87 Bass Tracker MV 16 rebuild and upgrade.

[Bowlershop]

Now is the perfect time to put a few inches of water inside the boat then go underneath and check for leaky rivets. Usually there will be a few and they are easy to replace or rebuck

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Plan to do that as soon as I get it back from welding. Gotta weld up the cracks in the keel first lol.

 

[el_cheapo]

I've seen that style of spark plugs referred to a permagap, my mercury 9.8 had them and they were supposed to have a huge resistance to fouling which I believe because I mixed pretty rich and did a lot of idling snagging. Never once fouled.

 

[LDUBS]

I've seen that style of spark plugs referred to a permagap, my mercury 9.8 had them and they were supposed to have a huge resistance to fouling which I believe because I mixed pretty rich and did a lot of idling snagging. Never once fouled.

I'm guessing this is a good answer, but posted to the wrong place?

 

[rcaircraftnut]

No he actually answered a question asked several pages ago. Thanks for the answer and also it shows peiple are reading this stuff. So thats also cool.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Got my new longer rivets Wedensday but had a 60 hr week at work so have not made any progress on it yet. Going to town in the morning unless I go fishing lol. Gotta get some bolts to pull things together with so I can clamp it tight before I rivet it.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Runnin outa daylight. Finnish it tomorrow. But the new rivets are working perfectly.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Made a quick fixture for cutting rivets.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Transom is done except for the welding. Going to make the appointment to get that done tomorrow. Things are going to speed up considerably now hehehe.
Got the spay on bedliner in a can for the bow and got it applied today. Will clean up the overspray and pull the tape tomorrow. Looks good so far. A light texture simigloss black.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Pretty well on hold untill Tuesday when it goes to be welded. Going to start plumbing and framing the livewell and rear deck this week. Gotta leave access in the bow for welding.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Tackle stash waitin to get a nice cozy drybox built in the boat for it to inhabit. I am woefully low on everything but soft baits lol. The bottom two are all bags of em. A decemt start though.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Its hooked to the pickup. Taking it to welder tomorrow.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Dropped her off at the welding shop this afternoon. Should have her back by tomorrow evening. Then the real fun stuff can start to happen. Lol.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Got her home from the welder yesterday. While it will be structurally fine, I am not happy with how he welded it. Looks like he used aluminum stick welding rathur than a TIG and a spool gun or a solid rod. Either of the last two would be the preferred welding process for what was being welded. However I quickly got over it when he offered me a new project boat. Looks like I will be starting on a StarCraft V hull soon. Forgot the year. Its around 18 feet long. Didnt measure it. Needs all new decks. Possibly a transom but it looked servicable in every area I could access to see it. Will find out once I tear into it. So as soon as I get the StarCraft done, this BassTracker I am building now WILL be for sale.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Been raining since the wee hours. Forcast says 2"+ by tonight. So I plan to work a small amount in the shop today on the pontoon boat transom. Tomorrow I will replace the 8 damaged rivets in the bow keel area. Seems when the heads busted off they just gooped up the holes with sillyputty. Silicone is not a structural repair obviously lol. Then I am going to bedliner the hull bottom. Hope to be back on the trailer and framing it out for the hatches and livewell uprades Monday after work.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Awesome stuff here, man, I’ll be following this thread.

I had the same issue with my transom holes on the outside skin not lining up perfectly with the inside skin. Not sure how they drilled those holes but they did a great job =D> :roll:

Good idea on fiberglassing the little front deck piece that the trolling motor mounts to. Mine was 3/4” marine plywood and I was trying to figure out a good method to rebuild it in aluminum. But I have a bunch of fiberglass mat and resin left over so I think I’ll follow your lead on this one!

Keep up the good work.

Also, Totalboat makes a great 2 part epoxy for fixing leaks in aluminum boats. Ironically enough, it’s called Aluminum Boat Leak Seal. I had some pretty ugly pitting of my hull underneath the rear deck where the pour in foam trapped water. I cleaned it up and spread a thick layer of the epoxy over the areas that were pitted. Seems like a good idea, and it’s holding up well, but time will tell. Just my two cents

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Hull rivets done.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Ready for bottom coating. Disregard my hillbilly cousin helper lol.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Bottom coating came out good. Leak test will be the final step tomorrow or Tuesday after work. Gotta intall the pumps first though. :LOL2:

 

[rcaircraftnut]

I have decided to go more stock on this build and not try to add so much to it. Looking for a 12v trolling motor now. Adding rear deck and compartments though still I think. Will go all out on the Starcraft as its a much larger boat and can take the weight. Wanna keep this one lite.