# Tracker 16' carpet/wood replacement/paint job questions



## willyb021 (Jun 1, 2009)

Might be buying a 88 tracker . Wood and carpet seems ok for now but may decide to replace it in the near future (if I buy the boat) . Was wondering if anyone had a guesstimate at what this might cost me in materials alone. Just would like to find a "round about" answer for both carpet replacement and wood replacement.

Also wondering if any of you guys ever reprinted your boat yourself. How u removed the paint as prepped the aluminum and how much u paid for the paint and how you applied it. 
And where I could find marine/aluminum paint.and how much you think this would cost. This might be my first priority.

Also wondering if anyone knows where to buy bass tracker decals for cheap. Thank you!

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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

cant really be of much help. dont know how many sheets of plywood you need for the floor. or what grade carpet. i did the floor in my old boat from the windshield back. it took 2 sheets of plywood. i used marine grade wood which was 69.00 a sheet. then i went to cabelas and got enough high grade marine carpet to do my floor. but i believe now that you dont really need a marine plywood, you just need exterrier grade. but whatever you get make sure and use a good sealent. that will be the life of your floor. im sure some guys will tell you what to use. i just used the paint on bedliner for mine then took fiberglass and sealed all the seams and edges. i got my carpet glue and the spreader all at cabelas when i got the carpet. but they have different quaility and prices so its hard to give you a price. its best to just get on line and decide which carpet you want and how much you need.

as for painting an aluminum boat, i really lucked out. there was this old 18 ft cherokee aluminum boat just setting on a trailer in a field in kentucky. i had seen it for a couple of years. then one day i just decided to ask what they wanted for it. the lady said the guy at the marina had told her it should be worth atleast 900.00, but that was a few years ago. i told her it was probably still useable then. now the tires had rotted off of it, the floors were rotten, i would give her 250.00 for it and left my no#. about 3 weeks later i got a call telling me i could have the boat. so i went to ky to get it. i had to put tires on it and grease the bearings. and put lights on the trailer and headed the 300 miles home.

when i got here i seen just how bad it was. i put treated plywood in it with no sealent. then filled the intire bottom of the boat with the spray type cans of foam you get to seal your house. then just got some indoor outdoor carpet from lowes.

my ex brother n law owned a sandblasting shop. i wasnt even going to paint it. i just wanted something to fish out off on lake erie. i had a friend that owned his body shop. so he told me if i could get it sandblasted he would paint it for free if i got the paint and primer. my brother worked at the sandblast. so he went in on sat and sandblasted it. then mon i took it to the body shop. i think i got the paint and primer both for under 100.00. i kept the boat for 10 or 12 yrs before i got me a bigger boat. but the paint still looked like new. the only thing was the floor i put in and didnt seal was getting soft. but it couldnt go anywhere because it was full of foam.

so i had got a boat and put a new steering system in it and a new floor and a new paint job. so i had what looked like an almost new boat for a few hundred dollars.

but not knowing how much plywood or what type plywood or what quaility carpet, or anything about the quaility paint you want to use and if you know somebody that will give you a good deal on painting. or if you know a good place to have it sand blasted or if it will all have to be hand sanded, i couldnt even start to guess how much you would have invested.

but i do know that sandblasting gets all the old paint off right down to the bare metal if you find someone that will blast it right. then we just used a quaility primer and paint for a car. it really turned out good. sorry to have went on so long and not really told you anything, but just maby i have gave you some ideas.

and even if you use marine plywood and a top quaility carpet you can still do your floor for a few hundred. but i was shown a chart about the water quailities of marine plywood compaired to exterrier plywood, and they said one wasnt better than the other. hope something i,ve said helps you out.
sherman


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## oarfish (May 12, 2004)

willyb021 said:


> Might be buying a 88 tracker . Wood and carpet seems ok for now but may decide to replace it in the near future (if I buy the boat) . Was wondering if anyone had a guesstimate at what this might cost me in materials alone. Just would like to find a "round about" answer for both carpet replacement and wood replacement.
> 
> Also wondering if any of you guys ever reprinted your boat yourself. How u removed the paint as prepped the aluminum and how much u paid for the paint and how you applied it.
> And where I could find marine/aluminum paint.and how much you think this would cost. This might be my first priority.
> ...


$ 450 for the 1/2 " plywood (if you are really heavy use 5/8"), 1 gal. of polyester resin (also called fiberglass resin), carpet and paint and miscellaneous.
You can buy all of the above at Home Depot. 
Dump bleach and Dawn into a 5 gal. bucket 1/2 full of water and scrub the hull with a long handle brush or pressure wash. Can use vinegar if you want to rinse it but I never do.
Use oil rustoleum paint (applied with foam roller and bristle brush) over the old coat if the old paint is not peeling.
Use exterior grade plywood and coat it with epoxy.
You can use treated but makes sure it is not wet, or let it sit to dry for few months (the chemicals can attack aluminum and it is also pretty nasty stuff).


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## Hog Hunter1 (Sep 2, 2011)

I was going to replace my tracker floor before having tracker do it, I was going to use plastic coated plywood/what they use to set concrete with. Good strong heavy duty wood and it'll last a long time! get the carpet or vinyl floor from cabelas and the adhesive glue/carpet and glue for around 100$ and glue & vinvl for under $200/Good Luck!!


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## Drew318 (Mar 25, 2010)

I just finished up recarpeting my fisher 16.5 foot avenger. I used a marine grade 30oz carpet from a guy on eBay who sells to tracker and other big name dealers. Very nice quality carpet. $300 for 30ft by 7ft wide and I had about 5ft left over. I used 2 sheets of 1/2 inch marine grade plywood and one sheet of bc sanded 5/8in plywood. The marine grade was $45 a sheet from menards in massilon. 5/8 was about $30. I used 1 gallon of spar urethane coating for all the wood. That was $40. One can of super trim adhesive by 3m which was $20. 1 can of super 77 was $9. The spray adhesive I used on my lids for the edges I had to wrap the carpet around. Definetly recommend this. I also used about 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of henrys weather pro outdoor glue which I found a deal on, it was about $70. Excellent stuff! I also used a couple cans of spray paint for some aluminum panels and my steering counsel. $20 My math skills say $535 for a transformed boat. All in all I am happy with it. I hate to say it but I think I would have give with vinyl if I could do it again but we will see how this carpet holds up. Hope this helps. Pm me if you have any questions! 

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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

Whatever you decide, do plenty of research. Google and iboats should do wonders for just about any question you may have. The peer review over at iboats is what makes it so great. You have hundreds of guys over there with years and years of experience. Always get a second or third or even fourth opinion because there are many options out there. Some are definitely better than others.

Cost wise probably only a few hundred. UNLESS the stringers are rotten. If the floor is "good for another season or two", that probably means there's water there. Boats rot from bottom to top. So once the top is rotten, you can bet everything beneath is as well. Water can seep into the stringers if they are wood and rot them out. Bad juju at that point. Otherwise, if dry and you just want to replace the wood or whatever, I'd epoxy some 5/8" plywood or whatever the thickness is now and carpet with the right glue. There are different paints guys use as well if you want to go that route. I'd think those would get slippery though when wet even though they have grip elements to them. I dunno.
They don't really recommend urethane or varnish because its generally brittle and will end up cracking. Especially on exposed pieces, you'll have to redo it every few years. If its under carpet, it will still crack from the wear, but you wont be able to do anything about it. A good epoxy is for life.

If you decide to use foam, make sure you have a vapor barrier as the plywood will wick any water right to the foam and saturate it. Any water intrusion and you run the risk of waterlogging the boat. Keep it completely dry, or seal it up(you can mix the foam into vapor locked bags underneath the floor) and you'll be ok. I would definitely epoxy the sheets of plywood. It doesn't have to be marine grade if you are coating it in epoxy. Exterior grade has compounds that can react with an aluminum hull and cause issues and again unnecessary if you are coating in epoxy. I've read that about 3/4 of epoxy to encapsulate a 4x8 sheet of plywood. See if the boat has foam now. Coast guard regs state there has to be enough floatation in the boat so it won't sink past the gunnels.


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