The Flats Tracker Project (1983 Bass Tracker) FINISHED

[BaitCaster]

Looking good. Luv the console.

 

[Nevillizer]

Its coming together quite nicely.

 

[rook]

Well we put in a good showing. Took 5th out of 34 boats. Not a win but in the money. My whole goal was to beat everybody there that had matching shirts on (the sponsered teams). We pretty much spanked their arse. WOOOHOOOO

 

[Troutman3000]

Well we put in a good showing. Took 5th out of 34 boats. Not a win but in the money. My whole goal was to beat everybody there that had matching shirts on (the sponsered teams). We pretty much spanked there arse. WOOOHOOOO

NICE!

 

[Bashepard]

Hey man, Love the console ingenuity. How did you attach the wooden top to the aluminum body? "L" brackets or something? Any chance of an underside picture?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[rook]

Correct of the L-Brackets. I just cut them out of some 3/4" lineal L-bracket I had. Cut them about 3" long and screwed them in to the plywood and to the top.

 

[nyjay75]

Nice job. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

 

[rook]

Had a chance to take a couple of quick pics yesterday. Got the floor down and the console and steering installed. Bottom machine and transducer installed. Switches installed and battery trays down. Got to get all the wiring hooked up and fuel system ran and then its just a matter of getting the front and back decks and hatches figured out. Shouldnt be long and she will be ready to go, where I dont know (thanks BP), but ready to go none the less.

 

[altimas]

Wow it's really looking great! Have you been able to fish any with the oil crap going on?

 

[rook]

Yeah for the most part. Mobile Bay is still open and oil free (for now). You can fish down around the island but south and west of the island are catch and release only. Then you have the issue that about half our boat ramps are closed because they are being used as staging areas. So its an adventure, but managableable. Live bait is all but impossible to get your hands on, and this time of year it is a must. The worse part is that my hunting grounds (Bayou la Batre) is getting some oil. So we are still up in the air about our duck hunting season around here. My hunting partner just happens to be one of the head marine biologist for the Marine Resources. He sent me a text earlier saying he was taking a CNN reporter out today. He is gonna try to get in some stuff about our marsh down in the bayou when it comes to duck hunting. The media has not really hit on that and I want to know what they are gonna do when the thousands of ducks start showing up in a couple of months. Its gonna be devistating unless a miracle happens and they have got most of this sheet cleaned up. Who knows, its just plain depressing.

 

[rook]

Well finally got all of the electrical finished. Still have to get a few fittings for the fuel water seperator but that about all of the fun stuff. Now its just getting the front and rear decks layed out and built and it will be ready to hit the water.

 

[altimas]

That Console is AMAZING! Awesome job! Giving me a lot of Inspiration!

 

[rook]

Got the back deck cut out this weekend. After alot of debate I ended up goin with 3/4" on the back deck, was thinking of making the livewell hatch lid out of the plywood, but ended up just ordering the hatches (Livewell and Front storage) from Tempress. I am going to re-use the "Bass Tracker" Hatch lid from the original boat just cause I think its pretty cool. I stripped it down and am in the process of re-painting it now. On the original deck you it wasnt backed with anything so you could see through the lid into the compartment. I am doing to back it with a carpeted peice of plywood to make it a little stronger and to keep it from being "see through".

Yes im using ice chest as sawhorses

Hunter standing guard

I didnt so much as set the deck in place and turn around before Hunter decides hes ready to go. I think hes itchin to get in a duck blind as bad as I am.

 

[rook]

Oh yeah.....I dont think I have had the pleasure of introducing Hunter to my new freinds here on Tinboats. He is my 4 Year old Chocolate Lab, my partner in crime you could say. And he is a duck hunting machine. Come duck season yall will be seeing more pics of him in action. Man Im ready to kill a duck. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Couple from last season.

Action Shot

And ofcourse the money shot. I lost count of the birds he retrieved this year but it had to be 50 or more. We had a great season last year. Hope that we can repeat that again.

 

[Troutman3000]

Thats a very beautiful pup you got there.

 

[SVOMike86]

Dude, your boat looks fantastic! Gonna be a killer on the reds...

 

[rook]

Thanks SVO, she has come together nicely. I cant wait to take it back to the guy I bought it from and show it off, he wont recognize the boat. Its always nice when the picture in your head works its way into the project. Should have the decks finished by the weekend and maybe even a test run.

 

[Ta5teless]

Where did you get the Poling Platform? I am thing about buildling one or do i order it?

 

[rook]

Found it on Craigslist over in Pensacola. $150 if I remember correctly. It came off of an older Hewes Redfisher. The angle on the transom is different on this boat so the platform is going through a modification itself before it will be ready to install. It will sit on and bolt through the top edge of the transom and we are adding two more supports from the platform to the deck where it will have another contact point to the boat. IMO I think it would be too unstable only bolted through the transom alone. Not only that but it put an awful strain when I got my fat arse on the platform.

 

[rook]

Well I put it in the water yesterday afternoon for the first time. Still not fishing ready but Oh so close. Got a little bit of tweaking to do. Idle needs to be adjusted a bit and the motor is jacked up to high. Kinda figured it was a little high but planning on putting a good anti-cavitation plate on it when I have the money. Couldnt trim it up much before it started porpoising. Also Im a little more transom heavy than i would like so Im going to move the trolling batt up front and go with 3/4" plywood on the front deck instead of 1/2" to balance the weight more. But even with all the small tweaks to be done I had it to 36mph on the GPS. Was hoping to get 40mph but maybe after the weight and cavitation issue is worked out.