BigTerp's Tracker Sportsman 16' O/B Jet build

[BigTerp]

I know I've been leading you all on like a prom date, but things are starting to come along. I had my paint delivered last week. I'm going with Parker duck boat paint in sand tan as the base for my camo stencil work. Once I can get enough man power to help me get the boat off the trailer and flipped on to some sawhorses I can begin getting the hull prepped for paint. Hopefully I can get that accomplished this week. I also have the following clogging up my rec room and shed. And if I don't get this project underway and get all this junk out of the way, my wife isn't going to be a happy camper [-X

- 72' of 1" x 1" Aluminum Angle
- 2 Sheets of 5' x 10' .125" Aluminum Sheet (deck and floor)
- Noco Gen 2 Charger (this thing looks pretty nice)
- 1 gallon + 1 quart of Parker Duck Boat Patin
- LED NAV Lights and Interior Lights From Oznium.com
- Tracker pro series foot controlled trolling motor
- Lowrance X-4

The powerhead for the 50/35 Johnson jet finally made it's way to the motor guy who is boring out the cylinders and ordering new pistons. Hopefully my buddy and I can get this thing back together and running soon.

Still need to order the following:

- Pedestal and base x 2 (pin type)
- Pedestal and base (captains seat)
- Seats x 3
- Tempress hatches x 3
- Dual purpose marine battery (starter and accessories)
- Deep cycle battery (trolling motor)
- MP3 Stereo
- Marine switch panel
- LED anchor light
- Closed cell foam (for under floor)

I'm sure they will be a few more odds and ends that I'll need but this is the bulk of stuff I still need to get. Hopefully I'll be able to update this thread more frequently as things progress. Wish me luck!!!!

 

[BigTerp]

panFried » 9 minutes ago[/url]"]Nice! I'd love to do same thing except my LW is in middle floor. I just need to get thing in water first. Awesome job! That will get you atleast 10 more decoys in there

I hear ya. My livewell was built into the middle bench. It would be more of a bait well though because it is pretty small. I don't really have a need for a livewell, and if I find I do I'll probably just do a cooler mod to take along as needed. I'll be slapping a solid, fixed height pedestal somewhere around where the middle bench was. Should still allow for room on each side for decoy bags, guns, gear, etc. I'm excited to get moving with this thing!!

 

[panFried]

Ru planning on a gun box? Why did you decide on Parker paints?

 

[BigTerp]

panFried » Today, 2:37 pm[/url]"]Ru planning on a gun box? Why did you decide on Parker paints?

No gun box. We use soft floating gun cases, and I think a gun box would just intrude into the floor space to much. I ended up ordering a gallon and a quart of the sand tan Parker duck boat paint. Might not be quite enough, but should get most of the job done. May have to order another quart down the road. I was looking around forever at the local big box stores but no one would tint oil based enamel. And I couldn't find anything even close to the color I wanted, so I went with the Parker. The sand tan was exactly what I was looking for. I've heard good things about the Parker duck boat paint and it is pretty reasonably priced.

 

[hercdrvrwo]

On Parkers....bottom line -- if you cammo your boat -- its the way to go. The only one out there with the truly flat colors needed to blend in during duck season! Its a great product. My boat is a testament to that! The only pain that has maintained is the Parkers!

Cheers
Herc

 

[BigTerp]

hercdrvrwo » Today, 2:19 pm[/url]"]On Parkers....bottom line -- if you cammo your boat -- its the way to go. The only one out there with the truly flat colors needed to blend in during duck season! Its a great product. My boat is a testament to that! The only pain that has maintained is the Parkers!

Cheers
Herc

Good to hear. What do you reccommend for the stencil work? I know Parkers makes rattle cans in camo colors. Was originally going to just pick up some Rustoleum or Krylon spray cans for my stencil work. Maybe I should stick with the Parkers for the stencil work as well?

 

[hercdrvrwo]

What I do is this -- just like you, I used Gallon cans of Paint and hand paint it on after I put on a primer. Remember to get a flat primer (seems weird but some that say flat actually have some shine to it). Then I use Rattle Cans, PVC Pipe & Leaves/branches from the yard....I start with my lightest colors first tans, then move onto hunter greens (even if my boat is green -- it adds depth) then browns (same thing) and blacks. I typically use a big oak leaf or fern for my blacks and am very conservative with black-- too much and it turns into a dark hole, creates too much contrast. Finally I do one more light round with pine needles for a tan again -- depth!

This also happens to be the technique taught at survival school and most other schools. Next time you have a few extra bucks, pick up a rattle can of Walmart special flat black and the check it out against Parker's black...when you hold it up to the light -- you'll see a shine on the Walmart flat black and nothing on Parkers! BL: Its good Stuff!

Cheers
Herc

 

[wwcenturion]

I used a ratcheting strap to lift the bow up from the trailer and then lifted the stern by the grab handles to flip her over back onto the trailer for painting. Good luck.

 

[panFried]

I used my wife! Lots of whining but she gets the job done.

 

[bigwave]

panFried » 33 minutes ago[/url]"]I used my wife! Lots of whining but she gets the job done.

Now thats funny Panfried....... :lol:

 

[BigTerp]

Thanks for the tips.

We are doing a float trip down the river tomorrow, so I should have a couple guys willing to help me get her flipped.

 

[JoshKeller]

did you figure out the cause as to why the motor blew? Dont rebuild it until you do, otherwise, itll happen again.

 

[BigTerp]

JoshKeller » June 8th, 2013, 8:59 am[/url]"]did you figure out the cause as to why the motor blew? Dont rebuild it until you do, otherwise, itll happen again.

The best guess we have, (my buddy is a mechanical engineer and he and a few of his colleagues agree), is that there was a gasket fail and water got into the cylinder causing a piston to hydrolock. The piston actually has a crack the entire width of the head. It was also rebuilt at some point in time, because one of the pistons was marked as .030, meaning that cylinder had already been bored out. But they only did one of the cylinders. So whoever attempted the last rebuild did a half@#$ job of it. Most likely why it failed again. It also looks like the PO ran the living crap out of it. Maybe after it blew and he was just trying to get back to the dock. Either way, it's getting a full proper rebuild. Since it's already been done once though, this will be our first and last attempt. If it ever blows again it will be time for a new powerhead.

 

[JoshKeller]

check the carbs, thermostats, water passages and timing and you should be good to go.

 

[BigTerp]

JoshKeller » June 14th, 2013, 11:22 pm[/url]"]check the carbs, thermostats, water passages and timing and you should be good to go.

Carbs and exhaust/water passages look good, as well as most everything else. We'll clean up the carbs before putting everything back together. Will need a new water pump, gasket kit and plugs. Hopefully that'll be the extent of what needs replaced. Time will only tell though.

 

[BigTerp]

Got her flipped over and on sawhorses last weekend. Was pretty easy with three guys.

Was able to get some prep work done this past saturday. Sanded all the flaking paint and bare spots with 200 grit paper and a palm sander. Also sanded the entire hull with the same 200 grit paper. Got most of the old adhesive gunk off from the PO's old numbers and registration stickers. Gave everything a good pressure washing. Going to hit everything again lightly with some lighter grit paper this week then get all the bare spots covered with some self etching primer. Calling for good weather this weekend, so hopefully I can get my paint laid and have her back on the trailer by this time next week.

Also had the chance to get the motor cowl cleaned up and ready for paint. It was quite the pain in the butt getting the old adhesive off. Got most of it, which is good enough works for me. Still need to do the other side though. I'm only painting the cowl and leaving the rest of the motor as is black.

Before she goes back on the trailer I'm going to remove my fenders and drop the bunks and rollers as low as they will go. Once it's back on the trailer I can assess how much, if any, of a spacer I need to get the fenders back on.

Been SLOW going, but we are starting to get there.

 

[bigwave]

Looking good, the next time I do a tinboat, I will skip the paint removal......rough sand like you did, acetone wash and then prime for new paint. I really dont feel it is necessary to go all the way back to bare aluminum. I am assuming that your doing a camo job right?

 

[BigTerp]

bigwave » Today, 8:59 am[/url]"]Looking good, the next time I do a tinboat, I will skip the paint removal......rough sand like you did, acetone wash and then prime for new paint. I really dont feel it is necessary to go all the way back to bare aluminum. I am assuming that your doing a camo job right?

Yeah, I never wanted the headache of scraping, sanding and using paint stripper to remove all the old paint. My boat is 17 years old, and I'm sure never stored under cover, and the old paint is still holding strong. Just rather faded. The only places it is worn away is where there was obvious rock strikes, which is mostly on the bottom of the hull and the keel.

Yes, I'm doing a camo job. Base coat of a sand/tan color and then stencil work with this pattern.

https://www.camostencil.com/Ambush-GroundCover.html

I just got the stencils in the mail last week. I'm going for something similar to the cooler you see on the page I linked.

 

[bigwave]

I like the look of that camo......I wanted to do my boat in camo in the beginning. There is no reason to have camo here where I live since there are very few ducks to shoot at....however I would love to go for the bluewater pattern just because I like it.

 

[BigTerp]

The different open water patterns I have seen looked REAL sharp. I rarely hunt out of a boat though. Mostly hunting off of islands in the river. Am trying to go with something that will hide the boat well when it's beached on the bank. But not be scorching hot while fishing in the middle of summer.