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  1. #1
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    175txw front deck mods

    Instead of selling and buying a new boat I opted to go with just some updates to me 2013 PT 175TXW. One of the biggest things that always bothered me was the 8" or so of dead space from that angled panel that house the TM power plug and trim switch only. I liked it even less when I went to install a recessed TM peddle tray and the damn thing came back almost to the seat mount. What a lot of wasted deck space!?

    Tracker was a little cheap here and didnt extend the deck to the downturn from the bow so first up was to cut a filler piece. Note: if I didnt plan to redue the carpet in the next year or 2 I would have spent more time getting a better fit. glued the carpet up to the filler piece and trimmed any excess carpet at the bow downturn. Now I was able to shift the TM tray up a good 8" from where it would have had to be.

    Next up was addressing the downturn. You can buy Kydex sheets fairly inexpensively straight from ebay and the material is very durable and weather resistant. You can score it with a razor blade a few times and snap it like you would sheet rock/drywall and it dremels very easily for any intricate work. I cut a strip for both left and right sides and riveted them to the downturn. I made the middle section its own section to access the little opening in the downturn to access all the wires and horn stuff. I fastened that with your standard self tapping screws and painted the heads black to blend. Last step was running the power and transducer cable through it, a minute or 2 with a dremel sanding wheel gave a nice tight opening for the wires to pass through. I used one of the provided cable clamps from the Force kit to screw it to the deck and keep its position. TM wires are bolted to the wires coming up from the batteries (decided to go dedicated 6awg and kept the factory 8awg for a future bow unit) so no "plug" was needed, however if you wanted it would be easy to mount to the kydex piece.

    Last item to address was the trim switch. I didnt take a close up of it but in the recessed tray there are two flat spots at the front. I drilled a hole and mounted it switch facing up. Now I can easily push or pull it with my toe (shoe or no shoe) no problem.

    All in all it was a fairly easy job but I feel I was able to gain a lot by doing this little bit of work. Saw a new 175 at bass pro the other day and noticed they shortened up that front angle piece a lot, however I still think they could redesign it to get the most room and still keep the function they want.

    Figured I'd share in case anyone wanted an easy little project for their boat!
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  2. #2
    Looks great.
    1993 Tracker Pan fish 16

  3. Member
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    #3
    That is actually a really nice mod. I am surprised I have not seen someone on here post it before.

  4. Member
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    Dec 2020
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    #4
    I like that mod and may have to do that to mine one day as some of my longer poles rest on that angled piece and if I do that.. they will sit flush on the deck.
    My TM foot control is already recessed, so not as much work for me. Maybe I will change the trim switch to up and down buttons like power poles have and mount to edge of pedal tray

  5. Member
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    #5
    I know I'm not the first to do it but anything i've seen has been done with angle iron or to fit a need and never looked all that great in my opinion. I just wanted the space and to keep it looking "factory" neat.

  6. Member Extremeboating's Avatar
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    #6
    I was trying to figure out what you did for a. While now and after finally really taking a hard look at this thread I see it now. Looks good, and clean. Great job!

    I have the angle piece setup on my Classic XL, but I think the carpet has a slit cut into it for the trolling motor wiring so if I was to remove the carpet piece it would show that ugly slit, as the Classic XL and Pro 170 do not have that slot cut into the wall there like the 175 TXW's do apparently.
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  7. Member
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    May 2021
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    North Carolina
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    #7
    I would be surprised if it didnt have some type of access hole. Like mine you have the horn on that front platform and those trolling motor wires have to connect somehow. I'd highly doubt those TM power cables go straight back to the batteries or terminal block so I'm willing to bet there is something to access there.

    In either case, Kydex is a pretty nifty material and you can certainly make a beauty plate for it. This is plate I made to cover the old holes for the stock FF. Take the kydex to a grinding wheel or sanding belt/disk and she melts away nice and clean. Made a small pass through for the power and transducer cable from some scrap I had on hand but you can probably get some wire pass through kit meant for kayaks if the hole truely is in your floor to make it nicer looking.

    EDIT: Something I didnt mention about the deck mod is being able to move the peddle tray up so far lets you still use the 8' rod tubes. When installing the tray I drilled out the rivets up front and in the rod locker to completely take them out. After installing the tray there is just enough room to slide them off to the sides of the tray and re-rivet everything in. I did have to cut off about 3" from each tube but thats better than loosing 2 rod places.

    20210717_160630.jpg20210717_173154.jpg20210717_174435.jpg
    Last edited by Functional; 09-02-2021 at 06:51 AM.

  8. Member
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    #8
    I never used the rod tubes anyway so I cut them out to give me more room to get my rods in and out.
    20210315_191544.jpg

  9. Member
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    #9
    This is new for me I have a 2021 Pro Team 175 TF, my TM peddle is one the deck and I can move it around. I use it with Right foot off to the side. My question is, what is the advantage of having the TM peddle in the center compartment flush to the deck? I noticed on the other Trackers and Bass boats they are all in the compartment.

  10. Member Flex's Avatar
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    #10
    Awesome, very clean

  11. Member Wayne P.'s Avatar
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    #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Kennyt View Post
    This is new for me I have a 2021 Pro Team 175 TF, my TM peddle is one the deck and I can move it around. I use it with Right foot off to the side. My question is, what is the advantage of having the TM peddle in the center compartment flush to the deck? I noticed on the other Trackers and Bass boats they are all in the compartment.
    It is called a recessed foot pedal tray. It's to have the foot pedal even with the deck so you don't have to do this operating a foot control trolling motor:

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  12. Member
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    #12
    Would you keep the pedal on the deck if you did not have a ghost trolling motor