2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

[shurt]

I am trouble shooting (excessive?) water intake into Aluminum boat. My fiberglass's never took on this much water. I have filled inside and have located 6-8 loose rivets that have droplets coming off. No Streams of water pouring out. I have a long strip that appears to run from transom to bow, appears to be welded with rivets (keel?). May have small leakage there, although it appears the rivet leaks into this then drains. I run my 500 gph Bilge approx 1 1/2 min. every 45 mins. I have plugged all intake / output holes in boat and see no difference in intake. See no excessive intake from transom area or connections. Is this normal on an Aluminum? Would 6-8 rivets leak that much water under pressure? If not normal, would taking up my deck be my next step. Goal would be a 1 time fix..time / money aside, would rather do it properly. Will post pics. when my daughter can teach me how

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

It's amazing how much water a boat can take on from just a pin hole!

The amount of water your boat is taking on is not normal for a tinny.

I have a '98 Tracker (all rivet) Deep V 17 that doesn't take on any water, and I bought it new.

The deck on mine is pretty easy to remove because the plywood is fastened to the frame through the carpet and all the screws are exposed.

I would suggest replacing the leaking rivets and applying Gluvit to that seam.

 

[shurt]

Re: 2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

Thanks for prompt reply, Also nice to hear someone happy with a Tracker boat. This boat does show minor signs of an impact on port side. I'm leaning toward taking up front deck to inspect stringers. May wait till Oct. this is prime MI. fishing time. Only fishing inland lakes now(Bass/Walleye/Northern). Don't feel comfortable on big water till I get this figured out, although its sure calling my name.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

I don't know about your boat shurt, but I can launch my boat with the drain plug out and fish all day (don't ask me how I know this). The only thing I notice is the boat is kind of sluggish while under power and I think "I need to tune this thing up". Bilge water never comes up through the floor drain and my bilge pump is a manual only.

... but! When I pull the boat out of the water on the trailer at the end of the day there's a stream of water shooting out of the drain hole that looks like someone turned on a fire hose... then I think to myself "You dumbass!".

This is one of the things I really really like about my boat and makes me have no desire to buy a new one or upgrade.

You should try this with yours sometime.

 

[shurt]

Re: 2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

I believe your Tracker is same style as 2000. More stupid questions. My live wells (fish and bait) have no electrical fill or drain, only airation. Are these gravity filled and drained. They wont fill with plugs in or out. Just curious if yours is same setup. Other fishing boats ive looked at have fill and discharge switches. None on this one...Any input would be appreciated

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

If your livewell and baitwell is the same as mine it will have a stand pipe in the center of it that plugs into the bottom, you put the pipe in to fill the wells and pull it out to drain them. My livewell switch is a toggle type, push it in at the top and it is recirculate, middle position is off, and push in at bottom is fill. There are white 1/2" pvc pipes at the top of both wells, these pipes have caps on them with 2 slots cut into them. Screwing the caps in will turn off the incoming water and screwing them out turn it on, you may want to check those if yours is the same. Another thing you may want to check is the livewell fill pump. It's located at the transom with a round black access hatch that screws in and out at the splashwell. Your fill pump may be burnt up. Mime went out and all I had was recirculate. The recirculate pump is located on the livewell with an access panel under the steering console.

I really don't understand how you're getting water into your wells with just the recirculate pump. Maybe they changed the design.

Do you have or can you take any pics of your livewell and the outside bottom of your transom?

This is a pic of the outside bottom of my transom.

The threaded white pipe with the strainer cap just to the left of the bilge drain plug is my livewell intake, yours may or may not have the strainer cap.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

Here's an easy(ier) way to replace your rivets in your leak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0MA1-5NXjs&feature=related

Did you ever get your livewell situation straightened out?

 

[Cadzilla88]

Re: 2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

I just bought an '85 Bass Tracker 2 weeks ago and have similar problems. I was getting a lot of water (3 inches) in the bilge and had to use the pump every 15 minutes. I used the hose in the bilge trick and located one problem. Who ever recarpeted the boad drilled thru the hull in one place. Easy fix with a stainless steel sheet metal screw with silicone caulk. But I'm still getting some leakage, not as much, so I used the hose in the bilge trick again and found water dripping out of the end of the keel. The problem is that I had to put so much water in the bilge before it started leaking that because the bottom of the boat was angled slightly the leak must be near the mid point of the boat yet the water was dripping out of the aft end of the keel. I know the "fix" is to caulk the entire keel by running a bead of caulking down each side of the keel. Do you agree? Or is there a better way to fix this?

"Shurt" who started this thread posted it twice so I replied to both.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

Caulking down the keel on the outside of the hull is a temporary fix if it even works at all. A much better fix would be see if you can locate exactly where the water is leaking from, it's probably a rivet or 3 and replace those. If it's the joint/seam leaking you can remove your decking and apply Gluvit on the inside for a permanant fix. You may have to remove some floatation foam but you can patch that back.

Did you see this video on replacing rivets?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0MA1-5NXjs&feature=related

Much better method than a stainless screw.