Scott1298's Tracker Topper 1542LW Mod "Complete"

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Scott1298

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 12, 2012
Messages
203
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Location
Kamloops, BC
Well, I knew we were going to upgrade from the 10 footer some time, I just didn't think it would be this fast! But I couldn't pass up the boat, 6 hp Merc, (and oars) I wanted on cl- all for the price of the motor at the local dealer's. I stumbled across this site around the time I bought the boat, and I love it! You will see many of the ideas recycled, and this is part of my payback. And thanks to gillhunter for lighting a fire under me to get started.
I don't know when I'll finish... it is fishing season! But I'll post as I work between fishing trips...

A 15' topper, less than 200 lbs; I can throw that on my truck rack myself... not! I bought a trailer within a week of bringing it home on aforementioned rack. :LOL2:
 

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Boat's looking good. You got the paint off a lot quicker than I thought you would =D> The boat is going to be sharp looking with a natural finish.
 
One of my first jobs as a young man was in an autobody shop... I did lots of sanding and priming of automobiles. There were signs of orbital sanding underneath the stripped paint, and to be fair I'm not sure if I could have identified a primer, but the problem probably is there is none. My fear was that if I go to all the trouble of sanding (including feathering back all the scratches and peel) the peeling could continue under the remaining old paint for the foreseeable future... ruining a new paint job too.
Some people just pickup a can of matching spray paint and touch their boat up as "life happens". After a while you should know what you are up against. I just felt my used boat was too far gone.
 
Has anybody tried those sliderg5 seats :?: I'm thinking about getting two; one for each captain's bench on my tin boats. Then I could just move the swivel chair from boat to boat. I've had the same experience as themaestro for the rest of the boat, it's just as easy to throw a stadium seat in (or nothing) depending on the passengers. And if I bring the friend with a bad back like me, we just throw his clamp-on on the new front deck mod. :mrgreen:
 
I've been distracted mobilizing my last boat for the season. I'd never owned a boat until 3 years ago... now I own three?! Sometimes I think it would be cheaper to have a drug habit! Maybe my wife is right and I do have a problem :oops: This one is like most of the girls on the other side of the bar... it looks better from a distance, but it gets us on the beaches of the river and big lakes in the area. This is a subject for another forum, but it is my excuse for not working on my tinny the last few weeks!
 

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Alright, I've got a few days off so I have time to complete some projects. Yesterday I put a Wise sliding seat on my 10'. I tried to get the Slider G5s, but they don't ship to Canada. The positive side of using these is if I go out without the seat they are flat enough I can sit on them failrly comfortably. I had to cover the damage done by the clamp-on... but at least I knew where I needed to put it. I usually sat about 6-7 inches off center when operating the motor, so the 9" travel should be lots. I added a strip of 1.5" aluminum underneath one side, hopefully it will prevent more damage to the bench and give me a little clearance to slide, seams to work good. I bought another with the intent to put it on my 15' so I can move the seat back and forth between the two boats. I may wish I'd offset the back bracket an inch to the left, it would make installation of the seat a little easier if I could get the front in and then have an inch of seat to rest on before I had to "thread the needle" of the back bracket.
 

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You going to put tin foil on that seat to match your boat?...:)
That is one shiny boat though,nice job on striping it.
 
Zum said:
You going to put tin foil on that seat to match your boat?...:)
That is one shiny boat though,nice job on striping it.
Ha it is shiny, I burn't my hand leaning on it to open the gate the other day, but it's pretty tight down the side of the garage and I scratched the side of it pushing the other one in one time... a little sandpapering and nobody would know the difference :wink: Kinda reinforced my decision to leave the 15' stripped bare so I don't have to suffer that first time I scratch my new paint job,.. although I might not shine it up to reduce the heat/glare.
 
Ok, before we went on the river with the big boat for a few hours I got one more project started... I removed the LW cover with the intention of placing at least one battery in there and wiring everything from there. I discovered only one fits, and it has to go sideways. That should be enough for me, and if I take passengers I think I've figured out a plan.
I think I've bought my dream trolling motor used (55lb Minn Kota PDV2 with ipilot), it's half the price of new but its 500 miles away. Fortunately as luck would have it, my dad lives 20 miles away from the guy in the middle of "Nowhere" Canada. If things work out, he'll pick it up and deliver on his next visit, but I can't go much farther until I know I have it and it's dimensions. Anyways, this is my first build so I keep starting projects as prototypes and when I'm done I think I can get away with what I've built... at least for now. This time I just grabbed the left over old 3/4 inch plywood from the front deck and built a little platform to fit the box, and I used what I had laying around to finish it. It ain't pretty but it should work at least for a while. Things fit tight, but I really should seal some plywood and build a seat with a hatch to keep the rain out because the original LW hatch funnels water into the box and the wood will likely sit in the water from time to time even though I have an old boat cover to keep the rain out when parked.
Back to the batteries; I'm going to run 8 gauge wire back to the transom (as well as to the bow) and if I use my 30lb transom motor I'll connect there. If I get the bow mount, when I have passengers or a serious fishing trip, I'll place a second battery at the transom (where I place it now) and connect it in parrallel with a quick connect to the one at the front doubling the battery life and balancing the boat! I may even charge the bow battery through the quick connect at the back.
 

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Well the used Minn Kota is mine, I just don't know when mom and dad will drop it off. In the meantime I ran the wires for it today, but it's too hot to do anything else. I picked up the wiring snake on sale a while back, it was worth every penny today!
 

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Alright, I got some more work done this week/end. The neighbor helped me rip some sheets of plywood to fit mid week and I finished them up over the last few days. I give the Wise/Action seat sliders a C-; they do what I need, but I had to work like a dog to make them fit. One aluminum piece came warped, making fitting really tough. I used the 3/4" screws provided for assembly, but I think I'll eventually replace them with 1 1/4" or stove bolts as I still have the thickness off the second sheet to work with. I stacked two pieces of 3/4" plywood for clearance on the drivers seat, cutting out what I didn't need for support, then put the seat mount on to match the one on my 10' boat. 3/4" plywood in the middle seat too, and I used a piano hinge to join the two sheets of plywood creating a new weather proof lid, then used the old lid to center the new boards. All boards were spar urethaned, and I used industrial strength velcro to attach the finished boards to the boat, so if I have to make changes I just have some glue to clean up. I had a nice surprise with the fit of the tappered bench lid... the lid gently stops at its vertical point due to a rub on the tappered beam.
Now all I have to do is wait for my bow mount trolling motor, measure, Macgyver, mount, and quick connect. Then I'm done with mods for this season :D :cry: :?:
 

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Well all the talk of storage compartments on this site, and an offer to buy my aluminum lid got me thinking... :idea:

A couple things that happened along the way:
1) When I cut open the seat I discovered there was a support strap riveted an inch off the bottom inside on the port side. I decided to keep it figuring they put it there for a reason, but it shallowed up my container changing the measurements everywhere. Fortunately the inside lip on the lid gave me an inch of forgiveness. And I still have a 10.5" deep 10x18" compartment that will be great for tackle, lunches, beverages :wink: , etc.
2) Because of the strap, one side had way more support when I started spraying expanding foam and placing the container in the bottom. At the last minute I decided to stuff an old piece of foam under the unsupported side so it would stay in position. Next time I would glue a block of foam in place to level the bottom first.
3) It took way more foam than I thought it would, I had to make a trip back to the hardware store for another can in the middle of the project. But watchout, the expanding foam will collapse an unsupported container. I ended up filling the container with junk and then placed the wood cutout (notched for the container's handles) from the seat on top as it was the same size.

I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the container on the aft side. The lid is not water tight and I have a full inch of clearance above the bottom so I'll take my chances that I don't take on so much water that it starts to fill the container up.
I mounted the lid for easy access from inside the boat. Only due to luck, my original design of the seat gave me support on the lip of the lid, and if the lid lifts at highway speed the sliding seat mount allows me to pull the swivel seat mechanism over the lid to hold it down. 8)
And I figure if I ever want to add more electronics and a control panel, now all I have to do is pull out the container and cut a hole in the side of my seat.
 

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Lookin' good man. I like what you did with the center seat lid. That a new Merc hangin of the transom?
 
Ictalurus said:
Lookin' good man. I like what you did with the center seat lid. That a new Merc hangin of the transom?

Thanks! It came with the boat used, and had less than 10 hours on it. It's actually a 2008 that was bought new (on sale) Dec 2011... It's a long story, but I have 2 years warranty left on it!
 
I am planning for the arrival of my bow mount trolling motor, and realized I need to do something to counteract the torque on the front platform. This is what I came up with... I bought a couple turnbuckles, S hooks, and fence staples and put them together. Even just hand tightening the turnbuckles there's NO play at the back of the platform, and I'll use a wrench when it's for the last time. You'll have to scroll up to see the bow platform in place, no sense adding another picture as you can't see the anchors anyway.
 

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We did a quick fishing trip today; my oldest got two in the boat, not bad for the amount of time we actually spent fishing!
It was my first time on the road with the reversed lid... first bump I hit at highway speed it opened up. On the water it was no problem, I had the little six horse merc wide open into a stiff breeze and the lid didn't even bounce. On the way home I pulled the sliding seat over the lid, and it never moved on the way back. I took everything I'll fish with once I get the bow mount trolling motor and I think the balance is going to be ok, based on how we sat when I put my 5 year old in the bow mount position.
 

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