# [UPDATE]Finally my tracker 1542 is done! well almost........



## Leelatt (Jun 30, 2012)

[UPDATE] See page 3 for new progress on boat.


Made some significant progress on my build this weekend, been slowly working on it over time, but it's 3/4's of the way done.

Front shot of frame work. used 1 inch aluminum box tubing along with 1 1/2 inch aluminum L angle.






Deck installed. it's 2 pieces, 1 covers from bow to middle of the gap between front and mid bench, the other covers from middle of gap to the far side of the mid bench. both are 1/2 inch ply wood sealed with 2 coats of spar urethane. screwed down into the aluminum supports with 2 inch wood to sheet metal screws.





Hatches are also 1/2 inch ply, installed locks on both to keep the stored stuff secure when the boat is sitting in the drive way.





Under the front deck:





Mid section floor and side walls. floor is same as front deck, 1/2 ply with urethane coating. it's sitting on a box frame of 1 inch aluminum box tube. left side wall is for tackle trays and other loose storage plus the collapsible oar and rear pole navigation light. eventually I will add cup holders to either side.





Early stage of the electrical, needs to be organized haha it's a mess at the moment. but everything works perfectly.





DSI transducer mounted on transom, board is sealed and marine epoxy-ed to the transom, feels very solid.





Left side box holds collapsible paddle and rear nav pole light:





Aerator in live well, going to silicone around the hatch edge as whenever it pours the live well fills with water, most of it drains but as you can see some stays and becomes stagnant sometimes.





Rear section, at the moment it houses 2 group 29 DC batteries and a bilge pump, can also see pole light base and all the missing paint, paint just rubs off of everything 





That's it for now, plan to get a lot more done this week as I'm off all week for the 4th. Picking up my gas motor tomorrow, it's a 25HP rude w/ electric start.
remaining plans are the rear deck, and seat mounts.

still need to decide on the following, 
1.) what seats to get for the boat
2.) what trolling motor to get, I've narrowed it down to either an 80lbs maxxum or an 80lbs terrova, never used a foot controlled motor so I have no idea which is better.
3.) what size gas tank I should get, not sure what the average/normal size is.


If anyone has any input and suggestions I'm all ears as this is my first boat and first build.


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## Bugpac (Jun 30, 2012)

The pictures are to big I think. Yup that's the problem, resize them to the largest side being 800 pixels max. I generally resize all of mine to 640x480 for forum view.


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## tnriverluver (Jun 30, 2012)

Nice job! I like the side boxes. I am going to copy yours when I finally get started on mine. I keep putting off modifying mine thinking I might trade it off and hate to loose even more money by doing so.


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## Leelatt (Jun 30, 2012)

hmmm I resized all of the images to be 640x 480 and it still doesn't work.

thanks tnriverluver, I got the idea from franner's build, you should take a look at hers.


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## Bugpac (Jun 30, 2012)

Leelatt said:


> hmmm I resized all of the images to be 640x 480 and it still doesn't work.
> 
> thanks tnriverluver, I got the idea from franner's build, you should take a look at hers.



First one worked for me, but apparently the rest are still over 800 pixels wide. and that one is 536 x 960.


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## Leelatt (Jun 30, 2012)

there we go, figured it out, the "resize all" option on photobucket didn't save the settings in the images, only when I was viewing them, issue fixed.


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## trueblue1970 (Jun 30, 2012)

Your boat looks great.....really nice layout. Good luck!


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## Leelatt (Jul 10, 2012)

finished up the back deck over the holiday weekend:

Long shot of the boat:





Rear hatch closed:





Rear hatch open:





Back section:





still have a few more small things to do on it but that's a few weeks off.

Trolling motor comes on monday, decided to go with the 80# MK terrova with auto pilot and universal sonar 2. no idea how it mounts to the deck yet, anyone here have one that they can post up a picture or two so I can get an idea of what to expect? going to wire it all up when it comes, need to pick up a 2nd deep cycle battery for it though. speaking of which, I know you shouldn't use an older battery with a newer battery but unfortunately I can't find a battery manufactured in the same month as my other two that I currently have, both of which are a year apart. I can find one that's 2 months away from my newest one, is that ok to use them together?


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## fool4fish1226 (Jul 11, 2012)

=D> Boat looks great =D>


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## Vermonster (Jul 11, 2012)

I like it! Nice Clean work! Now get some slime on it!


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## Leelatt (Jul 30, 2012)

got the seat bases installed, the '98 15hp rude has been restored and repainted, waiting on a few parts for it. the trolling motor came in, thing is massive, cabelas had the 60 inch shaft 80# terrova cheaper than the 40 inch shaft version, didn't realize how much room it would take up, is it possible to swap out the shafts?

will try to get pics up this coming weekend, it's been stormy here and I have a paintball outing sunday so hopefully I can nab a few on saturday.

the issue I ran into now is that my 2 batteries are 6 months apart, can I still use these for the 24 volt system? I thought I had read somewhere that you should use 2 batteries that were manufactured at the same time. 

also, 1 says 125 amp hours and the other says 122 amp hours, they're the exact same battery; everstart marine, group 29 DC. the labels are both identical even the sku numbers are the same on the receipts from walmart, any thoughts on this?


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## Scott1298 (Jul 31, 2012)

Do you have pictures of how you built/hinged your side boxes, I'm trying to figure out how to do mine?

Thx,

Scott


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## BaitCaster (Jul 31, 2012)

nice job!


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## Leelatt (Jul 31, 2012)

Scott, I don't have any at the moment, will try to get some this weekend.

I ran a 1" aluminum box tube from the mid bench to the rear bench, riveted to each bench with L angle pieces, this gave me an outer rail to mount the hinges to. might not be the best description but I'll try to get pictures up this weekend.


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## Leelatt (Feb 24, 2013)

Well..... with hurricane sandy I will be redoing half of my build, central flooring is broken and needs to be ripped out and replaced, side boxes also need to be ripped out and replaced. Small hatch gave out and my foot almost went right through so that as well will need to be ripped out, I had sealed everything with 3 coats of sealer but it seems that the excessive amount of water that piled up in the boat from the hurricane found its way into the boards.

Finally have time to put work into the build, just waiting on the weather to get warmer, I'll keep this updated when I finally get to repair and finish the build.

Ideas on horizon:

1) Repair damages
2) 2nd fish finder, humming bird piranha max 180
3) Ram trolling motor mount
4) interior led lights
5) exterior black lights for night fishing
6) speakers.
7) better storage and protection


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## TimRich (Feb 24, 2013)

Good luck on the repairs! Sorry to hear about the damage from the storm.


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## Leelatt (May 6, 2013)

got all of the destroyed parts of the boat fixed, went with thompson's water seal instead of the spar urathane, only 1 coat needed and after 3 days of leaving a decent size puddle of water on a test board, it didn't soak in so I'm feeling good about switching.

installed cup holders, repainted all of the interior compartments and installed the 2nd fish finder.

one major problem though, with the 15hp motor on the back and just me sitting back there, the water level is 4 inches below the top of the transom, I'm worried about this, that the boat could easily be swamped. I'm thinking about getting the beavertail float pods but not sure if the small pods will fit the boat and allow the motor to have full range of movement.

any suggestions?

I plan to get some pictures up this weekend after I take the boat out for a day trip.


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## bryanleavens (May 14, 2013)

Hey leekatt , I see your post is older but I'm new to this and saw your post . Was wondering is there is any stability issues ? Would like to put the same front deck on and also if the plywood is just level from one bench to the other ?


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## Leelatt (May 14, 2013)

Bryan, no stability issues, low transom problem was due to some water logged foam. 

Ply wood is level from mid bench to front bench, if you look at the framework picture you can see how I have it running from bench to bench.

Good luck on your build, I plan to update this thread soon


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## bryanleavens (May 15, 2013)

Thanks for the reply ,will be working on it this weekend ! Thanks again! Love some of your ideas !


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## bryanleavens (May 15, 2013)

Hey leelatt; hope you don't mind a couple of more questions ! What size motor do you use on yours ? The side boxes you made are an excellent idea and am planning on using them as well but only on one side to install a stereo , if I read correctly you said you use square tubing just to run in between benches correct ?


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## Leelatt (May 15, 2013)

not at all.

I have an 80# minn kota terrova on the bow. It seems a bit overkill but most places near me are electric only and I figure I'm gonna upgrade to a larger boat eventually. it moves the boat pretty fast, I can get in and out of places easily.

On the transom I have a 55# minn kota endura c2 which I got for the boat before I did the decking. I keep it in the stern for use as a rudder to run straight, it also helps immensely for getting the boat onto the trailer since the terrova gets in the way of my trailer.

Just got my 1994 15hp rude working and taking it out saturday for the first time, I plan to take some pics saturday and then update this build and provide info on how well it rides and handles with the motor.

yup, 1 inch aluminum square tube, can get at home depot and lowes for about ~$19 per 8 foot long pieces, I used 8 of these (64 total feet) for my entire build. so about ~$152 total for just the frame work.

to attach the square tube to the benches I first took 1 inch "L" angle aluminum (again home depot and lowes have these in 8ft lengths for cheap) and riveted a piece (as wide as the benches) to the side of the bench. then laid the square tubing over these and then riveted them in place once I was happy with the layout.


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## typed by ben (May 16, 2013)

im curious as to the stability of the small triangular casting deck sections on the gunwales- if you step on those do you feel a lot of flex?


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## Leelatt (May 16, 2013)

Ben, which portion? are you talking about the corner braces on the transom of the boat?


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## typed by ben (May 16, 2013)

up by the bow, you have four joists and to the extreme left and right an unsupported triangular area. i didnt know if that section flexed with the plywood. id like to do something almost identical to my boat but i think im gonna use .125 AL sheet. if i followed your pattern im thinking ill need to run some angle along the gunwale as well to support it- or run angled joists through that section.


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## Leelatt (May 16, 2013)

ah gotcha. there's barely any flex if I stand on that portion but I think that's just because of the ply wood. I was going to run a bar along the gunwale when I designed it, however when I laid the plywood on it for a test fit and I walked around on it, that portion didn't flex so I left that part of the build out. 

If I ever decide to replace the front decking with something thinner or even aluminum sheeting I will most likely run some angle or a square tube along the gunwale to support it.


I definitely love the side boxes, I think it is an awesome feature for the boat, I store every thing I need (emergency paddle, light pole, water tight box for phones/mp3/etc, scale, grippers and throw rope) all in the left side box, while the right side box houses all the electrical, spare fuses, electrical tape, spare wire and small tool kit. Plan to add a radio and speakers there as well. you can also cut out a hole in the bench and use it as a rod locker, that was my original idea but I like having everything else stored in there.


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## Leelatt (May 21, 2013)

finally got it out on the water with the gas motor but kept having issues with it all day. didn't take any pictures as it was raining most of the day, will try to when I get her out again on june 1st


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## typed by ben (May 21, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=314966#p314966 said:


> Leelatt » 16 May 2013, 14:26[/url]"]ah gotcha. there's barely any flex if I stand on that portion but I think that's just because of the ply wood. I was going to run a bar along the gunwale when I designed it, however when I laid the plywood on it for a test fit and I walked around on it, that portion didn't flex so I left that part of the build out.
> 
> If I ever decide to replace the front decking with something thinner or even aluminum sheeting I will most likely run some angle or a square tube along the gunwale to support it.
> 
> ...


good calls there. still laying mine out. your project got my wheels turning though. seeing all these finished jobs makes me so sick... i gotta get mine done! :mrgreen:


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## Leelatt (May 21, 2013)

Don't rush into it is the best advice I can give you. I spent 2 months planning every detail of my boat, must have measured everything a few dozen times just to be as sure as possible.


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## typed by ben (May 22, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=315559#p315559 said:


> Leelatt » Yesterday, 22:13[/url]"]Don't rush into it is the best advice I can give you. I spent 2 months planning every detail of my boat, must have measured everything a few dozen times just to be as sure as possible.


no doubt dude. i hate rework.


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## Scott06z71 (May 8, 2014)

Hey, I have a question about the live well lid. Looks like you removed it from bench and then remounted it to the plywood you put down for decking. Did you just drill out the rivets to remove it or is it attached underneath too. Did you have to do any mods to it to re-attach it?


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## Leelatt (Jul 5, 2014)

I just drilled out the rivets with a 3/16" bit, then used wood screws to mount it to the wood.


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## Leelatt (Jul 5, 2014)

SO I haven't been on here in a long time and it's mainly due to my boat and problems with it. Hurricane sandy damaged the boat and I had to redo more than half of it. About a month after I finished redoing all the work, the boat was damaged yet again in a bad storm. We had over a week of rain and 2 chipmunks decided to get into the boat, drown and then block off the drain hole causing the boat to become a swimming pool. If that wasn't bad enough, a tree came down, didn't hit the boat but one of the large branches broke off on its way down and took out the decking in the front. I pretty much drained the water, took the branch out and the boat sat until last week behind my shed, I just had no desire to work on it. Well until now.

To start, I ripped out the entire front decking and decided to go with aluminum sheeting instead. 0.062" 5052 aluminum, was able to get a 12'x8' sheet for $105 which was great. Ran into a small problem, the company told me they deliver to residential, only to get a call a few days later that their small truck was in the shop so I'd have to come pick it up, had to deal with renting a truck to pick it up.

Got it home, measured it, drew the deck pattern and cut it to shape:






got the other side lined up and cut, fits like a tight glove:





Live well cut out lined up perfectly.





With the aluminum sheeting, the edges were a bit flimsy, I had to add in another support towards the walls to support it, I also used some DTM marine paint to repaint the inside as most of the factory paint had chipped off over time:









once the supports were in, I decided it's time to cut the doors out, jigsaw cut like a hot knife through butter:





Once the doors were cut out, I clamped it in place and began drilling all the holes for the rivets to lock it down, I also move front seat back about a foot and a half:





Measured and cut the carpet with 2" on each side to be folded over, I used locktite spray adhesive to glue the carpet to the sheeting, it works incredibly well.









After the carpet was fully glued I placed the sheet into the boat, and began putting the rivets in place, tried to space them out and not over do it:





Unfortunately my rivet tool (arrow brand) broke half way through and wouldn't eject the rivet mandrel or it would break the mandrel half way, got fed up and had to buy a new rivet tool, went with the one from stanley.





Once the decking was in place I put the front platform back in place, I had originally made this platform so that my trolling motor was level with the front rail. I plan on replacing the navigation light as the trolling motor blocks the red portion of the light. I will probably go with a green LED strip and a red LED strip and mount them on the sides of the boat. The small outlet in the right of the image is for the bow trolling motor which is an 80# MK Terrova, circuit breaker, wiring and 2 deap cycle batteries are hidden underneath.





Next up was the side boxes, I had to replace them as well, and I also decided to reinforce them with a vertical support so that the boxes can be utilized as benches as they were a bit flimsy before.





complete view of one side box, even added pole retainers, a small ruler and a utility box to hold pliers, knife, etc.





The other side box, has 4 cup holders, 2 clip on and 2 in the lid. Unfortunately the 2 in the lid won't hold cans so I had to go with the clip on ones, gotta have the beer sitting somewhere safe.





Installed the new doors and the live well lid, rivets made the installation incredibly quick and easy, and it looks much nicer. I also decided to carpet the interior walls above the decking, it looks much more professional and more aesthetically pleasing than seeing the bare metal.





The rear electrical compartment, the smaller circuit breaker (left) goes to the rear trolling motor which is a MK 55# endura C2. The larger circuit breaker (right) powers the rest of the boats electronics which is: Humming bird piranha max 170, lowrance mark 5x dsi, navigation lights, bilge pump (seen below), aerator in live well, accessory outlet, and soon to be the interior lights and exterior black lights along with the horn.





More shots of the carpeting around the interior:













And now it's done, well almost, just need to install the interior and exterior night lights.


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## smackdaddy53 (Jul 5, 2014)

Just an idea for nav lights on the bow...I got waterproof silicone LED strips from Oznium.com ( https://www.oznium.com/waterproof-marine-leds ) and took 3/8" aluminum flat bar and cut the bar about 2" longer than the strip, lightly sanded, wiped with acetone then peeled the 3M protective strip off and stuck them to the strips. Pre drilled rivet holes in the ends of strip, drilled hole in boat for wires to pass through, riveted strips under gunnel caps, ran wire through and siliconed holes up. Worked great.


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## Scott06z71 (Jul 7, 2014)

Nice job redoing your boat. It looks really good. I'm thinking of laying out my boat like you did. It will be nice to have storage below deck so you can move around the boat without stuff all at your feet. Thanks for sharing the pictures.


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## jethro (Jul 7, 2014)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=358425#p358425 said:


> smackdaddy53 » 05 Jul 2014, 23:37[/url]"]Just an idea for nav lights on the bow...



Whoa, I think I might get busted for jacklighting here in NH if I had those lights! They look bright!


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## Leelatt (Jul 7, 2014)

That's exactly what I was thinking of Smackdaddy, I ordered a set of white and a set of UV for courtesy lights inside the boat and then night fishing lights on the outside, figured I'd order red and green if they came out nice. But after seeing yours I think I'm just gonna go ahead and order them now, those look bright and well done.

Now I just need to remove the exterior paint from the hull and re-do it as it's missing in a good amount of places. Any suggestions on paint strippers? I tried the drill and wire brush method but it's not worth the time it takes. I was thinking of the rustoleum auto paint stripper or the aircraft stripper but not sure how effective it would be on a tin boat.


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## Y_J (Jul 8, 2014)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=358703#p358703 said:


> Leelatt » July 7th, 2014, 6:52 pm[/url]"]
> Now I just need to remove the exterior paint from the hull and re-do it as it's missing in a good amount of places. Any suggestions on paint strippers? I tried the drill and wire brush method but it's not worth the time it takes. I was thinking of the rustoleum auto paint stripper or the aircraft stripper but not sure how effective it would be on a tin boat.



Hope someone can answer that last ??? of yours, cause I'm in the need to know on that one my self.


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## smackdaddy53 (Jul 9, 2014)

Wire cup brush and good grinder. Here is how it looked after three days. If you want paint to stick do it right! The best part is that tge aluminum is roughed up after a good wire wheeling and the paint sticks like it should.


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## onthewater102 (Jul 10, 2014)

I like the dual seat mount in the rear bench - I think I'm going to go one further and put a 3rd seat mount so both passengers can sit on the rear bench while underway on the gas motor.


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## Leelatt (Aug 13, 2014)

Got the old paint off and out of every nook and cranny. Primed, and re-painted. Also installed the interior lights and external lights, and they are bright!

After the first round of sand blasting:






Other side: even though some spots look rough, everything was smooth and even.





Right before priming, I used rustoleum bare aluminum primer:





First coat of primer, I went with 2 coats as the can suggested. I used a roller and at first there was no runs, I went nice and light but in the morning I found a few but were easily fixed.





Started putting on the first coat of paint, used rustoleum spray paint, color is Dark Taupe.





Second coat of paint drying, in total I used 10 cans of spray paint for 2 coats.





Interior night lights which are just waterproof LED strip lights:





Exterior lights for night fishing, 72" waterproof LED strip lights, they lit up the garage and were blinding if you looked right at them.





I have a couple more things that need to be done to it, and if it stops raining here then I can take some pictures of some other features I put on the boat.


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## Ail (Aug 13, 2014)

Man that looks so good, great job. The front lights are awesome. Do you have a switch panel for all the lighting?


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## Leelatt (Aug 14, 2014)

Thanks!

Everything has their own switches. If you look at the pictures showing the mid section of the boat with the side boxes, you'll see I have 2 switch panels. 

The panel closest to the front without the AC outlet controls: navigation lights, exterior night lights, interior night lights, and the bow trolling motor's fish finder (HB pm170). 
The panel closest to the rear with the AC outlet controls: bilge pump, aerator, transom fish finder (mark-5x Dsi), and the AC outlet itself. 

I still have 3 unused switches, which will probably get used eventually, I have a horn laying around somewhere that's brand new but haven't installed it as so far I haven't needed one and I have an air can on board as well anyway. I want to put in a small speaker system eventually which will be nice. Everything runs off a single group 29 deep cycle battery in the aft compartment.


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