1983 Tracker Tournament TX 17 Rebuild

Just starting to rebuild this old tin boat. Im not in a big hurry, so It might take me while to finish it. Plans are to build it into a aluminum flats boat for the saltwater. I am planning to make it a center console boat with a mud motor, poling platform and walk around gunnels. Im not putting any carpet, wood or foam back in it.

Heres what it looked like a few weeks ago.



Here is what it looks like today.

Sweet looking rig, buddy. Looks like you got some major demo and prep work done! Keep us posted!

Jake11 said:

Sweet looking rig, buddy. Looks like you got some major demo and prep work done! Keep us posted!

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Thanks, its ok. I definately got a lot of demo work done. Just got the inside of the hull and rear of the transom brightened up this evening. I have a lot of tig work to do. I still need to find some 1/4 aluminum rivets and buy a gun from hf.

Good deal. Sure would be handy to know how to tig. Just my opinion but if you're going with 1/4 inch rivets, or even just putting in a lot of 3/16 I would highly recommend picking up the large bolt cutter style rivet gun as well as the regular one for tight spaces.

Jake11 said:

Good deal. Sure would be handy to know how to tig. Just my opinion but if you're going with 1/4 inch rivets, or even just putting in a lot of 3/16 I would highly recommend picking up the large bolt cutter style rivet gun as well as the regular one for tight spaces.

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I heard this gun is pretty decent, https://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-inch-air-hydraulic-riveter-98898.html

Im still looking for a place to buy some 1/4" rivets

I went ahead and ditched the original transom. It was thin, floppy, contaminated and corroded, wasn't worth messing with. I fabbed up a new piece of 1/8" sheet and got it welded in. Now im working on some framing for inside the transom to beef it up, Not going to put any wood back in it. I need to float the hull to check for leaks and decide what to do to the bottom since its riveted before it gets to heavy to flip over. I could weld all of them, but it would take a while, :shock:

I think Im going to start building a surface drive mud motor to power it. Any one on here built one before? Ive glanced around online but see no surefire way to build one. I guess Ill have to figure it out as I go.

The pneumatic rivet gun is a good call.
Several on-line places to get rivets and other hardware.
Personally, I use e-bay.
Looking forward to seeing the progress.

why float the hull to look for leaks ? if you do that, it is
almost impossible to get them all.
Put your boat on the trailer, fill with water, mark leakers with a Sharpie,
turn the boat over, address them accordingly.

Barefoot_Johnny said:

The pneumatic rivet gun is a good call.
Several on-line places to get rivets and other hardware.
Personally, I use e-bay.
Looking forward to seeing the progress.

why float the hull to look for leaks ? if you do that, it is
almost impossible to get them all.
Put your boat on the trailer, fill with water, mark leakers with a Sharpie,
turn the boat over, address them accordingly.

Click to expand...

Just an idea. I have a pond on the property so I figured Id make use of it. I was hoping there wouldn't be many. Ive never had it in the water at all so Not sure of its prior leaky history.