'89 Tracker Pro 17 Investigation (lots of pics to come)

[kofkorn]

Well, the vacation week that I planned to use to get so much done on this project didn't work out as I expected. However, now I'm back in the regular routine, so I should be able to start wrapping things up. I did manage to get a few things done here and there, and it really looks good.

I finished up the bilge cover. The vinyl looks good, but I was a bit off on the thickness of the shim, and the cover stands a bit pround. Nothing ridiculous though.


I also added the rear seat mount. I like the satin black against the vinyl, it looks sharp.


The starboard side panel went on quite well, even with the wiring routing through it. After that I was able to replace the cover over the steering cable and the cover over the warning alarm. I've made an effort to reuse all of the original holes, but in the case of the warning alarm cover, I probably should have done my own. It sits at a slight angle that is going to bother me.


and lastly, I finished one of the seat boxes this week. This was relatively easy and looks great.


One IMPORTANT comment. I ran out of the 3M 90 High Strength adhesive, so I went to get some more. Home Depot had both the 3M 90 High Strength and the 3M 80 for Rubber and Vinyl available. I decided to try the 80, as it should be better for applying vinyl. BAD IDEA. The 80 adhesive doesn't work half as well as the 90. I ended up pulling apart the wrapovers that I had used the 80 on (and they came apart easily) and redoing all of them with another can of the 3M 90. I remember seeing a discussion on another thread about the 80 vs. 90, and I can positively say that the 90 is a far better adhesive for what I am working on.

More to come tomorrow.

 

[89Suburban]

OUTSTANDING work man!! =D>

 

[shmelty]

That's it!! I am going to have to stop posting updates to my build :| It will never even compare with this quality workmanship!! Great job!!! =D>

 

[kofkorn]

Trust me, the Nautolex is an amazing material and hides a whole lot of screw ups. When you really start to look at the decking closely, I see all kinds of issues. But thank you both for the compliments. I always hate having to redo something that wasn't done right the first time. I have a bathroom floor that I let someone else talk me out of doing my way. The stupid thing has cracked tiles and grout that is coming up. Now I will have to pull up the entire bathroom to redo it. :-x

My wife knows when I get on something like this, it's the right way or not at all.

 

[kofkorn]

More work on the seat boxes and the console lower yesterday. If I'm correct, this should be the last of the vinyl application to be done. I had JUST enough to finish the project, and I actually had to piece together two scraps to finish one of the pieces of the seat box. Luckily, it went together well, and the heavy texture and random pattern of the Nautolex really hides the seam.


The back of the seat has an extra support piece that is riveted to the top. I had to seam one of these together (the one under the paint can):


I've also placed the front panel in place just to check fit. Looks good. Now to punch out and wrap the cutouts.


I also found a couple of other pics I had taken that show how I wrapped the corners of the bilge and livewell covers. This really cleaned up the corners and hid any evidence of the edges of the covers.


I'm working on the placement of a couple of seat bases in the main deck that I can use for additional passenger seating for the kids when we go out as a family. I'm thinking one directly in front of the console (snug fit) and one more kind of kitty corner to the console and slightly further back. The second one may be used as a fishing seat for a third person in the middle of the boat. I'd like to keep it symmetric to the first one, but if I did that, the second seat wouldn't be able to swivel. My thought is that using the removable bases, I will be able to remove the seating and have open deck when there is only one or two people.

I'll be finalizing the layout tomorrow.

 

[kofkorn]

Boy is it really starting to come together. Last night, I finished nearly all of the vinyl wrapping. The only pieces left are to wrap the cutouts for the access door on the front storage and the holes for the tilt and fish finder on the front panel.

The seat boxes came out great, and the console looks awesome. I am running into a bit of an issue with the width of the side panels across the bottom of the boat. For some reason, they are not laying fully up against the foam, and they are making the sides a little tighter than they should be. You can see in the picture that the seats when placed together with the little spacer in between don't fully sit flat on the floor. I'll have to do a dry fit of the floor to see how bad it is.


I was originally planning on using my new stainless seat bases on the floor of the main deck, and the black painted seat bases up on the casting decks, while using a couple of older seat bases that came with the seats that I got from Captain Ahab on the seat boxes. However, there was an issue with the depth of the hull. The seat bases I bought were locking versions that are significantly longer than the non-locking seat bases. The depth of the hull from the top of the floor supports is about 2.5". So I can't use the locking bases in the main deck. I ended up using the locking bases on the casting decks, moved the black bases to the seat boxes and I'm going to cover the older bases in vinyl and put them on the main deck.


I did a dry fit of the front casting deck and it looks great!


I also took measurements of the ribs so that I'll know where to fasten the decks once they are in position. I thought it might be useful to other Tracker owners who may be looking for information about the structure.



I was able to play around with the deck layout a bit and managed to get everything in position as I expect to have it. I will have a removable seat just in front of the console for one of the kids, where I can put my tackle box if I'm alone. I'll also have an additional removable seat centered between the rear seats and the casting deck, and beside the console that could become a third fishing position and fourth seat for the kids. To get the seat in front of the console, I had to shift it backward by about 1 inch.


So hopefully tonight, I'll be placing the seat bases on the main deck and doing a dry fit to see how everything lays out. Almost done!

 

[89Suburban]

Excellent job man, what are those red and black pieces along the sides near the gunnels?

 

[kofkorn]

They are the tops of the side panels where foam insulation is covered. The insulation is about 1 1/2" thick below these rails and the exterior hull is exposed above them. They were originally bare aluminum, as you can see here in the picture. The holder for the navigation light is screwed into it:


I took them off and painted the red and black to match the stripes on the decals on the outside of the boat.


The red also matches the color of the seats that I got from Captain Ahab. I'm really considering painting the plastic seat bases black. I think it will look AWESOME with the red seats, matching the rest of the color scheme, but I'm concerned about the durability of the paint on the plastic.

 

[fool4fish1226]

Looks awesome!!!!! Great Work =D>

 

[kofkorn]

Last night I was able to get the floor laid down and fit into place. It's definitely a tight fit with the side panels, but the weight of the flooring seems to spread the side panels apart with a little extra persuasion. I drilled holes for the additional seating locations and added the covered swivel bases before I dropped the floor in place.


The addition of the floor thickness and width took care of the problem I was having with the seat boxes. They'll drop right in place now.


I also put the hinged cover for the seat boxes in place to check the new height. The previous seats sat directly on the plywood cover. The new Tempress seats require the swivel bases, so they add a few inches to the overall height. They are not too high, but they make it a little difficult to see some of the gauges and switches. Not really a big deal though.

I'm still stuck on whether to paint the currently white seat frames black. I think that it will really look good, but as I stated before, I'm concerned that the paint will chip and flake at the drop of a hat. What's the opinion of the group?? Keep them white or go black?

 

[fool4fish1226]

You could do a little test section to see how well the paint would hold up. I think the black would look real good however the white looks good too so I say what ever you decide

 

[spotco2]

I think the white looks pretty nice.

 

[TNtroller]

excellent workmanship going on. Would some of the paint designed for plastic work on the seat bases, like that Krylon or whatever brand it is. I have seen it advertised as designed for painting plastic, so may work for you. Again, some very nice work you've done on that boat. =D>

 

[dyeguy1212]

Man that vinyl looks awesome.. I've always wanted a boat with an all vinyl interior. Be sure to update up on how it holds up.

 

[kofkorn]

Thanks for the comments guys! I love how it's turning out. I've gotten through most of the quick stuff, now it's on to the smaller details.

Between Friday and Saturday nights, I did some final fitting details and adjustments. The floor was a tight fit between the two vinyl covered side panels. I don't really know why the two side panels didn't fit back the same as when I pulled them out. It almost seems like they are about 1/2" wider than before, causing them to not fit back correctly. In the end, I trimmed the wrapped over vinyl off of the bottom of the panels and tried to force them in place as much as possible. That, along with some extra attention when I riveted the deck back in place got everything pretty close to original. I did have to do a little trimming on the lengths of a couple of screws for the swivel bases, as they were interfering with the structural aluminum ribs.


I riveted the floor in place. Based on the experience I have with a few of the areas I used screws over the vinyl, when the screws tighten, they twist the vinyl around them. The rivets allow me to fasten the decking down without disturbing the vinyl.


Once the decking was in place, I was able to wrap the opening for the casting deck storage. I clamped the back sides overnight to make sure that they held properly.


I then attached the storage cover, with the twist lock that was originally used.


I repainted the black plywood seat bases and re-attached the supports for the center cupholder. I just need to rivet everything together for final assembly. I need to clean the upholstery with some Armor All to get them nice and clean too. I think I'm going to keep the seats white for now. I'll see if they bother me during the year and may paint them black later.


Only major thing left to do is to get the center console back into position. Then I'll be stuck with all of the smaller detail work, wiring, accessories, etc. But today, I need to get the other bay cleaned out so that my wife can get her car back in the garage

 

[SilverFox]

It took me a while tonight to read all 8 pages and look at the pictures but man this looks awesome. Great job.

I don't own a Tracker and I'm not in process of rebuilding anything but I'm ready to see how this turns out. I know you are also.

 

[89Suburban]

They are the tops of the side panels where foam insulation is covered. The insulation is about 1 1/2" thick below these rails and the exterior hull is exposed above them. They were originally bare aluminum, as you can see here in the picture. The holder for the navigation light is screwed into it:
View attachment 1

I took them off and painted the red and black to match the stripes on the decals on the outside of the boat.


The red also matches the color of the seats that I got from Captain Ahab. I'm really considering painting the plastic seat bases black. I think it will look AWESOME with the red seats, matching the rest of the color scheme, but I'm concerned about the durability of the paint on the plastic.

Oh,ok, so you just painted them that color then, I got it. Nice work again man.

 

[fool4fish1226]

Almost there =D> That thing is turning out really nice!!!!!!!

 

[kofkorn]

Not a whole lot of significant visible changes, but still a lot of effort required to get it done. Over the past few days I've focused on the console and seats. I tied in my extra gauges and switches and wired in the new fuse panel. The wiring itself is a mess, but since it's under the console and everything functions properly, I'm not going to worry about re-wiring the whole thing to clean it up. I labeled the circuits on the fuse panel for ease of troubleshooting in the future.


Once the wiring was updated with the console off, I was able to re-attach the steering and replace the console. A quick suggestion for getting the steering wheel close to centered: manually center the motor in the back of the boat, center the steering wheel, then feed the steering cable in. When the cable is completely assembled in, note the angle of the steering wheel relative to the center position. Remove the steering cable again, then pre-position the steering wheel at the same angle in the opposite direction. Feed the steering cable back in, and it should be pretty close to centered.


One thing that I am considering doing is to put the seat boxes on a small shim (<1/8"). I noticed when removing them from the carpeted deck that the insides of the seat boxes never dried out. There was no air circulation, and any water that got in was trapped. By adding the shims, it should make it a little drier inside.

I also cut out the holes for the trim panel and fish finder on the front casting deck. I'm going to add a couple of aluminum measuring sticks to use for my fish pics when I catch the lunkers... Here's what it ends up looking like:


And a view of the front end of the boat, all tied together:


I've still got a little clean-up in the bilge, putting the battery boxes and charger back in place, and tying in all of the wiring. I'm also still trying to figure out the best arrangement for my Anchormate. You can see the basic positions in the pictures. The largest amount of work left is on the motor itself. I've got to swap out the lower unit with my parts motor, and then add the power tilt/trim unit off of my parts motor as well. I'm hoping to be able to pull the wiring harness for the TNT off the parts motor, but I have no issue with building a relay circuit to drive the motor if needed.

I'm not sure how much of this I'm going to complete now or save until the springtime. I'll keep plugging for a little bit and then make the decision.

Thanks for the support!

 

[Trackerpro17]

Boat is looking good! I also have a 1989 Bass Tracker Pro 17 but with a different motor. I was wondering if your boat might also have some hair line cracks between the rivets that are on the outside edge of the bottom of the boat? It's the rivets that hold the main floor braces to the bottom of the boat. My boat has 6 different spots with these cracks all being on the outside edge of the bottom of the boat between the rivets. I have heard that these year models are known for this problem. I have tried JB Weld and it works for a while but eventually cracks too due to the flex of the aluminum I think. I might have to try to have the cracks welded up if that is possible from the outside. Any suggestions? Good luck with finishing your project!