Bass Tracker tourny V17 repair

[onemorecast56]

Well Bass Tracker could make me a bunch of money. I`m getting taking them apart down pat. These boats are bad about rivets and spider cracking on the sides of the boat leaking. I`m getting better with each one I do. (7 or 8 )I`ve found that if I remove the rivets on the keel and replace them with SS bolts with a washer and lock nut on the inside does alot better. I put just a dab of sealer under the head and under the washer and tighten the crap out of it that it works real good and don`t loosen up when you hit something. I`m replaceing all the rivets on the braces with a bigger rivet. Trackers don`t have enough rivets on the braces so I put 4 rivets between every set of rivets all the way thru it. Makes them a whole lot stronger. There is 2 -4 inch long splits where the bottom and side meets. 1 by the pass seat and the other where the drain hole is fopr the live well. That another place they crack bad at. I`m going to put fiberglass cloth and resin over the splits
to try and stop the leak that way, then I`m going to spray the area with a good truck bed liner,,,thats should stop or lest slow the leaks way way down of not all the way. 1 split is so bad that I can look on the inside and see my garage floor. The guy was wondering why his bilge pump wasn`t keeping up with the leaks...LOL. Oh and this is what gets me. All the floatation in the bottom was so water logged,,I pulled a foot square peice out and it weighted a good 3 lbs, I bet I lightened up the boat by 80-90 lbs of water logged foam. Thats why all these fiberglass boats floors roit, the foam get water logged and stays water all the time which soaks the wood under the fiberglass floors,,,it can never get dry,,stays wet all the time.
I wish I knew how to post pic`s on here,,,i guess i should learn uh? I`d love to let you all see how the boat looked,,,and what it looks like when I`m done. It`ll look like a new one after i get it all carpeted. And I call the guy this morning telling him that if wanted to run and wires or anything nows the time,,,she`l as naked as I can get her. Told him it be a good idea to runs some new wires to the front now,,,just incase he wanted to install something new there and needed power,,,he`ll have it ready to go.

So all the leaky Tracker owners,,,let me fix you up....LOL

[onemorecast56]

Well I got this boat tore apart,,,no wonder the thing leaked so bad. It has 3 splits in the hullwhere the bottom meets the sides. Almost every set of out side rivets had cracks between them or spider cracked all arond them. I`ve replaced Every rivet in the boat from the water line down all but the outside rivets and replaced them with SS bolts and nuts so they will never get loose again. I`ve got the splits fixed and reinforced the boat and sides where the cracks are. I filled the boat up with water half way and only had 3 little leaks where the rivets didn1t get a good seat on the bottom where it`s been hit and dented in. So I`m going to replace and try and flatten out the bottom. I`m GOING to get this water tight before I put her back together.....if anybody want to see pic`s let me know,,,i`m doing a full pic`s of the rebuild....

[billm_usa1]

That Foam is really preety poor. I replaced mine with 1 liter water bottles (empty of course) These are impervious t gas and oil and won't act like a sponge when wet. They'll be a lot better floatation than that foam ever was.

Since you've got the floor out what about running a piece of 1 1/2" PVC pipe from front to back for a wiring conduit ?

[onemorecast56]

Hi ya Bill,,,haven`tseen you in a while....I`m running wires for sure,,,he wants to up grade to a 24volt trolling motor,,,so we are running 6 ga wire from the rear to the front. Plus running a couple of sets of wires from the concole area to front for future use. well i got that leaky sucker to stop leaking. After I got everything re done,,,new revits and screws,,,I filled her up and let her sit over night,,,NOT 1 LEAK! yeah!!!!!!!...this boat had splits in 2 places where the sides meet the bottom,,,,watch you tracker guys,,,they are bad about splitting around the drain hole for your livewell...and it had 1 bad split in the weld in the front....I got all them fixed,,,,LOL,,,,taking pic`s of it all the way...trackers could make me alot of money....LOL and not replaceing any foam,,,,if it`s going to go down,,,,your in more trouble then to be worrying about the boat,,,let her go,,,mark it with your GPS and use it a for crappie bed. I bet I lightened it up about 100lbs of water logged foam.

[onemorecast56]

you can check out the pic`s at myspace.com/onemorecast56

[onemorecast56]

WOO HOO,,,got that tracker done, the guy that owns it was the guy that won the 50.000 bass on the ohio river a couple of yrs ago,,,Danny Goben,,really nice guy, But she looks great and don`t leak a drop,,he`s tickled to death with her...but man I`m glad she`s out of my garage,,,,LOL