# 1989 FLATSTRACKER 17tx to center console flats boat



## scsdiver (Jun 15, 2012)

well we bought a 89 tracker that was in really good shape as far as the hull is concerned. it was in a bit of a project phase as you will see as soon as i can get the pics uploaded. they had replaced the front deck and floor and made a center console for it but carpeted all of it and used PT plywood. so out all of that has gone now. the previous owner whom happen to be the original owner removed all the foam in the bow for us!! currently we are removing the rear decking and foam. we got half of the rear foam removed to this point and hope to finish the rest tonight. our goal was to remove the standard bass boat seating arrangement in the back and square off the back deck by rotating the live well side ways. that led us to discover the wet foam in the floor and well now we will be building a new rear deck area!


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## scsdiver (Jun 16, 2012)

will get some more pics up tonight. all decks, floor and entire rear area are removed. water tested the hull and pressure washed it last night. hopeully a little later this morning we will be able to get the motor off so we can bring the boat in the garage and start preping and priming the bottom of the boat!


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## scsdiver (Jun 16, 2012)

well didnt get as far as we had hoped today but we did get the motor off with ease and got a lot of prep work done almost ready for primer. hopefully by lunch tomorrow we will be ready to prime. we got the boat cleaned out, off the trailer, flipped over and in the garage! the bottom and transom is sanded and ready for primer. All the decals are gone just need to remove left over glue then sand the sides and shes ready for primer. here are some pics of our progess since wednesday night.


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## rusty.hook (Jun 17, 2012)

Great job, you will enjoy for many years.


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## scsdiver (Jun 17, 2012)

got up early and got to removing the glue from all the sticker, patched up a few holes and gouges and finished up all remaining prep. finally got her into primer. it is white primer even though it looks grey.


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## Crocodile (Jun 18, 2012)

I have the same boat that I have just gutted this weekend. It seems heavy to me (may be waterlogged) and I was wondering how many people did it take to flip it over? I plan on primer paint this weekend.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jun 18, 2012)

:WELCOME: Keep us up to date with lots of pictures, Looks great so far.


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## scsdiver (Jun 18, 2012)

fool4fish1226 said:


> :WELCOME: Keep us up to date with lots of pictures, Looks great so far.


Thanks and thanks for your build up you will deff see us borrowing some of your ideas! your lil snookered is awesome! 

hopefully tonight we will be able to wet sand the primer and not have any issues and move to paint tomorrow but we may have to add some more primer tomorrow night worse case. there will be more pics tonight after wetsand.


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## scsdiver (Jun 18, 2012)

well no new pics tonight as you could not really see much difference but i sure did a lot of blocking and sanding!! the primer is almost sanded and hopefully tomorrow the first bit of color will go on.


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## Crocodile (Jun 18, 2012)

Not sure what color that you are going with but I bought the Parker's duck boat paint. I have heard of nothing but good reviews on it. I hope to follow in your footsteps with my project sometime this weekend or next.


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## scsdiver (Jun 19, 2012)

Crocodile said:


> Not sure what color that you are going with but I bought the Parker's duck boat paint. I have heard of nothing but good reviews on it. I hope to follow in your footsteps with my project sometime this weekend or next.



we are going to be painting it two tone white and light yellow like every other flats boat! lol. we are using the benjamin moore p22 paint. we were going to use interlux but the cost and a lot of threads and builds we read guys were using this for a lot less and very similar results. on the test pieces we did just after one coat it looked AWESOME. we are just roll and tipping it. im hoping tonight to get the bottom of the boat painted with atleast the first coat maybe two.


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## turbo4door (Jun 19, 2012)

Crocodile said:


> I have the same boat that I have just gutted this weekend. It seems heavy to me (may be waterlogged) and I was wondering how many people did it take to flip it over? I plan on primer paint this weekend.




We picked it up with just the two of us. I'm not that big of a guy(i'm the guy in the captain picture lol), but with the foam out and motor off it wasn't that bad. The waterlogged foam is probably adding a considerable amount of weight. We used a few ratchet straps to assist with lifting by using them on our shoulders. I won't say it was pretty, but it got the job done.

About to head over and start some paint!


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## SlowRollin' (Jun 19, 2012)

Moving along pretty quick. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

As always, keep the pics coming!

Thx,

T.


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## scsdiver (Jun 19, 2012)

it is moving along pretty well. It really helps when you have someone you get along with that is as motivated as i am to work on the boat every waking moment we can! well tonight we made some good progress we finished getting it all sanded and blocked out and we got one part of the bottom painted white before the begs set in!! for our first go at roll and tipping we are really happy with the turn out.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jun 20, 2012)

Paint looks great - I love white boats, but I guess you kinda know that from my build.


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## scsdiver (Jun 21, 2012)

well we got rained out last night but we finally got to finishing painting the bottom. so pleased with how the paint turned out especially for the first coat!!


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## turbo4door (Jun 24, 2012)

Here's quick timelapse of us painting the bottom white. More to come now that we finally got some of the yellow on there as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBFcqQ9AXTQ&feature=plcp

Also serviced the bottom end of the motor with new seals, impeller, etc.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jun 24, 2012)

Man 44 seconds to paint the whole bottom - you guys are fast :LOL2: Looks great =D>


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## scsdiver (Jun 24, 2012)

the exterior is all painted and looks awesome!! the two tone turned out better than i think we both thought it would. going to let it sit for a week to get good and cured with all the humidity and rain we have had. so not much work up coming other than a few repairs to the trailer.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jun 25, 2012)

Turned out real good - nice clean lines =D>


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## scsdiver (Jun 25, 2012)

fool4fish1226 said:


> Turned out real good - nice clean lines =D>


thank you very much!

we are going to add a 1/4" black pin stripe on the bottom to kind of match the top where the black rub rail will seperate the yellow from the white.
if the interior turns out half as good as this does i know we will be thrilled. i cant wait to start putting the decks fabbed and installed and getting the motor back on it. the motor had exterior of the motor had not had any real attention in a few years and the motor cover is shot but we took some compound to the midsection this weekend and in no time it looked like new! so hoping to get on that project this week and maybe get the top motor cover repainted if debby can back off some of this rain!


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## scsdiver (Jun 29, 2012)

Well thanks to all the rain the paint is still curing!! we did get it out of the garage last nigth and into the sun so hopefully that will help!! hopefully tonight im going to do some little stuff to the trailer and work on finishing the console. maybe if mother nature cooperates with us this weekend we will get her rite sided and and sitting on her new bunk rails.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jun 29, 2012)

Debby is gone we should have some good/dry weather this weekend - just try and stay cool


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## scsdiver (Jun 30, 2012)

well finally made some forward progress today/nigtht. removed all the stuff from the front of the trailer and cleaned it all up and re painted and galvanized the parts. hopefully i will get the new lights installed tomorrow and the new bunks and all parts greased and reinstalled on the tongue.


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## scsdiver (Jul 1, 2012)

well i managed to get new wires installed for the lights and got the rewored tongue, jack and winch re installed.


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## DaveInGA (Jul 1, 2012)

looking good, getting a trailer completed is half the battle


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## scsdiver (Jul 14, 2012)

well been a few days and work has slowed up the progress some but mostly been waiting on the paint to be well cured before righting the boat. but have made some good progress over the past few days. leafs were removed, cleaned up repainted and reinstalled with new hardware. replaced the old ubolts and reinstalled the axle. replaced the old bottom and side bunks. spent all day today working on the front deck and should have it wrapped up tomorrow i hope. got the wiring installed througout the boat. got the floor installed in the bow where we wanted it. installed the fuel cell and battery box. installed the anchor box and got the framework installed and very rigid to hold the deck. tomorrow we will get the live well plumbed and deck ready to be installed with the hatches.


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## fish2keel (Jul 14, 2012)

scsdiver,

where near edgewater do you fish? I live in port orange and looking for some fishing grounds. 

Ill be following this boat build close! looking great so far!


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## scsdiver (Jul 15, 2012)

fish2keel said:


> scsdiver,
> 
> where near edgewater do you fish? I live in port orange and looking for some fishing grounds.
> 
> Ill be following this boat build close! looking great so far!



thanks for the props! I fish from the lagoon to turnbull bay. i dont like to fish the same place very often and try not to go to the same place more than once a month or two. the only place i dont fish is haulover canal. i have fished it several times and literally been within casting distance of 5 different people catching bull reds and have not pulled a single fish out of the canal!! one of the guy's i was fishing by felt bad for me and gave me his spot and told me where,how and what to use and still nothing!! thats prob the only place i dont go anymore.


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## scsdiver (Jul 15, 2012)

doesnt really look like it but made a lot of progress today. live well is completely installed, plumbed and tested and works good. fuel cell is finally installed permanetly well i hope it is anyways. fuel line is installed from front to back. just need to get barb for cell to hook it up. finished making provisions for anchor and live well hatches. installed bracing for front seat base.


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## scsdiver (Jul 16, 2012)

well i made some pretty good progress tonight. got home today and my fuel sending unit that was not suppose to arrive until wednesday was sitting at the door!!!! thank you amazon. so of course that had to get installed in the fuel cell. it had a site gauge in it originally so now i can hook up to electric gauge. im sure a lot of you have the same feeling as i do now after all this work its nice to finally be talking about and seeing things like gauges coming soon!! anyways i got the front deck cut out and roughed in and pretty happy with it. i painted the inside of the anchor well with some silver rustoleum hammered paint. then i moved on to prepping and painting the trolling motor bracket and seat base with some white hammered paint. So i have used the silver on several other projects including the winch on the trailer and MAN does that stuff hold up and cover very well. this is the first time i have used the white and i sure hope after a few coats it covers better!! it seems very thin in comparison, as i actually had three runs, than the other colors and did not seem to cover nearly as well.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jul 17, 2012)

Coming along nicely - soon it will be fishing time!


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## scsdiver (Jul 17, 2012)

fool4fish1226 said:


> Coming along nicely - soon it will be fishing time!




what is the "fishing time" you speak of! lol oh yeah thats why im building this thing!! lol
its been like a month since i have gone fishing im just about into complete lack-o-fishing shock.


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## hollywooddippa (Jul 20, 2012)

Very cool setup!!! Be sure to post some pics of it on the water. I want to see how it sits.


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## scsdiver (Jul 22, 2012)

got a little closer last night. have actually worked in the past week every night but been doing all those little things like painting the inside of compartments and wiring, lighting etc.. got the back deck pretty much framed out. will be adding a few more peices of angle on the transom and we are going to be putting two flush seat bases in the back so we willl be adding some branckets for them to mount to hopefully tonight.


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## vahunter (Jul 23, 2012)

Man this boat is gonna be sweet! Good job!


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## scsdiver (Jul 23, 2012)

well had to work all weekend so didnt get anything done yesterday. tonight i got the paint stripped off the outboard cover as it was dead as dead could be! i bought some tracker spray paint i got from ebay and i am super happy with the outcome. it looks spot on to the rest of the motor. the mid section is in great shape on the out board but i think i am going to spray the lower unit the matches so well!! hope tomorrow night we will get back on the rear deck.


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## scsdiver (Jul 23, 2012)

vahunter said:


> Man this boat is gonna be sweet! Good job!


 
thanks we sure hope so!! i really hope by the end of the week that we have the decks in.


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## scsdiver (Jul 26, 2012)

well have been working on the boat but have been doning a lot of little things that need to be done. we just made another center console tonight and version 2.0 looks way better. i will post some pics of it tomorrow. finally got the rear deck frame work all installed and ready to be decked. we added several pieces of reinforcement that may not have been needed but hey im 6'1 300lbs you can never have to much support!! found the wood that was in the bow that neither one of us realised actually had a piece of wood in it was rotten so we removed it and rather than installing new wood we replaced it with new angle aluminium instead and now it doesnt flex at all! we have removed everything off of the rails and bow as much as possible to keep things very smooth so we started tonight and tomorrow i will hopefully finish filling and finishing all of the old holes and making front and rear of the boat smooth. ill post pics of that tomorrow as well.


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## scsdiver (Jul 31, 2012)

well its been very slow going over the weekend and last couple days. trying to get all the flushing and filling of holes done and transom primed. ill post some pics tonight but finally got the filling and smoothing done and removed ALL the factory and after thought holes from the entire boat. hopefully tonight will get to prime transom. the other owner of the boat is now on second shift so we are trying to tackle it as much as we both can. hopefully if i do my part tonight he will get to put second coat of prime on tomrrow and maybe ill get to put first coat of paint on transom tomorrow. will post some pics tonight of the center console and smooth decks.


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## scsdiver (Jul 31, 2012)

finally getting some pics up of what looks like very little work. but then again we have not had a lot of time to work on it. crossing my fingers tongiht that tomorrow he will be able to prime transom and bow!! and maybe actually get a motor back on the boat by the weekend!!


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## BigTerp (Jul 31, 2012)

Looking good man!! What did you use to fill the screw holes in the bow? I have a few I need to fill and sand smooth, been trying to find some ideas.


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## scsdiver (Jul 31, 2012)

BigTerp said:


> Looking good man!! What did you use to fill the screw holes in the bow? I have a few I need to fill and sand smooth, been trying to find some ideas.



I found some stuff at ace hardware that is kind of like jb weld called cold steel. seems to bond better and cure harder than jb weld. seems to work well.


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## BigTerp (Aug 1, 2012)

scsdiver said:


> BigTerp said:
> 
> 
> > Looking good man!! What did you use to fill the screw holes in the bow? I have a few I need to fill and sand smooth, been trying to find some ideas.
> ...



Thanks man. Keep up the good work. I can't wait to see the finished project!!!


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## scsdiver (Aug 1, 2012)

bow and transom are now primed and hopefully some light sanding tomorrow and we will get the first coat of paint on the transom and one step closer to re-installing the motor. started working on prepping the console for electronics, cables and steering.


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## scsdiver (Aug 4, 2012)

finally made some big progress today. got the floors and deck cut and roughed in. got almmost all the trim pieces cut and will have them done quickly tomorrow. would have had some better pictures but mother nature had other ideas tonight. ill get some good ones tomorrow of it all installed.


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## turbo4door (Aug 6, 2012)

We got some work done this weekend despite some crappy weather. Just glad we had the easy-up for some shelter.


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## fool4fish1226 (Aug 10, 2012)

=D> Man that thing is starting to look really good - great job :beer:


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## vahunter (Aug 10, 2012)

Did you build or buy the hatch in the back? Ive been wanting to add one but I'm contemplating building or buying.


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## scsdiver (Aug 16, 2012)

vahunter said:


> Did you build or buy the hatch in the back? Ive been wanting to add one but I'm contemplating building or buying.



yes i made the rear hatch. its a stock size for a work project so we just made it fit in the boat.


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## scsdiver (Aug 16, 2012)

fool4fish1226 said:


> =D> Man that thing is starting to look really good - great job :beer:




thank you!!! hopefully if mother nature could back off just a little bit we can get this thing done. she has been really putting a damper on it.


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## scsdiver (Aug 16, 2012)

since the last post we have made a lot of very little progress! its down to all those tiny little time consuming things. we installed the recirc/aeriator in the live well. we have made several improvements to seat base areas, added some additional deck support, re installed somethings that between my father and just getting accustomed to working aluminium i learned how to do better. all of the courtesy lights and live well lights are installed in the bow. sorry i will have to take pics of them once there working you just cant see them in the pics. we decided to install the seat bases under the decks so that they look nicer ( also what prompted some of the re working of the frame work). all of the plywood flooring.decking and trim pieces have been cut/final fit and sanded and awaiting mother nature to allow us to install them. all the pieces have been coated with Spar and we put 4 coats on the bottom of all pieces and 2 coats on top and 6 on the edges. the tops have been re sanded and once we get them installed we will put one-two more coats of spar on them then prime and paint. also picked up the vinyl logo's this week at a local shop and WOW this lady did a great job and very very reasonable! cant wait to get them on.


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## scsdiver (Aug 16, 2012)

angle used on rear hatch


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## theyyounggun (Aug 16, 2012)

Nice! =D>


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## scsdiver (Aug 16, 2012)

well got home late tonight so not much accomplished but i did get the trolling motor painted. it was a black motor. if anyone has not used the fusion paint yet WOW is all i can say. i think it may be the best thing i have ever sprayed out of a can next to the dark colors in the hammered stuff. the plastic does not look like it was painted it looks like white plastic! i painted the motor with some epoxy paint in hopes it will last longer.


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## fool4fish1226 (Aug 17, 2012)

Sweet that paint does look really good :beer:


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## mcateercustom (Aug 18, 2012)

Man this is looking sharp now! =D>


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## Rock Crusher (Aug 18, 2012)

Looking great! Can't wait to see the finished product.


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## mmf (Aug 20, 2012)

Boat looks great man! I don't understand though, why you completely skipped over replacing the wood in the transom. 98% of the ones I have restored had rotten wood hidden in the sandwiched in aluminum on the transom. Yes, it's a lot of work to re-do it but the peace of mind later is worth the effort.


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## scsdiver (Aug 20, 2012)

mmf said:


> Boat looks great man! I don't understand though, why you completely skipped over replacing the wood in the transom. 98% of the ones I have restored had rotten wood hidden in the sandwiched in aluminum on the transom. Yes, it's a lot of work to re-do it but the peace of mind later is worth the effort.


previous owner had already done it so we didnt skip it it was already done. pretty luck there!!


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## scsdiver (Aug 20, 2012)

we had hoped to get the floor/decks installed this weekend but we are finally ready for them. finally got all the little BS stuff done and got the boat completely cleaned, vacuumed, washed, vacuumed! we had some set back yesterday on the motor. the old steering linkage was seized inside the pass through on the motor bracket. so after a considerable amount patience and work we were succesffull in getting it removed!!! so we cleaned and polished the inside of the tube and reinstalled it. finally got the motor back on the boat all the wires, linkages, fuel line, steering cable all hooked up and ready to go. even got the battery hooked up and trimmed the motor down! will post some pictures tonight.


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## rivercity (Aug 20, 2012)

Nice job! Very, very nice job!

I like that small footprint center console. Hard to believe you haven't done that before. Get them welded up and you could sell them!


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## scsdiver (Aug 20, 2012)

rivercity said:


> Nice job! Very, very nice job!
> 
> I like that small footprint center console. Hard to believe you haven't done that before. Get them welded up and you could sell them!


 thank you!! if we ever change it i will weld it together next time!


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## rivercity (Aug 20, 2012)

Benjamin Moore P22 top and bottom? Any skid additive on top? What primer did you use on the aluminum?

I just ran down to the neighborhood Benjamin Moore store, and at $51/ gallon, P22 is cheap. Claimed 400 sq feet of coverage? I'm looking at a similar paint project. Lighter color anti slip inside and neutral outside on a 20 ft alum open boat. Love your built up deck and all its features, but I run in a river where I need my feet firmly below the outside water level! 

Might steal your console design and paint scheme though. I'm considering putting a gas tank in the console, either in one like yours or similar w/ bump out front where you could put a cushion on it (more room for gas).


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## scsdiver (Aug 21, 2012)

rivercity said:


> Benjamin Moore P22 top and bottom? Any skid additive on top? What primer did you use on the aluminum?
> 
> I just ran down to the neighborhood Benjamin Moore store, and at $51/ gallon, P22 is cheap. Claimed 400 sq feet of coverage? I'm looking at a similar paint project. Lighter color anti slip inside and neutral outside on a 20 ft alum open boat. Love your built up deck and all its features, but I run in a river where I need my feet firmly below the outside water level!
> 
> Might steal your console design and paint scheme though. I'm considering putting a gas tank in the console, either in one like yours or similar w/ bump out front where you could put a cushion on it (more room for gas).



yes the top and bottom are benjamin moore p22. it does cover really well and seems to go a long ways. you can see the side of the boat we used about a quarter of a gallon maybe little less and that was two good coats. we used the STIX primer on the aluminium. we have not painted the decks yet but we intend to use walnut shells as our anti skid. i will tell you the paint deff needs atleast a good week in the sun to dry before you do any thing major with it. the tech sheet for the paint says 30days to cure. we are adding a cooler to the front of our console but we actually had intentions of installing a bump out on the front of it for a seat/storage but decided a removable cooler would suit us better.


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## skiff00 (Aug 21, 2012)

I am also working on a Bass Tracker 16, about have transom com[pleted and ready for prime and paint, what type of primer did you use and does the paint come in several colors. I am also converting to center consol but have not found a console yet, any suggestions...


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## rivercity (Aug 22, 2012)

skiff00 said:


> I am also working on a Bass Tracker 16, about have transom com[pleted and ready for prime and paint, what type of primer did you use and does the paint come in several colors. I am also converting to center consol but have not found a console yet, any suggestions...



How about starting a project posting for your Tracker? I would like to follow your center console conversion as i intend to do the same. Taking pics now to start my own project.


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## mcateercustom (Aug 22, 2012)

Yeah I'd like to see it too!


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## scsdiver (Aug 26, 2012)

skiff00 said:


> I am also working on a Bass Tracker 16, about have transom com[pleted and ready for prime and paint, what type of primer did you use and does the paint come in several colors. I am also converting to center consol but have not found a console yet, any suggestions...


 

we wanted to use a fiberglass console but could not really find one we liked and i came up with a hair brained idea and said ill make one out of aluminium and well we now have a small aluminium console. took me two and a half tries to get it the way we wanted. the whole boat is built around the simple concept of less is more. we are trying to keep everything very simple, streamlined, very flush, and smooth as possible. so our console is kind of just that simple. as far as the primer goes we are using stix primer on the alumium and on the wood we are using a base of spar urethane to seal it then using aqualux primer and the ben moore paint. the paint can be tinted any color in the ben moore wheel of colors.


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## scsdiver (Aug 26, 2012)

got a lot accomplished today. we decided to use walnut shells for anti slip in the boat so we got started on that hot and heavy today. all the pieces that are getting have been coated first coat and hopefully weather permitting we will get the second coat on tomorrow. we taped off the areas we wanted to cover and applied spar and scattered the shells as even as possible. then use a sheet of alumium we have and smashed them down to bury them in the spar and even the out as much as possible then turned the pieces on there side and dumped all the extra off. once excess was cleaned up we removed tape and let them dry. the console go the steering wheel rack installed today as well as the cup holders and holes for the gauges and radio. our second mission tomorrow will be to get the shifter installed and then the switches drilled in , cut in the speakers and test fit everything then remove everything and get it in primer and paint.


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## DON75 (Aug 26, 2012)

I would just mix the shells in with the varnish.


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## scsdiver (Aug 30, 2012)

well the shells are on and looks awesome!! we have made a ton of progress. we ended up taking the decks (all of them) and taping off the areas we did not want to cover with the shells. then we put a moderate coat of spar on and applied the shells. just fyi anyone else who tries this heed this bit of info. we put on just enough shells to cover the area without showing any plywood but not so much that it was really thick. there is a VERY fine line between to much and not enough!! once the shells were spread out evenly as possible i used a tide bottle i use for scooping my sand blasting sand and dropped the shells on the deck. then we took a piece of sheeting we had left and pressed the shells to get the evenly tamped down. then took the decks and stood them up vertical and knocked off all the excess. we divided all of the decks in half so we only did one half at a time. once we were done with each half we removed the tape before the spar dried to give a nice clean edge. we let the one half dry then did the other so as not to have any problems with it falling off the one side or the excess getting into the first side. was a lenghthy but well worth it. once the shells were on totally and the spar was dry we then applied a heavy top coat of spar to the whole deck and let dry. the end result we think could not have turned out better!! we got our console all assembled with all the electronics, gauges, switches, contrtols, radio and cup holders. getting the controls to be flushed in was a huge pain in the you know what but a pain that sure looks good! we have taken it all back apart now and put the first coat of primer on it and we took apart the controls to spruce them up as well.


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## Zum (Aug 31, 2012)

Looks great,nice working.


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## scsdiver (Sep 3, 2012)

we finally got all the little bs stuff wrapped up yesterday and go the decks installed!! today i got the holes filled, replaced the shells where we drilled and filled and shelled the floor joint. i got the front hatches installed and added some wood underneath for support where there was not deck frame. we bought slam latches and im not sure how hard you have to slam these darn things to get them to actually latch but i am pretty sure it would take more effort that the latch could withstand! they look good though and work well from the latch/handle standpoint.


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## scsdiver (Sep 4, 2012)

Got the floor and rest of the boat in primer yesterday. we got two coats on pretty much the entire thing. the console had a couple days to dry so i started assmebling/wiring it up hope to finish or get close to finishing it tonight.


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## Zum (Sep 4, 2012)

Wow,what a difference,nice job.


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## bigwave (Sep 4, 2012)

That deck job turned out awesome. =D>


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## PitFishin' (Sep 4, 2012)

very nice! =D>


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## vahunter (Sep 4, 2012)

That looks excellent! You're doing an amazing job. Keep up the good work


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## scsdiver (Sep 4, 2012)

vahunter said:


> That looks excellent! You're doing an amazing job. Keep up the good work



thanks all of you guys,

how did you make out with your hatch? 

got sanding done tonight and then mother nature decided to show her head!!


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## vahunter (Sep 5, 2012)

I wish I could say it was done. I don't like to start a project until I know I'll have time. I've been really busy the past couple weeks and I still have a couple things to finish up. Then, my weekends are booked from duck and deer hunting and family time. Depending on how work is going I may be able to mess with it in a week or two...I hope


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## fool4fish1226 (Sep 6, 2012)

Boat looks great - lovin the deck - I may steal that someday :beer:


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## scsdiver (Sep 7, 2012)

still trying to get everything smoothed out in the floor and decks and dealing with mother nature. hopefully last night i got all of the screw holes leveled off and some little imperfections fixed. i have been working on getting the consoled assembled and wired and i made some pretty good progress last night. The quad gauge is installed and wired to the terminal block. the radio is installed, speakers connected and tied into the fuse panel and switch. the lowrance is installed and wired into fuse block and switch. all of the switches have on indicator led's so they all have ground and are all independenlty connected to the fuse block. i need to make up the wires to hook up from the terminal strip to the switches for all the wiring that is in the boat that needs switched. I was going to install a seloniod that the master switch would throw to power the fuse block however the selonoid i have is bad so going to the store today to see what i can get. I should get that done tongiht. i will upload more pics once the other wiring is neat enough.


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## scsdiver (Sep 9, 2012)

she is all painted!! we spent all weekend preping and painting. we put two coats of paint on. before we painted i installed some drainage in the floor and some in the rear platform. i angled two 3/4" holes in the back of the floor you can see in the one pic. in the rear platform i two 3/8" holes and used some clear tubing i had to run from the deck to the bottom of the hull. i forgot to take any pics of that but i will later.


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## Zum (Sep 9, 2012)

Your going show up to fish and alot of those glass guys,are going to start thinking aluminum.


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## scsdiver (Sep 9, 2012)

Zum said:


> Your going show up to fish and alot of those glass guys,are going to start thinking aluminum.


thanks!! i will deff be lighter! lol


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## scsdiver (Sep 9, 2012)

Zum said:


> Your going show up to fish and alot of those glass guys,are going to start thinking aluminum.


thanks!! i will deff be lighter! lol


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## Bean Counter (Sep 10, 2012)

very good job. That deck looks great.


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## Jonboat Jerry (Sep 10, 2012)

Excellent work SCS! I liked the Walnut Shells for non-skid, let us know how it holds up to use.
Very sanitary build.....your Tin is definately going to turn some heads. Any plans for graphics on the sides?
Keep Hacking ...Jerry


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## scsdiver (Sep 10, 2012)

Jonboat Jerry said:


> Excellent work SCS! I liked the Walnut Shells for non-skid, let us know how it holds up to use.
> Very sanitary build.....your Tin is definately going to turn some heads. Any plans for graphics on the sides?
> Keep Hacking ...Jerry



I deff hope you dont mind i am stealing your hatch idea for the bow of my boat! i am going to make the front aluminium area that normally just is a cover into a hinged hatch just like you did!! thanks for the kind words really hope to have it in the water this weekend! I have some tracker logo's i had made that will be going on and i have a new decal set i designed for the outboard to put on yet. no graphics yet we are still working the name and that might have some graphics in it but not sure yet. Im starting to think it should be called gilligan's island since our quick three hour renovation has turned into a four month project! lol but we are both super happy how its coming together and we really are getting everything we wanted and how and where we wanted it. i hope to have some pics up tonight of the poling platform i built.


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## spotco2 (Sep 11, 2012)

I'm curious about the changes you made to your rolling and tipping process. That turned out slick!


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## scsdiver (Sep 11, 2012)

spotco2 said:


> I'm curious about the changes you made to your rolling and tipping process. That turned out slick!



well i have been using a very fine bristle brush and switched up for a foam brush to start with. but i tried tipping before hand with a foam brush like i saw so many others do using a dry foam brush and it turned out in my opinion awfull so i went with a good dry fine bristle. well i found that a wet foam brush works even better! and i tipped it in two directions. by that i mean if we rolled it left to right i would first tip it front to back all the way across the piece then i would re-tip it left to right and wow it really seem to lay down i think as perfect as i could ever hope for with a roller and brush. i will post another picture of the bow as it is the biggest flat section on the boat and it really looks like glass. we had to go to my dads and paint as the weather was being tempormental this last weekend and my neighbor came over yesterday as i brought it back home and he thought i had taken it to a place and had it painted it laid down so nice. we were absolutely blown away with the end result. really wish i would have figured out this technique on the bottom.


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## scsdiver (Sep 11, 2012)

trying to stay out of the boat for the week and let the paint cure so working out side i am trying to get the platform finished up and installed. i got the bow lights installed tonight and tested.


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## Talons (Sep 12, 2012)

Awesome bow lights! Where did you get them?
Talons


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## Crocodile (Sep 12, 2012)

I am about to install lights on my tracker this weekend and I like the look of yours. Where did you get them? How much? Details man... We need details.


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## scsdiver (Sep 12, 2012)

Crocodile said:


> I am about to install lights on my tracker this weekend and I like the look of yours. Where did you get them? How much? Details man... We need details.



i cant give out all my secrets now guys! no just kidding these things are very inexpensive. if you search for waterproof led strips on ebay you will find them. i am not sure if i can post a link on here or not. they sell the same lights at autozone,advanced discount, west marine however there ridiculously priced. i had these as i intalled them on our kayaks but i bought a 5meter roll of red and a 5 meter foll of green for about 20 dollars a roll for. if you just want enough lights for a bow about the size of mine a 60cm led light strip would be more than enough and you can cut it down them down to size. you want to get the SMD 5050 led's they 3528 are much cheaper and they are pretty bright but they are not as brights as the 5050 and they are not as efficient battery consumption wise either. you can pick up the small sections for about 2-5 bucks shipped. if you guys like these your going to love our stern lights and courtesy lights. i will take a better pic of them today when i get home so you can see how they install. they are very easy to work with and very waterproof i have them on the bottom of my kayak for night fishing and we may install some on the bottom of the boat after we get it in the water. i have had marine patrol stop me at night just to tell me how bright the lights are tell me how far away they could see them. actually had two sherriff officers come up on me one night and they went about a mile away which was as far as they could go and then came back and said they could see me no problem. my only recomendations is dont put them in a place where you will have to see them there blinding!


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## scsdiver (Sep 14, 2012)

Big Night tonight. been letting the paint dry for a while before we walked on it. going ot get the console installed and all the interior lights, and hatches. unless we have a major issue hope to have her in the water this weekend. It was a big day we finally came to a agreement on the name and it is kind of cheesy but FLATSTRACKER she is.


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## DaveInGA (Sep 26, 2012)

Looking good and the name sounds fine. I sent you a PM with some wiring information I'm hoping will help.


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## scsdiver (Sep 26, 2012)

DaveInGA said:


> Looking good and the name sounds fine. I sent you a PM with some wiring information I'm hoping will help.


yes sir it sure did. deff hooked me up with the tach wire unfortunately i found out my brand new tach is bad! go figure. thanks for the schematic though very much appreciated.


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## scsdiver (Sep 26, 2012)

well i suppose the phrase " Bust Out Another Thousand" wouldnt be true if it wasnt a boat. ran into a bunch of non sence little issues. between bad switches and locked up throttle linkages more bad switches, small fire, crappy fuse block and i am pretty sure a bad tach not sure what else can go wrong now. ok enough complaining. console is in and mostly wired up. i say mostly due to our tach issue and the temp horn needing some replacement. all but three lights are installed and have to finish the poling platform to install two of them. we hope this weekend to take her on her maiden voyage. here are some new pics.


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## fool4fish1226 (Sep 27, 2012)

It's always the little things that slow you down and cost you money. Boats looking great :beer:


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## scsdiver (Oct 1, 2012)

well maiden voyage went well. had some cooling issues with the motor that are almost resolved. we have a few things left to do, finishing lighting up and the platform so hope.


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## fordwrench (Oct 1, 2012)

Looks good.


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## Loggerhead Mike (Oct 1, 2012)

Very good


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## kfa4303 (Oct 4, 2012)

Hi scsdiver. I just stumbled across your thread and wanted to compliment you on the great work. I was also wondering if you had any more pics of your LED set up. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna steal your entire set up, but I'm terrible with electrical stuff. Any pics, schematic, or a write up would be awesome. Keep up the great work. Thanks.


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## scsdiver (Oct 7, 2012)

FINALLY has two successfull trips out on the boat tongiht with no motor problems! we have spent the last two weeks chasing issue after issue and finally got them all worked out. even took it to dinner tonight. we hope to finish the rest of the build by next week.


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## fool4fish1226 (Oct 8, 2012)

Glad to hear you got the bugs worked out. :beer:


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## Gators5220 (Nov 12, 2012)

Lookin sick!


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## Badbagger (Nov 22, 2012)

Nice work... 4 a.m. and had been wondering what ighting lady yellow would look like on a tinny. Once I pickup my new to me SeaArk 1872, going to Linex the interior and paint the exterior with a good paint. Been going back and forth between fighting lady yellow and white. It gets hot on the flats in the summer in N. Florida and a light color is a must. Great work!


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## turbo4door (Dec 8, 2012)

Well, looks like its time for a final update on the project.

We finished the platform some time ago, got all the lighting installed and thought we were ready to go. Turns out we had some motor issues still! We chased it and chased it around and finally found a HUGE amount of scale in the water jackets around the cylinders. We finally got it all cleaned and all seems to be running much better now. 

On the water, pre-platform.






Night interior (with ability to change lighting color)





Platform and lighting for the motor/Nav





Bow Lights





So yeah...just a little scale buildup!








Thanks for looking, and for the encouragement and help


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## DWD (Dec 8, 2012)

Just want to say..Outstanding looking tin!!


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## Country Dave (Dec 8, 2012)

Wise man say “No flushy motor, you have big pwalablem” :LOL2: Glad you got it worked out. Your build was great. The boat looks exceptional. =D> Good luck with it.


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## ifish4redd (Dec 8, 2012)

looks great =D>


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## highvoltageva (Dec 8, 2012)

how do you connect the LED's. if you buy a 16ft roll but need 4 ft in 4 different places how do you connect the 3 with no plugs??? i'm getting ready to buy some lights for my build when i saw your Bow lights and loved them.


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## Gators5220 (Dec 12, 2012)

Man that thing is sweet! Nice build, wish I had a tracker to turn into a flats boat!


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## kylebacc (Dec 15, 2012)

Holy crap. This is AWESOME. Like... REALLY AWESOME... =D>


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## PitFishin' (Dec 19, 2012)

=D> this is one of my favorite builds! excellent job fellas


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## crabsandbottlecaps (Jan 29, 2014)

Ya I seen a lot of people use these lights but not sure how there connecting them and what there doing with the converter box... how did u run yours ?


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## zacksimpson (Jan 29, 2014)

Man, that's a sharp build. Makes me second guess myself on going camo on mine. Make this one a flats boat and buy a open hull jon boat to duck hunt with... Decisions, decisions...


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## SF Flats Fisher (Feb 8, 2014)

This is one heck of a build. I don't think I have ever seen a build this clean. Great job guys!


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