Another Tracker rebuild! ‘88 Bass Tracker

[Turd Ferguson]

Hey All,
Long time lurker and first time poster. Okay so to make a long story short, I purchased this 1988 Bass Tracker three years ago. Previous owner didn’t know the model, but from what I’ve researched I guess it to be a Pro V 16. Any help figuring that out would be appreciated. The boat came powered with a Mercury Classic 50, which I’ve found to be a reliable little motor at 45 HP. However, even after a re-prop, the boat maxed at 23 MPH which I was a little upset about.

I removed the motor last April to mount a 9.9 to fish some local tournaments (many lakes here in NJ are restricted to a 9.9 HP limit). In doing so I noticed that the transom was completely rotted out. So my transom repair turned into a full boat rebuild. It’s almost been a year since I started tearing into it and I haven’t made very much progress. It’s been tough to find the time but I’ve been chipping away at it.

So the boat has been completely gutted, power washed and now the building is starting. Getting all the old carpet glue off was a nightmare! I’ll post as many pictures as I can of the rebuild. However I didn’t take any before pictures which was very foolish of me!

I got the new transom in about two months ago. Didn’t take many pictures of the process but I’ll explain it here. The transom was 1.25” thick. I used 3/4 and 1/2 marine plywood, which I epoxied together and then cut to shape after creating a template. I then sanded the new transom piece and applied 3 layers of a penetrating epoxy. I then dry fitted the new transom and marked for holes. I drilled all of the holes out oversized and filled them with a thickened mix of epoxy resin. Once that dried, I fiberglassed both sides of the transom with 17 ounce biaxial fiberglass and an epoxy resin. Once all that was finished up, I set the transom in position and drilled all the holes. All new fastenings were 316 stainless carriage bolts with nylon lock nuts, and coated in 3M 5200 before installation.

For the tie down Ubolts I added a backing block of 1/4” G10 fiberglass. This should help tremendously to stiffen them up.



Before fully installing the transom I sanded the skin of the hull that transom sat against. I then gave it an acid wash and coated it with a spray on epoxy. Hopefully that will prevent any corrosion from continuing or occurring.


Also, you can see in the pictures that I added an additional aluminum plate to the transom supports that tie into the hull. They seemed awfully small. I would’ve liked to replace them with beefier angle but I didn’t want to mess around with removing rivets through the hull.

Unfortunately I didn’t take too many pictures of the transom progress so the pictures leave a lot out. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Next step was the rear deck. I completely gutted all the old waterlogged foam (probably 100+ pounds of the crap) and began the rebuild. Tracker built these decks as a jigsaw puzzle of pre-bent aluminum pieces. I threw a few pieces out and saved mostly just the ones near the livewell, because I figure I’ll reuse those. I cut the remaining rear deck out with the intention of refabricating it from scratch.

I replaced the bilge outlet and livewell outlet with 1-1/8” Forespar Madelyn thru-hulls. The original bilge and livewell hose was 3/4” but I decided to step it up a bit. The thru hulls were mounted with neoprene washers and 3M 4200. I ran the bilge hose (the new hose I’m using is Shields 149). I haven’t begun plumbing the livewell yet on account of a few snags.

I plan to use pour in foam in the back section below the rear deck. However, I’ve decided to use a drainage system and waterproofing membrane similar to what house foundations use. I need to form a closed off section to pour the foam into. My current debacle is deciding how to run the bilge hose as well as the vent hose through the pour in foam while still managing to maintain some structural integrity where the rear deck meets the transom. I haven’t yet figured out how to attack this, so the rear deck has been put on hold for the time being.

My original plan was to use blocks of 2” foam encased in the waterproofing membrane as sort of a pour stop for the foam. When I took the rear deck apart I noticed that the foam ran right up to the transom, which probably had something to do with the transom rotting out. I’d like to avoid that issue. However, this doesn’t allow me to run the bilge hose in a proper manner, as you can probably see from the pictures. It would also mean that I would have to move the vent hose to a location almost in the middle of the rear deck, which is not what I’d like. So, I’ve got some thinking to do. Here’s some pictures of how it looks now. The black pieces that you see is the drainage mat. What you don’t see is the waterproof membrane, which will be added into that void and then the foam will be poured in.






I added a piece of PVC conduit for the electrical work. It will exit right above where the starter battery sits below the rear deck, and the bilge hose will exit the bulkhead right above it. The other end will run to the console where there will be a fuse block.

 

[EZ707]

This seems like a good one [emoji106]
Can’t wait to see whats next.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Got a little bit of work done this weekend. Was able to lay the drainage mat and foam blocks under the main floor, but I’m not happy with how I installed the floor so I’ll be fixing it.

Here’s a picture during the demo after we removed the main floor. There was a mix of pour in foam and styrofoam blocks in between the stringers. After we removed all of the foam I used a Dremel to enlarge the drainage holes in the stringer.

Take note of the bench seat framing that is there. I removed all of the framing and am going to put pedestal seats in the boat instead. In hindsight there isn’t much room for them, but I think the comfort level will be greatly increased during those long trips trolling for Muskie or walleye.

Oh and please excuse the mongoloid in the picture!



So I cleaned the voids in between the stringers with a wire cup disc on an electric drill. When I was pretty happy with the result, I cleaned the area with simple green and prepared to lay the drainage mat. I’ll try to get a closeup picture of the drainage mat, it’s pretty cool stuff.

The idea is that the blocks of foam will lay on the mat, instead of sitting directly on the hull. In theory, water can drain off the main deck or down the gunnels, run through the mat, and then through the holes in the stringers out to the bilge. That’s all in theory, of course.

So for the foam I used regular 2” by 4’ by 8’ sheets of insulation foam. The blue foam sheets I was able to “borrow” from the job site I’m on, and I purchased another sheet from Home Depot. I glued two sheets of the blue foam together, to form a 4” by 2’ by 8’ piece. I did that with four pieces, so I had two larger blocks of foam. The glue I used was a loctite glue designed for foam board, I believe it was called PL3000.

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of this process but it was pretty straightforward. I decided to cut the blocks square on the keel end. That way when they were laid in the boat they would meet at the top of the stringer, but leave a gap at the bottom of the hull to allow adequate room for water. Tough to describe, but the pictures should help. Note the black sharpie line on the stringer. I used a speed square to make a square line from the center of the drainage hole to the top of the stringer. That was my reference for where the blocks should meet, and where I should pull the height of the block from.



You can see the gap at the bottom of the blocks that cutting them square achieved. The idea is to have an upside down “V” void between the blocks.

Once all of the blocks were cut, I wrapped them individually with 6 Mil Poly Sheeting. Polyethylene sheeting is supposed to have good resistance to gasoline and oil, and it was very important to me to have this foam isolated from any kind of moisture, especially chemicals. I thoroughly covered the ends of each block using a tape that is specifically designed for bonding Poly Sheeting. It is backed with Polyethylene so it should have good chemical resistance as well. Here’s a picture of the tape I used.



Here’s a shot of the drainage mats installed and us placing the blocks into place.





And a final picture of all the blocks in place.



Here’s two pictures of where the blocks meet the gunnel. The drainage mat has a felt backing, tough to see in the pictures but that felt backing was folded over the ends of the mat so that no foreign objects could get trapped in the mat and cause potential clogs. Who knows what could find its way down the floor and into the hull area.

Driver side:



Passenger side (The floor ends at the rod locker):


And lastly here is a picture of the floor installed. Note the awful 1/2” gap on the rod locker side. That will not fly with me. I used the original rivet holes that the master craftsmen at Tracker drilled, but clearly that floor is way out of square. So I’ll be ripping up the floor, closing that gap and re-attaching the floor.



The stern facing end of the floor sheet was cut so that it will fall half-and-half on a stringer, much like the process of sheathing a residential floor. From there there will be another piece of 3/16 aluminum extending to the bulkhead of the rear deck, lengthening the main floor area. This is where the pedestal seats will be. A lot of work to come to get this floor finished....

I didn’t bother adding any foam between the last two stringers, you can see they are open in the picture. My reasoning for this is two fold. One, there wasn’t any foam there originally. And second, between adding two pedestal seat bases and two deck drains, it wasn’t worth the trouble of fitting foam into those areas.

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Looks good so far. Mine is at the welders getting a few cracks in the keel welded and the splashwell welded back in completing my transom replacement. I used aluminum solid rivets on mine. However I had to buy a compressor and air hammer to install em with lol. Keep at it. It will be back on the water before you know it.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I was also able to make a template for the rear floor section. Don’t have pictures of it, and I’ll need to adjust it anyway after I move the main floor.

I’m using 1/2” 6061 Aluminum backing plates underneath the floor for the pedestal bases to mount to. I ordered a 10” by 24” piece of this plate from McMaster. I cut it in half lengthwise, leaving me two pieces 10” by 12”. The stringers are 12” on center, with a little more than a 10” gap in between. So these plates will fit nicely between stringers.

I started by marking the exact center of the plates and drilling the required 3-3/4” hole for the flush mount bases. This was a slightly sketchy process with a battery drill but I’ve done worse! Once that hole was drilled, I test fit the pedestal base and marked for the mounting holes.

I’m tapping these mounting holes to accept 5/16-18 Pan Head bolts. They’re 316 Stainless and should add a nice finished look. Plus, they’ll be easily removable, which is a big plus when it comes time to add carpet or vinyl to the boat. Also in case if the pedestal bases need to be replaced.

These 1/2” plates will be riveted to the underside of the main floor so they will be permanently affixed. (Semi-permanently)

Here’s the plate in the vice as I was marking centerlines


Base installed in the plate and marking mounting holes


Tapping the mounting holes. 5/16-18 requires a 17/64th pilot hole. Tap Magic and some quality tools made this process go very quickly. I acquired many of these old Morse USA made taps from an uncle a few years ago and I’ll never be giving them away!! I’ve never tapped aluminum before but I’m surprised just how well the process went and the results I achieved.



I was able to get one plate fully finished before I had to call it quits. The other should go prettt quick, and then I’ll be able to install the remaining floor piece and test fit for pedestal sizing and console mounting. Super excited for that part!!



Man, it takes a long time to write these novels from my phone. Big props to you guys that do this all the time!

 

[Turd Ferguson]

This seems like a good one [emoji106]
Can’t wait to see whats next.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you sir, hopefully it is a good one! And I’m excited to see what’s next, I don’t have the slightest clue

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Looks good so far. Mine is at the welders getting a few cracks in the keel welded and the splashwell welded back in completing my transom replacement. I used aluminum solid rivets on mine. However I had to buy a compressor and air hammer to install em with lol. Keep at it. It will be back on the water before you know it.

Thanks! I had a local welder fix some minor cracks in my splashwell before I installed the transom. Seems like that’s common with these boats. I thought about going to solid rivet way to replace a few transom brackets, but didn’t feel like purchasing the tools lol. Think I’ll give it a shot with carriage bolts, hopefully it works out. I hope it’s back on the water soon but it’s tough to look on the bright side with all the work I’ve got ahead of me....one step at a time!

 

[rcaircraftnut]

Crack was in the keel at the bow due to some busted rivets that I will be replacing in the morning since its rain all day today. Had to have my splashwell welded in on the sides as it was welded from factory. Had to cut the welds to get to the transom.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Crack was in the keel at the bow due to some busted rivets that I will be replacing in the morning since its rain all day today. Had to have my splashwell welded in on the sides as it was welded from factory. Had to cut the welds to get to the transom.

Ah, I see. I’m glad my boat wasn’t welded anywhere. I had some minor cracks in the splash well but that was pretty much it. I’ll be following your build for sure!

 

[tloc1000]

I'm fixing to do the same with mine. I would like more info on the drainage mats.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I'm fixing to do the same with mine. I would like more info on the drainage mats.

If I get the chance today I’ll snap some close up pictures of it. The product that I am using is called Hydroduct. I grabbed a bunch of it, as well as the waterproofing membrane, from the job site I’m on after the foundation company left. It typically is called “dimpled drainage mat” so if you Google that you should find plenty of options. I’ll found out what I can about the stuff!

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Here’s a few pictures of the drainage mat I used. It’s made by a engineering company, can’t recall the name, but the product is called Hydroduct. There are many similar variations. Basically it’s a dimpled plastic sheet, felt lined on one side with a thin plastic sheet on the opposing side. The felt side is designed to prevent particles from entering the drainage channel so it cannot clog.

I placed the felt side against the hull and the plastic side up. There wasn’t any particular reasoning for this, just seemed like the water would flow best that way. My hopes are that water will only enter that area from either side of the floor, from the gunnel areas. The felt should keep any random particles and dirt from entering the drainage channel.

Here’s a crossection view of it. You can see the little cone shaped dimples and the felt lining on the bottom.


One edge of the mat has a tag section of felt. I used this to wrap the leading edge that was placed towards the gunnel. This should act as a barrier so only water can enter the mat.


And here is the topside, you can see the plastic sheeting that is stitched onto the mat. It’s not a great covering, so if there’s a chance of water hitting the top I would recommend adding another layer of plastic.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Didn’t get to do any work this weekend but I spent some money. Got the new fuse block, which I’m pretty hyped about. I just need to figure out a place to mount this thing. I’d like to put it under the console but may not have the room. It’s a Blue Sea 12 circuit with a grounding bar. The wiring in this boat was a total disaster. A mix of random sized and colored wires, none of which matched the wiring diagram for the boat. Many circuits weren’t even fused which drove me nuts. I also purchased two floor drains for the main floor. These will be placed against the bulkhead for the rear deck and behind the pedestal seats. I’ll put one on the drivers side and one on the passenger side, as close to the corners as I get. My only concern is that they are a little thick, 1/8” to be exact, so they’ll be raised above the floor which I’m not too happy about. But, they’ll work. I was debating on a way to flush mount them, or countersink them, but that wouldn’t be worth doing because the floor is only 3/16” thick. We’ll see.

Lastly I ordered new guages. The old guages looked terrible and since I figured I’m rebuilding the whole boat I may as well go all out. I really like these guages. They’re Sierra Artic gauges. I love the black on white color pattern and the orange flare on the needles. Reminds me of my old school Silverado gauges haha. Style points! :roll: :wink: I also very happy to find a gauge that maxes at 35. With the 45 HP Classic Fifty I only maxed the boat at 23-25. Maybe lightening the load and repropping this year will help me. I’d love to repower it down the line but because I don’t know what the model of the boat is I don’t know what the horsepower limit is...and I haven’t found a USCG sticker anywhere.

Fuse Block


Floor drains (You may or may not be able to see the thickness based on my terrible picture)



Gauges (Tach, Speedo, Voltmeter)

 

[tloc1000]

Thanks for the info TF!

 

[AnglerRoy]

Nice! Does the fuse block specify circuit-post size for ring terminals? It seems I can never find the right size! I like the gauges too, any backlight on them and if so, what color?

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Nice! Does the fuse block specify circuit-post size for ring terminals? It seems I can never find the right size! I like the gauges too, any backlight on them and if so, what color?

Yes, #8 ring terminals for individual circuits and #10 ring terminals for the positive and negative feeds. At least that’s what I read when I bought it! I’ll find out when I go to wire everything up. I never seem to have the right ring terminals on hand so I ordered a ton of Blue Sea terminals to go with the block.

And yes, the gauges do have a backlight! I’m not 100% sure on color, but most reviews I’ve read have said the backlight is red. I’m a big fan of that. It may be possible to change the backlight color by changing the bulb though? Not sure on that. If you keep an eye on my build I’ll post pictures when they’re all done!

Thanks for the interest.

 

[AnglerRoy]

Will do. Thanks!

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Haven’t had much time to work on the boat, and will probably have less time in the upcoming weeks. Here’s a quick update of the little bit of progress I’ve made.

I managed to get the extended floor section cut and test fit. I also mounted the pedestal seat bases and their backing plates to this floor section. The backing plates are held to the floor with 4 rivets per plate, so the bases can be removed if necessary and the backing plates will still be in place. I didn’t set the bases permanently, as they’ll need to be removed in order to lay the flooring material.

I may order the flooring material in the next coming weeks to have the floor finished. I’ll need to mock-up where the console will sit so I can get the mounting holes drilled before the flooring goes in there. Thinking about going with vinyl on the floor and bulkheads and carpet on the deck. Really would’ve liked to cover the decks in Seadek, but the sheet sizes that they are offer are too small to completely cover my decks. I don’t want any seams in the material on the decks so that was a little upsetting to me. Was debating on doing vinyl on the decks with pads of SeaDek to stand on, but I’m not sure how well the Seadek would adhere to the vinyl. Still a long time away from that though.

The last thing I need to do with this floor is mount the two deck drains. Again, I’ll just need to drill the holes and test fit them, but they won’t be permanently installed until after the flooring is laid. I would’ve had these fitted already but it appears that I lost the hole saw I bought for this purpose. Typical.

Here’s a shot of the floor temporarily fitted with the seat bases installed.



And the pedestals and seats installed. These seats are pretty older and in bad shape, so I’ll be replacing them later on with high back seats for a little more comfort. They look good though! I’m very pleased with how they came out. The pedestals are 13”, which is a little tall. The seats sit a few inches above the gunnel, which could get a little nerve racking but I’ll have to give them a try before I decide to make any changes.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Also managed to get the new gauges and switch panel mounted in the console. There used to be 4 switches, I added a fifth which will come in handy for something. Deck lights, maybe. All of the switches are SPST, except the NAV light switch, which will be a DPDT (still waiting for this switch to arrive).

The panel is a modular system made by Blue Sea Systems. I purchased two end pieces and 3 center pieces. They snap together to make one panel. It was kind of a tight fit, and if you look close you can see that my original layout was off a bit. There’s a few small scratch lines from my intial layout which aren’t a big deal but if you look close they’re noticeable. Whatever, I’m pleased with how it looks. The switches are all Blue Sea Contura III switches. They fit beautifully in the panel and all together it’s a very clean looking system. Glad I went with this route.

Switches will be probably be as follows:
NAV Lights
Bilge
Livewell
Gauge Lights
Deck Lights (Possibly)

I also just received another Blue Sea Panel that consists of a 12V Accessory outlet and a dual USB outlet. That’s going to go on the other side of the console from the switches. It’ll be very convenient to have these extra outlets. I’ll post a picture when I can of the new panel.