Deck Build - 2000 Bass Tracker Pro Crappie

[stickstring96]

Hello all, I have a 2000 Bass Tracker Pro Crappie 175 that I'm going to rebuild the deck on. The boat is in overall decent shape, but the deck has a few soft spots and the seat pedestal bases are stripped in the wood. I figured this would be a good opportunity to just replace the deck and rearrange the layout to be more fishing friendly. I have never done anything like this before, but with all the information here and on the internet I'm giving it a shot. Here is a list of everything I plan to do.

1. Replace the existing decks and carpeting and add a few extra hatches.
2. Remove the side dashboards that extend into maindeck for more space.
3. Replace the foam in the voids.
4. Replace the two single seats with a benchseat.
5. Replace the console, rewire with new electronics.

For the decks I'm thinking about going with 5/8" external plywood with 3 coats of epoxy resin, then carpet. Someone mentioned coosa board (spelling?) the other day so I will look into that as well.

First thing is to strip the hull, I started on that yesterday. I'll upload some pictures this evening. Anybody have any tips so far?

 

[SavinRaven]

First of all welcome!
Good luck on your project. What is the original construction made up of. Fiberglass I'm assuming?
Coosa board is far superior product but you will absolutely pay for it. It wont require as much lay up. With the costs of wood inflated currently I wouldn't recommend using exterior ply due to the voids the material will still have that can potentially hold moisture..
Instead look at a marine grade Ply at minimum there are also some opinions that many other lower costs plywoods that grade out to having fewer voids between layers that would also be appropriate as well for this type of deal. Laying up epoxy is easy and should be good on top of those types of materials.

Take lots of pictures before during and after to post along with your story for us to see and many will chime in with helpful details.

At the end of the day when your talking about price and materials theres a few things to consider in my opinion:
1) How long do you plan to keep this boat? <5 years = use high end materials.
2) Boat appearance if you just want to get on the water quick and take it fishing use something a bit lower end but if you want something with a more professional appearance then use higher end materials.

At the end of the day these types of projects can be very rewarding however keep in mind: (take your budget and double it now. Also what ever time you think it will take triple it.) No matter the quality of materials you plan to use or your experience in craftsman ship you will run into unknown expenses and things that have you scratching your head. Most projects like this get started and get dumped in a yard loosing hundreds sometimes thousands. I currently have one in my backyard thats finished that I will likely use a few more times before selling now that I have upgraded. However it was a first major overhaul project and it gave me a lot of knowledge that I previously didnt have so i look at it in the sense that I paid for the knowledge and understanding that I have today

 

[stickstring96]

That is some great information. The boat is a welded aluminum hull with some riveting and plywood decks. I was just looking at the cost of coosa board, expensive! I'll look into marine grade plywood. Do you recommend the epoxy resin with the marine grade plywood as well? I plan to keep the boat at least 3 years, but really just looking for something functional and halfway decent looking, not professional.

 

[SavinRaven]

Yes I would layup a single lay up of epoxy and a layer of biaxle stranded 1708 pretty inexpensive if you are going economy route. Then carpet over that. Wrap your edges and do both sides. It will save your wood for deteriorating. Likely get 10+ years using this method with a good grade of ply wood. You could use a lesser grade plywood with this method and still get 5+ years if you keep it covered i'm sure. Where abouts are you located?

 

[SavinRaven]

You could even sand the fiberglass layup and then paint it for a more fiberglass look and not add carpet. Carpet holds moisture and can rot away the wood quicker to. But its more a preference at that point of what you want the look to be. Carpet can be dried relatively easy if you keep it covered as well.

 

[stickstring96]

That fiberglass look doesn't sound too bad. I'm in Maryland, on the Potomac River.

 

[SavinRaven]

I'm in northern ohio so we deal with similar climate challenges. If you cant store inside just try to get a good quality snap cover or a sewing machine and make one they are relatively easy to sew up we made one for about 70$ for my little fishing boat. After We redid the transom/decking I dont ever want to deal with rotted boat ever again. HAHA this is the one i redid all the floor and transom in.

Was quiet a learning experience. The third picture is epoxy layup on marine grade plywood after painted the transom and we didnt sand it at all I think a light sand to knock down that fiberglass a little bit it would have had a real nice finish on the floor though I almost went that route. Epoxy is really easy to do layups on I overthought it entirely to much. Just dont mix to much and it will set up really fast when its hot out. And i just used some cheap spray paint. I'd recomend though for a finish feel an epoxy paint probably even that one with chips in it used for garage flooring. Added protection as well. I bet that'd turn out real nice.