Work in progress

Here it is a 1974 mirrocraft here are some before pictures View attachment 1View attachment 2

Out with the old a blank slate to start with I can't wait to get it on the water ready to go fishing but getting married in a few weeks. Going to Virginia Beach for a honeymoon so can't spend a lot on the boat. Anyone have a good way to add foam back since I took the old rotten benches out.

It's sad to see how a once proud sea-faring craft becomes a storage container for old bird houses and what-not. The up side is that the contrast between the before and after pics takes everyone breath away. Good luck with your project and keep those pics coming.

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Good Job so far. Sweat Equity is always fun.
There are literally hundreds and hundreds of posts on this
forum on how to add the foam back.
Just use the search feature.

Im ready to get on the water

bobberboy said:

It's sad to see how a once proud sea-faring craft becomes a storage container for old bird houses and what-not. The up side is that the contrast between the before and after pics takes everyone breath away. Good luck with your project and keep those pics coming.

Click to expand...

That is so true my fiancé was definitely not thrilled to say the least when told her I was buying it. But after I told her the ugly blue carpet was coming out she was a little more happy with it. When she saw it all gutted she kind of had a worried look. I showed her some of the posts on here and now she's asking me when mine is gonna be done cause she wants to go fishing. The before and after always looks so much different.

Getting it pressure washed today now I have to figure out carpet yes or no and if yes what color. I think I'm gonna do gray carpet that's what the wife wants. I have to figure out what color to paint the boat. Since the previous owner painted it silver over the light blue green. I'm thinking about doing silver on the bottom and bright orange or green above the water line.(the sides that are flat) I also have to figure out what color to paint the trailer. I see a lot of boat railers that are black, white, or gray. I don't know what would be better I thinking of using hammer paint to hide some of the rough spots on the trailer.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Do I need to carpet the 2x4's that the boat sits on and do I need to carpet the side bunks?

I used closed cell blue insulation from lowes. I talked to the manufacturer, and I was told the same stuff is used in the construction of docks. You can find the pictures of foam and my build in the link below in my signature. Don't waste money on pour in foam, and definitely don't use that spray in insulation, as it retains water. [-X

Carpeting the bunks helps prevent the hull from getting scratched and helps the boat slide on and off easier. The hammer paint does a great job hiding minor imperfections and does a great job holding up to minor abuse.

ADIBOO said:

Carpeting the bunks helps prevent the hull from getting scratched and helps the boat slide on and off easier. The hammer paint does a great job hiding minor imperfections and does a great job holding up to minor abuse.

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I replaced my bunks and carpeted today. Got it washed and back on the trailer. The wife said she liked the grey and blue she said it looks rustic and the more I look at it the more I like it. So I don't think I will paint the outside this year I'm ready to go fishing and so is she so as soon as I get the inside painted I think I will take it out. Before I put carpet down I want to get it on the water as I may still put a floor in it. This is gonna be a floating restoration. Cause I want to use it. View attachment 1View attachment 2View attachment 3

This is one of the old aide bunks they were pretty rotten the bottom ones under the boat were even worse

Got some more work done today got the benches mounted today set the seats on there for a picture. Also got some paint on the inside to get rid of the multi color paint scheme. Getting excited [emoji2] to get it done

yeap, that right there will work !! good job in getting it cleaned up.
Personally, I like the original "patina" that takes nature years to accomplish.
But, a good paint job of a decent color is also good.

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Barefoot_Johnny said:

yeap, that right there will work !! good job in getting it cleaned up.
Personally, I like the original "patina" that takes nature years to accomplish.
But, a good paint job of a decent color is also good.

and again, welcome to Tin Boats. This is a fun place to be.
Please complete your profile when you have time.
Knowing what part of the country you hail from helps
us give you more accurate information.

Click to expand...

I like the patina on the out side but the inside was just too many years of spray paint touch up with different colors

I had a evinrude just like that in the past... I think it was a 9.9

Have fun w the build...

Got it out on the water yesterday worked great it rode a lot better and its a lot more stable then my last boatView attachment 1View attachment 2 my fishing partner likes this boat alot better too

Now that I know it doesn't leak I need to glue the carpet down so it is not so slick

Update: I know I said it was done but we all know how that work on a tin boat. After fishing for awhile using the 7.5 hp Evinrude I needed a bigger motor to get across some of the bigger lakes I fish. The 7.7 would push the boat at about 8mph with me a buddy. which is not slow but takes like 30 min to get to where I like to fish. After looking on Craigslist for months i found a great deal on a 1973 Johnson 25HP electric start with the recoil backup too. I scored this motor for $350. guy said that it had a stuck throttle the tiller throttle handle wouldn't turn. Come to find out all that happend was the guy I bought it from Had put it in neutral with the throttle half open therefore it jammed the linkage. So all I had to do was pull the shift linkage where it was hitting the magneto plate. and adjust the free play in the linkage. Now this motor runs great pushes my boat at 19+ mph with a buddy all our gear and me. One of the previous owners had changed out the prop on the motor to a 9X9 instead of the standard 9X10. I want to find a 9X10 for this boat. I have read that the 9X9 is for really heavy boats but its nice how fast my little tin jumps up on plane with this prop. I wonder hows fast this boat would go with a 9X10 or the really aggressive 9.25X11. I'm afraid if I go with the 9.25X11 it will be too much prop for when I have my buddy with me. Any insight on this would be much appreciated.

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