Bilge not draining to the transom

[Mike Harris2]

I have a 2004 Pro-17 Tracker boat and was happy to take it out of storage and get it ready to go for the summer. I bought it used last year and did not fully clean it out. I started a full cleaning and discovered that sometime in it's life, mice and squirrels had been under the decking and left a mess of nuts, chewed foam, and droppings. I pulled the storage bin out of the front casting deck to flush the hull out with a garden hose. To my surprise, the front of the boat filled up with water and only a dribble came out of the transom drain hole. I figured that the drain path under the floor was clogged with foam bits, so I pulled the floor out. I found that some of the problem was the mess from the critters, but most of it seemed to be from the way the boat was constructed. The flotation foam was sprayed solid into the floor area thus not allowing any water to drain to the transom. Also, the floor support ribs did not have any holes through them at the hull to allow water to drain.

To solve the problem, I removed all of the foam, drilled 1 inch holes through the supports at the floor level, and installed closed cell foam in place of the heavy waterlogged spray-in foam. Now the hull drains completely, and my boat is much lighter weight than what it was.

This is my second tracker boat and it fits my needs for fishing and pulling the kids on a tube.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

TM should be on the whipping post for letting crap like that get off the line!

I really don't think they clean them AT ALL before foam and decks are put on. Hopefully you didn't look at any of the internal welds:blink:

 

[Mike Harris2]

I was not complaining about hull cleaning at the factory. I was disappointed that the floor supports did not have a drain hole through them, and that the foam blocked hull draining and is not closed cell foam. I also did not see any internal welds, my boat is all rivets.