Derek's Tracker TX-17 rebuild

[Turbo7]

Derek Great job on your boat =D> I have the same boat except the motor, mine is a 60 hp. Thank You for posting your boat on here, I have learned a lot from you, The compartments and TM foot pedel comp. Black carpet looks good I think I might do that to, I hope mine turns out like yours, Maybe, I think I am going to put in a cooler compartment in the front of mine, My wife and I got hit by a barge on the Ohio River Aug-2010, It has 34 rivets leaking and 3 tears in the bottom of it, Tears are fixed, the windshield is half gone and the motor cover has holes in it from scraping the bottom of the barge, It rolled twice under the barge and ended upside down and coast guard towed it to a dock close by, ODNR kept it for a week to do a investigation on it, and got fined for $ 120 bucks for not giving the barge right of way, Got the motor looked at its ok, Its all gutted out except for the rear livewell area, looked like a lot of trouble to tear out, mine drains out the back slow, so I am not tearing it out. It was my dads boat. Derek Your boat looks real good. Thank you for posting.

 

[Derek]

Glad you guys are ok. Put up a thread when you start fixing it

 

[gatorglockman]

Derek,

I have been lurking this site for a little while as I ponder what I want to buy on my budget to fix up. Your post/thread made me formally join so I could comment. Well done man! I am in my 40's and remember vividly when this boat was introduced.....I wanted it as a kid sooooo bad

Thanks for the inspiration and more importantly for the preservation of something that brings back great childhood memories for me. Nice restoration and pics.

Every time I see an old tracker on the road being towed, etc...I stop and really get my eyes on it and give it a look. May have to take the plunge and buy an old beater tracker on the cheap and give it a mend this winter man....thx!

Gator

 

[Derek]

Thanks. This boat brings back alot of memories for me as well. My father had a 1990 tracker that he bought brand new. His even had a 40 on it too. I really learned to fish on that boat. One of the other nice things with doing a rebuild is you learn everything about the boat. If you ever have a problem on the water you generally have the knowledge to fix it.

 

[Derek]

Well I kicked ass on the boat this weekend. Got to spend both Saturday and Sunday on it. It is ready to fish with the exception of the 402 not running.

I re-carpeted the rear most hatch to get the carpet grain going the right way, so it would match the rest of the boat. Took me almost an hour to re-scrape the hatch because of the contact cement. Definitely a good way to put it down.

I picked up 2 new Diehard batteries. Group 31 (largest marine deep cycle) for the trolling motor. This battery is mounted in the front left side compartment. Also a group 27 to fire the Merc and everything else in the boat. This battery is mounted in the rear hatch with the gas tank. Added aluminum angle mounts for the batteries so they can not slide anywhere.

I wired the whole boat. I added 4 switches to the console, mounted them up-top so they are protected by the windshield. Switches are for nav lights, bilge pump, livewell pump, and eventually interior lighting. I added (2) 6-circuit breaker panels and a ground bar under the console. I dont need 12 circuits yet but it leaves me room to upgrade. I used (2) 50 amp resettable breakers to protect the main wiring to the circuit panels. These are mounted, with another ground bar, in the rear compartment adjacent to the battery. I also used another to protect the trolling motor.

With the boat I got a Lowrance X96, which I wired up at the console. I also mounted that to the dash behind the windshield. I have wiring run for a front fish finder too when I get one.

Im still looking for a straight 3-pin light base for my front nav light. Livewell is fully plumbed. Seats mounted. Everything cleaned out and vacuumed.

I also added fenders, rear tie-downs and safety chains to the trailer.
Took the motor to a local welding shop to have the starter mounts welded up. The guys did a nice job and were pulling out their boat to hit the river that afternoon. I didnt get much time to look at the motor. I hooked up the battery cables and the key does nothing. Thats as far as I got. I have the factory service manual and Im going to dig into it. :banghead

I was busy all weekend working on the boat and didn't stop to take pictures, but I will take a bunch today when we go put it in the water. Taking off around lunch to register the boat and put it in the water.

 

[gatorglockman]

We need a pic of the maiden voyage post re-build bro!

 

[Derek]

Took a half day off this afternoon. Steve and I took the boat out for the first trip today. Great trip we each caught a 4lber.


Boat pics

Group 27 and group 31 batteries

Trolling motor battery set-up

Rear battery, large cables are for the merc, but not hooked up

Breaker panels and ground bar under the console

Dash for now, will get trim pieces and eventually gauges

This was my brother Dan's Fish finder, I think it just needs a new connector to work.


Great first trip, if only on the trolling motor. Gotta dig into the motor and get that running. Then still a bunch of little things to finish it.

 

[gatorglockman]

=D>

Nice pics bro...congrats. I am actively hunting for a deal on an old tracker. I love to hunt deer...so I will be exercising patience in the same manner until I find the right deal on a TX or BS III.

 

[Derek]

Patience is key to finding a good deal. I searched craigslist everyday for 6-9 months. If you have a smart phone get the craigslist app. I found mine while waiting to be sat at a restaurant. Paid off to because I was the first of 12 people to email the guy that night.

 

[Derek]

Got my cover in yesterday



Its a Carver Industries semi-custom fit cover. It comes with a 5 year warranty. I ordered it from discountboatcover. They were having a 20% off sale and I also got a set of 12 trailerable tie-down straps for free. (2 of which you can see in the photo)
Semi-custom fit means it is designed to fit a specific make, model, and year of boat, but not MY specific boat. It is designed to fit this boat with the pedestal fishing chairs on the decks. I put in the rear seat for storage, but I always fish standing up, therefore don't have a seat for upfront. I used fiberglass bows that I had from an old tonneau cover to hold up the front. The paper work suggest padding the windshield and trolling motor areas before installing the cover. I'm going to get some foam pipe insulation for the top of the windshield and probably throw a towel on the prop of the trolling motor.

 

[Derek]

Did a few little things last night. I added a 12v outlet to the dash, can charge my phone, gps or use a spot light. Couple days ago I spliced a new connection onto the original front transducer that I had. Didn't work correctly so I pitched it. I picked up a new transducer yesterday for the front humminbird and installed it. I had to pick up a few SS screws for the front nav light mount, which I did this morning so that is ready to go on. I also picked up some brackets for mounting the fiberglass bows to hold up my cover. I mounted them last night but I'll be moving one set because I had a puddle on the cover this morning. Going fishing after work. From my office.

 

[Turbo7]

Derek, I got 2 LED lights 8 inches long light blue lights off of iboats.com 13 bucks ea. they are bright, I am going to put them under the console and under the plywood floor where your feet go that hangs over by the console. Just FYI thanks Dave

 

[Derek]

I plan to do something like that with lighting for my boat. I haven't sourced lights yet. I was thinking maybe bluewater leds

 

[huntingbronco]

If you want, I can grab some night shots of my lighting and put them up...

What is the story with your old merc...are we having similar situations?

 

[Derek]

I haven't got mine running yet, the wiring in mine is junk. It has great compression, but I think I'm going to need some ignition parts. I'm still on the fence to fix it or re-power. Starting to lean to re-power.

 

[huntingbronco]

For next to nothing, I pushed back in my harness and soldered in new wires, just to see if I could make it work. That aspect of my motor does work. Don't know for how long, but I am not expecting a 1979 engine to last forever, just long enough to restore my fun money reserves. Actually, repowering looks to be a pretty substantial drop of coin.

 

[Derek]

Replacing the wiring doesnt look hard at all, I just dont want to spend the time and even a little money if its junk anyway

 

[huntingbronco]

FYI - I put the dual TM batteries in the front - with my two boys and myself on the water, it was a pretty wet ride. We never really got her spinning due to the motor problems, but FYI. Don't know if a heavier motor would counter that...

 

[Derek]

On Sunday I worked on the boat all day. Looked into the motor. First I disconnected the starter and jumped it to get a compression check. 140psi top cylinder and 134psi lower cylinder. The FSM says anything within 15psi is good to go. Hooked up all the wiring again but the key does nothing. The wiring is shot, but it doesn’t look to bad to replace. Judging by the FSM I need an ignition switch and possibly the ignition control box. I’m not sure the motor is worth dumping money into. Probably going to have it looked at to determine. Otherwise I’ll be repowering.

Rigged out my tackle storage in the front compartment. Used coated wire with clamps and eye bolts. I used the eyebolts to tension the cable once installed. Holds up my tackle well. I plan to replace the cardboard boxes of plastic with rubbermade type boxes. Especially after fishing in the downpour yesterday afternoon. I did some other little things on the boat aswell.


Then I went fishing with two of my friends on Sunday evening. I boated this 2lb smallie and 3lb largie.


Going back to fishing in the downpour yesterday. I need to figure out how I can seal the compartments from water. Especially the front ones as I use one for tackle storage. Not that its really going to hurt my tackle but all the stuff got soaked. Anyone have an idea for a seal?

 

[huntingbronco]

I generally don't think it is possible to have "dry" storage on a boat, especially if the bottom of the storage space is open to the bottom of the boat. However, my war eagle has a bench seat, the lid of which completely wraps over the top of the sides. It is not possible to get a boat wetter than we do, short of sinking it and the contents of that box are DRY. It is a full aluminum box, bottom, sides with hinged top that extends over the sides on at least three sides, I'd have to look at how it is hinged. It is a piano of some sort.