My Boat and its Story

My boat after putting the new carpet in.

My boat just before it gets launched.

My boat in the water.

In August 2000 I saw a 16' 1979 Tracker Aluminum Bassboat with a 1973 Mercury 40 HP motor for sale and decided to purchase it from my neighbor for $500. When I went to pick it up, the motor refused to start. The next day, the neighbor brought it to the local marina to have it checked out, where he found out that the motor was leaking water out of one of the sparkplug holes and a couple of gas lines had rotted away. After finding this out, the neighbor told me that if I was still interested in the boat, that I could have it for $200. Nonetheless I decided to purchase the boat, thinking that it would make a great project to work on over the winter and the following summer. Little did I know that this would turn into more than just a summers worth of work. After three summers working on it, the boat has yet to be launched.

In the fall of 2000, my dad and I took the motor off the boat and brought it into our basement for the winter. It wasn't until spring that I finally got around to taking it apart to figure out what was wrong and how to fix the motor. When taking it apart, I discovered that there is a water jacket surrounding the head to cool the engine and a gasket was old, allowing water to leak out around the spark plugs. The water was unable to get inside the engine block, causing no damage to the engine block. Thus finding out that all I needed to do was to replace the gasket, I went to my local marina and ordered the gasket. After receiving and putting the gasket on, I was confident that the motor would work once I got it back on the boat.

When I bought the boat, I could see that it needed some work done to it to make it look a little nicer, mainly some new carpet. What I thought would be an easy task of replacing the carpet, turned out to be a lot more work than I expected. When taking out the old carpet, I discovered that the plywood underneath it had rotted in places and would also need to be replaced. Once I had drilled out all the rivets holding the plywood down and had taken the plywood out, I found that the styrofoam underneath it had also rotted and would need to be replaced. After removing the styrofoam, I found I had a boat stripped right down to the hull. It was then that I decided that since I had put so much work into stripping it down to the hull that I would replace the wiring in the boat. I figured that I would play it safe and replace the wiring since I wouldn't want to get everything put back together and find out that there was something wrong with it. While I had it stripped down to the hull, I decided to fill it with water and check for leaks. It was then that I discovered that the livewells would leak into the boat if used. I decided that it would be easier to just take the livewells out than it would be to fix them. Besides I didn't think I would use them a lot anyways, and a cooler could be used if needed.

Before I knew it the summer was over and I had yet to finish my boat. I had accomplished many things that summer. The styrofoam and wiring were in place and the plywood was cut with the carpet glued to it and was ready to be screwed into the ribs of the boat. It wouldn't be until the next summer that I would be able to work on it again.

After the winter came and went and school ended for the summer, I finally got to resume work on the boat. It was then that I decided that a few more things needed to be done to the boat to make it how I wanted it to be. The console would need to be replaced and new seat bases made since the old ones were the livewells that I had removed. The only thing that got accomplished this summer was the new console. A summer job interfered with the time I was able to work on the boat.

Last summer my grandparents from Idaho came for my graduation. Before they arrived here, I made some temporary seat bases that I could use for the summer. By now my patience was starting to wear out and I wanted to get the boat in the water. I was able to put the boat together enough that my grandparents could take a ride in it. I decided to hook a garden hose to the motor and start it before putting it in the water. Since the motor had been sitting for 2 years, it started up without any hesitation. While running it, I discovered that the gasket I replaced was still leaking. After taking it apart again, I found that when we put the gasket on, it had folded a little, so I would need to replace it. I replaced the gasket again, tried to start the motor to check for leaks, only to find that it wouldn't start and I needed to replace a fuel line and a couple other hoses. My grandparents left and were unable to go for a ride in my boat. I continued to work on the boat for the rest of the summer making it my goal to have it in the water at least once before I left for college in the fall. During the summer I kept finding more and more things that needed to be replaced each time I replaced something. Soon it came time for me to put aside my project and leave for college, disappointed that I wouldn't be able to use the boat that summer. During one of my breaks, I went home and brought the motor in yet again hoping that I would find time to work on it over my breaks during the winter. It sits in my basement waiting for me to come home and replace some of the wiring and put it back on my boat. My grandparents will be coming here once again this summer for my sister's graduation, so maybe this time they will be able to go for a ride in my boat.

Updated on ... Feb 13, 2005