87 Bass Tracker MV 16 rebuild and upgrade.

[rcaircraftnut]

Looking at Coosa board but dang are they ever proud of that stuff.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Had a late day at work so no progress today. Supposed to rain all day tommorrow. Man I cant wait to get moved. New place has a 30x50 shop. Plan to go into business for myself once I get moved. I am good with wood and fiberglass. Yes I do need to study up on a few things, like what woods are treated, lol, but I have this idea that I can restore old glass boats using all composite materials making them comparable to modern boats in most respects. I dont plan to get rich or any grand scheme like that, just make a decent living while not being reliant on good weather to work. Also plan to do small engine repair again as I am very good with engines. Had a small engine shop 20 yrs ago and did quite well at it. Just need to get up to speed on outboards. There are some differances I was not aware of until I dug into my first one. Still need to bone up some. With as easy as these little aluminum boats are to work on I may do several more as they seem quite popular around here.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Ok. So I either have to go 4 or 5 hrs one way to get actual marine ply. That being the case I am going with the best grade of exteruor non treated plywood I can buy and weatherproof it myself. Will be using cdx ply for the decks.

 

[LDUBS]

Ok. So I either have to go 4 or 5 hrs one way to get actual marine ply. That being the case I am going with the best grade of exteruor non treated plywood I can buy and weatherproof it myself. Will be using cdx ply for the decks.

Many recommend use of exterior grade ply as a prescribed substitute for more expense or harder to find marine grade. So, I would say you should be good. Many also recommend "old timer's formula" to seal the ply. Do a search here on TB for the ingredients and recipe.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Got the engine off this evening after work. Stared removing the transom. Got the little cast caps off. All the rivits on the top are gone. Welds are cut. Next is to remove the rest of the rivits and get the splashwell out. Then the rotted sponge, er um wood out haha. Will have to see how bad I buggered the cap rail on the first side figuring out where to cut the weld, but the second side was cake. Not a difficult job at all for someone with good mechanical and metalworking skills. Thanks all for the advice as well as the encouragement. Its KILLING me not being on the water rite now. Finally having a boat to fish from and it not being done is mighty irritating mmm hmmm. Lol. So I plan to do this in as fast a time frame as possible. Problem is I have limited time and money so I need to decide now what the modifications will be so as not to be backtracking. I want to move the livewells into a single livewell in the stern. I want a recessed pedal for my trolling motor. I want tackle storage bins with dry hatches in the bow. And I want more rod storage. The challenge is to see how much of it I can cram into this little boat in a limited time frame.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Heres a question and I want honest answers. There is no wrong answer so here goes.
I am currently building this boat for me. However, if I am to ever want to sell it what would be the better option for resale value, or possibly using it as a floating bussiness card? Carpet, or my personal preferance, non skid?
Let me know what you think. If carpet is prefered I may go ahead and do that then just live with it.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Got off a bit early today. Its raining lightly. I have two fully charged packs for the Dewalt, and a death wheel. Lets see who wins, me, the transom, or the weather haha.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

ME 1 Transom 0.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Everywhere the original foam made contact with the wood its dissentigrated. The rest is just soft or dry rot except the very top 4-6" of the wood. This would have surely failed. Glad I decided to go ahead and remove the foam, it looked ok and felt solid enough until then lol.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

I do not have the capacity yet to do the large rivits that were used originally. I plan to use bolts. Is tyere any valid reason why NOT to use bolts? I am still learning the ins and outs of aluminum boats. Thanks.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Ordered the aluminum channel today to frame in the new fishing deck mods. Going to recess my trolling motor pedal, add a couple day boxes/tackle storage in the bow deck. Moving to a larger single livewell with an icebox water chiller mod. As well as building a stern fishing deck which this boat never had.

 

[Extreme]

Following.

 

[Bowlershop]

I do not have the capacity yet to do the large rivits that were used originally. I plan to use bolts. Is tyere any valid reason why NOT to use bolts? I am still learning the ins and outs of aluminum boats. Thanks.

I have used bolts in the 3 I have changed. Just make sure they are true stainless bolts and hardware so they do not carode your aluminum. I sealed mine up with 5200 marine seal.

 

[Bowlershop]

https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=45754 Here’s the link to mine, has transom change as well.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Awesome thanks. I got the new transom cut out today. Its drying now. Had to laminate a piece of 1/2 and a piece of 3/4 together. Used 3m contruction adhesive. In the morning once thats dry enough, I will fiberglass the entire transom. This will make up the last 1/8 inch or so of thickness I need to get to a true 1.267 inches that the original transom measured in the dry unswollen area at the top center. Fiberglassing the new 3/4 ply bow reinforcement plate next this afternoon. Also building a 20 foot pontoon so I cut and laminated 3 3/4" ply sheets together for its transom that will get glassed as well. Been a busy day if you count the trip to town lol.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Glass is curing on new bow cap. This will be for weatherproofing as well as to reinforce the bolt holes for the 50lb thrust 24v trolling motor.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

This is the time consuming part that I dislike the most, waiting for crap to kick off and set up. Grrrrr. Lol.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Seriously though, if you have a small shop this os THE machine to have. I will never sell it except to upgrade one model newer on the table system for it.
Shopsmith mark 4 IIRC. This one is from the late 50's and had a complete rebuild a few years ago. I got it for a song. Lol.
Glass is drying on the transom and bow cap so I am taking a little ciesta lol.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Gonna have to someday build a plywood version of this boat but 21' long with one of my Merc 1150 strait sixes on it hehehe.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

While the wood is ready to be installed, the transom is on hold until I can source some aluminum brazing rod. Cleaned the corrosion on the transom metal and while most of it is not bad there are 5 or 6 pits that aare almost through the panel. So they will get brazed up and groung flat before I install the new wood. Stay tuned.