1970 ish Mirrocraft 14 Deep Fisherman Project

[WPS]

I'm still waiting to get my boat into the garage. In the mean time, I started to tinker a bit on a power box.

Nice job on the battery box!

they seem to be a little bit cheaper than iboats.com

Any place is cheaper than iBoats... I wouldn't/don't buy a thing from them... They're TOO high!

 

[DesertRAT]

I hear ya WPS, i bought a few things from iboat, like my rod holders and then i found it less at Walmart. I really like Amazon and the Sportman's Guide. I am a club member for both of them, I just have to pay an annual fee but the free shipping on most of my stuff pays for the annual fees. i do a lot of pig hunting and upland game birds and it's easier to online order on a monday and have it wednesday or thursday than to go out in town shopping for this stuff.

My dad has a huge ranch in the foothills of central California. I work it and hunt it during the winter months. Spring and summer are for fishing, so I digress and I'll get back to the boating topic cause spring will be here in a blink of an eye, lol.

Enjoy some of my Game cam pics from the ranch.

 

[DesertRAT]

Thanks Jasper, I'll pull the wheels and repack the bearings if needed. I always forget these type of details until it's too late and I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere calling AAA.

RSCOTTP, here are the specs of the switch I used:

Battery Kill Safety Shut Off Disconnect Switch by Performance Plus Connection

.Easy to locate in emergency with "Bright Red Handle"
.250 amp continuous rating, 6-36 volt, 1000 peak [450 Rating Momentary]
.Helps prevent battery drain
.Required in NASCAR, SCCA, NHRA, IHRA, ADRL

I saw it at my dad's shop, he works on cars and such and I was visiting one weekend and he had it laying around. I priced it on Amazon and it runs about $30. If I didn't get this switch for free, I was considering just getting a cheapy circuit breaker. I just wanted to be able to shut the boat's electrical down in an instant if ever needed.

The charging unit I got at Walmart, it's an Attwood brand item. The first one I picked up didn't work out of the box, I had to return it and exchange for a new one. The second one seems to be working. I tried it out on my pontoon boat batteries and it charged those batteries just fine. On my pontoon, I just use 1 marine sealed battery for my fishfinder and a large 70lb thrust trolling motor. I can get a full day at the lake and still have charge left over. However, this little charger will take a week or two to bring the battery back up. I have a full size shop charger that I'll put on the battery for about 6 hours and then plug this little charger in and it will take another 2-4 hours or so with it and the battery is back at 100%. If you only go to the lake/river once a week, this little charger should do fine. The Attwood Battery Maintenance Charger by Attwood Marine Products runs about $30 as well.

 

[rscottp]

Thanks for the info, I am gonna get one. I just like the idea of having all the power off when the boat is on the trailer. Will keep anyone from leaving anything on or hitting the starter(I have no key).

 

[WPS]

Nice game cam pics!

Yeah, I agree with you 100% that iBoats is too high!... I find A LOT of stuff for boats & boat trailers at Amazon.. I really like shopping at Amazon.. Another place where you can find boat trailer parts is eTrailer.com.. I ordered three 5" rollers for $5.25 a piece, and a 3" for $3.59... I do most of my shopping at Amazon, and I order tires/rims from eTrailer.

I like the Sportsman's Guide too!

Thanks for the info on the charger & the switch!...I'll have to pick those up!... You do nice work too!

Thanks again!

 

[Tanzini]

Nice progress! It's always a bit interesting to see how these mirrocrafts come together.

 

[DesertRAT]

Thanks Tanzini, I've only had the boat for a week or so and have started the sanding process. I'm not liking that at all. The hull is all scratched up so I'm trying to get it to bare metal. It sucks, I'll be doing this sanding for at least a month or so. Unless you know of an easier way, please let me know. I want to paint the outside first, then flip it over and start on the inside. So far I have used the biggest rotary wire brush for my drill I could find but it is leaving some serious scratches on the hull. I have switched over to an 80 grit sandpaper and a rotary sander but it is slow going. Without using chemicals, there has to be an easier way?

 

[Y_J]

When you primer the boat befor painting you won't even know them scratches were there. You can also tyry a paint removing disk on your dill/grinder. Sure made a difference in the speed of removing paint on mine.

 

[OutrageGIS]

I know you said no chemicals, but have you looked into the citrus based strippers? The orange one they sell at walmart worked great for me. Put it on thick, cover with a plastic sheet to prevent evaporation and allow the stripper to work. If the temps are high enough (70's or higher), a couple of hours and the paint will easily scrape off, use a green scotchbrite pad and gloves for tough areas. Rinse well and you should have clean bare aluminum. I'm not a fan of chems either but for stripping paint it really cuts the elbow grease required. And be sure to rinse with a vinegar solution and/or use a etch primer for bare aluminum. Nice project and Good Luck!

 

[DesertRAT]

Thank you for the advice OutrageGIS and Y_J, I picked up a paint removing disc for my drill and that has worked the best so far. I'll will also try the Orange based stripper as well. This weekend and next week's 4 day Thanksgiving weekend I have to do some ranch work before the monsoons hit. I am hoping to start sanding on a regular basis starting the first week in December. The way this Mirrocraft's hull is made, it has 14 distinct aluminum reliefs on each side. I figure if I can sand one of these (I guess they are panels) each day for 28 days, I should be done sanding around Christmas time. I wish I had more time but my work schedule only offers me an hour or two per night. I'll keep posting pics with the progress. I really appreciate all the help and advice I'm getting.

 

[bulrid8]

Best I found was a wire cup on an angle grinder. Fastest stripping and smooth finish.

 

[rscottp]

Unless you want to leave it bare aluminum I wouldn't try to remove all the old paint. I would just feather out the scratches and bare spots then prime those with self etch then paint everything you want to paint. Just my opinion but the existing paint has been on there for 40 years so they did something right.

 

[WPS]

Unless you want to leave it bare aluminum I wouldn't try to remove all the old paint. I would just feather out the scratches and bare spots then prime those with self etch then paint everything you want to paint. Just my opinion but the existing paint has been on there for 40 years so they did something right.

I agree with you!

A lot of people will leave the paint on and just sand where the paint is scratched... That will save a lot of time and save some $$!.. I did that when I painted the sides on my Lund.

Easier to do instead of ''prepping bare aluminum'' for new primer/paint!.. I use the self etching primer too!

 

[DesertRAT]

Well I spend the last 4 weeks sanding and cleaning and I finally got the paint off the hull. I first washed it with a pressure washer and all the decals and reg#'s just flew off. The bottom of the hull was bare aluminum in quite a few places from 40 years of use and it must either hit the trailer or someone has been bottoming out in the lakes but the paint that was on there came off pretty easy with water and steel wool. I finished it off with a rotary sander and some fine grit paper. When the decals came off, I noticed what the original color was and the rest of the sides were just completely faded by the sun. I liked the way the hull looked as bare aluminum so I decided to do the sides as well.

I am going to try to polish and buff out the boat with some aluminum polish and decide whether I like it or not. If I like it, I'll start the build (decking and stuff) right after Christmas. If not, I'll paint it either gray/blue or white/blue, since that are the colors of my seats and carpet.

 

[jasper60103]

Looking good, Rat.
I'm jealous of the nice weather you enjoy there!
Keep up the good work. =D>
-jasper

 

[RStewart]

Nice looking boat you got there. That's a sweet instrument panel you made also. Keep the pics coming.

 

[DesertRAT]

Well Christmas is over and I'm back working on the tin. Not sure what to do here, I want to leave the deep scratches alone and hope to buff out the fine scratches. I got no idea how to do this. I've been reading and the recommendation is to use a rubbing compound to get the light scratches out and then use a polish to shine it up some. I really don't want it shiny, just clean looking. I just want the aluminum hull to look decent for one fishing season (spring/summer) and then every year in the winter I would re-polish it clean again. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DesertRAT]

I did take a break today from the hard work of sanding and worked on something fun. I built my fish storage chest. No live well needed for the type of fishing we do here in Cali. Most, if not all, of the lakes are contaminated with pesticides from all of the agriculture that is done here. The Department of Fish and Game recommends no consumption of fish caught. The sport fish (Bass/Crappie/Trout) are all released back into the water. The invasive fish (White Bass and some other junk fish) are not allowed to be released and have to be killed and turned in to the park rangers. So all I need is just a place to store fish until I can turn them in.

Now it's time to get back to sanding.

 

[Gators5220]

Sick instrument panel man! I'm interested to see how buffing the aluminum turns out as well. One idea is companies like Gator Glide and Steel Flex make clear varnish that's a 2 part epoxy. Once you've buffed the hull out, if you coat the hull it should stay shiny where you don't have to rebuff it after every season.

 

[DesertRAT]

Thanks guys for the compliments on my instrument panel! had some stuff left over from my pontoon build and just let the imagination flow. The sanding really sucks but all these little things I have to build from scratch is the fun stuff.

I have been buffing and still not happy with it. I'm going to detail the hull out this weekend and then paint it. I've had a small case of OCD all my life and these scratches just bug. I'll take some pics once the hull is painted. I need to get this part of the build over with and get crankin on the interior decks and such.