12 Foot MirroCraft modification/to bass boat

[wihil]

Fudoshin - Looks GREAT man! That turned out awesome!

I hope your's gets up and goes faster than mine did. I had it out a weekend ago and was slow going on Winnie with a south wind (should have known better but dang it I wanted to FISH!) Just noticed you're up in APL, I'm south of you by about 30min.

Can't wait to see what comes next!

 

[Fudoshin]

Thanks a lot man yeah I saw you are pretty close to me, so are you right out of Oshkosh then? I live off the HWY in Appleton about a mile or so. I wasn't sure if I should take mine on winni or not..but I am going to get it out on the water this week and see how it does. I have a Johnson 15Hp on it now so that should help with the extra weight. Not sure what to expect yet. I still have minor things to get done on her, some wiring and install of the nav lights, fish finder mount, but most of that stuff can wait until winter it's been going on too long this summer. I will probably bring her out to freemont on the big wolf to test. I will take some video's and post pics.

 

[wihil]

Yup, down in Oshvegas a mile or two from Rainbow (my usual launch).

The 15Hp will make a HUGE difference - I think you'd be disappointed in the 8hp, just judging by what you added in wood vs what I have in mine. I'd definitely hit up Freemont first to see how it rides before Winnie. I've had the boat on Winnie for a while and thought it wouldn't be that big of a difference with the added mods - but a good 15-20mph South wind sure changed my mind. More power would have been GREATLY appreciated.

Heck with the Nav lights - mount that FF'er on an ammo box and get that thing in the water! Winter's for fishing too, ya know!

I still may chase down some more power before upgrading. Thought I had a 16'er in my sights, but that's not the case.

Can't wait to see pics of it in the water.

 

[Fudoshin]

Well I got her out on the water today! It's been a long time waiting....The Johnson 15Horse is having problems, but I have another Mercury 8.5HP, it didn't push it through the water as fast as I wanted but it moved us just fine for a good day fishing on the river with me, my girl, and my son! But only caught two perch, it was 96 degrees out so that's probably why. None the less a good day because my boat worked great, fit all our tackle and rods and us with out an issue. Just need to get the Anchor cranks, seats posted and I'll be set.

 

[bigwave]

You know the more I see the dark blue the more I am leaning towards painting mine the same with some metal flake in in it.
I like it... :mrgreen:

 

[Brandon]

Man she looks beautiful in the water! I LOVE the blue a lot

 

[Nowakezone]

=D> great job! This has given me the bug to start some mods on my 12'!

 

[Fudoshin]

Thanks guys, yeah big wave I wasn't sure how it would look once it was all done but I am more than happy with the color, I wish I would have put some flake in it but oh well. If it gets scratched or anything it blends really nicely. Yeah Brandon I am a fan of the color now too, especially after seeing her on the water, only $11 a quart at Fleet Farm and I applied to generous coats and only used one quart with self-etching primer. If you go to the earlier posts when I started my mod I have all the stuff I used through out the build. And I hear ya Nowake, this was a year long project for me, although I didn't start on it until four months ago, I bought it early last summer and gutted it out, then it sat in my garage.

 

[wihil]

That boat looks like a million bucks - even better in the water. Great job on the build.

=D>

 

[Fudoshin]

thanks wihil

 

[Buddychrist]

How's the balance up that high on that 12'? I'm contemplating doing a deck on my 14' mirrocraft but I'm still skeptical

 

[Fudoshin]

Actually Buddychrist, it's not an issue at all on my 12'er I just made sure I used the same pieces on each side to even it out, the battery is in the rear left box, and the rear anchor is in the rear right box so that even's it out. I am 6'4" 210lbs and I was standing off my casting deck fishing just fine, of course the boat rocks if you really jump around but what 12 foot boat wouldn't. I am really happy with how it handles, it plains out really nice even with three people on it and a 8.5hp mercury outboard.

 

[Pan Fisherman]

Blue has always been my favorite color. You did an outstanding job on the build!

Congrats!
John

 

[Fudoshin]

Thanks John

 

[Fudoshin]

Took the boat out yesterday again with my little brother, I stood up on the back seat area with no problems, and I also used the front casting deck with no problems, it wasn't way off balance or very rocky, everything is holding up nicely, and remember I am 6'4" 210lbs so that's a good test to see if it was off balance. The only thing that went bad is the pull rope frayed and has to be replaced... I individually weighed each piece of wood/screws/carpet/glue/and anything added to the boat, since I used 1/2 plywood, and 2x2s for the framing it took a lot of the weight away from the original plan. The weight came to about 146lbs extra, which really isn't a lot.

I will say this though, since I took off the bench seats, I didn't use ratchet straps to hold the sides from bowing out, I just let them settle where they did and then framed from there, anyways, the extra surface area and the weight combined really helps the boat cut through waves with no problem or too much rocking back and fourth.

 

[Buddychrist]

Where's your flotation?

 

[Fudoshin]

I drilled 2" holes all through out the floor and put pour foam into the holes, then I sanded off the excess when it was dry. Then fiber glass resin the floor, then the glue and carpet.

 

[Buddychrist]

Nice! How many holes did you fill?

 

[Fudoshin]

I drilled in Threes across width wise, and went all the way to the back and stopped before the back ribs, so let me see I drilled 21 holes I believe. Make sure your floor is nice and secured down before you do that otherwise the foam will push your floor up and when it dries it's too late, you'll have to take the floor off and sand it down or remove it and start over.

 

[Buddychrist]

Im not going to remove my seats for the structural reasons but I will be putting marine grade plywood over the flat part of the hull to give me a stable place to stand. I've got a bad back that affects my right leg so any unstable ground scares the crap out of me.

Until then... I'm just gonna stay seated during my tin adventures