Bass Tracker 3 Restoration advice?

[Bcbflies]

Boy, am I glad to find this site! I'm a rookie-level do-it-yourselfer with only the most basic woodworking skills. Bought an old aluminum BT3 that has seen a lot of wear. Replacement decks were semi-sealed plywood and need replacing. Previous guy put 3" slats in bottom (drift-boat style?) for floor. Boat needs 1) new wood and carpeting all over, 2) 2 pedestal seats for fishing - need reinforcement under them? 3) permanent gas tank...only has set-in can currently, 4) new floatation foam - most old foam ripped out, 5) advice on trolling motor set-up - new Minn-kota 12-V, 42-lb thrust, but will have to make place to put it...and batteries. 6) Check for leaks - older, riveted boat - advice on using truck bedliner as waterproofing? The boat was a steal at $1700 for it the 35-hp merc (runs fine) and trailer...I knew I'd be putting some $ in it. PS. Any advice on good boat restoration book? Thanks for any help!

[smoot504]

Brett,
WELCOME to BassBoat Central. I wish that I could help you more on some advice, but don't know anything about your kind of boat. I'm glad to decided to come to BBC for help, I think that you will be satisfied.

By the way, you outta go to the BBC Lounge and say hello to everyone. All the guys and gals here are very friendly and great to chat with.

[Sarge]

Welcome aboard man, can't help ya myself but I bet if ya post some pics these guys can give ya most the help ya need

[Rollo331]

I would like to have pics,"seats" go to the tracker marine ebay store you can buy a set of tracker seats,Yes you will need support for them to mount.you want to use a pourable 2 part closed cell foam for the foam,as for the leaks the best thing to do is find them all and have them welded,a patch never seems to hold good..i would weld them up then use a bedliner type material to put over the floor makes a nice clean floor that is washable..

[dchance]

My first boat was a Bass Tracker III with a 40hp merc. 1980 model and I paid $1000 for it. Never leaked so I cant help you there, but I ended up restoring the whole thing. I am also a rookie do it yourselfer and had that boat looking like new. I tore out all the old rotten deck and floor and just used that as a template on new pressure treated plywood and traced them and made the same cuts. Picked out some marine carpet on clearance and carpeted the deck and floor before installing. I really was easy. I cant help you with the foam either, only saying that mine was filled with regular styrofoam originally so I would think that would work fine. I did not mount a permanent gas tank, but did get an extra one. I also got a gas hose and ball for it with the connector that connects to the motor. When one tank went empty I just attached the hose of the full tank to the motor and was going again. I would reccommend a 12/24v Trolling motor. you can get a lot more time out of a 24 volt on the water. I will try to post some pics if I can find them of the finished product. Any Questions let me know. BTW I ended up selling the boat for about $3000 and put about $1000 into the boat. I would say sweet deal.

[dchance]

I found a couple pictures. If you email me I will send them via email.

[mtangler]

I own a 1980 Bass Tracker 3 that I restored about 4 years ago. I ended up stripping out the front deck and replaced it with a full 7 foot flipping deck that extends all the way back to the console. I build in storage lids into the front deck to keep everything out of the way. I also recarpeted and replaced all the seats in the boat. I put a new Minn Kota AT40 on the front and it pulls the boat just fine. The first trip out the old 40 merc seized up so I replaced it with a 1997 40 Merc with trim/tilt. I repainted the console and the sides of the boat to get rid of the old BT3 stripes that were in rough shape. The trailer was repainted to match the boat and I replaced the bearings also..since they were in bad condition. I've had a lot of compliments on the boat. I'll try to post some pictures in the next few days after I pull it out of the garage. It's almost spring in Montana, the open water, if you find any, is a whopping 38 degrees!.

[Bcbflies]

Great! I'm at Love2FlyFish@aol.com Thanks a million - you're giving me hope!

---Brett

[Bcbflies]

Rollo,

Thanks for the hints. Any advice on which 2-part foam and where to get it?

I'm at Love2FlyFish@aol.com

Many thanks!

--Brett

[Bcbflies]

Mtangler,

Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna have to build the whole front deck again. Plus the elevated front position for the trolling motor mount is also gone. Any advice on rebuilding that section? I know it receives a of stress from the motor's pull.

Thanks!

--Brett

[Ubuck]

Floatation foam can be purchased at http://www.uscomposites.com. They are the cheapest place that I found.

Good luck with the restoration.

Ubuck

[Ritchie]

Rollo is right about that bedliner spray (such as Rhino Lining). I don't own an aluminum boat but have seen several with that in it and it does look good and helps you be a little quieter.

[mtangler]

I sent you some pictures of the my boat. Let me know if you have any questions.