Dobi

When I started this, I wanted it to be my own little "Overhaulin" or "Monster Garage" type deal and have it done in a week.. .but realization is that they have 5-10 guys working d**n near 24hrs a day for 7 days... I'm by myself and can only work on it after 5:30 pm due to work. haha oh well...

I think she's actually semi-tickled because being here in the carport and not out on a lake or wrench'n / wheel'n my rock crawler.. Little does she know that I will more then make up for lost lake time.. muwahahahaha

More tear down... Well, due to not wanting to mess anything up structurally and less weight, instead of ripping the whole backend off, I'm going to just enlarge the existing boxes and enlarge the back area where the gas tank and battery box are to hold a 10+ gallon fiberglass tank. This way I can just put 1/4 inch plywood across and reinforce where needed.

yup. 17ft with a 50hp US Marine force on it.

well... looking at a couple other folks buildups here (LBH I think and someone elses' gray one), I'm gonna take a little more time on it to make it worthy of being posted here... Question for ya'll... The back of the boat is filled with that expanding foam just like the front.. I'm gonna have to rip that stuff out to rhino line the inside of it.. Do I need to spray more in there or is that a last chance of floating after the boat has already submerged??

** Will edit later for future pictures.

Not sure if this is the right forum or not, I apologize in advance if not. I did a write-up like this to document when I built my toyota rock-crawler last year, thought I would do the same here by documenting what I'm doing to the Twacker Bought this last August and its in less then perfect shape.. Been fishing with a buddy with a nice triton with a 150h... been on his boat more then mine.. Now local tourneys are starting and he has an old pal he enters those tourneys with.. Now I'm back to the old tracker. I know with our first child coming that a boat like that is not in my near future. However, putting a couple hundred here and there into the tracker is possible. I started last night and well... Here are my plans. My questions will come next. I've started tearing into it and noticed some expanded foam.... and some foam slots: My question is, can these foam slats be taken out. I want to get the bottom inside of the boat and about 4" up the side sprayed with a thin coat of Rhino-line type substance (knock off brand that a buddy is a carrier of) thinking this will seal up some rivets that are leaking a little bit and will deaden ALOT of noise as well. which I'm thinking that foam in the bottom can be placed back in and compressed down when I redo the floor.. just on top of the rhino lining. As you can see, the expanded foam under the bow is in the way of my future rodbox and storage containers.... So what are your thoughts on my plans and dilema with the foam. I plan to get this cleaned out tonight and sprayed tomorow, then build the bow wed with the back of the boat tba. Here's some more tear-down pics...

I'm in Columbus, I bought a little bass tracker back in August... I'd be happy to show you what I know of the area and almost always have room in the boat for a 2nd person. I PM'd you my contact info.

New Gas Guzzler, errr tow rig. 2000 w/360 72k miles for $9k I couldn't pass it up.

yea, even later on in life when I can afford a better one(hopefully one day).. odds are I will still keep this for its reliability. I bought it in August for $1500 and in 20 yrs assuming there is a good motor on it, it'll still be worth that

Ya'll are all fancy, all I use is my RockCrawler. But then again, I'm just pullin an old '83 Basstracker. (can't wait to start modifying it like my truck) haha '85 Toyota Pickup Heavily modified. 4.3 Vortec V6 Chevy motor TH350 Tranny NP203 Transfer Custom Flatbed 3" Body Lift 4" suspension lift 63" rear Chevy leaf springs 4" lift rear Jeep YJ springs up front. 36x13.50 IROK Super Swampers (not pictured) 15x10 Bullethole Polished Alum Rims (not pictured) Added Power steering Marlincrawler High Steer / shock hoops / braded cable throughout Front / Rear Aussie Lockers. 4.10 gears This is when I was doing the engine swap.

Solely for the trolling motor I have an optima blue top. It has served me well so far. But I've only had the boat for a few months. For the rest of the boat I have a deep cycle Marine Autocraft (how bout that for irony) from Advanced Auto parts. For the "in case I'm stupid" or "I got drunk and passed out the night before w/out hooking up the charger" days. (which happens more often then I care to admit) I've also got a cigarette lighter plug-in with one of these I can attach: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=44768 I took a battery that would not crank my boat out and attached it to just the motor battery and left it out in the georgia sun. came back about an hour and a half later and the boat started up after 1 low pitched turnover. So if my Optima happen to go dead I can at least I can swap it out with the Autocraft and as long as I get 2+ hours of trolling around I should be able to crank the boat with the solar charged optima. Hope this made sense to ya'll.

about yay big. I've never been one to kiss and tell (=

Grew up in Clewiston FL on Lake Okeechobee, now in Columbus, GA