Tracker Panfish PF16

[rscottp]

warefishin » 06 Feb 2014, 21:30[/url]"]Still tring to decide what I am going to do over the aluminum decking. I dont really want to carpet it because of all the junk I get in my boat while fishing my local spots leaves dirt etc.

I have thought about bedliner and paint with sand in it.

I also have thought about carpeting the sides and bedlining the floor. I want to do gray with whatever I decide on.

Trying to decide what to use for my floors too. Leaning toward Nautolex vinyl flooring, if not probably some type of non skid paint.

 

[warefishin]

Mostly drilling out the rivets and removing bolts in the transom today. Now I just have to cut the weld and finish up.

If anybody can help me understand my livewell plumbing I would appreciate it. Iy only has 2 hoses going in. One is an overflow that runs to the side of the boat the other is hooked up to a hose that runs to the pump at the transom.

I am assuming the one running to the side of the boat with the pvc sticking up inside the livewell is the overflow and drain. Do u just pull out the pvc to make it drain?if so you would still have an inch and a half of water that wouldnt drain.....

The other coming from the pump I assume is for filling and aeration.

I have never had a plumbed live well always just the gravity filled. Thanks again guys. If anybody can steer me in the right direction if I am thinking of this backwards somehow.

I may install a plug that I could drain at the end of the day since the livewell is right above the valley that runs to the drain.or maybe plumb in a hose that runs back there..

 

[jonboatboy]

Your right about your live well. one hose will pump water in from your transome bidge pump into your livewell and airate it. The hole with the pvc pipe in it is a drain/overflow and it wil allow freshwater to come in and out of the livewell. It is really tall piece of pipe comming out of the bottom but if your not satisfied you could cut it down to maybe a quarter in. or so. I would measure it off the bottom of the livewell and go a quarter in. all the way around the pipe and cut it with a cutoff wheel or a small air powered jigsaw. When the pvc isnt in the hole it will allow fresh water to come in and out and wont let you over flow it if your airating the water. Before you pull you boat out the water push the pve pipe into the hole to make it hold water to keep your fish alive until you get em to the butcher table LOL. You can also use your livewell for dry storage by pushing the pvc pipe down in the hole and it wont let water in. Now you got me thinking and you need to use your own judgement on it but if the hose slips over the drain for the livewell on the outside then you will be fine to wack it off flush with the bottom of the livewell. If your careful you can cut off most of the pipe and use a small die grinder or angle grinder to grind the rest of it away but try to stay off the bottom much as possible. Leave the welds and dont grind em flush so you know your safe and itll look like a row of nickels wrapping around the hole like it should. Mine in my new boat is set up just like your but I have a plastic threaded piece that comes through the bottom of the livewell and I have a piece of pvc that has the male end that threads into the livewell for a plug. You may want to add a spraybar to the hose that comes into the livewell so itll bust up water to help airate it better. Most fish dont require much airation and Ive not seen anyone to keep the hybrid striper alive even in a livewell. We had 9 channel cats in a 5 gallon bucket on a all night fishing trip and only 2 of em was dead when I got home. I also had 6 flatheads on a stringer tied to the inside of my truck bed one time and they fell out and hung bout a foot off the pavment all the way home bout 20 miles and they was still alive (ones stil alive in my swimming pool and been in there since mid summer). Ive been trying to take pic of my new boat to post em on here but not been successful yet. Oh yeah almost forgot. Man I know you got a little boy bout 4 I believe is what you said and I would def carpet it because you know anything and everything thats just raw aluminum will get scalding hot in the sun and he might touch it or sit on it before he relizes its too hot. If you use the indoor outdoor carpet I promise you itll be ok if you get mud leaves or has a friend with greesy work boots to step all in it LMAO. Dawn dish soap or that ole purple power you get at the dollar store and walmat will clean anything. I think its 12 bucks for a gallon at walmart. Soak it and wash it out and itll look new again. Even if you put bed liner or some kinda coating on that aluminum I promise yal will like carpet better. I like to walk around barefooted when I fish with the ole lady and my 1232 was killer on the feet if you didnt watch where you stepped. Its your boat though and you know what you like so do it to your satisfaction. I just dont like to see anyone say " well I shouldve done it that way" or theyll say " next time".

 

[jonboatboy]

Now Im lookingat your pictures again and I see theres a plastic looking thing to the right of the pipe commin out the floor. Is that your drain and the pipe is a overflow? Its really hard to tell by the pics but I would like to know now so if you get a chance post some more of everything and where its going and commin from. We will figure this out!

 

[warefishin]

Man you are about to have me talked into carpet. Haha. I cant make my mind up. I switch back and forth.

The little plastic circle on the live well is the fitting where the black hose in the first picture attached I think. It has a kittle nosle on it to aerate it looks like. I think I will just build something permanent out of pvc when I put it back in.

 

[DrNip]

Unfortunately some livewells with a drain tube are designed poorly and don't properly drain the livewell all the way when the tube is pulled. Mine isn't nearly as bad as yours but erks me that I will have about 1/4" of water in it every time I drain it. If I would have known it would have been designed this poorly I would have had one built outside of the manufacturer or just gone with a cooler type.

 

[warefishin]

I think I am going to split the overflow line into an overflow and a true drain.

 

[warefishin]

I got some work done today in a couple of hours we had free. I got the transom exposed cutting a few welds and took it out. The transom was soaked. It did come out in 3 pieces so I put it back together so I can trace a good copy.

 

[Pweisbrod]

Good work.

 

[warefishin]

I picked up a 67 lb trolling motor off craigslist today. And the guy threw in a fish finder with it that he had attached to it

 

[jonboatboy]

Boy that ole transome sure is rotten. Could be worse. Could be me. Lol you don't need no help. You seem like a smart guy with lots of DO IT attitude. Ima just sit back and tell you good job and great work. LMAO if my boat was tore apart like that Id be ready to kill somebody. Only thing Ima stay on you about is that carpet. You know yourself that your ole lady and the boy would like carpet a lot better then anything else. Its gonna be a nice boat. Don't make it redneck and have ole rubber hot floors. I swear ive pulled seats out of cars and used purple power and dawn and a pressure washer and made em look brand new. Ole lady and the boy can sit back barefooted while you fish. She can read or tan or do whatever and the boy can play in the floor or run around on soft cool carpet. Happy wife happylife. Ask her opinion.
You sure did get a smoking deal on that trolling motor. Motorguide is just as good as Minn Kota. Ive had one Minn kota and one motorguide until I bought my new boat. It has a motorguide on it but I want a Minn Kota Edge.

 

[warefishin]

Finally cut and glued the transom. I used the titebond. I am going to have to get some more spar tomorrow to coat this thing.

 

[warefishin]

Tonight I am going to work on prepping my military seatboxes for paint. I thought about just leaving them green but with all the work I am doing on everything else I figured I may as well.

 

[warefishin]

No doubt jbb my wife says carpet. Hahhaha but I cant let her in on the decisions hahah.

I had an edge on my first boat and I liked it it was a good trolling motor. The thing that worries me about this motorguide is that it is a 52 inch shaft and the 24v is pretty heavy. Makes me wonder about battery placement.

With 2 batteries and the trolling motor up front not to mention my 225 up there I dont think the motor gas tank and cranking battery are going to be enough weight in the back.

I am going to take it out in the water and play around with the batteries after I get the new transom and see how it rides.

 

[warefishin]

I used 2 pieces of 3/4 inch after I eyeballed it I thought it was 1.5 inches. Of course I sanded and etc before I dry fit it and found out.

Cut the new transom today glued a 3/4 inch and 1/2 inch piece to get the 1.25 thickness

 

[warefishin]

I used some muriatic acid to wash the boat tonight. I didnt leave it on long probably 2 minutes. Basically by the time I got done spraying the boat I started rinsing the first part I sprayed.

I used a 1:1 ratio I picked the bottle of muriatic acid up at lowes it said for cleaning cement. It worked so well I believe it could damage the aluminum if you left it too long. It is really strong a respirator and goggles would be smart. But the results were awesome it got all but a couple of stains off with little or no effort.

I put it in a cheap garden sprayer.[attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1392520342375.jpg[/attachment][attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1392520385008.jpg[/attachment]

 

[rscottp]

You might want to read this;
https://forum729.activeboard.com/t13861796/using-muriatic-acid-to-clean-your-aluminum-boat/

 

[warefishin]

Thanks for the link man, I don't see me using it in the future for general cleaning the boat but with all the stains from the treated wood and zinc screws on the bottom of the boat it helped a ton. I was about to have to sand or use the grinder to get them out. I washed out the the boat with the hose and let it run for probably ten minutes. Tomorrow I might grab some lime or baking soda and fill the boat with some water too be cautious, but I am going to tell you short of my boat being ruined tomorrow I was very pleased with the results. Hopefully I will not go find just the plastic when I get there tomorrow. HAHA.

 

[rscottp]

warefishin » 15 Feb 2014, 23:46[/url]"]Thanks for the link man, I don't see me using it in the future for general cleaning the boat but with all the stains from the treated wood and zinc screws on the bottom of the boat it helped a ton. I was about to have to sand or use the grinder to get them out. I washed out the the boat with the hose and let it run for probably ten minutes. Tomorrow I might grab some lime or baking soda and fill the boat with some water too be cautious, but I am going to tell you short of my boat being ruined tomorrow I was very pleased with the results. Hopefully I will not go find just the plastic when I get there tomorrow. HAHA.

You probably got it all out by running the water but neutralizing it would be a good idea. Better safe then sorry. It sure is nice and clean now.

 

[warefishin]

I got a little work done today. I had some corrosion behind the transom so I cleaned it up good and skim coatex it with jb weld.

My wife painted my seat boxes I will take some pics of the seats mounted tomorrow.

I also hooked up a battery and tried to fire up the engine. It runs if u are giving it a lot of gas but dies if u try to let it idle. So I am probably Going to have to clean the carb. Looks like I am going to have to remove the starter to get to one of the screws.

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