14' MirroCraft restoration

[KnightMare24]

Picked this boat up last summer. It's a 1978 MirroCraft. No leaks. Very solid boat. Traded my Playstation 3 for the boat, trailer and a 30lb Minnkota trolling motor. Seemed like I made out pretty good. Fished with it last summer and fall. I guess you could say the restoration started today. I pressure washed the inside and started stripping the original paint off the outside. It had the original yellow paint from the factory plus the previous owner added a grey primer on top. What a pain. Future plans for the boat are typical. Floor, carpet, livewells, the whole deal. Since I got the boat I've been given a Motorguide 70lb bow mounted trolled w/foot control and a 15 hp Mercury 2 stroke. Boat is mainly used at Lake Nockamixon in PA. It'll be coming with me to Black Lake NY in June so everything's gotta be ready for then. I'll post pics as I go along. If anyone has advice on this style of boat as far as removing the old benches or different servos, I'm open ears. Thank guys.

 

[KnightMare24]

Some pics from today.

 

[KnightMare24]

More.....

 

[KnightMare24]

......

 

[bigwave]

Nice find, looks just like mine. What are the two tanks in the back for? Did the previous owner put those in? Welcome to the club :WELCOME:

 

[KnightMare24]

Thanks big wave, those two boxes are just plastic with foam inside them. We used them as cupholders. If I remember correctly they came factory with the boat. I got the original brochure of the boat from the manufacturer and I thought I seen them in the pictures.

 

[KnightMare24]

How important are the benches being in their as far as sides caving in? It will be floored so I will have floor braces across but they probably won't be that high.

 

[bigwave]

I guess it depends on who you talk to. In my mod I have made side lockers that screw directly into the main deck and tie in to the gunwale with 1x1 tubing.....instead of one place 10" wide where the seats were, I now have a continuous run spanning over 7', So I think the sides will not flex that much....they can't without pushing the side lockers off their screws. You should just search this site and spend a few hours looking at other peoples mods.....many different ways to skin the same cat. Good luck and take lots of pics. My mod is not perfect, but it is the way I want it.

 

[KnightMare24]

ZipStrip seems to be working pretty good. Putting it in a spray bottle kinda makes it easier.

 

[fool4fish1226]

:beer: :WELCOME: :beer: keep us updated with lots of pics

 

[bigwave]

If you want to be blown away look at fool4fish.....a little snookered.

 

[KnightMare24]

I have seen it. Thats an excellent job. I will put pics up as i go. Kinda hard doing the body work when its 48 degrees out. This weekend its supposed to be like mid 50's so ill dive in then.

 

[regib]

I have the same boat and am starting to work on mine as well. I was thinking of making a raised deck from the front bench to the bow, adding a livewell somehow in the middle bench and adding a floor. it was carpeted which I ripped out today. It hit 5o in northeast ohio today and I'm starting to get that itch.

 

[Captain Ahab]

SAVE THE STRAPS AND BRACKETS that connect the seats to the gunnels - and re-use them to connect your floor!

Here is what we did with my MirroCraft:

https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=18404&hilit=+mirrocraft


I would also make the transom straight across