# 1997 Tracker 185 Pro Jet (MV1850) rebuild



## Novicaine (Apr 8, 2012)

I have a 1997 Tracker 185 Pro Jet I bought off eBay a few years ago. It's got a Mercury Sportjet 95XR. It's 18' long, 50" bottom on the rear. Pretty much a flat bottom but has some "strakes" ?? on the bottom. 

The guy who sold it claimed it ran good, but it didn't. Engine issues, worn impeller, beat up bottom -- it could barely get on plane IF you could get it to run long enough. I finally fixed the engine issues and put in new impeller and it'd get up on a plane, but only around 23 mph tops with the new impeller/wear ring and a LIGHT load.

The interior was decent, but carpet was getting ragged and you could tell the wood floor was getting creaky. I was never too fond of the interior -- this is a big boat that has very little usable space, and with a cooler and a couple people, can't even get on plane. I suspected water-logged foam. The console was loose, the wood floor probably rotted/beat up where the screws hold it down.

Also the jet intake is the lowest part of the boat -- just glancing off of a rock shatters the cast aluminum intake grate and Mercury is no longer selling replacements. I bought physically the last one Mercury had.

All the "options" were shot -- the trolling motor, both depth finders, the automatic anchors -- all old and broken.


Here's a side view of it:






The front:





Back of it:





Engine:





Jet Intake:





Here's a shot of a big dent right in front of the inlet grate from the previous that I think is hurting the speed:





Then, last summer I got hung up on a sharp rock or metal fence post and produced this gash:





The bottom is pretty beat up in general as you can see from the long view of the above gash:





I couldn't decide what to do: Part it out and salvage the hull, try to sell it as a fixer upper to some sucker, or ... try to fix it into something that works for me.

I removed the gas tank and got it down to where I could access "the gash" and confirmed all the foam under the floor was water-logged. It had been out of the water since last summer, and if you squeezed the foam, water came out. 

So I decided on trying to fix it -- I'm not sure this is a great plan, but it gives me a nice project to work on in my shop. I've rebuilt a smaller 12' jon boat before and enjoyed that project (still use that one while this one is down).

My plan is:
- Gut the interior, saving as much as possible to re-install with new carpet. This step is so I can flip the boat over to focus on the bottom. No foam or interior in the way of fixing the bottom, so I can weld, etc.
- Repair and strengthen and smooth the bottom as much as possible. Get rid of the 1.5" rails(?) that catch rocks. If this fails, sell the hull for scrap and part out the engine. I'm almost guessing that (with the thin bottom on this) this will be my stopping point.
- *If* I get the bottom fixed, add a layer of UHMW plastic to the bottom.
- Maybe add a small tunnel to lift the engine to prevent intake damage on rocks.
- Reinstall jet & engine and check performance -- if the repaired bottom and lighter weight interior go fast enough and gets on plane, then proceed to next step:
- Reinstall a minimal interior with more floor and interior room instead of all the compartments the old interior had. I'm thinking instead of the engine down in a hatch, have a doghouse around the engine. Move the controls a little more forward.

If anyone has faced a similar problem with a beat up bottom and had good or bad success, I'd like to hear your thoughts.


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## wcbond4 (Apr 8, 2012)

looks like an awesome project! i am facing issues right now with my transom being completely destroyed! I have been debating about scrapping the hull and finding a decenct used one that i could just modify. then i got to thinking that since i got the boat for free..i could justify the soon to be steep welding bill. i love 98% of the boat and can't wait to get it fixed so i can start moding and fishing!! I say go for it and improve the original design of the boat! good luck!


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## Novicaine (Apr 8, 2012)

This weekend I started gutting it out:

Here is first step, removing the gas tank and inspecting the big gash, where I found waterlogged foam:






Looks like this "firewall" between the front and back may be structural; I'll have to replace it:





Gettin ready to remove the engine:










Engine and Pump removed:










Shot of the empty rear end:





Shot from back facing front, I still need to gut the front deck:


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## dyeguy1212 (Apr 8, 2012)

Nice, looking forward to seeing your progress. Can't say I've ever seen a jet tracker


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## fool4fish1226 (Apr 10, 2012)

dyeguy1212 said:


> Nice, looking forward to seeing your progress. Can't say I've ever seen a jet tracker



+1 will be watching this one


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## 1munford (Apr 10, 2012)

great project, nothing's cooler than jet jon's!


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## gotmuddy (Apr 11, 2012)

where are the beers?? :LOL2:


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## Novicaine (Apr 27, 2012)

I finally got all the interior and the bulk of the waterlogged foam out.
I pulled out at least 6, 32-gallon trash bags full, each one weighed at least 30 lbs (I guess)!! No wonder this boat has been such a pig lately!

A little more clean up and then I can flip it and start working on the bottom.


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## Kochy (Apr 27, 2012)

Dang, That's an early tracker to take apart eh. I myself have a 87 Tracker MV-16, had to completely tear everything out and put it back in. Rotten floor, Waterlogged foam, alot of the problems, The wiring was shit, sorry my french anyone, the guy freaking used a snowmobile windshield on the boat... And mostly the reason why there were so many problems, the guy tried to be a do it yourselfer but he kind of failed and the reason being, that he was a state cop, didn't know what he was doing when it came to wood, and especially wiring... Also forgot to mention a rotten transom. Tracker sure didn't take into consideration about after life for these boats. 

Keep it updated, I'm wanting to see this build.


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## Novicaine (Jun 18, 2012)

This weekend I started modifying the jet tunnel to raise the intake about 2" above the bottom of the boat.

Here is where I enlarged the hole in the hull to fit the new structure:






Here I welded two 2" aluminum angles to the bottom of the motor house to frame up the 2" lift:





View of the same from the bottom:





Fitting the tunnel assembly to the hull:





First look at the raised intake, can almost visualize the final result:





Now I need to find a piece of 1/8" aluminum for the top of the tunnel, then cut it and weld it in and then re-rivet (or maybe weld) the whole assembly in the boat.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jun 18, 2012)

Nice work =D>


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## bigwave (Jun 18, 2012)

You jet-drive guys sure have a knack for your mods.......I like it........just like mikey said..... =D>


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## jellio5 (Jun 18, 2012)

Now that is a sweet mod great job


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## DaveInGA (Jun 18, 2012)

Looking good dude. You're off to a great start. Gonna be watching your build.


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## Novicaine (Jun 27, 2012)

I welded on the top of the tunnel today -- a marathon 3 hrs of tig welding! I need to do a little trimming and fitting and fix a few welds, and I'll be ready to finally install the tunnel assembly to the hull!! 

I'm getting pretty good at butt and outside corner welding, still struggling with the inside corners. But I try to do the continuous water-tight weld on the outside corner and then just skip-weld a few spots on the inside corner. Seems to be working good, but we'll see if it'll hold up to the river.

In the following pictures, I show the tunnel assembly outside of the boat, but when I do the final install, it will actually go inside the boat, and the boat skin will be welded to it. Why? It just fits better that way -- its easier to straighten the hull to match the tunnel that way with a floor jack. And I have it set up so all the water-tight welds on the outside will be overlapping joints, which I can handle, so it should be pretty sturdy. I may do a few solid rivets just to hold it in place while welding.

Here's how it's coming along:


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## fool4fish1226 (Jun 29, 2012)

=D> Real nice - I like it - can't wait to see it in the water.


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## benjineer (Jun 29, 2012)

fool4fish1226 said:


> =D> Real nice - I like it - can't wait to see it in the water.



+1. Hope it works. Nice work so far.


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## River Rider (Jun 29, 2012)

Definately have my attention. By the way what size is that motor?


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## Novicaine (Jun 30, 2012)

River Rider said:


> Definately have my attention. By the way what size is that motor?



It's a 95XR ... same as the older 90hp model but different ignition system I think, so they called it a 95.
If the hull works as well as I hope and it doesn't move me enough, I'll look for a 120 ... they are the same, with one extra cylinder and higher gear ratio, but they'll bolt right up.


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## Novicaine (Jun 30, 2012)

I made some good progress today, I got the tunnel all tacked in. Here's what I did:

I first got the tunnel in the right spot and used some small bolts and nuts to get everything pulled together. Since everything was a little crooked, that took some doing. Once it's all welded, I'll pull the bolts out and weld the holes up.

Here's where I first got it all bolted in. I had to use a little bottle jack to spread the tunnel, it keeps trying to shrink and then the ride plate doesn't fit:






Another view of the same but from the top:





After doing a bunch of skip (or tack) welds... probably covered about 30% of the seam, but at this point, I could probably remove the bolts:





Tack welds from the top:





Closer view:





First view of how it'll look from the inside! I took this upside down under the boat, then rotated the image:





Here is a shot of the above with no flash, that shows all the rivet holes I need to fix/replace:





Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to finish all the welds around the outside so I can flip it and then start putting the guts back on the inside for a test run!


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## bulldog (Jul 1, 2012)

Looks really good. Keep the pics coming.


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## SlowRollin' (Jul 1, 2012)

Wow, you've made a lot of progress! Keep it up.


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## Novicaine (Jul 1, 2012)

I got the tunnel all welded in (from the outside) so it should be water-tight:







A shot from above, I may need to do some work smoothing the tunnel entrance for better water flow:






The next step is to flip it over, put back in some of the inside framing, check for leaks, and then tack weld some of the inside tunnel flange to the hull for extra strength.

Then after that, it's motor and pump back in with minimal controls/interior. If the hull performs OK, take out motor/pump, flip it over, and put some UHMW on the bottom. Then test drive. If still performs OK, put back in a lush interior, maybe paint the exterior. IF.

I would have put in that "V" shaped cross piece (you can see the rivet holes for it in boat bottom in the pics above), but the 4x rivet gun I bought online (which is supposed to accept .401" rivet punches), I can't fit my .401 rivet punch in it. So I can't do any riveting until I call their tech support Monday.


Ugh, now that I said it, that's a lot of work left.  But I am having lots of fun on this project, it's very satisfying.


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## DaveInGA (Jul 2, 2012)

You're doing a real fine job. Great looking work doing the repair.


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## Novicaine (Jul 11, 2012)

A little more progress...

I had someone stitch weld (with a MIG welder) the inside seams just to see how well a MIG works over TIG. For this type of weld, laying on the floor of the boat, the MIG was much quicker and easier.






First shot of the back of the boat with the raised tunnel:





Got the last floor support rivetted in and filling the boat with water to do leak test:





If you look close, you can tell it's got water in it... this shows the last support that touches the tunnel entry.





My brother marking leaks, the orange marks are leaks:





Done with first round of leak marking, now draining:





We found about 8 pinhole/crack leaks in my welds. Most I looked at and said "oh yeah, that was a tough spot". We found a few leaky rivets and re-bucked them. Once I get the boat flipped I'll post a pic of all the leak spots marked. None of the leaks we too bad, I went boating with worse leaks before this remodel.


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## River Rider (Jul 24, 2012)

Any updates? Really interested in your results as tunnels are always a tricky area when it comes to jets. Hope all is well.


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## Novicaine (Aug 1, 2012)

River Rider said:


> Any updates? Really interested in your results as tunnels are always a tricky area when it comes to jets. Hope all is well.



I re-welded all my leaks and found a few more, but they are all pin-holes, so I'm not going to sweat it now. I am now putting back in a minimal interior and the jet/engine so I can test the tunnel. I'm kind of hoping to test the tunnel this weekend.


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## bigwave (Aug 2, 2012)

I cant wait to see the results....between you and PSG-1, yall have some mad skills....makes me jealous. =P~


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## Novicaine (Aug 4, 2012)

Got the boat going enough with a minimal interior to do some testing of the tunnel performace.

When I first installed at first I was scared -- this extra 2" of tunnel height almost looks like the pump will be out of water!





View of the pump mounted from inside the boat:





Here's the tunnel from the bottom with the jet installed finally, this looks NICE!!! 





Dropping in the engine:





Ugh, I hope I labeled all the wires sufficiently:





Motor bolted in:





Console bolted in:





Hooked up hose to the cooling system and started motor to test things. I had the fuel pump in backwards! But after switching that, it started right up.





High shot of the minimal interior for the tunnel testing:





Minimal interior engine bay, don't ya just love my Ace Hardware battery box?





Shot of the engine bay:





I took it out on the river for my first test drive with the new 2" tunnel ... of course, it started raining, so I didn't get pictures or video, but I drove about 1/2 mile upstream and back down and it ran as good as ever, I didn't notice any slowdown or extra cavitation. I even did some fairly tight turns and I think cavitation is no worse than before. So, that is GREAT news. I think maybe tomorrow or sometime this week I'll take it out again and do some more testing and burn out the 10 gallons of gas I put in.

THEN, I empty the interior, flip it over, and put on UHMW!! Then rebuild the interior for real this time.


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## Cubman (Aug 4, 2012)

Very impressive work. I will be watching this closely. I may have missed this but what is the rise/run slope of the tunnel?


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## Novicaine (Aug 5, 2012)

Here's a little video of more river testing this morning. It hit slightly over 30 mph on the GPS, not bad for the condition of the wear ring and impellor. 
I did some tight turns and even with a really high bank angle, it didn't have cavitation, except for when going over a wake. 
I think the removal of the water-logged foam really helped the handling -- it felt much more responsive and less tank-like than ever before.
All in all I'm elated with the changes so far from this rebuild, can't wait to get the UHMW on the bottom and finalize the interior.

Video at 
https://youtu.be/g9NuFnatJRg


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## fool4fish1226 (Aug 6, 2012)

Looks and sounds great =D>


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## Novicaine (Aug 10, 2012)

Lots of progress, the wife & kids were out of town visiting her parents this week.

Remember this keel skeg that ran down the center of the boat? In this OLD picture you can see it:





I cut it off, and welded up the rivet holes and seam... my logic is, if I need it for handling, I can add it back. If I need it for hull protection, I can add a UHMW piece. But when you hit a rock with that skeg the boat just stops because that skeg digs into the rock like a knife. And I need to sliiiiide over things, handling is 2nd.. I also roughed up the entire bottom of the hull and lower sides with a sander in preparation for "the next step"











What is the next step? Well I was debating putting UHMW on the bottom, I still might someday, but for now, since the bottom of my boat has rivets and is so beat up, I decided to have it coated with Hardline:

https://rhinoliningsindustrial.com/products/polyurethane_and_polyurea/hardline/22/32

I came to this decision based on Rhino's Hardline info page:

https://rhinoliningsindustrial.com/case_studies/impact_-_abrasion/202

Which contained this "application note" for aluminum boat's:
https://rhinoliningsindustrial.com/gfGy6S44anlz/1272558518Aluminum Jet Boat Hull.pdf

I contacted the author of that note, who has this on his Predator in Alaska and he swears by it, so I decided I'd give it a try. If it doesn't work as I hope, I can always put UHMW on top of it, and the liner should at least make things smoother for the liner to mount to.

So I dropped it off at Zeibart in Ottowa, IL.. here it is 8 hours and $916 later ($100 for self etching primer, and about $7 per sq foot). 





















Check out how it _ALMOST_ hides the rivets:






They claimed they'd apply it 1/8" thick... I wanted 1/4" they said they'd try but it didn't sound like something they could control that accurately. I had them not do any "roughing up", tried to keep it slick/smooth as possible.

I have to wait 24 hours before I can flip it/use it... 

My initial impression of the liner is that it is awesome stuff:
- When wet, it is definately slicker than the aluminum. 
- It really smooths out the bottom in terms of previous damage, scratches, dents, and rivets
- Looks much nicer than bare aluminum
- If it stays stuck to the boat and is as tough as they claim it is, this really ought to help protect things.
- I noticed if I "slap" the coated parts with my hand they seem more solid than the uncoated parts... the aluminum flexes less.

So, here's to HOPING this product does what it claims. I'm a little leary, the product could be overstating it's ruggedness, the application might not have been done quite right, who knows? Lots of things could be wrong. But I like to try stuff out for myself, so here we are.

This weekend, I'm going to clean the carbs and start putting it back together. Eventually I'll repaint the back of the transom and upper sides, I'm thinking a camo theme would look cool to contrast the black sides.


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## Zum (Aug 10, 2012)

Looks good...hope all the reveiws in the future are positive ones.


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## lowblazah (Aug 22, 2012)

Simply Awesome! You are making yourself one wicked river machine!


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## Loggerhead Mike (Aug 22, 2012)

Nice shop and slick job on the hull


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## Novicaine (Sep 4, 2012)

Small update: I got it all put back together enough for another round of testing, this time with the Hardliner on the bottom and the deleted keel skeg (for a smoother bottom). The handling was a little bit more "wiggly" without the keel skeg, but when I turned the jet, it turned the boat, no problem. It felt fine. I didn't get a chance to test it more because the motor died about 1 minute into testing and water was coming out of the bottom 2 cylinders when I pulled the plugs out. Hopefully it's just the exhaust divider gasket, that has happened to me on this boat. I have a new gasket on order. Sigh.


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## Novicaine (Sep 13, 2012)

New update: Bought a 1997 Rinker Rocket with a 120 hp Sportjet for use as a "donor" for my boat for two reasons:
1) In case I can't get my 90hp running. I think it's a gasket issue -- could end up being cracked block issue.
2) Make mine go faster, or more importantly, run at less rpms for cruising. The 120's jet is geared higher than the 90's. It's basically a 90 with one extra cylinder, one less carb (2:1 cyl:carb instead of 1:1), and higher gearing. All other parts mostly interchange.

The cost of the used Rinker is less than the replacement parts if a few components on my engine break (inlet grate, wear ring, jet pump housing, etc). I got a decent deal, it even includes a marine stereo with MP3 input which I'll use on my boat also. Also the 120 has only 2 carburetors than my 90 which has 3. So that's less carbs to clean/repair over time. Also, for a 1997 boat engine, I 'm going to need spare parts.

The problem? My wife a kids love the neat little Rinker Rocket sitting in the driveway and don't want me to gut it out!! They want to take it to a lake and go boating... We'll see what happens there. Maybe if I get my Tracker interior done, they'll like it better. 

If everything around here wasn't so shallow and hazardous, I'd certainly consider using the Rinker instead, it's a nice lightweight little package for zipping around.


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## Novicaine (Sep 19, 2012)

Here's my donor boat with the 120 hp Sportjet:






Pulling that motor out:










I have the new motor installed in the boat, just need to get the gas line and control cables hooked up.
I'm hoping to get one nice day of boating before winter sets in !!

PS:If anyone wants to buy the Rinker boat & trailer with no engine or jet, PM me.. I'm open to any offer!!


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## Novicaine (Sep 26, 2012)

New update: I sunk it. :x

Details:
I got it all running with the new powerplant, it ran & handled great. Took it exploring on the river to see how it performed, and a few hours into it, we hit a rock just under the surface while on plane, maybe 10-15 mph, and it shredded a hole in the bottom and the boat filled with water in about 10 seconds.

Fortunately, we were only in a few feet of water, so the engine/etc stayed dry. Whew!

We had to tow it out of the river and through the woods with towstraps and a 6x6 ATV. 

The bedliner bottom actually held up well ... the boat slid right through the woods, you can tell the liner saved the tin from some wear & tear. Looking at it, I think that with a stronger plate bottom, the bedliner would definitely be an asset.

My welds on the tunnel, even though they took a direct hit, held. Which was good to know. 

The bottom line is, the bottom of my boat is too thin for bouncing off rocks. It's .100 material that is 15 yrs old and that's just not going to take a hit.

So... I may patch the holes with rivets, get the liner re-applied in that area, and stop attempting to drive in low water rocky conditions, or scrap the hull and eventually buy something more heavy duty, or maybe weld/bolt something like a 3/8" plate to the bottom. We'll see, but for now, I'm done for the summer. Time to get my mind off this project for now.

The observant reader may think: WHY? Why would you bother attempting this? I answer this: If you look at the river, it looks like a boat should be able to go on it. Very few rocks sticking up, it's generally dredged, and even the shallowest spots are 1-2 ft deep. So I look at it and think: I should be able to boat on that river, I am a man with tools. The flaw, I think, is that a sharp rock 2 inches under the water is actually a very difficult issue to surmount. 

I'll try to post some pics one of these evenings.


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## fool4fish1226 (Sep 26, 2012)

Dang sorry to hear that - but still would like to see some pictures


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## cyberflexx (Sep 26, 2012)

That sucks.. I hope you get it fixed and back on the water soon..


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## Novicaine (Sep 26, 2012)

Here are some pics from my brother's camera phone from the night.
I'll get better ones off the real camera later...


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## Kevin Turner (Sep 26, 2012)

Late the party, I didn't see this thread 'til today...

All I can say is WOW! What an awesome project. Of course I'm sorry to hear of your struggles, but die hard River Rats never stop...no matter what hurdles Old Man River throws at ya! 

Great Job!


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## PSG-1 (Sep 29, 2012)

Wow, I just checked out this build. Nice work! Especially on squaring up the hull and tunnel. =D> 

Also, an excellent idea on the complete removal of the center strake, those cause cavitation. I cut the center strake off my boat, about 2 foot forward of the jet intake, and fish-plated that area with a strip of 3" X 1/4" aluminum flat stock. But if I had it to do over again, I'd remove the entire center strake, and fish plate the whole thing with the 1/4" x 3" plate. It serves the same purpose as the angle/gutter, tying the 2 halves of the boat's hull together, but with a little added strength when compared to the .100" angle or gutter, or in the case of my boat, a piece of 2" x 3/16" aluminum angle serving as a keel to replace the original one that corrosion destroyed. 

Sorry to hear about the hull damage to your boat, though, that's a bummer. Glad no one was hurt, and the boat was easily recoverable. 

But, one good thing your horror story, it gave me a wake-up call, as I had been considering taking my jetboat to the fall line of the PeeDee River at Cheraw, SC, where the navigable river ends, and it meets a fall line, with rocks, boulders, and swift water.... as it goes toward the Blewitt Falls dam at Rockingham, NC.

As my jetboat is ALSO a 15 year old hull made of .100" material, as well as being a little weaker from slight corrosion pitting from marine use....something tells me I'd better stay my ass off that particular stretch of river, or I might be writing a similar story to yours. I've got 4 bilge pumps aboard my boat, with a combined GPH of about 2,800, as well as flotation foam in between the outer and inner hull. But I don't want to test it and find out!

I think I'll just stick to the lowcountry rivers, with logs and sandbars, they don't inflict instantaneous catastrophic damage like boulders or sharp rocks.


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## Novicaine (Oct 5, 2012)

Some pics of the event, in no particular order:

Next morning when I went to retrieve it from the field "What is a BOAT doing in the middle of a field?":











Here is the place we hit... just looking at the river, it certainly looks navigatable... but if you look close you see those hidden rocks.









You really don't want to ever have to load your boat like this:





This shows a bottom shot where the Hardline came off, but no holes:





This is what sunk it, view from the front:





View from the back:





All in all, I gotta say, the Hardline seems to have held up pretty well, considering the boat was drug up a riverbank and drug through the woods to get to the field.


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## fool4fish1226 (Oct 5, 2012)

Thanks for sharing the photos - you gonna fix it or ???????


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## bigwave (Oct 5, 2012)

What a bummer, I really enjoyed watching you build.....Here in Florida the airboats I see have really thick aluminum and skid plates to jump stumps and sand bars. I would think that the way you built the intake combined with some thicker aluminum plates on the bottom would allow you to jump any rock in the river. The bass boat hull thickness is just not made for solid rock....as you proved....Keep up the good work you still did an awesome job on you boat. On a side note what the heck do think the farmer or deer thought of when they walked up out of the woods and saw your boat......I bet it was priceless.


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## J Hartman (Oct 21, 2012)

so, if you had to do anything different with this build, would it have been UHMW on the hull? I am looking at a similar boat right now on craigslist.com https://nashville.craigslist.org/boa/3342926615.html


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## Novicaine (Oct 21, 2012)

J Hartman said:


> so, if you had to do anything different with this build, would it have been UHMW on the hull? I am looking at a similar boat right now on craigslist.com https://nashville.craigslist.org/boa/3342926615.html



I think the 2000 Bass Tracker uses a slightly thicker hull than my 1997, but I'm not sure, and I think it may be all welded instead of rivets, so comparing it to mine may not be valid. 

Mine, I don't think UHMW would have helped much -- the hull is still too thin to be banging around on any rocks. 

That boat on craigslist would be fine for navigating shallower water than where a prop could go, but it's not meant to hit the river bottom, it's meant to not bang up a prop. Adding UHMW may give you a slight edge, but won't make it into something it's not.

Tip: Whenever buying a Sportjet boat, make sure it starts good and make sure it can get up on plane -- if not, the fix may be anything from simple to horrific, there's a lot that can go wrong to debug. It's far easier to have a 100% working boat and then fix problems individually as they arise. Given a boat with starting or planing issues, good luck if you're not an expert on them. Ask "Does it get on plane with 2 guys in it, and if so, how fast does it go?" Google for "Sportjet hard start" and "Sportjet trouble getting on plane" and see how many threads have happy resolutions -- very few and those are usually fairly major/expensive fixes. Don't get me wrong, I love Sportjets, but I've seen lots that have unresolved planing and starting issues (including mine and the donor boat I bought).


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## PSG-1 (Oct 21, 2012)

J Hartman said:


> so, if you had to do anything different with this build, would it have been UHMW on the hull?



Don't know about novicaine, but this thread has made a believer out of me, in the use of UHMW. When I do my next jetboat build, it's gonna be a 3/16" bottom, with UHMW for additional insurance. THEN I know I could run the Pee Dee between Cheraw and Rockingham, and not have to worry about the numerous rocks in that river that have yet to be hit by an unfortunate boater.


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## F250shane (Jan 27, 2013)

Love the project and cannot believe it sank so soon. I just purchased a 1998 tracker with a 120 sport jet. I need a new intake grate, mine has on grate missing. Any ideas where I can get one?

Thanks in advance,

Shane.


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## Novicaine (Mar 24, 2013)

F250shane said:


> Love the project and cannot believe it sank so soon. I just purchased a 1998 tracker with a 120 sport jet. I need a new intake grate, mine has on grate missing. Any ideas where I can get one?
> Thanks in advance,
> Shane.



I bought the last new one Mercury had last year, so eBay is your best shot. 

Just a thought, but if you're going to be running the boat a long time, look for a 95-97 fiberglass sport jet boat with a 120 that runs... you can pick them up pretty reasonable, 1-2k ... and use that engine and pump for spare parts. You'll quickly burn that much up on buying sj120 parts from Mercury if something goes wrong and you want to repair it.


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## Novicaine (Oct 20, 2020)

Update 10/20/2020... 

I posted this whole mess of a project, still sitting around my shop in pieces, to the for-sale section:

If you're interested:
https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=48140

Thanks!!


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