Earl's 1436 Tracker Mod

[BaitCaster]

Nice stringer, now where's my frying pan.....

 

[jasper60103]

The new boat is working out nicely. Loving spring time in Texas, as the crappie are finding me in droves.

Great mess of fish. I wish we had Spring in Minnesota, LOL.

 

[Earlo]

[/quote]

Great mess of fish. I wish we had Spring in Minnesota, LOL.[/quote]

I hear ya. The tables will be turned in August when it's 105. Lakes right now are already down 4 feet and falling, I'm dodging stumps, a lot of ramps are closed, there is no rain in sight and they're predicting a dry, hot summer.

 

[Earlo]

Well, after two years of filling my freezer from this boat, I'm sad to say she is being retired. To say that it leaks like a sieve would be an insult to sieves. It leaks like a colander. I tried everything I could – gluvit, 5200, Steelflex – and the fixes only lasted temporarily. I've ordered a Weldbilt 1448V that should be arriving in a couple of weeks and will post pics of that one's progress. I do know that I'm not going to be doing as much with that boat as the tracker shown here, nor will I need to. I think that part of the leaking rivets problem stemmed from all the additional weight that stressed the hull– both in the water, and especially, when trailering.

Thanks to all who guided me thru my first build. I learned a lot.

 

[SantaClo]

Very nice modifications you did there! As a 1436 owner I'm looking at good mod example like this to inspire me.

I'm just wondering, since the 1436 has a max load capacity of only 580 lbs, isn't too much adding all this in the boat??

 

[Earlo]

Very nice modifications you did there! As a 1436 owner I'm looking at good mod example like this to inspire me.

I'm just wondering, since the 1436 has a max load capacity of only 580 lbs, isn't too much adding all this in the boat??

SantaClo,

Sorry for the slow reply. I've already moved on to the other boat. The decking, seats and framework was between 100-120 pounds. So it was okay in the water. I believe that the problems I encountered were from the additional weight stressing the boat when on the trailer. It had some cracks around the rivets that were near the trailer bunks, likely caused by potholes, rr tracks and other bumps in the road. I didn't really consider this when doing the build.