well fellas at the tail end of last season I bought a bass tracker 17 ft with a good running 50hp mercury, we slapped on a make shift deck and started fishing. the boat was pretty good to us. I bought it with the intentions of gutting it this winter and rebuilding it. last year I introduced a couple friends into the sport and they are hooked big time! so I have plenty of help doing it. one of them owns a boat shop and the other is a firefighter who is on my crew, one is a hard worker and will do anything to get it done and the other knows his way around a boat. me personally, will come up with the ideas and will fab whatever we need. luckily for me I know how to weld alumanium. so our plan with this lil boat is to dump the fitty and go with the max rating on the boat, then we're going to add pods. now moving forward from that we are making it center console. for lighting we are making our own housings and guna run 400 watt hps with digital ballast. for the platform we are guna raise it 10 inches because we want the lights underneath, im tired of dealing with rails. for the troller we are using a 70lb minnkota edge. the trailer is in pretty good shape with nice tires and good wheels, were guna re paint it and add some lil things here and there to make it more user friendly. we already gutted the boat and were in the process of gathering materials for the trailer. the trailer will be the first priority for the simple fact that the boat is lightest now and will be easier to maneuver. ill try to post as many pics as possible but sometimes when im in the zone I forget to take pictures. some of u might ask, why a tracker? yea I know I guess the answer is because I have it and because we can. I welcome any constructive criticism and ideas! im sure that during this process I will have some questions for the more season guys with more experience in the building world. here are some pictures of it before and at its current stage
My first "real" build
elpistolero
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Once we completely gutted the boat the first order of business was the transom. Welded a bunch of holes and added the pods. This is a look at the inside of them. Made out of 1/8
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These are the pods all done
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This is the console still needs door steering wheel and holes for gauges and switches. Still haven't decided if im guna have grab bar on it
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all welded up
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looks great man!!!! how wide is your rig at the floor?
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It is 48 at the bottom
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this is the structural supports under the front deck, this will be half foam and storage
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done ready for the door
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start of the deck. 1.25 tube 1/8 wall. It is elevated 12 inches from the beam in order to fit the lights underneath. The top will be 1/8 tred which i have not mounted yet. Prolly wait till lights are installed
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mounted and finally looking like a bf rig
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For a tracker she's certainly coming around. Nice work.
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this shows the lil step i had to build cuz i have short legs
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next is the ballast box, gas tank install and structural members for the rear seats and storage compartments. got a very busy week comin so who knows how much ill get done
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