1989 Bass Tracker TX17

[kalninm]

Well I'm still on schedule for Friday, got the motor ironed out Tuesday, and buttoned up the bilge finally yesterday. Got all the batteries put in and gas tank and everything hooked up.....and it all works! lol. Anyways gotta put my registration sticker on along with another one or two stickers on Friday then Saturday I'm running her and replacing the bunks and mounting brackets for the bunks cause they are both $hit. Anyone have any ideas on how to make sure when you put new bunks on that they are level and at the right height??? since I have to replace the mounting brackets too its going to be interesting trying to guess where it should be.

 

[onthewater102]

Make a template out of a piece of cardboard that aligns to the underside of the bunk and the trailer frame at each mounting point.

 

[kalninm]

ahhhh not a bad idea, Then I would know the height that needs to be covered when installing the new brackets

 

[kalninm]

Quick update, Patched up some leaks and added stickers, we'll see how long they last but for now at least they look pretty BA I think :mrgreen:

 

[thedude]

How was the water test!?

 

[kalninm]

Well on the water it was good.....for the most part, found out my bilge pumps work great. So had my buddy check out how much gas I had, bad idea. He said half tank, I had less than a gallon which resulted in surging of power in the motor as the little bit of gas in the tank sloshed around. So only getting it to 4500 rpm with the power surges I did get it up to 29mph with two people so I figure I'll be mid 30's when I have steady power and about 5500rpm. I need to adjust the idle speed though, once I got it in the water it wanted to idle at about 300rpm....which is way to low and kept killing the motor but that's an easy fix. I did find out the bilge pumps work though as I apparently had a lot of leaks.....Yes I know I should have checked that before launching but oh well. I did a leaky test last week in my drive way and marked all of the leaks and finished up sealing up the leaks last night. I have a whole thread on patching my leaks, added the link below.

https://www.forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=44989&p=452697#p452697

Lastly got the trailer bunks fixed but the trailer is still a pain to load so I'll be ordering more hardware and adding two more bunks down the center and removing the rollers in the next month or so. Won't be able to get the boat on the water for a few weeks now unfortunately. Weekends are book and I have prefishing and tournaments with my buddy and we use his boat. Next time I get it out though I'll be sure to do an update post.

 

[gatorglenn]

Quick update, Patched up some leaks and added stickers, we'll see how long they last but for now at least they look pretty BA I think :mrgreen:

yep pretty awesome looking


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[after6tuning]

So I'm waiting on a few pieces as finishing touches but she is ready to rock n' roll. A few decals coming in and still have to do trailer bunks but here is how she sits now. First pic is of the front deck, then second pic is a closer look at my solution to rod storage, and lastly a look at the back deck. enjoy :!:

Do you have any pics of how you mounted your seats? also how high from the floor are they mounted? I am planning to do a side console conversion to my 15' alunimum jon boat. I have two folding seats (i got for free) that can be flush with the rear deck like yours. If you have a pic of what your fiberglass console is mounted on. It seems like the front of the console is mounted to the front deck but I cannot see the sides. Thank you and looks great.

 

[kalninm]

I don't have measurements for the seats but I can get them later when I go home for lunch. The console on the other hand is an interesting one. When I got the boat the console was not very secure to say the least. It came with an aluminum piece that supported the port side by getting screwed into the console and then into the floor. then the front foot or so of the console just rested on the front deck. So to solve this we cut a 2x4 at a 45 degree angle and slid it all the way to the front. We then screwed the console to it and then screwed it to the deck to hold the front in place. Lastly we didn't have much support on the Starboard side and the console was drooping. All that side did was rest against the side wall so it had no support. So I had some "Z" bar aluminum left over and I cut it to length and riveted it to the side wall of the boat so that it created a lip for that side of the console to sit in. I late also riveted the console to the "Z" bar to further reduce movement when driving. At this point it is pretty stable and I have no real concerns. For you starting from scratch and not having to work around previous design you should be good. Good luck and I'll get back to you on the seat heights