1989 17' tracker pro 17 mod

[dearl]

Thanks for the tip. I got some more sanding done, and found 3 more cracks on the other side, around the outside rivets. I am seriously thinking of buffing all the rivet heads down flat, and reskinning the whole bottom between the keels. What do you think bassboy? Anyone ever seen this done? The cracks are coming from stress i would think, and maybe this boat has seen more use and abuse than I thought. If I reskin the bottom, that would add more strength right? Look at the pics and let me know what you think.

 

[Rat]

Are those three cracks on the same frame? Are they all on the same plane? Reskinning the bottom between the strakes alone isn't going to give you much additional strength; and to do it right you would need to drill and re-rivet to the factory holes. I wouldn't do it.

I have seen cracks with that profile (like a flattened "w") before in Alu, it's metal fatigue caused by flexing. The one time I know for sure what happened was the a combination of things, over powered and too much weight in the bow.

Overpowering a boat puts too much load on the bottom and causes excessive flexing, sometimes called "oil canning". The force on the bottom at higher speeds in chop, even small chop, is huge. Having too much weight forward while on plane will do it as well. The forward weight acts as a cantelever and will buckle the hull while on plane and in chop.

You mentioned putting the fuel tank under the fore deck, was it there originally? If not that will add considerable weight to the bow, not to mention foaming of the fuel in in serious chop and the beating the fuel tank will take. Generally speaking on flatbottom Jons you wanna keep 60-70% of the weight aft of the splash line while on plane (rear 1/3 of the hull).

Show me on the boat how the cracks run, stem to stern or port to starboard, and the location on the hull. I have seen a boat with similar cracks due to improper trailering as well, they didn't have the flattened "w" look tho and they ran stem to stern.

Given the age of the hull I don't think this is excessive damage and is easily repairable. As long as we get a good idea as to what caused it and avoid doing it again. She's gonna be a nice rig when you get done with her.

 

[dearl]

To answer your question, most of the cracks are on the starboard side, and the run along the chine of the boat towards the bow. I did have one battery up front under the deck before, but I figured I would move it under the center console seat, and put the fuel tank up there. I think that the problem came from not having any support on the sides, if you look at the pics of the inside, there is no side support, and I have noticed the sides " flex " under way. As I mentioned before, this boat would move pretty good for its size, with just a 40 h.p. motor, and its rated for a 70. Im not going to consider reskinning the bottom, I am going to weld all the leaking rivets, tig weld all the cracks, and steel flex the bottom, and get on with this mod. After getting the whole bottom sanded, it looks to be in good shape, with a few flaws, but I just want it to be dry, I tend to over think things sometimes, and I am a perfectionist by nature, so if it looks like I'm over kill on somethings, don't pay it any attention, its just my way. I got1 more side to do, then I can start welding. =D>

 

[Rat]

I think you are right. Looking back at your first images there isn't very much support to keep those sides from flexing out; looks like the cracks are right where the support ends as well which is another indication. Easily solved with good decking, you can anchor the decking from side to side to create a structural member if the decking is high enough. I'm not an engineer but I think anything above the center would be good enough if properly anchored.

You don't need to TIG it either (but there's nothing wrong with TIG); you can use a rod called HTS 2000, it's a brazing rod and you can use a MAPP Gas or Propane torch to apply it, quick and easy, works great. I have used it on boats and Alu evaporator coils (HVAC by trade) with good results. If you can silver solder there is almost no learning curve, otherwise a little practice is required to get it down, but nothing major. It will work on your rivets as well; the main thing is to clean the base material well with a good stainless brush just prior to using the HTS 2000.

HTS 2000

 

[deerslayer]

I have a 1754 polarkraft with similiar structural problems, few leaks ect. I found a guy who does a ton of boat repairs and he hooked me up. He ran me aluminum square stock gussets on each side of the floor rails, supports connecting the centers of the floor rails all the way up through the middle of the boat and put me in four, two on each side, side supports that connect the top of the side rail to the new floor gussests. Boat is solid as a rock now, no flex, nothing! I am also going to have him put in a new transome in the spring with two new transome supports made out of the same square stock material. The boats PO beat it pretty good, and trailered the boat with the motor up at full tilt at all times. Once the transome is done I am gonna add a full, one piece aluminum floor and raptor line the inside of the boat.....Just a thought you might want to do something similiar witht he floor gussets and the rail supports. It really ties the boat together. I noticed a huge difference the first time I took mine out after the repairs!

 

[russ010]

You asked about steelflex a few posts back... you put that directly to the bare aluminum, then paint over it

check out Brine's mod on here - he's got pretty good steps with pictures. It's somewhere in this post - https://tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6551

 

[dearl]

Thanks Russ and deerslayer for the tips, I was thinking about adding some bracing from the floor supports up, to kinda tie the sides into the floor to stop this from happening again. Well I did it! I finally finished sanding all that nasty black paint and epoxy off this boat, all I have to do now is go around all the rivets with a small torch and a wire brush to remove any left over epoxy and paint, and then I can start welding. I am going to look into the brazing rods that rat spoke about, looks like some good stuff. I probably wont get anything done till after labor day, got a lot of things to do at work this weekend.

 

[dearl]

Got all the rivets cleaned and marked with a black permanent marker so I dont miss any. My son and I got the boat back on the trailer, and its ready to go to the shop. I will probably go by there tomorrow and set it on the bunks, But I probably wont start actually welding until Monday or Tuesday. I want to bring the trailer home and do some work to it before I put the boat back on. The wood bunks never actually lined up with the keels on the bottom, I plan to correct that and add some new rollers, and some new lights. Hope everything goes as planned. I want to have the welding and the trailer done by next friday.

 

[Waterwings]

Lookin' good! 8)

 

[dearl]

Got the top and sides welded today, used a friends wire welder, didn't take as long as I thought. Turned out real well, I hope to be able to take it back friday and weld all the rivets in the bottom. Im getting pretty excited, almost ready to start putting everything back together.

 

[Rat]

She's gonna be nice when you get done with her! Have a name for her yet?

 

[baptistpreach]

Excellent work thus far. I'm on the fence about modding my 17ft. Duracraft and I'm very interested to see how yours turns out. Looks real great so far though

 

[dearl]

Rat, I haven't really thought about a name yet, It needs a good one though, Ive owned the boat for 3 years, and this is the first real face lift she's ever had, I'll be thinking about that one. I hope to start welding channel to the sides, and get her flipped so I can weld cracks. I will probably order my steel flex this week, but i still have alot of welding to do before I put it on. Don't wait to long baptistpreach cold weather will be on us before long, be to cold to do anything.

 

[dearl]

Got some welding done today, started installing some brackets to secure the sides of the boat to the deck braces. I hope to finish all the welding by the first of the week, my metal should be here by next friday so I want to be ready to roll with it when it gets here. So far I'm pleased with the project, I know the hard part is yet to come, but this is the fun part as I see it. We wouldn't do it if we didn't enjoy it right! I did some welding to the cracks on the bottom earlier this week, they are history! I should be ready to prime it by the first of October.

 

[stinkynathan]

View attachment 1

that is a humangous stitch....

 

[dearl]

Yep, had a small gap to fill. I plan to raise the deck level 1" so I can run 1x1 tubing from the rear deck to the front to add some strength to the floor area. When I get ready to weld those in these large welds will be bufffed down flat. I hope by doing this it will take the flex out of the sides. We'll see.

 

[rick50]

This might be a stupid question, but after you welded the rivets and any cracks in the bottom of the boat did you put any water in the boat and test it for leaks?

 

[dearl]

I haven't finished the bottom yet, I still have a few spots that need some attention, plus I'm trying to get my steel flex in so I can get it put on before it gets to cool outside. But to answer your question i do intend to water test it after I get all the wleding done, and before I apply the steel flex. Does anyone know how much a 4 x 8 sheet of .125 aluminum plate weighs. Just curious.

 

[rick50]

Last time I checked at the place I buy aluminum from they told me 56 lbs..

Just curious about the welding. I have welded the rivets on the bottom of flat boats with mainly a tig machine.

 

[dearl]

I tried to tig some of the rivets on the bottom, but it seems the rivet are made of a softer aluminum than the hull. When I would try to combine the two the rivet would basicly puddle away to nothing. I found that if I counter sink the rivet with a large drill bit, I can mix the two pretty easy if i keep the welder on 48-50 amps and the wire speed on 40-45. The reason i asked about the weight was because i will be using 3 sheets to rebuild my decks, so that amounts to 162lbs. I removed 3 sheets of 3/4" plywood that weighed 75lbs. per sheet so I am actually shedding 63 lbs, and I wont have to replace decks ever again.