14' mirrocraft conversion

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Bobs boat

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First off I would like to thank everyone here for sharing, your posts have not only been informative, but they have also given me a lot of ideas.

So late last summer I picked up a 14' mirrocraft on a dilly tilt trailer (with a blown bearing), an Evinrude 9.9 (with a bad impeller ), a Minkota 65,and 2 swivel seats that tore up the benches beyond repair...In the rush to get out on the water, I threw some plywood over the benches, added a battery, and fixed the motor and wheel bearing... It was a great fall for fishing, and it gave me plenty of time to figure out what I wanted in a boat.



There is a lot things we are going to do, paint, floor, lights, storage, rollers, ect. I would like to document the whole thing on the forum. Thinking weekly, photo heavy, updates (weather permitting) , this whole thing will be an outside job. But more importantly I'm looking for your help, suggestions, and criticism's.

Here was my weekend tore out the seats.

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weekend update:
weather was decent so I got the rest of the trailer striped down, after 40 some years in and out of the water it was easier to break every other bolt...wire brushed, ground, or sanded all the fitting...got them primed , and painted...I didn't like the lights mounted to a flimsy L bracket ,and needed to borrow a welder anyway to fix the ball coupler, so I welded up a new bracket, and over sized them to offer some protection ...the tube at the coupler was so bent up that I had to cut 3"back to get good metal...upgraded to a 2"ball so it matches the utility trailer.
 

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looking at the pics I realized that I may have to set the boat back a little on the trailer so I can open the liftgate on the jeep...

do I extend the bunks then ??? will this cause an issue landing the boat???
 
I wouldn’t think it would
Make much difference landing the boat but may affect how it rides down the road... boat trailers have the axle further back to account for weight of the motor.. if you have the entire boat set back too far it could have the tongue wanting to ride high or raise up when you unhook the boat.. this could be more of an extreme circumstance... I’d prefer to lengthen the tongue I think
 
To me it looks like the boat is setting back on the trailer pretty far already. I think I would redo that winch bracket and make it slightly straighter. Maybe shorten that roller arm.
Bigger boat places usually have lots of trailer parts.

I have almost that same boat except mine has a small console...I have owned the boat for 20 years.


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Bobs boat said:
looking at the pics I realized that I may have to set the boat back a little on the trailer so I can open the liftgate on the jeep...

do I extend the bunks then ??? will this cause an issue landing the boat???


Whatever you decide it is kind of critical that your trailer tongue weight be 10% to 15% of the total. Doing that will avoid some potentially bad towing issues.
 
nice looking boat

looking at other boats / trailers, I'm thinking of reworking the whole winch support...in hind sight I should have figured this out before we took the boat off, we also have a fold up jack and spare tire we want to fit up there.
 
Thank you!
It was built in 1970.I fish it most of the time on an electric trolling motor only...lake
It's just a nice boat to fish out of.

Think it would be a fairly easy fix re-fabing that winch stand/support.

Enjoy your project!
 
Been a couple of weeks now Easter, bad weather, etc. have stopped me from doing a whole lot...We did get the new rollers last week so those are assembled and ready to go...made some new bunks...assembled the winch ( going to change that whole assembly around but want to see the boat back on the trailer before we figure that out).

Finally some nice weather...got the trailer wire brushed, sanded, primed, and painted...traded axles with the utility trailer (it's newer and in a lot better shape, plus we have a good spare)...going to let it cure for the week and get everything ready to put it all back together next weekend
 

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Great weather this weekend to get the trailer done....slow going with my 5 and 8 year old grandsons assisting, but a lot of fun, and that's what it's all about anyway...

lights tucked under the new mounts as planned, used plastic wire wrap from the harness to the tilt joint, soldered all the connections, and used grounding clips w/zip ties to hold the wires in place (the light kit only had 5 cable clips, and the hardware store was out...like the grounding clips better anyway,had to hammer them on, not going anywhere

reconfigured the winch assembly so to not only fit the spare and jack but allow the liftgate on the jeep open

changed the bottom bolts on the bunk mounts to eyebolts for our transom straps

no time to finish today, but came up with fast and cheap way to add side bunks using angle iron and some stand offs made from square tube.
 

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Strong work...Bunks look nice!!
My thoughts are the boat could sit about a foot further back on the trailer?
That's going to make you a nice boat!

Edit: looking at it closer the front boat position looks pretty good.
 
best laid plans meet murphy's law...

thought about prepping for paint, but their calling for rain tonight into next week...

wanted to try my hand at patching the old transducer mount holes with a torch and aluminum rod, not as easy as the videos....

now the real problem...original plan was to put in a floor, just enough to flatten the bottom, and box in the sides, couple pedestals, open concept....design done, steps planned, final product pictured....well....while doing the mockup for the side boxes I realized the the boat has sprung 2 1/4" at the center bench...now, I can handle a redesign....putting the center bench back, OK... but losing that rod storage really sucks

any suggestions ???
 

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