# 1985 Tracker III Restore/Conversion



## onthewater102 (Jul 19, 2018)

Picked up an old Tracker III and found an '88 Mercury 60hp 2 stroke to ride on the back. Learned a lot on my 1436 Alumacraft build, so wherever possible I'll be using solid rivets for joining the aluminum support angles together and any poured foam that goes in will not be allowed to block the drain channels stamped in the bottom of the boat.

Plan is to gut everything and install a rod locker running from the bow to under the steering wheel along with a larger front deck with lockable storage compartments. I'll be replacing the bench with a setup allowing for more storage beneath the bench seating area along with a folding extension for the rear deck which will cover the bench when not in use. Trying to maximize the amount of lockable storage space available while also adding more elevated surface areas. The inaccessible spaces will for the most part be filled with expanding foam, but each compartment will first have the drainage channels capped in FRP and then be lined with painter's plastic prior to pouring foam, the goal of which is threefold:

1) none of the drainage channels will be blocked
2) the foam will formed to the cavity but not be bonded to the boat hull making it removable
3) the plastic should form a vapor barrier so the foam will not be in direct contact with any drainage waters

My plan starting out is to cap the bow and have a hatch to allow access to the storage space and wiring (trolling motor & nav lights) underneath. Framing this looks to be a bit tricky with the round gunwales. I will be using aluminum sheeting for all the decking surfaces. The final finish will not be carpet, though going in I'm torn between a textured paint and marine vinyl, the jury will have to wait to decide on that later. I'll be sharing the trolling motor and fishfinder electronics between this rig and my 14'. As much as I'd like to make this a center console I won't have room for both the rod locker and the storage boxes I want if I use this configuration, so it'll be staying a side steering setup. Hoping to add a 3rd seat base for trips with both my kids. It'll be a tight squeeze in what is basically a 1648 but we'll make it work.

I got ahead of myself on the tear down and already had the steering wheel out before I remembered to take a before picture, so this is all I've got:







It was in OK shape, the plywood decks were starting to show soft spots and the mild steel base for the bench seat left a lot to be desired. The original bench was not in a condition I considered to be worth trying to restore, it has a 1/2 dollar sized hole in one spot, all the seams are separating and the foam needs replacing, but if someone thinks otherwise they're welcome to it just send me a PM.

Gutting went well enough, I'm going to leave the original framing in I think and work around it.






Removed the foam from one of the compartments up front. Slicing through it with an old-school hand saw makes it easy to remove in chunks.






And one last shot of the emptied out compartment, still needed to clear the drain channel that was clogged with foam:






Made up 10 rod tubes for the front using the RichZ heat gun and wine bottle trick. Once flared on the wine bottle I heated themn a second time and pressed them down on a cold floor tile to make a flat flange. After test fitting an arrangement I think I'll be able to add 6 more rod tubes outside the starboard locker along the port side of the boat (3 running forward, 3 running aft-ward), so I'm going to have to get 3 more pieces of pipe as these were all cut in half to 5' lengths and I think the others will need to be cut unevenly (6' forward / 4' aft). Having room on board to store 16 rods below decks in a 16' boat will be awesome.






That's it for now - waiting on an 1 11/16 Forstner bit from amazon to drill the holes for the tubes through the existing support panel. In the mean time I'll get the rest of the old carpet adhesive removed, get the foam out on the port side and the rear quarter to allow me to install the extra 6 tubes and start framing everything.


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## DaleH (Jul 19, 2018)

Dayum ... impressive plans! But knowing of you - you are most certainly up to it =D> !

I like your _fore-to-aft _rod storage idea! I may shamelessly steal that ... as I fit 8 saltwater rigs in my present tackle locker, but if I remove some foam and go aft, I'd have room for the Sabiki rod and dedicated trolling rods.


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## onthewater102 (Jul 19, 2018)

My only issue going aft is along the side is a block of foam in a side compartment - I'd prefer to bore into it and set the tube in the bore but I'm not sure if I can core the poured urethane foam by driving a piece of PVC with a sharpened end into it. If I can't then I have to open the compartment and re-fill it with foam once the rod tubes are set, which will cost quite a bit more for the extra 3 cubic feet of expanding urethane foam but it will be done right...

Though if you've only got polystyrene in there then you'll be fine core punching it.


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## water bouy (Jul 19, 2018)

Look forward to seeing it come together. I imagine paint would crack on top of anything flexible like aluminum. Not sure how much alum sheet costs but 1/4" composite is about $90 per 4' x 8' at Piedmont Plastics which weighs the same as 1/2" ply.


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## DaleH (Jul 19, 2018)

Nidacore?


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## onthewater102 (Jul 19, 2018)

Paint has held up fine on my FRP decking in my 14' boat. 

I finally scored a trove of scrap aluminum after a lot of searching, granted a lot of it is 6061 T6 in .03125" thickness, but I'll work with the material I have as best I can & use the super thin stuff in areas where it will be directly supported by foam (the same as I did with the FRP on my old build). I'm only adding 3 cubic feet of foam to the boat as a result, so that's only 6lbs.

I'll redo approximately half the flooring with the super thin stuff, saving ~1lb per square foot vs the 5/8 plywood it had originally, so that's roughly 30lbs in weight savings there, another ~20lbs of weight savings in the bow using the aluminum I have for up there vs. the original plywood. I'll likely add about 15lbs of additional framing, so in the end I'm conservatively going to be around 25lbs lighter all things considered, not too bad for a hull that started at 558lbs from the factory. I was picky on finding one of these hulls for the comparably low starting weight vs. a new 16' bass boat that can run 700 to 900 lbs. for just the hull - makes a big difference in the safety on the highway when pulling it with a Subaru.


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## onthewater102 (Jul 19, 2018)

DaleH said:


> Nidacore?



That would be nice but not in the budget.


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## water bouy (Jul 19, 2018)

That 60 hp should get er on down the lake. When I was thinking it over I almost used stock car alum sheet which is easy to find around here but very thin. Finally settled on Alupoly when extry money turned up.


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## onthewater102 (Jul 19, 2018)

More exotic materials I've never heard of for me to look up and oogle at!

"You don't know what you don't" ... such good advice...I learn so much just trying to keep up with everything people talk about on this site.

Nidacore is an awesome looking support material that I'd never heard of until today and now alupoly...between the two someone could damn near make a full size bass boat that two guys could carry down to a lake.

Love this site.


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## Bowlershop (Jul 21, 2018)

This looks like it’s going to be fun!


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## onthewater102 (Jul 31, 2018)

In my 1436 build I made a slotted storage space in the floor for housing my std. 3700 trays. Unfortunately, each slot is fixed at 2" thick, so now that I've added some of the 3730 bins to my collection I cannot store them in my formatted space as they're 3.25" thick.

Not to repeat the mistake and to simplify my life on this build, I found these bins to use as drop in hatch liners. The lip on the edge should keep them from taking on water, while also making the framing fabrication a bit easier as I can do it all with solid rivets. They have available slide in dividers so you can subdivide them all the way down to 1-1/8" little squares if you so wished:

Source:
https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=52950&catid=986





Dividers:
https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=52927&catid=986
https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=52919&catid=986


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## jethro (Aug 2, 2018)

Following this thread... looks like it's gonna be a good build


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## onthewater102 (Aug 11, 2018)

Wow...getting no where thanks to what feels like a month of straight rain...every night I get home from work in the middle of a thunderstorm or just before another one hits.

Needless to say no progress has been made since the bin liners arrived.


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## water bouy (Aug 12, 2018)

It's that drain pipe or the other kind? I bought a piece of 1 1/2" black ABS at Lowes to try out. It seems lighter compared to the other kind.


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## onthewater102 (Aug 13, 2018)

I used SDR 26 sch. 40 pipe from lowes, but you could use drain pipe. It certainly doesn't need to be pressure rated, I used it because it was easily accessible at a big box store.


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## akboats (Aug 18, 2018)

Cant wait to see more of this build.


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## onthewater102 (Sep 19, 2018)

Finally got to pour some of the foam. I blocked the drain channels on the bottom of the boat with some scrap FRP from my 1436 and laid a piece of bamboo atop them to create a horizontal cavity on the underside of the foam so any water in the boat can drain to the channels. I cut a piece of heavy painters plastic oversized by more than twice the width and a few feet longer than the main floor section, so the foam can be poured inside the plastic and expand to fill the voids between the ribs. The plastic will act as a vapor barrier for the foam, while also keeping it from spilling into the drain channels and filling them.

Protecting the drain channels and creating the latteral drain cavity:






Fitting the plastic to the main floor section to be foamed. Notice how it's folded over on itself. I pour the foam at the inside of the fold and shimmed the trailer so the foam naturally runs toward that side.






Plywood in place to form the foam level to the top of the ribs:






Plastic opened up for pouring:






Foam is made combining equal parts A & B. Solo cups are great for quick measurements - fill each to the same marking inside the cup and you know you're working with even proportions:






Stirring foam is about the only thing a plastic knife is good for:






Mix till the color of pancake batter:






That little test batch expanded into this messy blob. I was testing to see if the leftover foam from my 1436 was still good...it appears to be!






Mixed a 3/4 full cup of combined 2 parts and poured in the cavity in the boat. A few cinder blocks keep the foam expanding only inbetween the ribs where it's been poured. It doesn't exert too much pressure where it would blow out the plastic on the inside edge of the fold.






About 15~20 minutes the foam is done expanding and solidified in its proper form:






The plastic actually doesn't bond well to the foam and pealed away easily:






View from underneath lifting the poured plank up - note the thin spot at the center formed by the bamboo in the way. All that gets moved onto the next cavity right on down the line:






Posting between pours while I wait for it to set up. Going to be at it for a while tonight. I'll circle back and complete the little bit of the end on the side opposite the fold once each cavity is 75% filled.


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## onthewater102 (Sep 20, 2018)

Finished with the floor foam:






Next up framing & rod locker.


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## LDUBS (Sep 21, 2018)

Thanks for the detailed documentation. This is going to be handy for anyone using two part foam.


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## onthewater102 (Sep 26, 2018)

Some more progress last weekend. First, the arsenal of tooling that took me forever to refurbish/ build/ acquire so I could work with aluminum without access to a metal shop:

Bought a home depo cheapo table saw, refurbished a craftsman bandsaw and an old benchtop drill press. The bandsaw and drill press are the 2 of the 3 tools I wish I had when I built the 1436 - they make the framing SOOO much easier.






Home made sheet metal bender - 1/2" flat steel bars and 3/8" 3x3 angle my father had lying around:










And lastly the 3rd favorite tool...pneumatic riveter for the cherrymax rivets:






I should mention setting the framing with solid rivets, while noisy as hell, does yield a much tighter connection.

Rough layout of where everything will be going in the boat as I progress:






Tight bends for the edges of hatches do not work on this bender - I needed the vise brake by Grizzly (H3243) and slowly nibbled my way down the bendline 4" at a time, taking 2 passes to make the full 90 degree bend. These jaws come in a 6" size which would have been nicer but my vise isn't big enough.:














Cutting the sheets to size with a fence and circular saw:






Bending the edges of the sheets under the side plates to control the flow of rain water towards the floor drains that will be installed later (one side tucked behind the side plate, needed to adjust the bend before I mounted the other side plate):










Nice & tight once lined up:






Cherrymax rivets for the framing connection to the hull ribs:






Framed the stringers for the rear bench seat and the first stringer for the extended bow deck. I'm doing all the long stringer runs first, then I'll come back and cut the vertical supports from the scraps I have left. Very likely I'll need to hit up https://www.onlinemetals.com for another order of 1"x1"x.125" 6061 angle before I'm through.






That's it for now. Headaches and bad weather will probably sideline further progress until the weekend.


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## onthewater102 (Oct 8, 2018)

Too much keeps getting in the way of progress - but the new bench cushion arrived. Colors matched perfectly to the original decals on the hull.


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## Bowlershop (Nov 5, 2018)

Love that seat color!


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## onthewater102 (May 21, 2019)

Back to working on the boat when the weather allows it. Main deck framing is laid, supports still need to be added to shorten the spans to about 15" or so, but they'll need to be sized around the hatches which are still a work in process.

Went a little overboard on the rod tubes, but I can use them to transport rods w/o reels and leave the rods I'm using on any given day on the deck. There will be a door under the helm where the access to the rod locker will be - not many options for locating storage for 7'+ rods in a 16' boat.






Finished the horizontal framing for the bow cap and forward end of the front deck after taking the picture, working on drilling the plate for the rod tubes to pass through this week after work along with bracing seat base supports, with the good weather forecast for the weekend in CT I'll hopefully get the hatches finished and framed so I can cut the aluminum sheet decking. ::crosses fingers:: I'm hoping to have the boat ready for a July trip up to Champlain...lots to get done by then!


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## LDUBS (May 21, 2019)

I like the way you put that bell shape at the ends of the tubes. Thumbs Up!


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## onthewater102 (May 22, 2019)

RichG99's wine bottle/ heat gun trick. Flared the ends to a flat flange.


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## onthewater102 (May 29, 2019)

Not much progress over the long weekend. Managed to get all the holes for the rod tubes drilled, had to abandon a few in order to add a framing rib to support the deck above. The top row of tubes will be set farther forward with a plate between them and the lower tubes allowing deeper slots for spinning rods, but setting spinning rods this high up interfered with my plan of having a support rib run perpendicular across the boat.

Finished shaping the bow cap but managed not to get a picture of it though I thought I tried. Last night was a washout with thunderstorms, hopefully tonight is better.


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## onthewater102 (May 31, 2019)

I mentioned connecting vertical braces so the load bears on the ends of the brace and not by applying sheer pressure on the side of the rivet on someone else's thread and finally got a few pictures of what i was trying to describe.










The anchor of the brace has some sharpie marking on it still but if you look the metal is contoured to bear on the piece of angle riveted down to the boat's floor brace. The top side shows the floor support joist bearing on the top end of the vertical rib. The rib was snug in place before I drilled it for the rivet on the drill press. I then set it in place and drilled through the vertical upward protruding inch of the floor anchor and the vertical downward facing face underneath the joist. These rivets are just holding the vertical leg in place, and aren't experiencing any scissoring pressure to the side of the rivet from either the joist on top or the anchor below.


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## onthewater102 (Jul 1, 2019)

Bow deck framing done. Big push to finish it over the holiday weekend...fingers crossed that the weather will hold out for it.

Progress shot before all the final ribs were riveted:


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## onthewater102 (Jul 8, 2019)

Finished the vertical sidewalls for the below deck compartments and poured what foam I had left in the rod-tube area:






From a square center line aligned to the factory finished edge of the sheet I took measurements every 2" working my way up the deck, transcribed the marks to the sheet and plotted the measured points every 2" down the sheet giving me a rough rendering of the contour of the side of the boat.






From there I marked square points on the ribs in the boat and kept grinding down the high points on the edge of the boat until I mated the sheet to the side contour of the boat. All in between the measuring and the grinding the process took somewhere between 4 and 5 hours. It was painfully slow but the results were worth it. There's the cap as compared to the <1/8" thick piece of sheet riveted to the boatside:






I flipped the sheet onto the other side of the boat and my contour line was about as close to the sideline as my initial starting point before grinding the edge down.






So I used it as a template to mark the sheet for the opposite side of the boat, leaving it wide so the two will overlap in the middle. I shifted the completed starboard side sheet 5" to the side to serve as a fence for the circular saw to cutout the port side contour.










From there I ground down the port sheet the same way - keeping it square to the bow of the boat and centerline of the boat and running a sharpie down the side of the boat only contacting the sheet at the high points where it needed to be ground down.






Tedious work but the end result was just as good.










Made an end cap with rod storage for who ever is fishing from the back






From there I set the sheets down and marked the cutouts for the hatches and openings from the underside, cut them out rough with the cutoff wheel and finished everything in place with the 50 grit disk on the grinder.














End result before I cut out the through-holes for the seat bases that are going on the bow deck including the bent vertical face for the bow cap:






Need to get pics on the rest of the progress, but it's been a much slower process than I ever anticipated. Waiting on another order of foam to finish the rod holder area and the underside of the forward section of bow deck on the port side before I can attach the sheets down.


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## LDUBS (Jul 8, 2019)

_*"It was painfully slow but the results were worth it."
*_

I agree with the results being worth it. That is about as seamless as it is going to get. Craftsmanship is really apparent. 

I think I'm probably repeating myself here. When I see two part foam being used it reminds me that I saw somewhere that folks layered empty soda or water bottles among the expansion foam to save on the amount of foam needed. Not really advocating -- just thought it was an interesting and unique approach.


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## onthewater102 (Jul 8, 2019)

LDUBS said:


> ...I saw somewhere that folks layered empty soda or water bottles among the expansion foam to save on the amount of foam needed...




Damn it...I'd seen that too and I meant to do that in this build...oh well, if I'm ever dumb enough to do a boat #3 I'll try better to keep that in mind! At least I can add it to the port-side front area that isn't done at all yet!


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## Turd Ferguson (Jul 8, 2019)

Awesome build man! Your attention to detail really shows in your work. I just looked up the price of 2024 aluminum sheets and my jaw dropped. That’s one expensive deck! I would’ve been sweating making cuts in a sheet like that, good job. 

Any particular reason why you framed with solid rivets versus blind rivets? I have the capability to do both, but I’m just curious.


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## onthewater102 (Jul 9, 2019)

Not my first choice of alloy, but I got the remnants of larger sheets at a price less than what I could have gotten 5052 for. This alloy would not be a good choice for salt water for sure with its higher copper content. It's a PITA to bend as well.

I used .032" 6061 for all the vertical panels, much less expensive, easier to bend, well, less physical effort to bend at any rate, and much MUCH lighter.

Using solid over blind rivets was for the resistance to shear loading and the durability against vibration over time. I forget the exact figure, you can look it up online easy enough to confirm, but a solid rivet is many times stronger than a blind rivet when resisting a shear load. I tried my best to avoid loading the rivets this way (see my earlier post regarding the way I did the vertical bracing connections) but sometimes its inevitable and for those instances I'd rather have solid rivets holding everything together.

Downside is I need to stop working at night after work when it gets dark as not to keep the neighbors awake as they make a ton of noise to set and aren't great for tight spaces.


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## onthewater102 (Jul 9, 2019)

Well, hatches are fitted, hinges still need to be riveted down, but everything lines up.






Bow cap corners are rounded, drilled and ready for rivets. Cut outs are drilled for the corner nav lights. Predrilled the holes for the trolling motor mounting plate - all part of last night's noise-making efforts. Killing me needing to stop working at 9ish when I only get home from work at 7:30 each night.










Hopefully tonight I can get the holes for the electrical accessories cut in the kick panel at the base of the bow cap, get the sharp edges on the decking sheets sanded and ready for install and pour the rest of the foam once it's too noisy to be working on the metal sheets...

I've got a really long punch list and a deadline of the end of the week to make the trip this weekend...we'll see.


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## thedude (Jul 10, 2019)

Great progress. If you need to keep the neighbors awake a little longer and slow down on picture posting we will all understand! 

I'd like to know where you got that retro seat at. 

Is the motor tuned and ready for the trip?

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk


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## onthewater102 (Jul 11, 2019)

I'm pushing the noise envelope to 9:30pm...not too bad for summertime but I'm not going any farther, neighbors have been great thus-far.

The seat came from a shop I found on Ebay that had one listed in the dimensions I needed. I messaged them and asked about the color options and they corresponded very quickly with options and called me to discuss the final design before I placed the order through ebay. Great place to deal with. Here's the link to his ebay store:

https://www.ebay.com/str/nautiupholstery

Motor? Tuned? HA! I have a new starter, new impeller, fresh lube in the lower unit, good spark on all cylinders, 125 PSI compression and a prayer that the carbs work with a set of rebuild kits on standby in case they don't! About the best I can do at this point seeing as I don't have the steering wheel or remote control reinstalled yet. I can reuse the fuel tank from my 14' so I know I don't have issues with the primer bulb or fuel line.

I made good progress last night on the rear section of the boat, though I still haven't poured foam to the front it is ready and waiting. Bench seat is 50% done, framing is all measured and cut and the sheets for the bench are cut and sized. Some assembly required...rear seat post is repaired and ready to reinstall once I attach the fuse block and livewell aerator. Somehow never purchased a bilge pump??? Need to grab one from Walmart on the way home, all I can do at this point...not a big deal.

Bigger deal is the idiot who installed the livewell pump originally set it almost flush with the bottom floor plate of the boat, cutting through the transom just above the weld leaving no material for a washer gasket or even the shoulder of any through-hull fitting securing washer, so I need to make up a patch and seal that off and install the pump a little higher up. Would have been nice to just replace the pump, but whatever was installed from 1985 is long since gone from the market, so I had to replace the housing. Playing that close to the transom weld with rivets makes me nervous, but can't be avoided.

Keep meaning to repack the trailer wheel bearings once I can't be making noise but I've been busy right up till 11pm each night and haven't gotten a chance. Got an assist from my father last night and hopefully tonight if the weather will cooperate.


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## onthewater102 (May 22, 2020)

Yike...a year later and I'm finally closing in on being done.

Too many distractions (including a 12' 1991 Tracker Tadpole that got itself a build-out amidst the Tracker III restore). Finally finished the rod locker door and hatch trim work. Restoring the motor was...challenging...but it's purring like a kitten now and all hooked up ready to go.

Trailer wheel bearings are the last on the must-do list, pictures to follow.


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## onthewater102 (May 28, 2020)

I got my Dr. Frankenmotor on, restored this old 88 Merc 60hp using the cowling and starter from an older setup and a full rebuild of the carbs, fuel pump, impeller, pivot, steering tube and who knows what else. Adjusted the timing and idle settings in the backyard and set the max spark advance per the FSM & have the thing purring like a kitten on the muffs.






Finished the reinstallation of the shifter controls and helm, cracked as it is, to be used as a form and coated over in fiberglass at a later date.The original helm is some sort of plastic (poly by the way it seemed to melt and refuse as I cut it with the reciprocating saw in places) and doesn't seem to be responding well to my plastic welder. 






Plenty of odds and ends were done on the front deck that didn't get pictures including building the door for the rod locker, installing the new fuse box and rewiring everything, adding provisions for a pair of fish finders, replacing the livewell pump motor, bilge pump, circuit panel in the bow with the USB charger & 12v socket, separate red & green nav lights, trolling motor outlet, installing hatches & trim around the hatch openings, fabbing up a lure rack for along the gunwale in the front and probably a few dozen other little items. Also stripped any old carpet backing still glued to the rear deck and removed all but the most stubborn of the old carpet glue. Tracker did such a piss poor job laying out the rear deck it's just an overlapping collage of sheet metal and rivets I'd never be able to paint over it and have it come out clean so I ordered carpet for just the rear deck and Tuff Coat for the front 2/3 of the boat. Prior to prepping it all for paint it looked like this:






Spent a considerable amount of time taping around the edges and even more time cleaning, sanding, and cleaning all the surfaces to be painted before applying primer. All in the prep work was a full day's worth of time.






Finally got to painting from the middle bench forward over the Memorial Day weekend, so the front 2/3 of the boat are close to done, just a few bleed-throughs to be cleaned up where either the paint or primer made their way through the taped off areas to the surfaces below, mainly on the electrical sockets up front.






Bench cushion rivets to be installed now that the bench is painted, and the bench cushion shortly thereafter. Only things remaining now are the rear carpet, livewell remote controls and pull cord modification to the Terrova that I think I'll make a separate thread for.


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## stomper (May 31, 2020)

Beautiful work. I love the "all aluminum" concept.


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## 86tuning (Jun 1, 2020)

LDUBS said:


> I think I'm probably repeating myself here. When I see two part foam being used it reminds me that I saw somewhere that folks layered empty soda or water bottles among the expansion foam to save on the amount of foam needed.



I remember reading an old article on using milk bottles for floatation. They found that it was the metal caps that eventually failed. So with plastic soda bottles and the modern plastic caps, we should be fine. Sure beats pool noodles in any case 

There are so many awesome and inspiring ideas for rigging in this build thread. Thanks for taking time to document and share!

Cheers, 

Brian


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## Flyguy66 (Mar 13, 2021)

Well, I am definitely not that mechanically inclined. Plus this is a brand new boat. Other suggestions please


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## MrGiggles (Mar 13, 2021)

onthewater102 said:


> I got my Dr. Frankenmotor on, restored this old 88 Merc 60hp using the cowling and starter from an older setup and a full rebuild of the carbs, fuel pump, impeller, pivot, steering tube and who knows what else. Adjusted the timing and idle settings in the backyard and set the max spark advance per the FSM & have the thing purring like a kitten on the muffs.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



If you are not dead-set on keeping that console, you can drill the rivets out of the aluminum base and build up off of that.

My Tracker V17 had the same one, but mine was way worse than yours, I did as above and built a new one out of plywood, reused the rotary steering, and just swapped the steering with a nicer one from Ebay.


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## onthewater102 (Mar 16, 2021)

MrGiggles said:


> If you are not dead-set on keeping that console, you can drill the rivets out of the aluminum base and build up off of that.
> 
> My Tracker V17 had the same one, but mine was way worse than yours, I did as above and built a new one out of plywood, reused the rotary steering, and just swapped the steering with a nicer one from Ebay.



I'm not beholden to the console, but it's got a nice low profile, and I think it'll be faster to bury it in fiberglass than it will be to fabricate something entirely new. I'm definitely dumping the original steering wheel in the process one way or the other. I need to add on a protrusion for a tach for the new motor (upgraded to a new 4-stroke Yamaha F60), which shouldn't be hard if I'm playing with fiberglass, and maybe add a windshield. Not getting into any of that though until I finish breaking in the new motor as I've got a week long trip in May fast approaching that I want it all ready to go for.


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## MrGiggles (Mar 16, 2021)

onthewater102 said:


> MrGiggles said:
> 
> 
> > If you are not dead-set on keeping that console, you can drill the rivets out of the aluminum base and build up off of that.
> ...



Looking on your photos again I'm not sure that you could anyway.

Your deck goes all the way to console, mine doesn't, the plastic console had an aluminum base that mounted to the floor, doesn't look like yours did.

I've seen guys make custom speaker boxes out of fiberglass by cutting round donuts out of MDF, suspending them with dowels and hot glue, then stretching cloth over the whole deal and applying resin/mat over that. I figured you could do the same with a boat console, build the base, cut out your dash panel, stretch the cloth out to the desired console shape and have a pretty slick looking setup. 

I've also seen people make a mold out of foam, but that seems more timing consuming to me.


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## onthewater102 (Mar 16, 2021)

MrGiggles said:


> Looking on your photos again I'm not sure that you could anyway.
> 
> Your deck goes all the way to console, mine doesn't, the plastic console had an aluminum base that mounted to the floor, doesn't look like yours did.
> 
> ...



I had to add aluminum flanges to the decking surface to have something mount the console to, they run up the inside face of the vertical side surfaces of the console so you don't see them in the pictures.


If you're going to go trying to fabricate something try window screening as a forming material - a bit more rigid than trying to stretch cloth, applying fiberglass to it is easy, you just need to get the gel style resin rather than the more liquid stuff. I've got a perfectly good form in the plastic console that's there already, so I'll just scuff that thing up so the resin has plenty of surface area to bond to and cover the whole thing.


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