15' Mirrocraft Modified V John Boat Conversion

[danmyersmn]

Plan to use 3/4" plywood sealed with Thompson's water seal and Carpet from Cabelas. Still looking for ideas on where to get aluminum or stainless hinges and also any ideas on how to latch the hatch doors. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Have you looked at the carpet at Lowes? I don't recall Cabelas having a very competitive price on carpet?

 

[Nussy]

I hope you dont mind me asking where will you put your feet when under power?

I actually am going to have a flip up hatch right in front of the rear seat. If you look on page 2 you see the layout with "Flip up Footwell" I'll open it when I'm on big water and I'm using the gas motor. However most of my fishing is on an electric only lake so I'll be able sit high while running the rear trolling motor without issue.

I thought this would make sense So it would be easier to fish from the rear seat.

 

[Nussy]

Plan to use 3/4" plywood sealed with Thompson's water seal and Carpet from Cabelas. Still looking for ideas on where to get aluminum or stainless hinges and also any ideas on how to latch the hatch doors. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Have you looked at the carpet at Lowes? I don't recall Cabelas having a very competitive price on carpet?

Actually I didn't look at Lowe's. The closest one is about 40 miles from me. I check a bunch locally but I thought Cabela's was priced well. 3' x 8' for $20. They had a samples in the store and the reviews online seamed good. I even got free shipping on it. Link below. I'll let you know what I think of it once I put it in.

https://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat21276-cat21298&id=0052218019473a&navCount=1&podId=0052218&parentId=cat21298&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IK&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601233&hasJS=true

 

[danmyersmn]

Plan to use 3/4" plywood sealed with Thompson's water seal and Carpet from Cabelas. Still looking for ideas on where to get aluminum or stainless hinges and also any ideas on how to latch the hatch doors. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Have you looked at the carpet at Lowes? I don't recall Cabelas having a very competitive price on carpet?

Actually I didn't look at Lowe's. The closest one is about 40 miles from me. I check a bunch locally but I thought Cabela's was priced well. 3' x 8' for $20. They had a samples in the store and the reviews online seamed good. I even got free shipping on it. Link below. I'll let you know what I think of it once I put it in.

https://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat21276-cat21298&id=0052218019473a&navCount=1&podId=0052218&parentId=cat21298&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IK&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601233&hasJS=true

Excellent then! I haven't looked much into it. The bargain cave at the Cabela's in my town has had a roll of carpet in it all summer. The price is nothing to be excited about.

 

[Nussy]

Well I got the carpeting started. The hard part of the carpeting is done, which is getting the center part of the deck with all the hatch frames done. It was a challenge because I'm trying to keep on piece of carpet with no seems the entire length of the boat and the deck, and the center deck is about 8 feet long and in 3 wood pieces. I also had some struggle with the spray adhesive I used to glue the carpet down. Let's just say I went through a few extra staples..... :lol: .

In the pics the front and rear decks are not cut or glued yet, just the hatch framing. Should get that and most of the hatches done this weekend. The carpet is Cabela's Deluxe Marine carpet. Shipped to me in a 8 foot roll. It seams like pretty decent stuff.

 

[Nussy]

Well I pretty much got the boat done. Got everything carpeted and the hatches installed, put the bow mount trolling motor and fish finder on. Put the batteries back in the boat. Installed the lights. About the only thing left are the vinyl numbers and decals and put the rear motors(Johnson 25 HP and Motorguide Varimax 55lb) on.

I must say it was a lot of fun. Already trying to talk the wife into letting me get another project boat, since this was supposed to be my winter project and it's still fall. Only problem is I don't have anywhere to store another one.

This site was a lot of help and I want to thank all that provided input and ideas!!!!! =D>

Now hopefully I can get it out before it gets too cold up here in Wisconsin.





Here's a corner piece that was fabbed to be be able to install fishing lights and a trolling plug.


Here's a look at how the guy before me reinforced the transom. It's really strong.


Hope you like it.

 

[dyeguy1212]

looks freaking sweet man! great job!


if you get a chance, will you take some close ups of your hatches and hinges, etc? I'm trying to get a good feel for how to do it in a similar fashion, and itd really help me out


by the way, I hope youre taking that thing out before the spring..

 

[Waterwings]

Great looking mod! =D> 8)

 

[danmyersmn]

Gratz!! That is going to be one fun fishing rig!!!!

 

[Doug]

Great job =D> . Now go out and fish and enjoy the fruits of your labor .

 

[Nussy]

looks freaking sweet man! great job!


if you get a chance, will you take some close ups of your hatches and hinges, etc? I'm trying to get a good feel for how to do it in a similar fashion, and itd really help me out


by the way, I hope youre taking that thing out before the spring..

Will do when I get back home(on the road for a few days). I decided to go with piano hinges and cut them to length. I believe they were 1.5": wide. With 3/4 on each side. Decided against stainless as 1 hinge was the same price as all the hinges. They seam to work ok and are hidden. Also used contact cement to attach the carpet. Had to trim the hatch lids down about 1/4 inch to fit....and they're pretty snug, but I did 1 to test. Stay tuned for close up pics later this week.

 

[dyeguy1212]

thanks, I appreciate it

 

[Nussy]

looks freaking sweet man! great job!


if you get a chance, will you take some close ups of your hatches and hinges, etc? I'm trying to get a good feel for how to do it in a similar fashion, and itd really help me out


by the way, I hope youre taking that thing out before the spring..

Here's some more pics of the hatches and hinges. Hope it helps.





What I liked about the piano hinges was then were well hidden and I could have them extend the full length of the doors if I wanted.




A few other things I learned along the way that seam to work.

1. I used DAP contact cement which worked OK. What I did was brush it on the wood and carpet an let it tack up.(I did try some spray on adhesive but it didn't seam to work as well) Once it was tacky I would set the wood on the carpet and take a rolling pin(thanks to another forum) and roll it out so that it was good and flat. Then I flipped it back over and added more contact cement to the board edge and carpet, dousing it really good. Waited a few more minutes then stapled it down.
2. I didn't trim the bottom of the hatch until after everything was stapled. Then I trimmed off the excess so that the bottom of each hatch looked uniform.
3. I didn't precut the underside corner. What i did was once I got the board glued to the the carpet I would fold the carpet over the corners so they overlapped and make one cut from the corner of the board toward the center. This allowed the carpet to be cut perfectly so that the each edge matched up ...regardless of if I was at a perfect 45 Degree Angle or not.
4. I used a utility Knife but make sure to be constantly changing your blades. This made a huge impact on the quality of the cut and how much fraying the carpet had.
5. I used piano hinged I bought at the local HW store. I bought the longest ones and cut them to the length I needed, which saves some $$$. Turn 1 30" in a 14" and 16" etc.
6. Make sure to use enough Glue. I found a couple spot where there are some bubles in transition between my wood frame and the aluminum deck. They aren't big deals but if I would have had more glue I think I would have been fine.
7. Sometimes I had to apply two coats of contact cement. If it's not sticky, add more. I even had put 3 coats of Thompson Water seal on the wood and in certain areas the contact cement soaked in a lot.

Good luck, I look forward to the pics.

 

[Waterwings]

Looks good! The piano hinges will add more rigidity along the length of the hatch, and help prevent possible warpage of the board. Good tips also on always using a sharp blade to cut the carpet, and great tip (#3) on how to trim the corner folds of the carpet! Glad you liked the rolling pin trick

 

[Nussy]

Thanks Waterwings that was a great tip.

 

[dyeguy1212]

Thanks nussy the pics cleared things up for me. Again, great job!

 

[jsharp]

man looks good can you post some pics of the front of the boat i have a mod v and trying to figure out how to build the front like you have yours so i can put a bow mount trolling motor on it thanks alot

 

[Nussy]

man looks good can you post some pics of the front of the boat i have a mod v and trying to figure out how to build the front like you have yours so i can put a bow mount trolling motor on it thanks alot

I don't know if pics will help now that everything is carpeted, because I carpeted that whole area. Here's a zoom of another pic I have before carpeting that shows that area.


It was this way when I bough the boat. It looks like the guy used 3 pieces of aluminum to fill it in. Piece one fills in the top of the V and sits on the gunwalles and is Riveted into the Gunwalls. It also has a bend on the end that faces the rear of the boat that is used to connect to pieces 2 and 3. Pieces 2 and 3 are simply rectangular aluminum that is rivited to Piece 1 on the top and to the deck on the bottom with 1 simple bend as well. Piece one is also supported by what looks like a 2x6. The trolling motor is bolted through the aluminum and the 2x6.....and it's rock solid. The aluminum this guy used is pretty thick and heavy....not sure what gauge, however. The whole attachment makes a nice cubby hole and has allowed for the installation of lights and sockets in the face of it not to mention a good place to put your foot control or some speakers.

Hope this helps.

 

[jsharp]

thanks i could not tellm uch from that pic but i think i get the idea

 

[Nick Jones]

Back to the SteelFlex: Did you use two coats or just one? Also, do you have to use a self etching primer for the steelflex. i know you have to in order for paint to stick to aluminum but i didn't know if the same went for the steelflex.