83 Tracker fix'r'up

[Dobi]

Not sure if this is the right forum or not, I apologize in advance if not.

I did a write-up like this to document when I built my toyota rock-crawler last year, thought I would do the same here by documenting what I'm doing to the Twacker

Bought this last August

and its in less then perfect shape..

Been fishing with a buddy with a nice triton with a 150h... been on his boat more then mine.. Now local tourneys are starting and he has an old pal he enters those tourneys with.. Now I'm back to the old tracker.

I know with our first child coming that a boat like that is not in my near future. However, putting a couple hundred here and there into the tracker is possible.

I started last night and well...  Here are my plans. My questions will come next.

I've started tearing into it and noticed some expanded foam....

and some foam slots:

My question is, can these foam slats be taken out. I want to get the bottom inside of the boat and about 4" up the side sprayed with a thin coat of Rhino-line type substance (knock off brand that a buddy is a carrier of) thinking this will seal up some rivets that are leaking a little bit and will deaden ALOT of noise as well. which I'm thinking that foam in the bottom can be placed back in and compressed down when I redo the floor.. just on top of the rhino lining.

As you can see, the expanded foam under the bow is in the way of my future rodbox and storage containers....

So what are your thoughts on my plans and dilema with the foam.

I plan to get this cleaned out tonight and sprayed tomorow, then build the bow wed with the back of the boat tba.

Here's some more tear-down pics...

[Dobi]

** Will edit later for future pictures.

[Madhouse27]

Dobi, thanks for posting your project. This should be fun to watch.

[Dobi]

well... looking at a couple other folks buildups here (LBH I think and someone elses' gray one), I'm gonna take a little more time on it to make it worthy of being posted here...

Question for ya'll...

The back of the boat is filled with that expanding foam just like the front.. I'm gonna have to rip that stuff out to rhino line the inside of it.. Do I need to spray more in there or is that a last chance of floating after the boat has already submerged??

[KU_Bassmaster.]

That boat brings back some memories.  That's the exact boat that I fell inlove with bass fishing in.  I can't wait to see the progress.

[ominousone]

how about rhino lining the bottom of the boat so that way if you scrape up against rocks, stumps, or whathaveyou you won't hurt the bottom more.

[ominousone]

I was thinking of fixing up an old aluminum some day and I picked up a how to guide from www.myjonboat.com  It seems pretty informative and may give you some ideas or hints to ease that you hadn't thought of yourself.  good luck, and please post pics as you go

[Nick B]

Awesome project Dobi. I would like to do somethings to my boat, but dont want to give up access to it for that long, that may be a winter time project for me.

[Live.2.Fish]

Sweet Project!  Is that a 17ft tracker?  If it is that is the exact same boat I just go about 4 months ago.  The previous owner had redone everything a lot what you are going to do.  Tons of storage with a rod locker that will hold a 7'6" rod.  Can't wait to see what it looks like when you done with it.  

[Dobi]

yup. 17ft with a 50hp US Marine force on it.

[Live.2.Fish]

That is awesome! I've the the 50hp Merc.   Good luck with the project and have fun with it.

[Rattlinrogue]

That should be a sweet bassin' machine when ya get finished!Can't wait to check out your progress.

[Dobi]

More tear down...

Well, due to not wanting to mess anything up structurally and less weight, instead of ripping the whole backend off, I'm going to just enlarge the existing boxes and enlarge the back area where the gas tank and battery box are to hold a 10+ gallon fiberglass tank.

This way I can just put 1/4 inch plywood across and reinforce where needed.

[Madhouse27]

Wow, you are ripping and tearing. This is usually the point in the project that wives start talking about divorce  ;D

[Dobi]

Wow, you are ripping and tearing. This is usually the point in the project that wives start talking about divorce  ;D

I think she's actually semi-tickled because being here in the carport and not out on a lake or wrench'n / wheel'n my rock crawler..

Little does she know that I will more then make up for lost lake time.. muwahahahaha

[burleytog]

That looks like a fun little project.  Look forward to seeing the completion.

[Dobi]

When I started this, I wanted it to be my own little "Overhaulin" or "Monster Garage" type deal and have it done in a week.. .but realization is that they have 5-10 guys working d**n near 24hrs a day for 7 days... I'm by myself and can only work on it after 5:30 pm due to work. haha

oh well...

[Skwerl]

The best part is when it's done, you'll know exactly what you got and you will also be more likely to keep up on little problems in the future instead of letting them go. I suspect you'll be enjoying that bote for many years to come.

[alhuff]

Dobi, did ya get the foam out?  i would think that it would be able to be worked out pretty easy.  if not you could always replace it, not sure how much the expandable foam would run ya.

Good luck....

Alfred

[Dobi]

Dobi, did ya get the foam out?  i would think that it would be able to be worked out pretty easy.  if not you could always replace it, not sure how much the expandable foam would run ya.

Good luck....

Alfred

yea, I got it all up. Those foam like things in the bottom.. WATER LOGGED ... lemme tell ya, they ripped thru one of those heavy duty black garbage bags. I had to double bag it..

I'm thinkin the replacing of aluminium with wood is still going to be lighter then those.

The expanded foam, I just took a big old handsaw thru it in the chunks I wanted out...

[stimpy17]

LOL! I had a "86" Good boat. With a 40 Merc on the back and walk thru front bow(no raised deck)but 2 nice storage boxes. My one gripe was even with the mod. "V" bow waves and chop were hard on the boat and driver.

[Dobi]

Building the deck... got the 2 pieces cut out to perfection.. going to work on supports tomorow night..

[G3 Fan]

Dobi,

 I am having fun watching the prgression of your project. It looks like your deck plywood is pressure treated. You need to check the stamp on the plywood to see what chemicals were used to treat it. The pressure treaters caved to the whiners of the world and changed the chemicals they use to treat wood. The old stuff would be marked CCA  which contained arsenic which had everyone so freaked out. The new stuff is either ACQ or CBA-A or CA-B this new stuff is ultra corrosive. Fasteners have to be hot dip galvanized or stainless steel. The new products are more corrosive because the copper content was increased by as much as 5 times which is also why the stuff is expensive.

 There is also a newer Borate based treating processes whihc is supposed to be non-corrosive.

 I would suggest keeping the plywood from coming into direct contact with the aluminum of your boat and using stainless steel hardware. I don't know if painting the plywood would be enough to seal it or not, fiberglass resin may work better.

 I'd hate to see that boat give you problems in a year or two.

[Madhouse27]

Nice to see some Miller Lite being enjoyed during the project. We're having a good time following along.

[Dobi]

G3fan - I've heard that from some folks, other folks told me that's just hearsay..  Do you know where can I get definitive info on this. I was thinking about painting it with that Krylon (correction, I meant to say that oil based sealer/paint Kilz) before carpetting it if that was true.. I am very concerned about that though.