Recarpeting issue with Tracker Pro V17

[Mike Malkiewicz]

Hi everyone! Newbie here ... I want to recarpet my Pro V17 and I am kinda stumped on how to carpet the gunwhale area (carpet on top of sides of the boat). I know I can probably/possibly take the carpet off intact and use that as a pattern to cut from but wondering if should "disassemble" the gunwhale to reinstall this area correctly for fear of it eventually looking like crap. This area has two black rubber trim pieces that run the lengthof the boat and back down the other side that the carpet fits snuggly under ... looks like a real dawg to do right!



Anyone that has recarpeted one of these type Tracker's (Pro V's) ... please respond so I can possibly learn from your experiences ... Thanks VERY much!



Mike M

 

[Mike Levesque]

Welcome to the board, Mike.

Can't help with the carpeting question but hopefully you'll get some good ideas from the others here.

I have the Pro deep V 16 so I'll be kind of curious about this carpeting issue myself.

There's alot of good people here as you'll soon find out. Anyway, welcome aboard! egMike

 

[Steve Rizza]

I re-carpeted my Pro-17 a few years back.

Here's a little generic advice.



Buy quality carpet, not the stuff from Lowes. After about 3 years, mines ready to do again. Do it once, do it right.



Buy good glue. Same reason.



Plan on plenty of time. It will take twice as long as planned.And more carpet then planned.



Round up plenty of wood scraps, and clamps. When re-carpeting the wood, it can be stapled to dry. The aluminum pieces will need to be done little by little and clamped to dry as you go.



Put some thought into any changes you may want to make in the future. Maybe a bigger trolling moter???? Now is the time to run a bigger wire. Extra wire ran to the bow and left for the future is never a bad idea.



I found that all my foam in the floor was waterlogged. Weighed about 100 lbs. Don't be suprised if you yours the same.



It's a great time to recess the trolling motor pedal if you have ever thought of doing it. Best thing I have ever done.



If I had my side panels off again, I would coat the back side of them with spray foam for sound/vibration reduction.





If there is anything else, just ask. I'll try to help out.



Steve

 

[Mike Malkiewicz]

Ah! Thanks for the responses guys! Good to meet you!



EGMike, thanks for the welcome and stay tuned because this is gonna happen soon. I am going to document my "travels" here so lets see what happens!



Steve R, Great, really great tips! I will keep these in mind for sure.



The foam thing worries me ... what did you do, replace the foam or just dry it out? I keep mine pretty dry in the garage so I will be anxious to discover whats under there.



I will be repairing/replacing the deck on the front as I had a "biggun" jump down into the boat off a dock and cracked the deck near the live well ... will definitley do the recessed foot pedal while I'm doing so ... footpedel thing sounds better and better more I think about that. Thanks for the suggestion.



Ponder this as well and give me your take here ... I am also thinking about replacing the large raised pedestals on bow/floor/rear platform with the ones that are flush with the decking/floor. They are made by Swivel-Ease and one of the attractive things about this is the offset extension which would afford me a bit more leg room on the front using the TM (plus the recessed foot pedel would make it that much better) as you know that front deck is a bit tight sitting there working the TM ... as I am a bit of a "biggun" myself! I would even eliminate the two rear floor pedestals as I never use them at all. What do you think? Good idea or bad?(switching out the pedestals)



Now on to the most important question ... what the heck did you do about the gunwhale area with the carpet laid on top?? How did you cut that piece that goes around the entire boat? Did you disassemble the gunwhale and/or how did you get the strip of carpet to glue and fit precisely under the thin black rubber trim pieces on each side of the strip of carpet on the gunwhale top? This is the part that is making me a bit apprehensive about the job ... Um, blowing me away is more like it!



Steve Sorry for the essay here but I have been looking for some one like yourself who has done a Pro V for long time. Thanks for your ALL your quality input as it is VERY much appreciated! As you stated, I need to do this right the first time and I am trying to cross my T's and dot the I's ahead of time! Right?

 

[Steve Rizza]

Sorry, mine is a Pro-17, doesn't have the carpeted gunwales.



Is it just a thin strip on the very top, seperate from the other carpet ??? What kind of shape is it in ??? Can you just leave it go, or is it in bad shape ???



I had a local marina pour me new foam, but you can order it online if you need to. Don't use the stuff in a can from the local hardware store,I hear it absorbs water easily and really breaks down from oils.



Steve

 

[Mike Malkiewicz]

Thanks for the help Steve R ... appreciate all your input here, honestly! I will check out that foam issue although I keep er' pretty dry, dry as I can anyway. I am going to search out a ProDeep V owner though and try to get some owner input ... frustrating ! doesnt seem to be anyone out there on forums thats had this issue ... maybe I amking too big a deal out of it too ... I dunno !

 

[Greg Meyer]

I observed my mechanic loving rebuild a Lund Tyee... Stripped to the bare hull... Carperted areas on the gunwale and small areas on curved surfaces were handled by hime is a sort of cool way, I thought. He puth the carpet and glued it... excess carpet hanging on one side or the other was stretched tight with weight hanging from the excess carpet and also in some reas he pulkled it tight and then preseed with clamps down on plywood pieces on top of "egg crate" shaped foam.