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  1. #1
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    1999 TR20 Project

    Hey Everyone,

    I'm Kyle and I am a new Triton owner, let me introduce you to myself, and my new money pit. Last fall my father and I had been hunting around for an upgrade to our Hyrasports 171 as it wasn't really a very functional tournament fishing boat. After looking at many severely abused and overpriced boats a 1999 TR20 popped up for a reasonable price. The photos looked great, and with boats getting posted and sold same day, we didn't hesitate to jump in the truck and make the 200 mile road trip to go have a look at it in person. It was certainly better than most other offerings in our price range, so we decided on the spot to take it home.

    IMG_3697.jpeg

    Once we got it home my father - a very meticulous man, fastidious worrier, and a BBC reader (hi dad!) started combing over the boat, trailer and motor. Boy, did the 23 years of wear-and-tear start showing up once the "new boat" rose color glasses came off... At this point I decided we should document the process of rejuvenating the old girl. While I don't consider what we've going on our hands to be a full "restoration", there is certainly a substantial amount of work in front of us. It seems like the further we look, the more we find wrong.

    The top cap was nicely polished (aside from the typical gelcoat cracking), the carpet in relatively great shape for the year and most of the skeg intact, but the lipstick was starting to come off the pig... The first order of business was to do a compression test on the motor. Everything looked great, a nice even spread right around 120psi, until we hit cylinder 6... a devastating 87psi... Put that on the list... Weird oil leaking around the flywheel... put that on the list... Corrosion inside the cylinder walls.. put that on the list...

    Next, lets get a better look at the hull, the minor chips we noticed rolling around in the gravel seemed to grow larger and more widespread in the shop, removing the transom transducer revealed multiple holes drilled straight through the hull with little to no sealer underneath. The top cap is separating from the bottom, can you say "water ingress"? What does the gel look like under the bunks? surprise, surprise, our old friend osmosis! and lots of it! The electrical on the boat looks like it was done by Red Green (Any fellow Canadians here?) and none of the lines, hoses or pumps have ever been changed since new. The gear clamps for the fuel lines weren't even on at the tank anymore! It's a wonder this thing isn't on the bottom of Lake St Clair.

    The trailer has not faired well through outdoor storage in our Canadian winters either. Lots of corrosion, the hubs are all shot, just about every fastener is rusted, and the wiring is a mess - at least the tires are good, right? So total strip and rebuild there as well.

    But, not all is lost... We are in Ontario, so with the lakes frozen, there is nothing to do but drink beer and work on the boat. Fortunately I have an extremely skilled/knowledgeable father with decades of trades know-how and a heated shop, so we are about to get after it, and I thought maybe there would be some people here interested in coming along for that ride with us - heck, maybe even help us out with some information. With that said, here is the first video in the series that we have going so far in the TR20 project series, and I've posted another since. There will be many more to come, I can guarantee it. We'd love it if you check it out, maybe you'll enjoy it if you're into Tritons and/or boat projects.



    All the best,

    Kyle & Chris
    Last edited by Kyholm; 02-09-2022 at 07:23 AM.
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


  2. Member
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    Aug 2021
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    Nottaway Va
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    #2
    Nice project. I'll be following along. I bought a 2007 21X and have been going through it since August. You have a bit more work than I have, but a lot is the same.

  3. Member
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    Denton Texas
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    #3
    Subscribed.... Love watching!

  4. Member
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    Oct 2005
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    Waterford, Connecticut
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    #4
    Good Luck with your project, I think you will be happy, once you get the bugs out.

    I own a 1998 TR20, very similar boat, I love my boat, the way it runs and the way it is laid out.

    I could be wrong, but I think those seats are not triton seats?, I think most Triton seats are 2 toned.
    Those hatch latches are very durable, I've only broken 1 over the years, I put the broken latch on the small cooler hatch, which can be opened easily with out the latch.

    I wish I had a heated garage!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    1998 Triton TR-20, 2017 Evinrude 150HO

  5. Member
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    #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Team Mud View Post
    Good Luck with your project, I think you will be happy, once you get the bugs out.

    I own a 1998 TR20, very similar boat, I love my boat, the way it runs and the way it is laid out.

    I could be wrong, but I think those seats are not triton seats?, I think most Triton seats are 2 toned.
    Those hatch latches are very durable, I've only broken 1 over the years, I put the broken latch on the small cooler hatch, which can be opened easily with out the latch.

    I wish I had a heated garage!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Hey, thanks so much for checking it out! I think you're right about the seats, but my father is absolutely convinced they are Triton OE. Either way, they are what we have, and are in ok shape, so it's what our butts get for the time being, lol.

    We literally couldn't do it without the heated shop. It was -20C/-4F here last weekend...
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


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    #6
    Quote Originally Posted by jrh_67 View Post
    Subscribed.... Love watching!
    Thanks so much!!
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


  7. Member
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    #7
    Quote Originally Posted by XXXLTRP View Post
    Nice project. I'll be following along. I bought a 2007 21X and have been going through it since August. You have a bit more work than I have, but a lot is the same.
    Thanks!

    And at least it gives us something to do while everything is froze up as we arn't ice fishing guys, lol.
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


  8. Member
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    #8
    Here is part 2 for any interested parties that haven't found it yet via YT navigation:



    We manage to get the VMax off the back and on to a stand, clear all the batteries and oil reservoir out to get our first look at the blige (it's... not terrible?) and pull the fuel cell. All this is in a effort to get the boat lightened up so we can try to get it off the trailer and up on the cribbing inside the shop while I sandblast and refinish the trailer.

    Cheers!

    Kyle & Chris
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


  9. Member
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    saco, maine
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    #9
    "keep your stick on the ice!"

  10. Member
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    #10
    Alright folks, another few weeks have gone by and we're still grinding away. Managed to devise some stands/cribbing and a means to lift it to get it off the trailer while still being inside the shop, was a pretty fun adventure having never removed a boat this large from a trailer before:



    Now that we've got the hull off the trailer, I'm going to take the trailer to shop shop, sandblast it, repaint it and we've going to put in new bunks, lighting, springs, rebuild the hubs, ect, just completely go through it.

    We are going to get the hull on to a rotisserie so we can flip it on its side, or complete over to fix the severe hull osmosis we found, fun fun At least that will make it easier to reseal the top cap joint at the same time.

    IMG_4494.JPGIMG_4495.JPGIMG_4497.JPG
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


  11. Member
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    #11
    Great video. I'm enjoying the watching the process and progress.

  12. Member
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    #12
    nice job!!!.....keep up the good work...

  13. Member
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    #13
    Quote Originally Posted by XXXLTRP View Post
    Great video. I'm enjoying the watching the process and progress.
    I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the content! We thank you for watching :)

    Quote Originally Posted by vin059 View Post
    nice job!!!.....keep up the good work...
    Thankyou so much for the encouragement!
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


  14. Member
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    #14
    Hey y'all,

    Back with another update. It's been quite a while, but life get busy and in between all that BS we've just been trying to fish instead of work on boats. With that being said, winter has returned to Ontario and we're not ice fishing guys, so into the shop we go... lets get you up to speed as to where we're at.

    After getting the boat off the trailer and on to cribbing, our next step was to mount the boat up on a rotisserie so we could flip it over for much better working ergonomics, here are some photos and a video of "how and why"

    IMG_4747.JPGIMG_4744.JPG





    With the boat off the trailer and flipped over, we could get to work on the bottom of he hull. To protect the shop from the mess of sanding gelcoat and fiberglass we erected a temporary "booth" to get messy in

    IMG_4777.JPGIMG_4850.JPGIMG_4854.JPG

    Now that we could make some mess, it's time to get down to the business at hand, grinding out the bad gelcoat and compromised glass on the bottom of the hull





    We played around with that for a bit in the spring, and eventually moved the project to the side so we could more easily access the Hydrasports to fish all summer and ignore our responsibilities of getting the Triton done in a timely fashion before we eventually sold off the Hydrasports to a family member who had been waiting for us to give it up to them for 2 season now... lol.

    With an open bay in the garage, we decided it might be a good idea to have the trailer refurbished before the hull as we'd need to set it back down on the trailer to rig it own pretty promptly after we finish the bottom of the hull, so we drug the trailer home from my shop, tore it apart and started attacking all the weak spots on it (which there were many). Time and corrosion had not been kind to this 24 year old MFI, with many of the crossmember welds cracking and failing at the main rails, and the bottoms of the crossmember nearly rotting in half from rust. Needless to say, it was time to give it some serious beefing up if we were going to be hauling this rig hundreds of miles at highway speeds.

    Here you can see some cracked welds taht need to be vee'd out and re-welded
    IMG_6474.JPGIMG_6475.JPG

    And you know us, we're all about ergonomics at Holmes Marine, so up on it's side the trailer goes to patch and reinforce the crossmembers
    IMG_6525.JPG

    Here is a section of rot cut from the rear crossmember that we patched in and then plated over

    IMG_6529.JPGIMG_6562.JPG

    The forward cross members got a similar treatment, although slightly less over-built (but only slightly)

    IMG_6606.JPGIMG_6608.JPG

    The joints at the crossmember to the main rails for large square tube gussets to prevent any future stress cracking at the rails.
    IMG_6563.JPG

    SO that is pretty much where we're at currently. We'll likely have the trailer fab work finished this week and I should have a new video up on the channel on that whole process within the week, then it's back on to glasswork on the bottom of the hull.

    Stay tuned...

    Merry Christmas Y'all,

    Kyle
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


  15. Member
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    #15
    Looking Good!!!!!!!!!!
    Merry Christmas and best FISHES!!!!!
    1998 Triton TR-20, 2017 Evinrude 150HO

  16. Member
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    #16
    Good luck on your project.

  17. Member
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    #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Team Mud View Post
    Looking Good!!!!!!!!!!
    Merry Christmas and best FISHES!!!!!
    Merry Christmas To you too, thanks for the kind words!

    Quote Originally Posted by Hunna View Post
    Good luck on your project.
    Thankyou!
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


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    #18
    Here is a question I'd like to pose to all interested parties here: There seems to be some built in hook at the rear of the hull - Do we feel this is intentionally designed into the hull? and if so, should we keep it or fair it out? Common "go fast" sense says to fair it out, but we're curious as to what everyone else's input is...


    IMG_4786.JPGIMG_4780.JPG
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


  19. Member
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    #19
    Finally an update on your monster undertaking! It's coming along really, well. The "DIY" title you use is a bit misleading, ya'll have some skill and what I consider a nice shop that is very well equipped with tools.

    As for your hull, I went and put a straight edge on mine, 2007 Tr21X hp, and it has a very simular"hook" as you call it, not quite that pronounced, but the straight edge is not flat. Intentional or not, it is there.. and mine runs plenty fast.

  20. Member
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    #20
    Quote Originally Posted by XXXLTRP View Post
    Finally an update on your monster undertaking! It's coming along really, well. The "DIY" title you use is a bit misleading, ya'll have some skill and what I consider a nice shop that is very well equipped with tools.

    As for your hull, I went and put a straight edge on mine, 2007 Tr21X hp, and it has a very simular"hook" as you call it, not quite that pronounced, but the straight edge is not flat. Intentional or not, it is there.. and mine runs plenty fast.
    I do appreciate that our definition of 'DIY" may differ a bit from other peoples, but basically we're just saying that were doing the work ourselves and not sending it out somewhere to have someone professional do it. That being said, we have next to NO experience with any of the stuff were doing and are basically just feeling our way through it with the help of the internet lol.

    Also, thanks for checking your hull!
    ‘99 Triton TR20 - 200 V-Max
    '97 Stratos 201Pro - 250 ProXS
    youtube.com/fishingontario


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