Another One! 84 Tracker Tournament V17 Re-Build

I picked this 84 Tracker up awhile ago, and it has sat untouched for awhile. I built a 14' Mirrorcraft quickly a few months ago to get me into the big lakes, but it's a little small when the lake is busy.

I got the boat into the driveway today and started the disassemble and cleanup. Foam looks pretty good (Az Sun helps keeping things dry!)

The plan is to keep it super simple but add additional deck to the original layout. Re-wire the entire boat, and go through the engine 75Hp Mercury 4 cylinder 2 stroke. Engine ran a few years ago but definitely needs to be cleaned up and carbs gone through.

Wood decks and carpet, I went with the EVA foam in the last boat. It's nice but it's expensive, even the cheap stuff, and I don't like that it doesn't wrap around everything like carpet. I will likely used a middle of the road grade carpet but definitely not the outdoor carpet from the department stores, that stuff is horrible when a hook lands on it!

Anyways here's some pics of the boat with the before and during processes. I got the old rotted wood out, and the back deck ground down pretty clean and free of carpet residue.
I need to figure out what to put in the drop in storage areas because the bins that were in there are cracked and warped. I was thinking to try and plastic weld them but probably a waste of time.

Open to opinions and ideas.

Got a little progress done after work today with cutting some of the wood pieces. Ran out of light so more to come tomorrow.

I just started removing the decks to fix rotten wood and update the carpet on my tournament 17 bass tracker as well! Did you remove the console to take the main deck wood off?

jskenning said:

I just started removing the decks to fix rotten wood and update the carpet on my tournament 17 bass tracker as well! Did you remove the console to take the main deck wood off?

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I havent removed it completely, it kind of flops out of the way enough to mess with stuff for now. I will remove it to fix all the years of screw holes and to mount a new switch panel in it though.

Little more work done today. Got 2 coats of black oil based paint on the front and wood and floors.

I ordered a bunch of stuff on Sunday afternoon, hoping it comes in this week so I can knock out a little bit if carpet to frame the deck extension.

Still need to figure out how to add some type of rear storage bins to replace the broken ones that I removed.

Nice project to keep you busy

A Little more cleanup of everything, got all the old wiring, console, front under deck storage area wood and supports, along with the random years worth of wiring in the fuel tank area removed.

Worked on some more wood trim out and got it all painted up. Cut open the deck for the recessed trolling motor pedal as well.

A couple updates. Had to wait a few extra days for carpet to arrive which slowed down my processes.

I trimmed a little bit of the insulation to be able to fit a drill between the bottom foam. I used a unibit to drill out the drain holes to 3/4" rather than the 1/4" or whatever they were. This will help tremendously with drainage in the future.

I carpeted the new front under deck storage wood, then added a little bit of metal angle framing. Since I'm going 1/2" plywood wanted to make sure it wouldn't flex. Also had to chop down the front stock bracing to be able to fit the recessed foot pedal box. Adding some bracing in there really added some strength.

I spent some time trying to get the carpet about as perfect as possible along the side panel, that was a nightmare process. I used DAP Weldwood cement and needed to pull a few sections back to really get it to stick at the panel angles. To get the carpet not to bow out at the top u just added some small rivets every 12" inches horizontally, and every 6" vertically.

Most of the side panel will be hidden by added deck, and the steering console, so didn't want there to be reason to have to pull it later from a rushed install.

Next I carpeted the floor section that will have the extended deck framing on it. That's about as far as I got over the weekend.

I did mess with some of the rear battery compartment tray/and framing cleanup but no pictures. I also had a guy at work bend me up a few rear compartment bins from sheet metal. They are not aluminum, but I'll paint them and carpet around them to provide a small gap for dissimilar metals.

Pictures in the next update!

Looking good. I have the exact same boat, they're pretty decent hulls. Mine was in pretty similar condition. I still need to make some new bins for mine, might get to it eventually.

If you're planning on extending the front deck further back, I think it's an excellent idea and one that I should've followed through with. I wanted to make a center mounted rod box like the newer boats have and put another livewell up there.

You will want to beef up that trolling motor plate quite a bit, and I regret not building a stiffer panel that fills the gap between it and the front deck. The factory piece is pretty flimsy and I have never been able to keep screws in it, they vibrate out. The brackets that hold the trolling plate on are also pretty lackluster and could use some stiffening if you install a trolling motor that has some torque.

You will also likely want to put some rivnuts in the gunnel and side panel that fasten the throttle control to the boat, you will likely need to remove it every now and then to run wires or make changes to the harness, drilling out rivets every time is a pain.

Mine had a 60hp Merc originally, that era is really bad about rotten wires and the external power trim can be troublesome (parts are pretty scarce too) if equipped. Good motors otherwise.

My boat has never leaked, but if running in a crosswind, or with an uneven load (anything that would cause a list), spray would catch the back edge of the transom caps and funnel water in around the transom and into the bilge. A lot of water at times. I had to run a bead of silicone around the bottom of the caps after installing them to prevent it. Grinding the overhang off the caps may fix it as well.

I'd probably look at the transom too, mine needed it. It's not a bad job at all, you may need a helper with small hands. You'll need to work through the vent holes in the rear deck to reach some of the fasteners inside.

There are more pictures around somewhere but I'd have to do some digging.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JCDKm8GSVAp563GK9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xVUxFJxEtb3i8dZJ6

Little more progress on carpet and cleanup today. I really like how thick this carpet is.

Also started cleaning up and patching all the console holes and cracks. Using the new Bondo with filler in it, just going to skim the whole thing and sand it down.

Sanded the first round, pretty happy with the results so far. Added a 2nd coat in some areas to smooth things out.

Will look really good with a coat of paint. Mine was in a lot worse shape, I drilled the rivets out of the base and just rebuilt the upper portion out of plywood.

Are you going to put some hatch doors in the front deck? There's a lot of handy space under there.

MrGiggles said:

Will look really good with a coat of paint. Mine was in a lot worse shape, I drilled the rivets out of the base and just rebuilt the upper portion out of plywood.

Are you going to put some hatch doors in the front deck? There's a lot of handy space under there.

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Yes, I'll add some hatches for the general storage. Trying to make the original trim work so it sits flush and look good has been the tricky part.

The added deck area will house batteries/wiring/etc for everything up front also.