done quickly with the right tools.You’ll need an inexpensive oil extractor pump that removes the oil via the dipstick tube. Also, an oil wrench and enough rags to catch the normal drips. As added protection against messy oil, it’s a great idea to put an absorbing pad under the engine, particularly near the oil filter.

Step 1 – If your boat is in the water, start the engine to warm it up. If your boat is on a trailer, you’ll need to supply cooling water to the water intake at the gearcase. Do this by placing what mechanics nic-named “earmuffs” over the water intakes. Earmuffs consist of two suction cups on a V-shaped piece of tubing. A hose fitting at the Vee supplies water to the engine.

Step 2 – After 5 minutes, turn it off and remove the dip stick.

Step 3 – Insert the oil extractor suction tube into the dipstick tube and slide it all the way in until it stops. Pump out the oil. It will remain safely in the pump until you can take it to an oil change shop for recycling.

Step 4 – Hold a rag around the oil filter and remove it with the wrench. Screw on the new one after rubbing oil on the sealing gasket..

Step 5 - Replace the dipstick and fill the engine with new oil through the oil fill port—the cap is marked “oil.”

Some engines have a special drain tube fit to the oil pan. You pull this tube out the bilge drain and drain the engine without ever dropping a drip on the bilge. Check your owner manual for the exact procedure.
Be sure to use marine grade oil in your boat engine. Boat engines work much harder than car engines and automotive oil isn't made to protect marine engines.