Matt McMillen Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 Hey guys, I haven't been on here in awhile due to being hard at work on the tracker! I posted a lot of questions and many helpful people responded with great insight! Just thought I would share the transformation to the final stages of my bass tracker rebuild! Hope you enjoy! Here are some of the pictures of when I first purchased the boat last fall. Originally the boat ran fine, but as time went on the boat began to break dow. First the pedestals came up, then we discovered unsealed exterior grade plywood was rotted with the foam molded underneath that. So, we completely gutted the boat and rebuilt it...the right way! <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/MattyMillz12/embed/The%20start/story"></iframe> The actual breakdown was hell. The more we took apart, the more that we found wrong. The wiring was unsafe, no stainless steel was used, and cheap carpet glue didn't pose much of a fight. Completely gutting the boat took about 5 months, but we didn't work everyday. <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/MattyMillz12/embed/Tracker%20rebuild/story"></iframe> Now, were finally rounding the homestretch. The carpet is completely installed, wiring is complete, and redesign of hatches is also done. Just adding the small accessories now....but thats the fun part! <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/MattyMillz12/embed/The%20finished%20product/story"></iframe> 3 Quote
LuckyGia Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 I can only wonder how much extra it would cost the manufacturer to build the boat with the proper materials. What you found is exactly why Tracker has a bad rep. I have a Smokercraft that is very similar to the Tracker. I will probably be doing this in the future also. Quote
carlm01 Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 That's exactly why i bought a Lowe instead of a tracker . It's all aluminum construction and roughly the same price point , the trade offs where no lockable storage and no covered rod storage , I had to pay for my gauges ( speedometer and tach) but after looking at both of them. The Lowe was a better built boat.. In your case now that you've done it the right way ,you'll get many years of use out of it ... It's just ashame you had to do it ............. Quote
Gotfishyfingers? Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 Nice restoration,bro! Not many people would even attempt to do that. I to own a tracker and the craftsmanship and quality sucks (imho), I gotta admit.. 1 Quote
oldgolf4 Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 Good looking carpet. What type/brand is it? I doesn't look like "standard" carpet. Quote
Matt McMillen Posted April 15, 2015 Author Posted April 15, 2015 I can only wonder how much extra it would cost the manufacturer to build the boat with the proper materials. What you found is exactly why Tracker has a bad rep. I have a Smokercraft that is very similar to the Tracker. I will probably be doing this in the future also. It would almost be worth the extra cost up front, it really adds up with materials not even including the labor. Quote
Matt McMillen Posted April 15, 2015 Author Posted April 15, 2015 That's exactly why i bought a Lowe instead of a tracker . It's all aluminum construction and roughly the same price point , the trade offs where no lockable storage and no covered rod storage , I had to pay for my gauges ( speedometer and tach) but after looking at both of them. The Lowe was a better built boat.. In your case now that you've done it the right way ,you'll get many years of use out of it ... It's just ashame you had to do it ............. I love the design of Lowe's but the aluminum in both is very similar. No problem at all with the structure of the boat but there were so many small things that could not have been thought out during the original design. And the first owner doing half ass jobs didn't exactly help! lol Quote
Matt McMillen Posted April 15, 2015 Author Posted April 15, 2015 Nice restoration,bro! Not many people would even attempt to do that. I to own a tracker and the craftsmanship and quality sucks (imho), I gotta admit.. Thank you, a lot I could do such as the breakdown but I really had some awesome help. The quality of the aluminum and ride is good, but design is so poorly thought out! Leaves the owner with more work down the road! Quote
Matt McMillen Posted April 15, 2015 Author Posted April 15, 2015 Looking good. What year is the boat? Thank you! The boat is a 2002 with a 2010 Mercury. Quote
Matt McMillen Posted April 15, 2015 Author Posted April 15, 2015 Really looks good......Al Thank you Al! Quote
Matt McMillen Posted April 15, 2015 Author Posted April 15, 2015 Good looking carpet. What type/brand is it? I doesn't look like "standard" carpet. Thank you, and no its not!! Its 20 oz marine grade carpet with sealed rubber padding. Theres actually no seams in the entire boat now. Quote
LuckyGia Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 Good job. I have to believe that the average consumer is willing to spend a extra grand or two , to have the boat built right originally with the correct materials. What does a tracker go for these days, $15,000 ? I bet everyone would gladly pay $17,000 to have it last 30 years with quality components. Sure hope they don't mess with the other brands they bought out. Quote
Matt McMillen Posted April 15, 2015 Author Posted April 15, 2015 Good job. I have to believe that the average consumer is willing to spend a extra grand or two , to have the boat built right originally with the correct materials. What does a tracker go for these days, $15,000 ? I bet everyone would gladly pay $17,000 to have it last 30 years with quality components. Sure hope they don't mess with the other brands they bought out. Yeah, you would think. Honesty if someone has 15k to spend on an aluminum boat, 17k isn't much more. I paid close to 5K and put that in it without the electronics already. Its a good riding boat and nice hull design, just sad they cram it with cheap materials that don't last! Quote
LuckyGia Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 Well you can rest easy that your boat is looking great and should last for many more years. How was the framework under the floor ? I have heard horror stories about stuctural welds breaking and Tracker not warranting that. By the way, can I hire you to do mine when it's time Quote
oldgolf4 Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 Can I get a few more specifics about the carpet? I am considering putting new carpet in my 2006 175. Where did you get the carpet and is it a "berber" style? I don't understand how you can have no seams? Quote
desmobob Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 Nice job! That looks great! Tight lines, Bob Quote
Matt McMillen Posted April 16, 2015 Author Posted April 16, 2015 Well you can rest easy that your boat is looking great and should last for many more years. How was the framework under the floor ? I have heard horror stories about stuctural welds breaking and Tracker not warranting that. By the way, can I hire you to do mine when it's time The framework was greatactually. The welds were all solid. I had a guy cut the side hangers and raise the angle of the sides to provide more floor space. All the hard stuff was done by a guy named Jeremy Stitam! He is really impressive. Quote
Matt McMillen Posted April 16, 2015 Author Posted April 16, 2015 Can I get a few more specifics about the carpet? I am considering putting new carpet in my 2006 175. Where did you get the carpet and is it a "berber" style? I don't understand how you can have no seams? The guy that did the carpet is just really great. The way he pieced the carpet together is masterful. Ill upload some detailed pics and explain some more shortly. But the carpet is a tight berber that he was about to find through a friend of his. Really high quality stuff and stain resistant. If I didnt get lucky with this stuff I wouldve ordered the 8x25ft 20oz carpet from marinecarpeting.com. Quote
AQUA VELVA Posted April 16, 2015 Posted April 16, 2015 I have a 94 Tracker TV-17 and all I can say is Tracker must have really gone down hill since I bought mine new in 94. Nothing has broken, shorted out or rotted. The boat doesn't leak a drop and the paint and graphics have held up extremely well. The motor is a Tracker (Merc) 60hp, two stroke that did have to have the rectifier replaced twice (after 18 yrs.) but that was the only problem that I ever had with the boat. I have a feeling that,at 68, it's going to outlive me. Quote
Matt McMillen Posted April 16, 2015 Author Posted April 16, 2015 I have a 94 Tracker TV-17 and all I can say is Tracker must have really gone down hill since I bought mine new in 94. Nothing has broken, shorted out or rotted. The boat doesn't leak a drop and the paint and graphics have held up extremely well. The motor is a Tracker (Merc) 60hp, two stroke that did have to have the rectifier replaced twice (after 18 yrs.) but that was the only problem that I ever had with the boat. I have a feeling that,at 68, it's going to outlive me. I thought mine was fine too until I pulled up the carpet.Once tracker grew so large I feel like they cut corners with material they didnt think was a must. The hull and frame definitely is extremely well made but the interior design and layout is really not well put together. A ton of space is wasted and what not. The good thing is that a tracker can be modified rather easily! That's good your two stroke has lasted you though. Im hoping to trade the 25 up to a 115 this summer so we can really see a performace increase! Quote
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