‘95 tracker what have I begun...

[B-reel]

Welp, been lurking this forum for a long time and finally have something to put up. Got this tracker 16 Deep v from a friend, should have been my first warning...The motor I thought would last a couple years as it’s really clean, I’ll just polish it up and go right? Wrong... don’t get me wrong it’s a tight little boat with no real issues, but I can’t just buy a boat and let it crumble so here we go...

The motor ended up with low compression on a cylinder, 25 year old 2stroke 40 horse didn’t make the cut for a rebuild. So I just got the boat back from the shop with a brand new Merc 60 4stroke with command thrust. That’s handled, now to make the rest of the boat worthy...

Next up is:
a rod locker rebuild, new ply all around, carpet, adding a built in ice chest and bait well in place of the the useless tiny boxes at the stern, move the 3 batteries up front to offset that bigass motor’s weight, clean up tracker’s terrible wiring, pour some new foam, new trolling motor, add some deck lights, install the downriggers; rod holders; cup holders, and all the other crap I panic bought while you were all hoarding toilet paper.

heres some pictures of the tear down. Today was day one and my back hurts...
Thanks to everyone who posted their hard learned lessons on this site, hopefully they’ll stick.

good luck all with your projects and stay healthy!

 

[B-reel]

Here’s the pictures, I know they’re bad but if you come help you can see it in person.

 

[B-reel]

Day 2 consisted of tearing the old carpet off all of the wood deck pieces. I was surprised how easily and cleanly the carpet came off the wood. I know what’s in store for me when I do the aluminum. Finalized the design for the ice chest and bait well that will take the place of the storage bins at the transom. Cut out some deck pieces, lots of staring in the direction of the boat but deep in thought... you know regular boat stuff.

 

[Scott Danforth]

welcome aboard. you will find that you will end up tearing everything down to the aluminum hull and building it back up. with all that rot, your foam is also most likely wet.

 

[B-reel]

Day 3: a skill saw named desire.

amazing how many pieces there are... still haven’t touched the aluminum pieces yet. That will be tonight, but last night I got all the plywood cut out, finished up some design and again caught myself staring a lot while my brain chased down the answers...
the rod locker is going to be sweet, it was hard to see how well the tubes would be accessed from the hatch... but I mived the hatch location and it seems like it’s gonna work.

min my way to work, today will be day 4 of burning the candle at both ends. I’m my wisdom I agreed to get my boat out of the shop in two weeks. That’s a finish date of May 3. It can be done if my supply chain isn’t disrupted too much by the coronavirus, and if my girlfriend doesn’t withhold sex for being a man possessed...
cheers

 

[B-reel]

Day 4, carpet test run and rod locker rebuild.
Had some of the original carpet from inside the rod locker so I decided to whip up the gromet wall and the tube wall (technical terms) and throw the old carpet on them to get the locker fab going. It went well. I used contact cement because some carpet glue is on its way with the new carpet. It was awesome to work with. I’m thinking to use it for everything because there isn’t any clamping... just do a good job on the contact cement, make a good bond and Staple the hell out of it, done. Almost zero wait time.
anyhow the build rages on.

 

[B-reel]

Also day 4 installed some led lights like you would put on the kicker of your stairs around the deck. It will be nice to put some light on the casting deck and the cockpit floor. I have a couple more they might go under the deck to light the battery compartment.. cool little submersible stainless steel things,

 

[B-reel]

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[B-reel]

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[B-reel]

Thanks for the welcome Scott. I was surprised how good of shape the boat was in when I got it apart, the foam was only a tony bit wet on a couple corners, otherwise totally dry. I expected it to be wet also. The ply would have held up for another 25 years if it were the same light use. That won’t be the case though it will get a lot of abuse and be in salt... cheers

 

[jbcurt00]

Iboats forum doesnt have a swap, used, trade or parts for sale section.

Your latest motor topic was deleted, dont repost it

 

[mav6759]

Do you know what the compression readings were. Also, just a suggestion, I would glass in the floors and any areas where wood would get in contact with water...Very easy to do, (I've done many bass boats) go walmart (they are the cheapest) and pickup a couple of bags of fiberglass and resin with harder.. cut the sheets out, cover the wood with first with the resin, (paint brush from the dollar store) lay the fiberglass down and more resin over the fiberglass..simple,
but I'm curious as to know what the reading were on the motor, and how long the motor as been setting.

 

[B-reel]

Cylinders 1,2, and 4 all read 100 lbs. #3 read 70 lbs.

 

[B-reel]

The boat sat a long time before the previous owner got it. Who really knows with a used boat...

 

[B-reel]

Day 5: ice chest saga

decided to get into the ice chest. Used rigid insulation, window and door peel and stick flashing, and a ton of razor blades to cut up the foam boards. Maybe I had cheap blades but the foam dulled them after only a few cuts...
Very happy with how it’s coming along. Lots of time to fit the pieces just so that they will be integrated into the boat nicely,
cheers

 

[B-reel]

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[B-reel]

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[B-reel]

Day 6: finish ice chest and other stuff

man the ice box turned out sweet! It’s not huge but it’s big enough for a couple sandos, water and a 6 pack so it should be fine. The compartment behind the ice box I did similarly with the rigid. Once the adhesive flashing is on the foam boards it’s pretty bombproof. I used long deck screws to peg the foam boards together and then taped them

 

[B-reel]

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