17ft Bass Tracker CRACKED HULL

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Sailor Jules

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Hello all! I picked up a great little 17ft Bass Tracker from a friend, he upgraded to a nice new sleek tracker 4 years ago and this one had been sitting since then. His wife wanted it out and I needed a boat, great timing for me!
So... I have started pulling apart the entire interior to get to the ribs and spars along the hull, no obvious damage but he did tell me that it has some leaks.
My plan is to seal the hull and rivets, what would be the best sealant to use for this job? I have seen a number of posts mention Gluv-It Epoxy around the rivets.
I have been drilling out all of the interior aluminum around the aft livewell, fuel tank storage area, and rear floats, etc. Any recommendations on where to purchase rivets, or what specific rivets Bass Tracker used when producing these boats? I will need to look up which specific make and model of my boat and I will post that in a future post.
What is the best foam to use to replace the stuff I am digging out? I see there are sheets of foam under the wooden deck, Livewell, and fuel compartment panel. Is the stuff from Lowes or Homedepot acceptable?
What is the best spray foam or expanding foam to use in the bow and aft side sections?
Originally this boat came with carpet and my buddies dad began recarpeting the bow about a year ago, Ive got enough carpet to finish the boat, but after checking out some posts I see some folks are choosing a non-skid type paint. The non-skid is probably super easy to hose off after a few days/nights of fishing and I wanted some thoughts on what you guys out there preferred.
So to recap...
Sealant -
Rivets -
Carpet/non-skid -
Thanks guys!
Pics dont want to download at work, ill post them later tonight.
 

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For the most part read the threads on these forums for most answers.

Post up some pictures with specific questions.

Trackers were mass produced cheapened hulls. They were built to go together cheaply and quickly. Don't expect anything to come apart easily though.

Good luck and post some pics.
 
Day 1 consisted of pulling the bow section apart, I put about 2 solid hours of work into her. Very rewarding! Day 2 my fishing buddy Devan came over to lend a hand and earn his spot on the fishing rig. We put about 6 hours combined into day 2. Pulled the console, floorboard, side panels, the most of the hull foam.
 

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Last night 8/15/13 I began working on the aft interior section around the fuel cell. I drilled out all of the interior rivets and pulled the livewell and all other aft panels. Tomorrow I will tackle the port and stbd aft float sections.
 

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The demo portion of this boat has been really simple, I've invested 19 hours into the project so far including tonight 8/16/13. Tonight we had to cut the port and stbd aft float sections, it was the only way I could figure to remove the foam. So cuts were made, into the float sections and we removed the foam. Much easier after we decided to cut the panels, we picked up rivets and a strip of aluminum from Lowes and I will join the cut sections together when I begin the rebuild.
 

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Pulled the boat out into the drive way to clean and inspect the hull and BAD NEWS. I found cracks along 4 of the main ribs. I need to speak with a boat repair professional to determine what to do next. I was a helicopter mechanic in the Navy for 8 years and if this were a helicopter we would stop drill the holes, drill out the rivets, remove the beams (ribs in this case), cut out and patch the skin, then replace the ribs.
On this boat do I need to remove the ribs and repair it like I stated above?
Or can I simply stop drill the cracks and have someone tig weld the external skin?
Has anyone else encountered cracks like this with their Pro 17?
 

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Keep the pics coming! Its looking good so far! Check out my build which is a MV-16 Tracker if you want some ideas.

Just saw the post you posted before me, Dang! Yeah check with a professional for that, on mine, I had some ribs cracked, not the actual hull cracked.
 
I'd only invest the time / work into the repair vs. the time you expect to use that hull.

If you are only going to run it a couple years and upgrade. 5200 it and go. If you are going to keep it 3-5 years, I'd flip it and get the bottom welded. If you keep it longer than 5 years I'd get the ribs extended up the side of the hull like how most other boats are built. You know how far you are into it now with the decking so it's on the bubble whether it's patched and sold or fixed correctly.

I would not just get the hull welded. I'd at the very least get the ribs extended so the floor doesn't crack out again. As said above, Trackers are pretty on the outside and cheapened where it matters.
 
Ranchero, I don't think it would be too much trouble to pull the ribs, have a friend weld the cracks, fabricate ribs that extend up the side to offer support, reinstall the ribs. I need to get in touch with my friends with welders before I make too many plans. It was a buzz kill today though to find all those cracks, but hey that's why I started ripping into in the first place, my buddy told me it had a leak...
 
Welp, since most of the pain in these repairs is mental it sounds like your in a good state of mind do to it right. Post up some pics of the fun.
 
What do you guys know about HTS-2000, is it legit or some kind of cheap fix? I could get that stuff and have the cracks fixed in a matter of minutes w/o having to find a person to do my welding.
https://www.aluminumrepair.com/
 
I would spend the money to have it welded up. If you were close I'd weld it up for you. In theory the brazing like hts2000 would work. But the fatigue strength of brazing is not near that of welding. I wouldn't want to spend the money on expensive brazing rod to have it crack again.
 
So I decided to do this the right way and drill out the ribs. Took the boat to a friends shop and I drilled out the 4 ribs with the cracks. On Wednesday I am going to clean and prep everything and he will patch and weld the cracked areas. We also talked about extending the ribs up the side of the hull to strengthen everything. Hopefully my next post is of the patches welded in and the ribs riveted back into place.
P.S. as of now I have 25 hours invested into the project.
 

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OK worked on the boat for about 2 hours tonight, fabricated some sheets of aluminum to strengthen the ribs and cleaned everything up so that I can epoxy the aluminum sheets to the deck prior to mounting and riveting the ribs. The hull will get patched and welded in the next few days. Pictures to come...
 
good call on getting it welded up. I also have a tracker that is probably in the same condition and wouldn't consider anything but fixing it properly if needed. I wish my tracker was that size.
 
Sailor Jules,

I will be starting a similar project when it cools down (I live in Mesa). I am interested in the materials and where you bought them for your restoration.

Eric
 
Sailor Jules, I replaced all the rivets I drilled out with a 1/4" stainless steel button head bolt with nylon washers to prevent the stainless steel from contacting the aluminum, I used 3M 5200 adhesive on each one and finished it off with a stainless steel nylock nut. I've had no problems with them and don't anticipate that I will. It seemed like the thing to do since I was not planning on bucking rivets. My project is not finished yet but it is on the water. This fall and winter I'm going to get all the plumbing, electrical and storage done so next spring it will be like I want it. Enjoy your build, Go Navy!
 
Bubenhee, Buckethead, Magoo - as of now I havent spent more than a few dollars on things. In the next few days ill be looking into purchasing a 2 part bonding adhesive to place between the ribs and the hull and onto each rivet prior to being bucked. I need to buy solid rivets, pay my welder friend some cash for his assistance, and then I can really begin on the rebuild. Ill go with the blue polystyrene sheets from Lowes, I need to look up and order liquid/spray foam (any suggestions out there?), i'll pick up some marine grade 1/2 inch plywood for the main deck, ive already got marine carpet at home so ill buy some sort of adhesive to secure it to the deck. I need to buy blind rivets to replace/rebuild the aft section and live well area.

These are the next few steps...
 
Don't use 3/4 ply for decking, it's too dang heavy dry and only gets worse once it soaks up some water after a few years.
 

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