'83 Mirrocraft 16' Lake Fisherman II Restore

[henro]

Don't often see many coldwater fishermen on here like me! Nice setup, looking nice! Downriggers a rare sight on this forum!

Thanks fishing and hunting are my drugs of choice you could say lol. They're what I spend all my time and money on. Being 31 and single gives you those luxuries lol. I've fished on boats before with downrigger setups and knew how effective they are so I wanted this build to be properly setup for them. I know once I get to using this a bit I'll want to venture in the planer board setups too... I don't really target bass much ever anymore as I did that my entire teenage years. I'll be targeting lake trout, browns and rainbows in the reservoirs and walleye or hybrid stripers in the other lakes around here. If all goes as planned I'll be fishing Swartswood Lake here in NJ this week for walleye but not sure if I'll be running the riggers on the maiden voyage.

 

[linus™]

https://forum.tinboats.net/download/file.php?id=76154&t=1

You sure you have enough rope?

I have 2 of those 300' 1/2" spools... lol. It's for fishing in the deep reservoirs here for lake trout dropping herring. Need to anchor with the wind at one side of the boat so you can run measured depth lines on one side and bottom lines on the other so they don't get pushed into each other or tangle. Anchor one end in say 65' of water and motor out to 125-150' and drop the other anchor and pull the boat back in between the two. Some of these lakes by me go over 200' deep. Don't have to run that technique all the time luckily since I have the downriggers and a drift sock as well.

 

[henro]

That's what I keep thinking in my head when I remember I blew $150 in anchor line... Lol

 

[henro]

The Dirty Hooker is finally ready to fish! Judgement day is Thursday as I'll be taking her out for walleye! Can't thank my friends enough for all the time knowledge and effort they've put in to helping me build this thing! I couldn't have done any of this without them, I didn't anyway they helped A LOT! Lol. The new trailer tires are on, fish finder powered up, lights wired, wires run and covered up for everything, and everything tidied up. I'm so thrilled and nervous to put her in water!!!!

 

[henro]

Have to find a place for this once it comes in too... It'll be in orange as well.



Seats aren't going on until I fish it a bit and decide where and if I want them. The gas motor and tank aren't in as the lake I'll be fishing first is electric only.

 

[henro]

Fished her today sun up to sun down and she performed flawlessly! Not a drop leaked in the whole day! Fully loaded with gear and 3 guys it his 3.8mph with the 80lb trolling motor and I was thoroughly impressed! Can't describe how happy I am with it! Everything we built worked great and was setup just right for fishing. Will be taking it out to a reservoir this Sunday with possibly the 8hp on it as well.

 

[henro]

Added a cargo net mount in the front to keep things from getting away.

 

[henro]

Fished the boat 3 times now and it's performed flawlessly. Hasn't leaked a drop which was my biggest fear. I fished from sun up until 3pm before it first killed the smaller set of 27 series batteries and had to flip over to the 29s. Caught a few nice lakers on it so far as well. Couldn't be happier! I have not run the outboard yet as we found it was leaking gear oil and ordered a new prop shaft seal and bearing. Just waiting on parts to come in.

 

[Jake11]

awesome boat and you did a fine job bringing her back to life. so much room in that thing. i think thats about the size i need. i'll bet its quite stable. what is this g-flex you used? I hear a ton about steel flex on here but have never heard of this stuff...

 

[jasper60103]

Glad to hear all went well. Great job on the restore. =D>

 

[henro]

awesome boat and you did a fine job bringing her back to life. so much room in that thing. i think thats about the size i need. i'll bet its quite stable. what is this g-flex you used? I hear a ton about steel flex on here but have never heard of this stuff...

Thanks and I'm so glad I got a boat this size as it's very stable even while standing on the benches casting. I have so much gear and still have room with batteries and all. This is the g flex epoxy I used:https://www.westsystem.com/ss/g-flex-epoxy/. It works great and is designed to absorb the flex you get in aluminum hulls.

Glad to hear all went well. Great job on the restore. =D>

Thanks it's been a long road but I'm glad it's over!


I bought roller guides and a second keel roller for the trailer I'm going to install this week as well.

 

[henro]

Had another great day on the water. Pulled planer boards using lead core and my buddy who helped me with the majority of the boat work caught this 27" laker.





We're still having a hard time getting the boat on the trailer coming off the water. Any recommendations with wobbler kits? I looked online and think that would be the best thing to help guide the boat on the front span to get it up to the winch. The trailer right now only has a small guide roller for the whole front length to run up and it's a real PITA.

 

[Captain Ahab]

My 16ft mirrorcraft was also a pita to get trailered. I added guide ons and that has helped.

Post a few pics of the trailer with and without boat. Love to find some solutions

 

[henro]

My 16ft mirrorcraft was also a pita to get trailered. I added guide ons and that has helped.

Post a few pics of the trailer with and without boat. Love to find some solutions

I added guide-ons before my last trip and they helped but the front of the trailer has a long span with only the small front roller to guide the boat to the winch post. I just ordered wobbler style roller bunks so hopefully this will help. I only have a pic without the boat on from when we were working on the trailer originally a couple months ago when I bought it. I've since replace the roller in the back as well and moved up the front small one.

 

[henro]

 

[jasper60103]

...

I added guide-ons before my last trip and they helped but the front of the trailer has a long span with only the small front roller to guide the boat to the winch post. I just ordered wobbler style roller bunks so hopefully this will help. I only have a pic without the boat on from when we were working on the trailer originally a couple months ago when I bought it. I've since replace the roller in the back as well and moved up the front small one.
...

We have similar boats and the wobble style bunks work fine. That is, if you don't mind loading by hand with the winch. I prefer it that way since I usually boat alone and working with a shallow boat ramp.

-jasper

 

[henro]

I ordered these:

 

[jasper60103]

I ordered these:
...

The nice thing about wobble wheels is that it cradles the boat keeping it centered as you
winch it on.
I never worked with roller bunks like you ordered, but I would think you'll need some sort of
center guide in the rear. Let us know how it works out.

 

[henro]

I ordered these:
...

The nice thing about wobble wheels is that it cradles the boat keeping it centered as you
winch it on.
I never worked with roller bunks like you ordered, but I would think you'll need some sort of
center guide in the rear. Let us know how it works out.

Those look good and I may order them later too. The roller bunks came in two different versions. There was a 3 roller design which doesn't move and this 2 roller version that flexes about 10* according to the listing to help guide the boat on. If it's not enough I'll looking into what you have. Thanks for the help as that's what I was looking for.

 

[jasper60103]

I ordered these:
...

The nice thing about wobble wheels is that it cradles the boat keeping it centered as you
winch it on.
I never worked with roller bunks like you ordered, but I would think you'll need some sort of
center guide in the rear. Let us know how it works out.

Those look good and I may order them later too. The roller bunks came in two different versions. There was a 3 roller design which doesn't move and this 2 roller version that flexes about 10* according to the listing to help guide the boat on. If it's not enough I'll looking into what you have. Thanks for the help as that's what I was looking for.

Well, that trailer example maybe overkill. Your solution may work out just fine.