1986 Tracker Seacraft 20 budget rebuild
 

Hi all, been reading the forum for a bit and finally came across a seacraft to call my own, hopefully it’s alright to post a rebuild of a non potter hull here. It’s a 1 owner 1986 seacraft 20. It has kind of an interesting story.

The previous owner bought it new in 86, used it a handful of times for the first few years and then it sat in a barn for over 20 years and slowly parts were removed and sold. Last fall when hurricane Irma was lined up for what looked like a direct strike here, barn space to store other more important items was at a premium. The boat was drug into the trees with a bobcat and tied off to them to ride out the storm, and there it still sat when I came along.

Anyway, it has a soft deck that needs to be addressed before refitting it, which will result in a new paint job at least from the rub rail in. The goal is to build a respectable looking fishing boat on a budget, not looking for high end finishes or a show stopper but will do my best to make it mine. Here goes.

Changed the tires/wheels, greased the hubs, and towed it (slowly) a few miles back to my house. After a few garbage cans full of junk and leaves taken out, busted out the pressure cleaner to see what it looks like under 30 years of dust and neglect.

Looks like a great find good luck it’s her

Pulled up the center of the floor to have a look at the condition of the 70 gallon fuel tank. It’s coming out at some point to check for pitting all around and pressure test, but am going to leave it in for now so I have something to kneel on while I’m working on the floors. The top of the tank is in decent shape, maybe i’ll Get lucky and it’s reusable.

Will be hanging a late 90’s carbed Mercury 150 more than likely, will be cutting a few feet off it and keeping it all the way forward to bring capacity closer to 50 gallons and keep more weight towards the bow.

I have that boat and a soft spot on the starboard side where the controls come up with through the floor. I will be watching this thread for ideas.

Got the tank out, it has a concerning amount of pitting from sitting in the waterlogged and rotten compartment it lived in. I’ll have to make a new one, going to shorten it length wise from 93” down to 70” and mount it all the way forward. This will bring capacity from 70 gallons down to just under 53.

The fiberglass encapsulated wood under the tank was all rotten, cut it all out. Will be replacing with just fiberglass slats and 5200 bonded strips of starboard on the bottom of the tank for it to sit on. Should help it breathe and not trap moisture against it. At this point going to shift back over to the floors now that I have some access to some foam underneath them that was causing a noticeable high spot.

I notice everyone else has some decent sized pictures, mine always seem to be small and randomly oriented. Is there a trick to improve on that?

Lucky find, you will be stoked to get here underway on your own sweat blood and tears. Call it Irma, Shirma, phhht!

Visit to US composites to pick up the first load of supplies, and so it begins. The ceremonious first piece of wet fiberglass in my makeshift composite shop in the shed is to glass over the holes in the bottom skin of the floor where the console was held down. Most of the floor rot spread out from these holes, although I’m sure water on the deck came in through the top skin mostly.

Looks like a nice find and I'm betting the price was right. As per the picture you have of the materials in the back seat of the truck it looks like mine right now, I'm currently re-doing my transom. In my searches here and on Hulltruth.com, I came across a fuel tank fabricator, I think this is the one I'll probably go with when I'm ready to do my deck and larger tank (possibly bracket). If I recall correctly, I saved the link because of some posts I read and pictures where I saw of the quality work, to include multiple interior baffles that this outfit did on tank fabrication for a 20 SeaCraft.

https://www.customaluminumfueltanksfl.com/custom-tanks

Also, judging by the vegetation from your pictures it looks like you might be in south west FL area like me. Although I'm down In Naples, these guys are in south Tampa, still close enough for me.

I also noticed it looks like you may need a console, there is someone here on CSC with one redoing a 78 or 79 SF20 with one available, likely cheap.

If you get a chance in the next few days, could you measure the width of the transom notch on your boat and share that with me? Mine is a 1974 with a 20" transom and an original wider opening that I am going to raise 6" and close-in some, just not sure how much I should narrow it by and hoping you measurement will give me a minimum basis.

Good luck with the build, keep us posted with picks when you can!

Good choice on tank builders. My brother's bracket is next in line at Mattson's, should be started by Monday. He went with a 27" set back since he's going with a 250 HO G2 eTec which already sits 5" back versus the standard engine. You will not be disappointed with his tank, except the cost of aluminum has gone crazy. If you have the tank measurements I'd lock in the price and get them a deposit quickly so they can get the materials on hand. Colin and Robin are good people who will treat you right.

At the top of the cap, the width of the transom notch is 33”. At the bottom of the notch the corners are radiused, but if I were to extend the lines of the notch to make these radiuses a point it would be 31” wide across the bottom.

I’m in Jupiter, on the other coast. For the console, I got the original one with the boat but it was way too big for what I’m looking for. I put it on Craigslist and have already got another one here that will give me some more usable floor space. I have had the week off of work and have pretty much been working on the boat all day until way after dark, the work is slightly ahead of the postings.

I do a good bit of aluminum fabrication for a living, I’ll be making the tank myself out of 1/8” 5052. I got a handful of quotes on getting one made, the cheapest was sunshine tanks at $780.

Since the console was mentioned...

My main goal with my rebuild here is to optimize the boat for my style of fishing, which is usually 2 or more people drifting live and dead baits or deep dropping. This sometimes creates multiple hook up situations where moving around the boat to deal with the fish is important, so I want to maximize the floor space to ease this. The original console that I got with the boat was way too big, length and width wise. I debated in my head cutting it and narrowing it both directions, but for the amount of work required I didn’t think it was worth it.

I found this one on Craigslist for a good deal that is a few inches taller which gives me more space to flush mount electronics and it’s 4 1/2” narrower. It also removes the front seat, which I plan to put an Engel 65 with a cushion in its place. This saves around 5” in overall length. I still may cut this console and narrow it another 4”, haven’t made up my mind on that yet. I plan to move the console and leaning post forward 4-5” from the original location to help get a little more weight forward to offset the engine weight.

It came with a nice prewired switch panel and nice big access door. When it comes time to rig it I can sit Indian style inside easily.

Hey Jared,
What part of jupiter? I am out in the farms. We have a 20SF with a bracket and DF140. I have been chatting with Rybones about redoing my floor and putting a tank below decks.... let me know if you need a hand wiring the boat - I do marine electronics for a living.

Small world, I’m in the farms too, on the south end. I have considered using a DF140 on this project, I have seen some older ones on craigslist I could afford but I don’t have the budget for a bracket. How do you like that setup?

For marine electronics, I’m looking for a local supplier other than getting raped by west marine or bow buying 2 packs of terminals at a time or having to order online if you know of a place you’d recommend. I will be in the market for a transducer, GPS, and also radio and VHF soon as well if you sell those things.

Ill send you a PM

Jared, thanks for the numbers so quick. I like and agree with everything you say about the size and use of your console, I should do the same for just those reasons but contrary to my intent when I bought the boat, Im trying to keep it as close as I can (for my purposes) to original(for now..). But that is a really nice looking console you have there, what/where is it from?

Hobiekanobie and I have talked a good bit about our "big plans" for our boats. I have a feeling(no, I KNOW)you two are going to be far ahead of me a lot sooner. You guys should defiantly get together being so close, fact is at some point your going to need help on each of your respective projects so its a reciprocal no-brainer that grows and lends to a the generations of CSC brain-trust (little too much?). I'll be coming through Jupiter with my ride in the second week of July and again in early august so maybe I could stop in and we could all have a good laugh at my near future glass work and fairing abortion.

DonV, thanks for the comment on the tank, yours is like a good housekeeping seal of approval or better yet, papal approval. I'm very curious about their brackets too... but I really like the idea of a glass bracket... but I have no evidence or even theory of why glass over aluminum, just seems right. Of course 500 years ago we all KNEW the earth was flat.

Not too sure about "papal approval", that's way above my head!!

The main reasons my brother is having an aluminum bracket is the lead time to have one built is pretty far out there and as always, the main reason is cost. At $3500+ for a fiberglass versus $2000 for a single powder coated aluminum made it an easier choice. Actually it was $2200 with the slide out dive ladder brackets installed. Good luck!

Even smaller world, I also have a home in the farms, north side of Indiantown. If you need any parts or help, just let me know. I am selling the house, so a lot of stuff needs to go.

Got some work done on the floors, primarily on the port side. I am using the same method as mrobertson Did on another thread here by cutting out the top skin, scraping out all the rotten wood down to the bottom skin and then replacing with new wood.

I chose meranti marine grade plywood, I got it locally from a place called world panel products in riviera beach. 1 4’x8’ sheet is all I need to complete the project, this 1/2” sheet was $106 out the door.

After using the top skin I cut out as a template to trim the wood to fit, I noticed a couple high spots in the bottom skin that I didn’t like. I cut out the bottom skin there and chiseled out a very hard piece of thickened resin maybe 12” x 12” that had a small 3”x3” piece of plywood bedded in the middle. I think this was put in originally to give the floor in the upper liner some support. I’ll try and get a better picture on the starboard side once I chisel it out.

After removing this, i shimmed a resin coated piece of plywood up off the stringer using layers of 1208 biax to get the floor the support it needs at a height that doesn’t give a high spot. I glasses the pieces I cut out back in with 2 layers of 10 ounce plain weave fiberglass, the first layer around 1 1 1/2” wide the second 3” wide. The wood sits flush and nicely supported now, ready to mix up a thickened resin and glue into place.

The tank will sit on starboard bonded to 4” wide fiberglass slats instead of the original solid floor that was in there. Hoping this will let it breathe and not hold moisture and accelerate corrosion like the original foam did. Laid up a couple pieces of fiberglass that are 9 plies of 1208 biaxial for a finished thickness around .300” thick. Each layup will be cut into 4 ~28”ish by 4” slats. Pretty happy with the finish from making them on a waxed piece of melamine, although no one will see them anyway. Credit to mrobertson on these, it’s his idea I’m copying.

Picked up a motor last night after watching Craigslist for a few weeks, 2003 Mercury 125 2 stroke. Compression checked 118-121 across the 4 cylinders and had a look in cylinders with a borescope before I bought it, then fired it up for a second on some starter fluid when I got home just to make sure electrical systems are in order (was already off boat when I saw it).

Weighs 367 pounds, should be nice on the transom for a good compromise of not overweighting it to keep water from coming in the scuppers and hopefully mid to high 30 mph top speed. Really want to be able to cruise at 25 and not have it screaming. Hopefully with all my efforts to move weight around the boat will sit in the water how I want.

Hi I just bough a 1988 seacraft and will also be changing the tank. I would like to go smaller maybe 50 gallons. What is the depth and width of the old tank so I can see if i can get a deal on a poly tank. Thanks Bob

Did your tank have a sending unit

http://www.rdsaluminum.com/

these folks have the original drawings.

Yes on the sending unit but look at the pie plate which could be moved for better access.

Haven’t posted in a while, a Lot has been going on keeping me busy with work/family/fishing but have been making a little progress on the boat. The floor is pretty far along, just need a little more glass work on the starboard side and then some final fairing. Since the last update on the floor:

-glued the meranti ply down using epoxy thickened with cabosil. The wood I removed was rotten under the lip toward the gas tank opening, I was able to chisel out all the rotten spots and cut a piece of ply to fit in between the 2 skins. I didn’t want a straight line of a joint in that spot on the deck, although in hindsight I don’t think it mattered anyway so I cut that sawtooth pattern into the joint. It was late and made me feel better.

-after prepping and prefitting the top skin a few times I had a low spot on the ends. I built it up with a couple layers of biax now to save some fairing later.

-top skin glued down with more thickened epoxy. It was hot and had to mix a lot of resin, had to call in reinforcements to make sure I could get everything how I wanted it before any resin started to kick.

-seam between glued down skin and deck ground out a couple inches each way and to put a couple layers of 10 oz plain weave.

-port side filled crack all the way around top skin bonded back on with thickened resin. This will be sanded smooth before 2 plies of glass goes down. Starboard side has ply glued down and cured, now top skin curing.

-this is where I left it tonight. The port side has the 2 layers of 10 oz plain weave on, needs a bit of fairing. The starboard side is sanded and ready for the fiberglass.

Got the starboard side fiberglass laid down, now hoping to pull the boat to work sometime soon. My compressor is too small to run a 16” board sander I have, need the bigger one at work to do a quick job of fairing and sanding the floor repairs.

In the meantime, made a gas tank. This one is just under 52 gallons, made from 1/8” 5052 aluminum. Pressure tested ok, now working on getting the fiberglass slats I made earlier glassed in at the correct height underneath the tank to support it. The nice part about shortening the tank a bit lengthwise and pushing it forward for weight is now all the space behind it will be a new storage compartment eventually.

I want to either coal tar epoxy the tank before the final installation or some other kind of corrosion preventative measure, any ideas? The only DIY coal tar epoxy materials I could find online looked like it was way more material that I need, I didn’t want to waste the extra money. Might try to find a local company to coat it.

Nice "stack of dimes"!!! :) Very nice work!

Nice work on the tank!
Rod

Thank guys. Of the entire project making the gas tank is the only thing I have a little experience in, the rest of the boat is a lot of guess work. Doing the best I can on a tight budget.

Very nice indeed on the tank, I am getting ready to do a 90 gallon myself for a friend. Looks like it turned out fairly nice. What welder are you using? I just got a Miller Dynasty 280 with the expansion card about a few months ago and so far it is the cats meow.

Nice buy. I have been running a syncrowave 250 for a handful of years at work and added a dynasty 210 last year for something a little more portable. It’s a very nice machine, I would love to have a 280 like yours or 350 for the occasional heavy wall aluminum project I get.

I used 3/32 ER5356 filler, 3/32” 2% thoriated tungsten. Pulsed at 0.7 PPS, 190 amps peak, 30% background voltage, 30% peak time. Balance 65% freq 80H. These are settings I have landed on that make me 75% happy on the .125” 5052 I did the tank out of, but I always feel like something is off a tiny bit to get that last bit of quality I’m looking for.

I takes a good hand to keep up with the pulser. On mishap and your trying to catch back up. Looks really good judging by the one pic. I like to use pulse on some things and have used it at .7pps going down outside corners like that. Really makes a consistent looking weld. I have got used to having a momentary switch on my ck 20 water cooled rig now and can pulse manually as needed with the button. Doing stuff where it is hard to keep up with a foot petal the micro switch really shines. My father dose anodized T-tops and tuna towers and I learned from him so I guess that's where I picked up on that as most of them guys manually pulse.
I can say one thing I really like that has helped me is the amplitude settings. The dynasty 210/280 has them like the 350/400 if you pay the extra $500 for the SD card add on. I have been running higher EP around 180a and 150a EN on advanced square wave and was able to turn my balance up to 80-85% and still get a good cleaning action. The miller manual suggest running higher EN for more penetration but I have found if I do the opposite I can use less cleaning on the balance control and keep the heat out of my tungsten. I also run 120hz on the thinner materials (1/8") but stay at 80hz for just about everything else over that thickness. Now if I was doing a thick casting, then I may go lower turning it down to 50hz and use 25% helium 75% argon mix. The helium really helps and makes the 280 feel like a much bigger machine. It acts almost like a 350 on stright argon. Sometimes I even use the 25% helium mix on thinner stuff as well. I can cut the amps back by 30% and it still welds hot. Something about it really helps clean the puddle up and gives you a nice clean looking weld. I used to have a HTP 200 and you just about had to run mixed gas to do 1/4" material with it do to running out of amperage. It would do good with your 210 in the field if on a 120v extension cord and you could get a small 80cf bottle of 25%he to carry remotely.
The newer inverter machines have so many settings it is amazing what you can do with them. I also have a Lincoln tig 300/300 (375 amp) HF machine. There is no balance no frequency controls just basic 60 hz but you can really throw the heat on thicker materials. It dose a good job and is a tank at 800lbs. The more I play with the bells and whistles of the new dynasty's the more I like them though.

Some good points, I don't have any 75/25 gas nor have I tried going up on the frequency but will experiment with both. I have been looking into getting a button recently, a T-top will be the next thing I am going to need and I don't like paying people to do what I feel like I can do on my own. I have no experience with anodized aluminum welding, but I think I can get the principles of it down if I run a handful of joints practicing the bump method before I start on the top. From what I read the button is a huge help, I have been using the pedal only so that will be a little learning curve in itself I think. These are fun projects to learn on, but having some welding experience I'm sure you can agree they are also the ones you will look back at in a year or two once you have something sorted out you will want to cut it off and do it again.

That's how I started when I learned the anodized pipe welding. Cope out a bunch of pieces or use scraps and weld'em up. After a few you will get the hand of it. The fit up doesn't have to be perfect like a chromolly chassis or roll cage dose. Long as its close it welds up fairly good. I am not the best at it nor do I do it every day but a little practice and you will be able to do a top no problem. Biggest thing is there's no room for error. If you arc a section, your cutting it out and replacing it. There is no fixing it once you arc a piece and small mistakes can set you back big time.

A lil late to this party, wondering what the dimensions are of the new console your going with.

I’m looking for a smaller console than the big one that came from the factory on my ‘74 SF

New console is 35.5” x 35.5”, but honestly I think I’m going to cut it down the middle and take 6” out of the width. It’s maybe 4” or so narrower than the original one and has no front seat area on it. I have plans for a t-top more than likely or at least rod storage on the starboard side of the console. If I leave it the width it is now I’ll end up with the same walkway space around the console the original one had, which I thought was not enough for my liking.

It’s in the water. Ended up doing the transom, cutting console in half and narrowing, and a ton of other stuff. Hung a new mercury 150 4 stroke on it, have 20 hours on it so far and like it a lot.

Have a little over 80 hours on the rebuild now, 900 miles on the odometer on my chart plotter. Myself and my better half have no kids for the week so we decided to put in here at Jupiter and take the ICW up to Hiram's in Sebastian for an overnight stay. 143 miles round trip, burnt 30.4 gallons. It took us around 5 hours of moving time each way plus a stop for lunch.

Still really happy with the Merc 150, it seems effortless getting up on plane and were cruising a nice 25 knots at around 5.5 gph. Better than average chance of getting a compliment or conversation starter from seacraft cult members at our lunch stops and marina stay. Every time I run the boat it is a rewarding experience, the hard work and long hours are getting replaced in my mind by good boat and fishing memories.