Tracker Grizzly 1648 Build

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schinkr1

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I picked this boat up to fish horsepower restricted lakes. It came with plastic board decking and wood bracing that weighed a ton, so wanted to lighten it up, add a livewell and level out the floor. I also wanted to clean it up, add some carpeting and set it up as a tournament boat.


I started my project by gutting the boat.



I had my local PPG auto paint store do a custom match on the Forest Green Tracker paint. Sprayed the interior using a HVLP paint gun and it was a spot on match.


I lost the pics of the bracing, but leveled the floor using 1 1/2" aluminum angle riveted to the floor ribs and covered it with 1/8" thick 5050 aluminum.


The frame was built with 3/4" and 1 1/2" aluminum angle and fastened together with aluminum rivets. I ran two lines from the back of the boat to the livewell under the floor. One for the fill pump and the second for the drain. It wasn't easy drilling the hole for the lines through the rear bench. I ended up putting two drill extension bits together so I could drill the hole.


Since I planned to use the boat for tournaments, I wanted a solid livewell system. I installed the re-circulation pump on the side of the livewell so it was easy to access for cleaning and maintenance. I drilled a 1 1/4" hole right out of the side of the side of the boat for an overflow and added a Flo-Rite recirc/pump out valve, timer and LED lights inside the livewell. Originally mounted the batteries up front, but that caused some issues that I'll get into later in the post.


The flotation foam under the rear bench was completely water logged. The holes you see were used to remove the saturated foam, which must have weighed 150 pounds. The foam is suppose to be closed cell and not hold water, but this seems to be a common problem on these Trackers.

Dry fitted the aluminum deck and lids. Since the top of the boat was wider than 4', I turned the sheet so I had a nice tight fit on the sides.


I used a small piece of the old deck to make a side mount rod holder.


Closed the gap by piecing in some scraps.


I may have gone overboard, but didn't want to feel any seems, so filled them with fiberglass.


Once the carpet was down, you couldn't find the seems if you tried.


Marine wire was used for all of the electric runs. Main power is controlled by a master cut-off switch that feeds a Blue Sea sub panel for all of the accessories. I added a 24v trolling motor with 82 lbs of thrust. It has it's own breaker switch.










Mounted an Lowrance HDS7 Touch Screen on the back of the boat and have it networked with my HDS12 on the front that I plan to switch between my other boat. Networking allows me to share waypoints and a single map chip.


Structure Scan transducer and sonar.


Well that's about where I am at. I still need to build a cover for the rear hatch. If anyone has any good plans for that, I'd love to see them.
 
Looks good. Hope you don't mind if I lightened one pic so I could see how you did the trolling motor.

pD9pE8Vl.jpg
 
Is there something particular you wanted to see with the trolling motor? Be glad to take a pic from a different angle. I wanted to put a recessed tray in, but there were two braces that ran up the middle and I didn't want to mess with weakening the front deck.
 
I bought a trolling motor this weekend and not sure if I can use it on my boat because it's so heavy, a Minn Kota All Terrain tiller. It must weigh 50lbs. It didn't cost much so I won't lose anything if I sell it. Some newer models I've seen have smaller brackets and hopefully they don't weigh as much but I understand they have electronics that can fail.
 
Been looking for a live well forever! Who was the seller you bought it from if you remember and do you think I would be able to do a similar build with my 14' Jon? Been wanting to carpet and put a Rod holder in it


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1099gl said:
Been looking for a live well forever! Who was the seller you bought it from if you remember and do you think I would be able to do a similar build with my 14' Jon? Been wanting to carpet and put a Rod holder in it

Bought my livewell from The Great Lakes Skipper. It's somewhere between 24-30 gallons.
 
I have a 14' polar Kraft so it's not the same as yours


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Installed a set of VT-2 livewell vents tonight. Not sure if these actually work, but guys that have them all say good things about them. Only took about 15 minutes to install.

 
With the batteries mounted up front, my boat sat in the water slightly nose heavy. Didn't think it was a big deal, but ended up creating an issue with air lock when trying to fill my livewell, so I moved the batteries to the back. The boat ran much better with the weight of the batteries in the back.
 
Used transparent tape with white print to label my rocker switches and toggles.


For the rear hatch, I'm thinking of making the access area 13 1/2 x 31 1/2. That might even be tight to get the batteries in and out. Open to input.
 
Make the new access hatch as big as possible, you'll be happier later. Will also make it easier to put water in the batteries.
By the way, I'm liking your build!
How did the 10 HP do with the batteries up front? Planing out?
 
Having the batteries up front didn't work out. First of all, it made the boat just heavy enough that it caused my livewell fill hose to run slightly down hill, creating an air lock. I had to put the boat in reverse to clear it. It was also plowing water. I moved them to the back and the livewell pumps perfectly and the 9.9 pushed it just fine. I just have a passenger sit on the front deck when running. It's a heavy all weld hull, so even by myself the nose doesn't come up. Really needs a stronger motor to get up on pad.
 
Made a couple of minor changes while I was at it. I had an extra ruler holder from my other boat, so built that in next to the livewell. I also removed the charging port. I'm going to remove the on-board charger from the boat to save a few pounds and hook up some quick connect clips to charge it.



Here's how I plumbed the livewell drain and bilge pump. Cut the subfloor out to make room. It's tight, but it all fits and there is still room to service the pumps.


Ran the hose for the bilge up the back and out the side. With the carpet in place, you can't see the hose and it's protected from getting stepped on.


Last major piece I had to finish was the rear deck. I reached out to Prowelder (Matt Downs) after seeing his build on here and had him make a rear deck lid for me. He did a fantastic job and had it done in a couple of days. I highly recommend him if you need some custom work! He even put the proper 85 degree bend on the back of the lid so it would fit perfectly with the angle on the transom.



I don't plan on using the rear seat, so patched the hole and leveled out the panels.


Finished it off with some carpet. I planned to hinge the rear lid, but I kind of like the idea of being able to just pull it of to access the rear hatch area.
 
What holds the hatch in place? might want to use a bungee on the inside to keep it from flying out of the boat
 
I have a hinge for it, just need to install it. It's snug enough that it's not going anywhere, but I don't want to take any chances.
 
schinkr1 said:
I have a hinge for it, just need to install it. It's snug enough that it's not going anywhere, but I don't want to take any chances.

I have a similar cover over my aft storage. No hinge. When I need to get in there I want to have full access. My cover is 3/16 aluminum plate, so it's not going anywhere, but I put a Bungy cord over while trailering. Paranoia I guess. Looks **** good tho. Money and time well spent.



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