Tracker Tournament TX Rebuild

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Bobsbaits

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 17, 2013
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Location
Dillsburg PA
Been watching this board for about 2 months, since I realized the my transom on my 1989 Tracker TX was bad and it was going to be a long winter. I did a little reinforcement to get me thru my club tournament season, but now I am done using this boat for tournaments and time to start to my rebuild. I should mention since I realized the transom was rotten, my front deck is also starting to give way and I hit a rock and ripped a small tear in the bottom. It's a shame because the boat has always been garage kept and looks great. My goal now is to tear this apart, get a new transom put in, get the bottom welded and get Steelflex on the bottom before the weather starts to get colder. Then I can spend the winter putting the rest back together. Thanks for all the great ideas here, I now have a lot of ideas and plans to make the boat better.
 

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ok, I'm off to a slow start but I got the motor off and started taking off all the equipment, lids, cables, etc. This weekend I will be cutting the transom off, taking the decks and foam out and hopefully builing the new transom. I will fill it with water and mark the leaks so I can get it off to the welder. I plan to have the transom top and one small crack on the bottom welded, then drill and re rivet the leaking rivets. Hope to get this off to the welders soon so I can get in back before it gets too cold. Would like to get steelflex on the bottom and then take my time working on it over the fall and winter. I have all my rivets, 5200, steelflex, and new bits ready to go.
 

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Pretty productive weekend. I got all the transom, decks and bad foam out. Got it cleaned up and a coat of putty over the pitted transom. I couldn't believe how rotter the transom was. It fell apart right in the center. Only the very ends were not rotten, the rest is completly gone. There was also pitting in the transom from the soaked, rotten wood. The foam in the floor in the back was soak and really heavy. Water oozed out everywhere as I pulled the foam out. Once I got the foam out and cleaned the floor, I put water in and marked the leaks in the bottom. There were 4 leaking rivets and 3 small cracks right under the keel. Tracker certainly never intended for anyone to take thes boats apart the way they assembled them and then poured foam in on top of everything. Next step, build a new transom.
 

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Ok, it's been awhile since I posted. Fished for 5 days last week so I didn't get much done. Had a long weekend so I tried to get as much done as I could. Finally got the new transom in so it feels good to be moving forward instead of tearing stuff apart. I have to pick up a hose and put a couple more bolts in and it will be ready for the welder. Hoping to get welded next weekend, then steelflex and then I can pace myself putting it back together. Here's a few pictures of the rebuild progress:
 

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Ok, it's been a little while since I last posted. Fishing was pretty good so I didn't put the time in the rebuild I wanted to. Finally got the boat back from the welder and got the Steelflex on the bottom. The previous owner must have drilled new holes everytime he got a new trolling motor, there was 12 extra holes so I made a new board and body puttied the old holes. Once the Steelflex dries I will be painting the boat and putting on new decals.
 

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Yeah, there is a lot to it. I was surprised by how many bolts and rivets this required. Everything ties together like a big puzzle just have to take your time and think thru it and keep 5200 handy.
 
Ok, got the heater cranking yesterday so I could finish the Steel flex and get some primer on. I wanted to make sure all the rivets and keel were properly coated. Don't want any leaks when I'm done. I used a can of Zar paint stripper gel on the decals. The decals peeled off like saran wrap, it was amazing. I then taped where I wanted to paint and then wire brushed the sides. Once I was done wire brushing, I cleaned it with Acetone and then re taped-it and got it ready for primer.
 

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Got a little more work done today. Got the final coat of self etching primer on. I used the Rust Oleum and it seemed to go on nice. I also did a little plumbing on the livewell while it was out. I am adding a lever so I can fill/drain it from the console. Also adding a pump out and a real overflow. The original only had a piece of pipe I added for overflow.
 

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Heck of an overhaul. Looking really good. Can't wait to see the end product.
 
Thanks, appreciate the feedback. I'm anxious to get it flipped back over and get a coat of finish paint on and start piecing it back together
 
Going to take a breal over Thanksgiving, but here are a couple photos of where I left off. I built a couple saw horses so I could flip the boat and get it off the trailer and ready for paint. Didn't have any help this week so I figured out how to flip the boat on my own. Hooked straps up to the ceiling and carefully flipped it over. Went better than I thought. I have to do a little body putty for some of the extra trolling motor holes and dents. Also took a file over a couple sharp edges that occured thru the years from banging into things.
 

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How deep is the livewell? Very nice job on that splashwell.
 
Ok, here's what I got done today. Finshed the primer and got 2 coats of color on. Needs another coat and then some clear, but I ran out of paint. Really misjudged that. I also made some new boards for the trailer as I saw the originals were rotten when I took the boat off. I figured since I had some SPAR left I would go ahead and coat them before I put new carpet on. I also put some fresh paint on my motor bar. I had this custom made for my jet. Probably don't ned one with the jet, but I hate to see the motor stress the transom. Going to the store first thing in the am to get some paint so I can get it done and let it sit for a couple days. I also made a plate for the cable hole. I don't know why Tracker made this so big and oblonged but water often went in here. I made a plate and plan to put two cable boots to keep the water out. One is for the motor cables and the other is for transducers and speedo.
 

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