Tracker 20 Restore

[mrobertson]

Not a potter - but the price was right and she's in decent shape. 25" transom seems very solid too. 2yr old Awlgripped fighting lady yellow hull and white inside. This will be my second seacraft restore. My father and I finished a full restore of an 84 23 in august of 2011.

This presidents day weekend was the official start of my 20 seacraft restore. I got in a couple of good days of work. Being back in the shop with a grinder in my hand brings back some memories that im not terribly fond of. My whole point in buying this boat is that it would be a quick flip, ready to go in no time and shopping for an engine sooner rather than later. The pics will tell a different story.

To start - here she is day 1. Notice that the hullside paint is in very useable condition. I'm not terribly thrilled about the bottom paint, but i'm not going to be painting this boat. At least not the outside.






And the inside - again youll notice the paint on the inside is also very useable as is. The question is, how much will i destroy it will working on it? If i can skate through without too much mess, i won't be painting the inside either.







And the mayhem begins............

Leaning Post Out -





Console Out - i basically just cut all the wiring, because i'm not re-using any of it. So, it was as simple as removing a few screws and breaking the seal from the console to the deck.





Fuel tank hatch opened up. Revealed the original tank, made in november 1988.....70 gallon capacity. .125 thickness and was coated with some kind of epoxy paint. Orginal fuel lines and clamps as well.





Fuel tank out of the boat (you can see it in the background on saw horses -





The fuel tank was sitting on a piece of 3/4" UNGLASSED plywood. It was wet and heavy so i went ahead and cut it out and started cleaning out the bilge.





Now here is where things take a turn for the worse...............Before buying the boat, i knew i had a squishy place in the deck in the starboard side rear corner of the boat. My plan was to just cut that section, repair it, and leave the rest of the deck alone.

Opened it up - only to find wet wood, which is what i expected





I kept working forward, continuing to find wet wood. I cut 1/4" in, removed the top skin of glass, dig out the wood with a chisel, leaving the bottom skin in tact.





Unfortunately - curiousity killed the cat and i had to open the other side.......only to find wet wood again.





I spent the next several hours with a hammer and chisel. I removed all the old wet wood from both sides, leaving the bottom skin in tact.





At this point, i have already spec'd out a new tank and will order this week. I am going to cut the capacity back to 50 gallons leaving me with a tank about 26 inches shorter. I will move it all the way forward to help counter balance the weight of a new, 400+ pound engine.

Although not really the preferred method of deck repair, for my purposes this will do. I am going to re-core the tank hatch. Jury is still out on the in-deck livewell. Not sure whether it will stay or go. We do alot of flounder fishing and it's nice to have a small baitwell for live minnows.

The original fuel tank was built in november 1988. At almost 24 years old it was in surprisingly good shape. There was pitting on one end and a few small spots on the bottom. No holes in it at all, but the pitting is just enough to make it not worth risking re-using it.

-Mike