1974 Mirrocraft 16' Deep V Restore/Mod

[parratt1]

Hey everyone,
I am Jeremy, a new guy here, with a new to me 1974 Mirrocraft 16' Deep V that my dad just gave to me. I am planning on doing some work on it and getting her water ready in a month or so hopefully.
So far, I took off the motor, a 1972 Johnson 25hp, and went through it. It was a rope start motor that had electric start added after manufacture. I dropped the lower unit and put in a new impeller and water pump housing. It wouldn't shift into reverse before but after putting the lower back on, it went into F and Rev easily. Under the hood, a mouse had moved in and chewed up some wires to make it more liveable. I had to remove the flywheel and the magneto and replace both of the high tension leads (spark plug wires). I also had to install a new start and stop switch as the wires on them were corroded to almost nothing. While I had it apart, I also removed the carb and cleaned it all up and installed new spark plugs. Did all of that over a couple of months this winter and fired her up yesterday. After tinkering with the idle a bit, she was purring away. Not bad for a guy that never worked on a motor before and for a motor that hasn't ran in well over 15 years.
So I took off the motor and backed the boat into the garage so I could start pulling it all apart. I am hoping to get this done in about a month or so.
Here are the before pics as it sat, and yes, I took a lot on plan on taking a bunch as I go!

 

[DaleH]

Lookin' good!

Man, you had your work cut out for you on that motor!

 

[parratt1]

Ok so here is picture round 2. This is right after I pulled it inside and starting breaking stuff! Interesting how the PO laid in the floor. It has 2 2x2's spanning the width of the floor in two spots and was tucked up under all of the seat benches. One of the benches was removed when I got it. I was amazed to see how deep the v is and how much of that was "wasted" by the old floor. I am formulating a plan for my design but have a lot to think about. I am going to keep it as simple as possible with function and space taking the front of my desires. Here are the demo pics. This is as much as I did in about an hour last night.

 

[parratt1]

This is a better pic of that ledge where I am thinking I could set the floor on. It is another 4 inches or so higher than the existing floor though.....Hmmmm.........Decisions decisions.

 

[rscottp]

There is a sweet mirrocraft 14' resto thread from last year. You should do a search and check it out! He did a nice job putting in his floor.

 

[DaleH]

I had a deep-V hull like that and put a simple flat floor of about 18" to 2' wide down the center, where a piece (of thinner stock) on each side, maybe 8 to 12" to match up to the lower chine. This gave me a safe walkway fore to aft, the angled sections stopped crap and gear from going under the main floor and it saved weight, which is critical on smaller boats.

As a bonus, it lowers the center of gravity for the load carried in the hull and that's safer too!

 

[parratt1]

So I sat and brainstormed last night a little after the Parent Teacher conference for my daughter. I am thinking about keeping the floor as low as possible. I am figuring on an aft "deck" of some sort or possibly even 2 benches running parallel to the boat sides in the back. One can house the fuel tank and one can house the three batteries I will have on board. I figure putting the batteries opposite where I will sit will help balance out my big rear. I want to also have a front flat deck to run the trolling motor and fish but I want to keep it low, not high like a lot of people do. I figure lower will not hinder my fishing and will only make the boat more stable. I won't need much of a place to mount the trolling motor so I am thinking just a fabricated mount of some sort only up on the very top to mount it and to attach the navigation light. Leaning towards more of a layout something in line of a stripped down fishing model Lowe deep V in the picture below.

I am thinking about using 2x2 x .125 aluminum angle for the floor support and attach it with rivets on the lower ribs like a lot have done. Then fill the voids under the floor with as much pink foam as I can manage to stuff under there.

 

[parratt1]

Haven't gotten much done last couple of days. Plan to leak test it Sunday and then get it ready for framing. I did order 108 feet of 2x2x1/8 aluminum angle and 12 feet of 1.5x1.5x1/8 square angle to make the floor and deck frame out of. That should be here about next Wednesday. I am excited to get the build underway!

 

[DaleH]

Can't wait to see more build photos!

 

[parratt1]

I got the forward and aft seat bench removed completely tonight. Wow with no benches in there the sides are flimsy!! For sure going to have to think about some side supports. Hopefully the aluminum will be here about Wednesday so im looking forward to starting the floor support. Hopefully it gets above freezing tomorrow so I can pull it out of the garage and check for leaks. Here is a pic with her all naked! [attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1424049162771.jpg[/attachment]

 

[parratt1]

A couple more[attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1424049425651.jpg[/attachment][attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1424049456127.jpg[/attachment][attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1424049468817.jpg[/attachment][attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1424049480122.jpg[/attachment][attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1424049494336.jpg[/attachment]

 

[parratt1]

Aluminum angle and tube came in yesterday. Super fast shipping from buymetal.com and shipping was also free with a $100 order. They beat anything locally on price that I could find. Will be gone all weekend but hope to get some work done starting next Monday!

 

[parratt1]

Started thinking about the front and rear decks today. On the front I think I have kind of decided on this configuration. Using the bench seat brackets on the rear then running 2" aluminum angle up to the front and resting on the chine. Is resting on the chine a bad idea if I also rivet it to the hull? Anyway, seems the most solid. You can see where the previous deck was up front where it is darker. This will drop it down about 4 inches and extend it 3 feet past where it used to go. In my mind, this is the most solid, stable option and will give myself and the kids a great, large area to fish from. Anyone see anything that I am not thinking of?[attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1424720490820.jpg[/attachment][attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1424720502189.jpg[/attachment][attachment=-1]uploadfromtaptalk1424720515837.jpg[/attachment]

 

[Bfnasty]

Looks and sounds like you and I are doing pretty much the same thing thing. I'm about as far into my 16' Meyer as you are on your boat. Still a little nervous about tearing apart a perfectly good boat but have found a lot of really good info on this site. Can't wait to see more progress from you and I'll post some pics of my soon..

 

[rscottp]

I would consider a cross piece attached to the hull. Just my 2 cents, depends on how much pounding you plan on giving you rig.

 

[parratt1]

I would consider a cross piece attached to the hull. Just my 2 cents, depends on how much pounding you plan on giving you rig.

I think that is a good idea. I am thinking about cutting a relief slit in the top of the angle so that I can contour it to the hull and add rivets there. That will allow it to not sit on the chine there. Btw I happened to have just went through your lund build this morning when I was fighting a bout of insomnia. Incredible work. Love the pipe rodholders in the boxes. I got a lot of great ideas from it!

 

[Captain Ahab]

I used the bench seat brackets with a cross member and L brackets on the ribs on my 16' mirrocraft build

 

[rscottp]

Thanks for the compliment. I had lots of fun doing it. You will love yours when it finished!

 

[parratt1]

I used the bench seat brackets with a cross member and L brackets on the ribs on my 16' mirrocraft build

Is your build on here? I'd love to see it!

 

[damianz31]

Id like to see progress as well, i am close to closing a deal on my own 14 ft deep v jon boat, that will be somewhat of a project as well.