'83 Bass Tracker Revival

[BYOB Fishing]

Not really, just been messing with the motor. I hooked up the fuel tank and have been working on getting the motor to run. It's leaking gas out of the water intake for some reason...When it's on muffs, it will idle ok, but when I fill up the garbage can and try to run it in there, it won't even start. Not really sure what the deal is.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[hollywooddippa]

Very nice paint scheme and great detail work. I just finished my '85 TX-17, but I didn't need to got into the depth that you did. I just replaced all the wood and carpet and console. I picked up a console at Bills Boats also. I picked up the tan one off of an '05 G3 175.

 

[Buddychrist]

Not really, just been messing with the motor. I hooked up the fuel tank and have been working on getting the motor to run. It's leaking gas out of the water intake for some reason...When it's on muffs, it will idle ok, but when I fill up the garbage can and try to run it in there, it won't even start. Not really sure what the deal is.

Thanks,

Matt

Possibly the impeller is not pulling the water in for some reason without the inward pressure they're just rubber so if anyone dry cranked it to show it off it could have torn it up?

Have you checked your fluids in the foot?

If you haven't i personally would get a MV8000 from O'reillys and suck all the fluids out of the foot and start fresh, try taking your grate off of your impeller intake and see if there's some pebbles, garbage, leaves, etc in the tube which would clog the impeller causing it not to start and the forward pressure from the hose keeps the trash down?

Just throwing ideas out there man

 

[BYOB Fishing]

I'm not sure how much I'll be taking the motor apart...i don't really know anything about them, and the one thing I did try to remove and clean out, the fuel lift pump, won't go back together for some reason. I think I'll just leave it to my local boat guy.

 

[BYOB Fishing]

What do you guys think of my Minn kota Fortrex impression? Haha Also, for no reason at all, I painted the prop yellow...if I can find a better before pic ill post that later. And yes, I did assemble it on my dining room table! Haha

 

[JonBoatfever]

Getting closer to fishin!

 

[jw2]

Wow! This might be the most impressive mod I have seen! Looks great!

 

[mcateercustom]

Man this is great gives me great inspiration. I am about to take on my transom in an 89 tracker. I had a question. I noticed you didn't put foam back in where you have your gas tank, or am I just not seeing it? I was wondering if I needed it in mine?

 

[BYOB Fishing]

Man this is great gives me great inspiration. I am about to take on my transom in an 89 tracker. I had a question. I noticed you didn't put foam back in where you have your gas tank, or am I just not seeing it? I was wondering if I needed it in mine?

I think the goal is to have as much foam as possible. I had to remove some because I wanted a permanent gas tank with an external fuel fill. I also cut it back because I had to install the new wood. I plan to compensate in other areas.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[mcateercustom]

Oh ok cool! I was wondering. I am going to be adding some to mine soon. What foam route are you going? Thanks!

 

[BYOB Fishing]

Oh ok cool! I was wondering. I am going to be adding some to mine soon. What foam route are you going? Thanks!

I'll probably just use some of the pink insulation foam. I think it's around 2" thick. I'll cut it to fit the areas I can get it in to. I really didn't remove that much, just what was touching the transom...I think that caused all of the rotting problems I found in the old wood. I didn't want any foam touching the new wood at all. Oh, and the spot where I fit the new gas tank in. I'm sure there will be a net gain in foam once I'm done.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[BYOB Fishing]

Any updates..., or surprises? [-o<

Does console and bow 7" Lowrance HDS w/ structure scan qualify as a surprise? YES! hahaha

Now if I can figure out how to install it. The trolling motor setup is going to be very tricky with the giant HDS transducer.

 

[fordwrench]

Nice Build....I have an 80 Bass Tracker II. Using it now, but plan to do some work on it over the winter.

 

[JonBoatfever]

Any updates..., or surprises? [-o<

Does console and bow 7" Lowrance HDS w/ structure scan qualify as a surprise? YES! hahaha

Now if I can figure out how to install it. The trolling motor setup is going to be very tricky with the giant HDS transducer.

Sounds Great!

 

[BYOB Fishing]

Just for fun, I've updated the costs page. I think I've spent a little more than that on some hardware, but I'll take a look at what I've bought and try to fix the costs the next time I update it...

The cost breakdown is on Page 3 of this thread.

Matt

 

[BYOB Fishing]

I've been busy over the last two weeks doing wiring. I purchased some good 14ga marine grade wiring from genuinedealz, and been testing out all of the connections with the switches. I also purchased a fuse panel from Bass Pro, and a Trac trolling motor wiring kit, which I'd have to say seems like a great purchase. It comes with 35' of wire, a 50amp circuit breaker, really good plug connections, wire loom, and the expanding rubber trolling motor bolts. It was a little pricey, but I think it was worth it. I tested all of the switches on the new-old by wiring up the circuit, and they all work and light up. The gages also light up, but I have no idea how to wire them, and I'm not going to worry about them for now. I'm going to re-use the grounding strip from the old console, and wire both the fuse panel and the grounding strip with the leftover wire from the trolling motor kit. I started hooking up all of the new wiring by using marine grade connections with a good amount of heat shrink around them. All of the pumps and lights are wired up, and I've covered almost every wire with plastic wire loom...until I ran out of it. I also carpeted both of the interior side boards and plan to attach both of the structurescan modules to them before building up the deck. I think it will be easier to run wires before what I'll call the "electronics" compartment is enclosed. The electronics compartment will be in front of the driver's console and will be where the wires are ran to the front. I won't have enough left over wire to place the fuse box or grounding strip inside, but on most boats those items are located under the console anyway...so that's where I plan to put mine. I'll attempt to get a tupperware type box that will cover the fuse panel and grounding strip to keep everything looking good.

The next issue I have is wiring up the HDS units...and mounting the transducers. The transom mounting won't be a problem, but the trolling motor HDS transducer will be a challenge. My trolling motor has the skeg on the forward end of the motor, so there is no room to fit the larger transducer between it and the prop. I'll have to rig something up that extends the transducer out past the skeg if I want to utilize downscan directly below the trolling motor like I planned. I'm not sure of my options here, but I don't like the idea of an exposed $150 transducer...And I really want to stay away from having anything that looks rigged up. They have to make some sort of a bracket that will come off the side of the motor, at a 90 degree angle to the skeg, and allow the unit to work properly and yet look professional. My google search on this slow POS laptop makes me too fustrated to spend much time looking. Maybe I'll have to invent and patent something hahaha.

Here are some pictures. I'll post again when everything's done.

Matt

 

[TNtroller]

I've got a HDS 8 with SS package, and I mounted my SS ducer on the transom. The HU is mounted at the console. You seemed concerned about having the SS ducer exposed, but with it mounted to the TM it will be exposed for sure to stumps, rocks, etc., They do make a TM mounting bracket for the SS TD and people have made up their own as well. If you do mount the SS TD to the TM, whenever you move/use the TM to control the boat, the SS picture will be distorted due to the movement of the TM itself and the related movement of the SS TD. Nice work for all you've done.

 

[BYOB Fishing]

I've actually got two structure scan units. One for the transom, and one for the trolling motor. They have two different transducers, and two different ss control boxes. I was told that it's the only way to have true downscan off the front of your boat. I planned on linking them together so that waypoints would be shared between the two. The transom mounted one is pretty straight forward, it's just the trolling motor mounted transducer is throwing me for a loop.

 

[Gators5220]

I've never used a structure scan, but I've heard that they are nice. Do you think they make that much of a difference?

 

[BYOB Fishing]

I've never used a structure scan, but I've heard that they are nice. Do you think they make that much of a difference?

I'm hoping so...got alot of money wrapped up in it. I've fished as a co-angler with guys that have it, and it didn't really help me much...but we were'nt catching fish either, so maybe that was telling us something. The plan is to spend a lot of time learning to use it properly before the 2013 season starts. I'm hoping to use it to mark waypoints when I'm pre-fishing. If I'm using the structure scan to locate spots on tournament day, I'm probably in trouble.

I still haven't figured out how to mount it to the trolling motor. I havent got around to doing much research yet, though.


Back to carpeting!

Matt