PT175 Front Casting Deck

[Mike Newman]

I have a 2003 PT175. I have often wondered what the purpose of the angled piece of aluminum that slants up from the front of the casting deck to the raised bow surface that holds the trolling motor is. Yesterday when I took this piece off to remove the trolling motor what I found is that the casting deck stops short of the raised section of the bow. I measured the casting deck piece from front to back and it is 48" so it appears that Tracker put the angled piece over that gap so they can get 2 front decks out of a 4x8 sheet of marine plywood. there are a number of times I would love to have a little more room up front for movement or trolling motor foot control. I have some marine plywood left over from ski boat projects so I have fashioned a piece to fit into this gap which I will cover with matching carpet to give me an extra 9" of casting deck. The bow section comes down and onto the fore/aft stringers to form a nice looking vertical surface that I will re-mount the trolling motor/power tilt connections.



I do not see any downside to this arrangement and I can always put it back to factory original if I want to later. Has anyone else done this modification or thought about it and did not because of another issue I have not thought about? Do most dealers have factory replacement carpet around the shop or do you have to order?

 

[Larry Anderson]

Pics please if you do it...I'd like to see how that looks.....Thanks...LA

 

[Richard Whittemore]

Sounds like a "Grab Bag" project to me.

Write up a procedure and photos and up load to the grab bag under "resources". I might be interested too. Be sure to post a message out here when and if you do it.