1989 bass tracker pro 17 rebuild - livewell question

[jalockwood]

seats are done and in place, not yet fastened down to make the console install a bit easier but console should be done this week and I should be ready for water within the week!!!

 

[WVfishnfool]

Looking good. I got the Ranger home last Tuesday. We stayed an extra day at the wife's sister's house. Then I had to get up Wed. and help my daughter move out of the townhouse she'd been renting. She bought a house and is having it remodeled first so 3/4 of her stuff is now in my rec room downstairs. Spent Thur. finishing up her move and then started to clean up the Ranger on Friday. Rain moved in on me so not much accomplished then I woke up Saturday sick as a dog. Head and chest cold and have been out of it for the last 5 days. I'm feeling better today and hopefully get started back in on the Ranger tomorrow if it will quit raining. Once I get the Ranger ready to fish I plan on finishing the Tracker. I'll work on it while it's to hot to fish and if I have to finish it this winter. Once I get some pics of the new to me ranger I'll e-mail them to you and probably post them in the Watering Hole Forum. Keep up the good work man you're almost done.

 

[jalockwood]

ahh some much awaited news has finally come to pass! shes done!!!! and looking good if I say so myself. I ran it last night on muffs to be sure all my new gauges and electrical is tip top and looks like im coming out on top this time everything looks to be good. ill be taking it to the water next chance I get but for now have a look and let me know what you think!

 

[WVfishnfool]

Every thing looks top notch to me. That's a fine job. =D> Aint no reason why fish wouldn't want to go for a ride in that rig. Now get out there and enjoy yourself and reap the rewards of your hard work. By the way the console looks great to me don't know what all you did to it but it looks fine in the pictures. :wink: Congrats on a job well done.

 

[jalockwood]

thank you Kenny! I hope I don't get any nasty surprises in the way of water intrusion when I hit the water but im gonna keep my hopes up for a great maiden voyage....well my maiden voyage anyhow haha. As far as that console goes all I did was get some fiberboard material similar to what you would find on a wooden clipboard and I coated it with textured spray paint that dried real nice it doesn't have a sticky residue and it matches pretty well also. then after I coated it several times I just riveted them right to the existing console to make a decent patch job. ive got a video of the gauges operating while I ran it on muffs ill try to email it to you if you would be interested in taking a look. My idle fluctuation also calmed down when I ran it this week on new premium gas with a 50:1 oil ratio and stabil marine fuel treatment. I work late this week so it may be sunday before I get to see her in action but itll give me something to look forward to this weekend. Ill try to stay in touch on the forum even though im done with my project for the most part, the trailer needs attention but thanks again for all your help its gotten me through some tough situations I faced. I hope you get your projects situated soon as well and I hope to see what yours looks like in the end!

 

[WVfishnfool]

Hey Josh you're most welcome buddy. If I can help somebody else out and save them from some of the headaches I've experienced already then just maybe it will come back around and somebody can help me out I hope. :lol: Of course most people that know me say I'm beyond help. :lol: But hey please do stay in touch. I've enjoyed helping you out and who knows if I get down your way or if you ever come up this way call me before you get here and we just might go catch a fish or 2 some where. I think I lost your number but I'll PM you mine and my e-mail address again. I just finished getting my Ranger cleaned up yesterday and plan on putting it in the river this weekend. I also started working part time for my son-in-law this week as well until he gets somebody hired again so I may be kind of busy myself. Once I get started on my Tracker again I'm going to get my pics uploaded to photo bucket and then get them posted on here. I'll talk to ya later on and hope things go well with your "New Tracker". And if you ever have anymore questions don't hesitate to e-mail or call and I'll try and help if I can.

 

[jalockwood]

that sounds great Kenny id like to catch a fish or two sometime if things panned out sometime were in each others area. I took the ole girl out this weekend and spent about an hour on the water just running it trying to clean out the pipes so to speak lol. it runs pretty well im thoroughly pleased with it for being my first boat and a successful build. I had minor water in the boat after the time I spent out there and it was nowhere near enough to use the bilge pump, maybe just enough to get your fingers wet when taking out the drain plug and definitely no noticeable standing water thus far. according to my rpm gauge I was running around 3000 rpm full throttle im not sure whats typical of a smaller 35 hp motor such as I have but it didn't sputter or feel like it was lacking any power when you got her opened up at full throttle. I look forward to really breaking it in this fall and seeing if I cant catch a nice one before the year is totally gone. ill post a pic I took just out on the water excuse the old seat on the front deck its just a stand in until I replace those as well haha

 

[WVfishnfool]

Hey Josh you could always call a marine dealer and give them the serial number and model number of your engine and they can tell you what maximum and ideal WOT rpm is.

 

[jalockwood]

very true Kenny I could do that, im also going to have to get a quote on quite a serious repair as well I found my upper engine mounts to be broken putting serious load and wear on my shift shaft. and wouldn't ya know they happen to bolt through on the inside of the driveshaft housing....no good at all. from what im seeing a powerhead removal and engine removal from the boat will be necessary to remedy the broken mounts. pretty disappointing im fearing this repair to be in the high dollar range and idk how to make this sort of repair on my own....with proper tools not being on hand as well. The major issue I see is that if the shift shaft shears going down the water not only will I lose capability to select my gear from forward to neutral to reverse but that part alone is over 100$ used and almost 400$ new, not to mention the possibility of the lower mounts sheering off and the whole motor going right into the drink. ugh it just feels like a big slap in the face after seeing it all done and taking it out for the first time not knowing now if that repair is going to ultimately be too costly to make it worth the while.

 

[WVfishnfool]

:shock: Dang wonder what the heck caused that ? Pulling a power head can be done. You'll need some way to lift the head straight off and set it straight back down so you don't get the exhaust gaskets and plates out of line when you do it. I have a Mercury lift ring that screws in to the flywheel where you just use an engine hoist or some type lifting device to remove it. Don't know if it would thread into your flywheel but if it will your more than welcome to borrow it. I could mail it to ya. Main thing is take a lot of pictures of the wiring before you disconnect anything and label them if you have to. Also what about any locals that work on boat motors on the side that may even have the used parts you need. Ask around and see if anybody knows somebody that's reputable. Find out if there's any bass clubs in your area and ask some of the guys who are in it I guarantee you most of them have had work done at one time or another and know who to trust will treat ya right. But hey if worse comes to worse save up some money and find a used 60 horse Mercury that you can run and test on the water and repower your boat. Then use the boat for a bunch of years to get your moneys worth out of it. That's what I use to do. Hopefully everything will work out for ya but don't let it get ya down man you did a great job on fixing that boat up.

 

[jalockwood]

Thank you Kenny I appreciate that, not gonna lie its not hard to feel disappointed at this stage but hey it is what it is. What im thinking for now is maybe just running it a couple times this season, and try to really take her easy but get some joy out of it while I can. I am searching for someone to help me do this but if it turns out that I have to do it myself it can be my winter project, I have a seloc manual for this engine and I do have the advantage of being mechanically inclined at the very least. Thank you for offering your tool for me to use on that powerhead, if it turns out that I do have to take this one on myself I will let you know. I will write down your info somewhere safe so I can call or email you if I need to, I havnt checked my pms yet im not sure if you've already sent that info lol but that's no rush. Do you feel like a 60 horse used mercury would be a reasonable buy for a boat of that age? I have no idea what they cost im sure not cheap if I had to guess somewhere in the 2 to 3000$ range but maybe im way off. Anyways man thank you for words of encouragement on that dilemma and I intend on staying in touch with ya whenever we get a chance to chat. I hope things are going well for you out your way take it easy! By the way those mounts are solid rubber best I can tell, I would imagine just like an old tire that dry rots these mounts can do the same and over the years they've just given out...unfortunate but ultimately kind of unavoidable when I consider the age of the boat I have.

 

[WVfishnfool]

Josh sent you a PM

 

[jalockwood]

aside from the broken mounts on the engine which I plan to take care of as soon as possible I couldn't be happier with the build and how the boat operates, its great to get out there and toss a line and enjoy the peace that nature brings!

 

[huntinfool]

Congrats.

 

[WVfishnfool]

jalockwood » 18 Aug 2014, 19:55[/url]"]aside from the broken mounts on the engine which I plan to take care of as soon as possible I couldn't be happier with the build and how the boat operates, its great to get out there and toss a line and enjoy the peace that nature brings!

SSSSHHHHHH Josh don't say this very loud or everybody will be buying a boat and we won't have our peace and quiet for long. :lol: I messed up several years ago and took my non-fishing wife at the time on several fishing trips with me. After about the third time she says "I know why you do this now, It's like all your troubles and cares just drift away." That was 34 years ago and she still goes fishing with me from time to time and when some of her friends say "I can't believe you like to fish." she tells them "Don't knock it until you've tried it."

 

[BoaterGirl]

Hi, My son has had a lot of fun in this boat over the summer. The original key broke off in the ignition. He continued to use the ignition and finally the half of the key wore down and will no longer work. We bought a new ignition switch (Sierra MP 39090). I told him to take picture before taking it out and of course the pictures he took weren't good enough. He went ahead trying to put on the new ignition and still no power 3 weeks later. Does anyone have pictures of the ignition with wires that they can share with me. Any help you can pass along is appreciated. I have already printed the wiring diagrams, which I will look at tonight, but some real pictures showing the switch might help. Thanks all for your help so far. Jen