Question:
I want to get some opinions on the Bass tracker brand aluminum
bass boats from Bass Pro shops. I have ridden in the pro team 17.5
and it seemed ok (had 40hp tracker engine). Is this just a cheap Force
engine? Can you upgrade the engine to another mercury,etc. any user
comments are welcome.
Answer:
-Some of the Tracker engines are indeed FORCE engines and others, the
larger ones, are Merc engines with the Tracker stickers and paint jobs on
them. The BPS ads I've seen allow engine upgrades, though doing so through
BPS is pretty damned expensive.
-Tracker boats are made about 60 miles south of me. I believe there is another
Tracker plant in Bolivar MO. (about 120 miles south).
The Tracker boats are a big name in the Missouri area. The aluminum boats
seem to have an "entry level" quality. The fiberglass bass boats are better,
but use some cheap materials such as hinges and other hardware. I was recently
in charge of buying an aluminum boat for the Fire Dept. for water / ice rescue.
I shopped a LOT of 14' to 16' aluminum boats from every manufacture that was
represented in any way. The guy at the Tracker dealer in the Kansas City area
seemed uninterested, the quality was lacking when I compared it to others, and
the price was about the same. All of the boats I looked at went from $1100 to
$1650. The Tracker was not the cheapest. I had also heard the Tracker had
problems with rivets coming loose. I found some cases of this, but not enough
to back up the rumor.
Consider the F.D. is VERY tight with the money. When all was said and done,
dollar 4 dollar, Lowe and Lund where at the top.
-Tracker sells around 40,000 boats a year so they must be doing something right.
I've known people who have ordered boats through the catalog and picked them
up in Springfield. ALL have been dissapointed with picking them up and have
had numerous little things wrong with them. Dealership expeiences have been
much better. Tracker aluminum boats are tough to beat for the price but do not
expect Lund, Alumacraft, Crestliner, Starcraft, Sylvan, Smoker, Mirrocraft, or
Fisher (now owned by tracker) quality at Bass Pro Shop catalog advertised
prices.
The Pro engines are Mercury while the Power engines are Force
