altimas
Well-known member
I lucked up and a buddy thought of me when they decided to get rid of his grandfather's old Bass Tracker. They kept it in a boat house on a lift and only ran it about once a year. They didn't have a trailer for it and just wanted it out of the boat house. I made an offer on it and told them they could probably get more for it from someone else, but that was all I had. They accepted my offer and I was getting a boat!!
I tried borrowing, renting, and Alabama rigging a trailer up to get the boat home and had no luck. So I posted a want add on craigslist and had a guy email me that would take 150.00 for the trailer he had in the yard. It was adjustable and I knew I could make it work for the boat. I checked the outside of the tires and they looked fine, so I took it home. When I got home I looked it over a lot better and noticed there were some sidewall cracks in the back. With as hot as it was I didn't want to chance bringing it home on those tires. So I went ahead and bought some new ones.
Big day finally came and me and my buddy went to pick up the boat.
Got the boat home with no issues. Was surprised how good of a shape it was in. Nothing was rotted. Only thing wrong was the Nav lights on the front weren't working and the windshield was cracked. Navigation lights were an easy fix. Here's the boat in the garage.
From what I can tell from the Hull ID # it's a 1981 Bass Tracker II. Then the motor is a Mercury Classic Fifty 45 HP motor. Not sure what year is on the motor.
Decided to work on the trailer and repaint it and put new hardware on it, but first I had to get the boat off of it...
My Uncle did the same thing with his Ranger so I knew it would work, but it was kinda scary lifting it up in the air like that.
Pulled the trailer out.
Stripped everything off of it. Couldn't take pictures of the next step where I took a wire brush and knocked off most of the rust then brushed on naval jelly over the whole thing and sprayed it off.
Started Priming it.
Then a monsoon came and I had to retreat to the garage where I decided to go ahead and replace the water pump.
It was easier than I thought dropping the LU, but putting it back up there, even with my brother's help, was a pain in the neck. Put new LU Lube in there and was good to go.
Did get the trailer flipped over and and finishing the underside of it, then I will start painting it black.
I tried borrowing, renting, and Alabama rigging a trailer up to get the boat home and had no luck. So I posted a want add on craigslist and had a guy email me that would take 150.00 for the trailer he had in the yard. It was adjustable and I knew I could make it work for the boat. I checked the outside of the tires and they looked fine, so I took it home. When I got home I looked it over a lot better and noticed there were some sidewall cracks in the back. With as hot as it was I didn't want to chance bringing it home on those tires. So I went ahead and bought some new ones.
Big day finally came and me and my buddy went to pick up the boat.
Got the boat home with no issues. Was surprised how good of a shape it was in. Nothing was rotted. Only thing wrong was the Nav lights on the front weren't working and the windshield was cracked. Navigation lights were an easy fix. Here's the boat in the garage.
From what I can tell from the Hull ID # it's a 1981 Bass Tracker II. Then the motor is a Mercury Classic Fifty 45 HP motor. Not sure what year is on the motor.
Decided to work on the trailer and repaint it and put new hardware on it, but first I had to get the boat off of it...
My Uncle did the same thing with his Ranger so I knew it would work, but it was kinda scary lifting it up in the air like that.
Pulled the trailer out.
Stripped everything off of it. Couldn't take pictures of the next step where I took a wire brush and knocked off most of the rust then brushed on naval jelly over the whole thing and sprayed it off.
Started Priming it.
Then a monsoon came and I had to retreat to the garage where I decided to go ahead and replace the water pump.
It was easier than I thought dropping the LU, but putting it back up there, even with my brother's help, was a pain in the neck. Put new LU Lube in there and was good to go.
Did get the trailer flipped over and and finishing the underside of it, then I will start painting it black.