Liquid Truck Bed Liner for a Leaky Tracker

[Barry Loos]

I found this post about a leaky Tracker. What caught my eye is that the guy had the hull sprayed with a liquid truck bed liner. His application failed but if a guy really prepared the hull surface, and the leaks were just around some rivets, would that stuff work? Would that help the guys with the leaky rivets, etc?



THE POST: Hello I have a 17' 1989 bass tracker. The previous owner had beaten the living tar out of the boat. I have already had the boat welded along two cracked seams. The center ridge still leaked very badly so I had the bottom sprayed with Line-X truck bed liner. The Line-x has now separated for the second time. The First time they fixed it, no problems and it held for 1.5 years until about two weeks ago. I have now flipped the boat up side down and am now ready to repair. I am wondering if I need to prime the aluminum with something before Line-x sprays it again. Or should I strip it all off and try the epoxy sticks. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to have to deal with it again in another year or two. What would be a permanent fix?



Just a thought about a cure for leaks.



Bear

 

[Staci Matheis]

I once heard of a guy who had a really bad leaker like that..... Tried everything under the sun..... The he came up with a really novel cure..... Bought himself a new boat.....

 

[Mark Weichold]

I have posted about this here before and on other sites.

I had a leaky TX17, stripped the boat down, Hired a Crane

operator who turned the boat and I then had Rhino Linings

shoot the hull. Looked great, was perfectly water tight

sealed and the ride improved. Downside had to readjust

motor height etc. and lost about 4 -5 mph with the added

weight. Cost around $800.00 for the Crane and to shoot the

hull. So yes it can be done!! I sold the boat three months later.

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Re-rivet them. Costs about the same, but a longer lasting fix. That and welding certain applications. I spent $3k on my tin boat to get it fixed before selling it, but it didn't leak a drop afterwards. Welded the hull seam with filler added, and replaced all the loose rivets, including ribs and stingers. If they're loose, the hull will continue to flex, and the problem reoccur. Had to pull up the entire front deck. Had a shop do it all, courtesy of Tracker Marine.