MIrrocraft Deep Fisherman - Deeeep scratch repair

Hello men, and ladies

I’ve had an ’81 Mirro deep fisherman new since I was 14, great boat.
I anticipated getting another 2-3 decades out of it and next generation as well

However, this year it has met an untimely demise, a pontoon boat hit it in the stern while docked, a stout mooring line held fast, and the stern is now sliced open top to bottom.

Naturally you can imagine after 37 years, I am a bit attached and would like to save it, but a competent weld shop said no way, and appears patch/rivet is the method of choise

I am set on a Mirrocraft 14 Deep Fisherman due to its low draft, and stable 0-32mph but finding one that hasn’t been molested and holed with decks and downriggers and makeshift remote steerring has been elusive.

I use just a folding deck atop the front two benches for a uncomplicated sun deck or casting deck, and that simple elegance is what appeals to me

did my due diligence and searched for related topics, Alum repair, solid rivets, buck bar, etc, grateful for the shared knowledge

My inquiry is such, given the extent of the damage, its location, and also the bottom tweaked as the triangle support folded up too, can this be pulled back to place without work hardening the aluminum, repaired and a still hang a 25 merc with confidence?

Thank you for the shared wisdom

If a competent welding shop won't fix it, you may have to replace it.
It's quite an expense, but looking at new may be an option, that way you get what you want and you know it's going to last your lifetime.

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OUCH ... so sorry to see that :shock: !

Good news ... that is likely 5052 alloy and doesn’t work harden, but it does need to be annealed before bending, to prevent cracking. It will naturally harden back to its state.

Look up my post on my Starcraft 16’ skiff where I took off both the inside & outside skins and replaced them ... to the tune of a few sheets of 5052, 400+ rivets and and ‘banging’ the rounded chine shape like a medieval armor blacksmith!

IMHO you have nothing to lose by trying to repair what you have, provided the stern/garboard rivets are intact, even if they need to be rebucked or replaced. If that doesn’t appear to work ... then you could try my method ... but I for one would surely NOT want to do it again ...

See here for annealing info ... https://www.forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=38054&hilit=Anneal+temp+5052 , but try to find out what that alloy is! I have a spare sheet of 5052 if needed.

“If” you can make a waterproof patch spanning at least 3-4” into good tin, with new wood tied into it with some added large ‘L’ brackets to tie the transom to the sides, I’d say you’d be good to go. Get as much coverage to the stern as you can w/ new wood and tie into the knees well. Your tin must be cleaned, etched, primed & painted properly for best results. I’d also advise the $20 kit of West Systems G-Flex epoxy would be great (flexible) between the riveted patch & tin hull.

I can't offer help with your boat but I will say this......the owner/operator of the pontoon would be making me whole. Either as a private affair or in a court of law. I've seen far too many idiots on the water and the damage they do.

JNG said:

I can't offer help with your boat but I will say this......the owner/operator of the pontoon would be making me whole.

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Great point!

One of my previous frp boats suffered some damage, where I collected $2,500 from their insurance company and I repaired it myself for maybe $1,000 in parts/supplies. And with a better repair job, if I may say so myself! Used it for another 10-years and never had a stress crack in any of the gelcoat repairs I made; in fact I defy anyone to even find the spot ...

Holy Moley, you ain't fixing that with 5200.

Too bad this happened. I hope everything works out.

I get the sentimentality of the situation. As a welder I can tell you that it can be fixed but it would be a labor of love to do it properly and cost more than the boat is worth memories included. I would think that after owning a boat for so long that you deserve a brand new one. I would scrap that old hull after cutting the bow off it to make a framed shelf for the man cave.


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Thank you each for your thoughtful perspectives!

Each has merit and value, thank you

Yes there will be come compensation my way, but no more than a 37 year old boat is expected

Seems mirro no longer makes a simple 3-bench DF14, wtf

And as was said, nothing to loose to try a fix, likely learn skills along the way, even if it ffails

Fresh boat sounds good too, they are purdy

I'll likely have some materials questions someday soon

Much obliged men

GottaSki said:

Thank you each for your thoughtful perspectives!

Each has merit and value, thank you

Yes there will be come compensation my way, but no more than a 37 year old boat is expected

Seems mirro no longer makes a simple 3-bench DF14, wtf

And as was said, nothing to loose to try a fix, likely learn skills along the way, even if it ffails

Fresh boat sounds good too, they are purdy

I'll likely have some materials questions someday soon

Much obliged men

Click to expand...

Model 4650
Deep fisherman, but the rear bench is split to two sideways benchs.. check it out on their website

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I would be looking at the pontoon boats operator at getting it repaired/replaced. It looks to me that it is beyond repair and may need to have the the whole rear transom replaced. It may need to have the whole rear removed, the boat shortened a couple of inches and a whole new transom installed at the least if trying to fix it. Going the court route you may find the court will only give you the market value of the boat if it will cost more to fix it.

This occurrence brings up a good question.

Many of us have older boats into which we put lots of time and money. Let's say somebody bought a $4,000.00 boat and then added $2,500.00 to it.

My guess is that my insurance would probably only pay me $4,000. if I had a total loss. I've read about "agreed value" but really don't know anything about it. My independent agent's staff knows little about boats. My policy normally is written by Foremost.

Anyone????

p.s. I carry the highest deductibles that I can on all of my insurance. I can afford to "self-insure" for smaller claims. I, also, have never had a claim other than a roof or two and/or a minor fender-bender, over nearly 60 years of owning "Stuff".

Rich - I'm right with you.

Too bad insurance companies don't look back 40 yers (vs 3) because they have made a mint off of me.

To the orig poster - You could make that transom functional with metal, rivets, plywood & sealant, but it won't look OEM unless you go over the top on effort.

This is just my opinion (and it is not worth much without seeing the damage in person), but I would do as mentioned and make a new transom. That cut goes clear down the bottom, and you will struggle to get a patch to seal properly over all of those rivets and the curves around the edges.

Looks like an appropriately sized sheet of .125 5052 would only run you a couple hundred bucks, could use the old one as a template and have the replacement plasma cut to shape. Then fold in the sides and bottom, and get to bucking rivets. It would be like new. I imagine you'd only have 500 bucks plus your time in it, which is probably less than what you'll be compensated for.

richg99 said:

This occurrence brings up a good question.

Many of us have older boats into which we put lots of time and money. Let's say somebody bought a $4,000.00 boat and then added $2,500.00 to it.

My guess is that my insurance would probably only pay me $4,000. if I had a total loss. I've read about "agreed value" but really don't know anything about it. My independent agent's staff knows little about boats. My policy normally is written by Foremost.

Anyone????

p.s. I carry the highest deductibles that I can on all of my insurance. I can afford to "self-insure" for smaller claims. I, also, have never had a claim other than a roof or two and/or a minor fender-bender, over nearly 60 years of owning "Stuff".

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Rich, when I think of an “agreed amount” policy I think of things like classic or custom cars. I suspect even those policies will have some kind of market value test because insurance companies will not be in business for long if they insure things for more than they are worth. Reason should be obvious.

Your boat policy will have a Coverage A limit shown on the declaration page. That is going to be the value of your boat. In my policy, I will be paid up to that amount for a total loss. Except, if my boat were over 10 years old, I would be paid the Coverage A limit or the actual market value, whichever is less. Why? A big reason is morale hazards. When coverage is a lot more than something’s actual value then the owner isn’t going to really be motivated to protect their property. They might prefer the boat be stolen. Even worse, dishonest folks will make false claims thinking it is easy money. Why 10 years? I’m not sure but suspect it is my insurer’s judgment call since values are relatively low and it makes the claims process a little easier.

For my boat, I could be paid up to the full Coverage A limit, which is what I paid for the boat. Except, even better, I paid a few extra dollars for a replacement cost endorsement. This basically says my insurers will actually replace my boat with one of like kind and quality and will spend up to 120% of my Coverage A limit to do that.

This is all laid out in the boat insurance policy. It is worth reading and I suspect a lot of folks would be surprised at what is and isn’t covered.

Anyway, getting back to your question. Using your example, if the declarations page shows a limit of $4,000, then you are not going to be paid more than $4,000. Best talk to your agent about setting the Coverage A Limit. Maybe they would let you use the $6,500 instead of the $4,000. Just remember it has to be a real number, not some pie in the sky number that has no relation to the boat’s actual value.

Yikes, I got kind of “wordy”. :shock:

EDIT: PS: In the case of Gottaski's damage, that was caused by a negligent third party and that party's insurer will end up paying

Insurance - I always use "agreed upon value" policies and sometimes it may need photos or a survey to justify the value of an 'old' boat once refurbuished. However, having had AUV policies and having filed claims against them, I've lucked out!

Case in point, rig was agreed upon at $25K value, had an engine damaged due to an emergency stop situation (USCG contacted) to avoid a collision and the OB motor blew up a week later. I got a check for $11K days later ... and I had only paid $6K for the motor. That boat then went on to wear a new Suzi 250hp!

Looks like an appropriately sized sheet of .125 5052 would only run you a couple hundred bucks, could use the old one as a template and have the replacement plasma cut to shape. Then fold in the sides and bottom, and get to bucking rivets.

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Having replaced inside and outside transom skins, I can assure you that you do not simply "fold" in the sides and bottom ... the rounded shape(s) must be fully maintained on the piece. This means annealing the piece and hammer forming a rounded transition to the bends with at least a 3" overlap. In some places at the corner, some tin needs to stretch and some needs to compress, in order to make a uniform bend - without bulking or folding. Any fold will form a stress riser and will crack.

I can assure you this is not for the feint of heart if you don't know what you're doing. The task would be far easier if one had access to auto body tooling like an 'English wheel' or planishing hammer, but it can be done by hand in the manner of a medieval blacksmith ... as my rebuild attests. I would also use 0.090" tin and have a sheet if needed.

richg99 said:

This occurrence brings up a good question.

Many of us have older boats into which we put lots of time and money. Let's say somebody bought a $4,000.00 boat and then added $2,500.00 to it.

My guess is that my insurance would probably only pay me $4,000. if I had a total loss. I've read about "agreed value" but really don't know anything about it. My independent agent's staff knows little about boats. My policy normally is written by Foremost.

Anyone????

p.s. I carry the highest deductibles that I can on all of my insurance. I can afford to "self-insure" for smaller claims. I, also, have never had a claim other than a roof or two and/or a minor fender-bender, over nearly 60 years of owning "Stuff".

Click to expand...

When I got coverage on my Sylvan my agent basically asked how much coverage I wanted. It's not like cars, motorcycles and whatnot with pre-determined values, I could have said it was worth $50,000 if I wanted but I obviously would have paid a much higher rate. I thought long and hard and pretty much decided what it would cost for me to buy an replacement in the event of a loss. $15k was the number, $1000 deductible and I think that policy costs me less than $150 a year.

jethro said:

richg99 said:

This occurrence brings up a good question.

Many of us have older boats into which we put lots of time and money. Let's say somebody bought a $4,000.00 boat and then added $2,500.00 to it.

My guess is that my insurance would probably only pay me $4,000. if I had a total loss. I've read about "agreed value" but really don't know anything about it. My independent agent's staff knows little about boats. My policy normally is written by Foremost.

Anyone????

p.s. I carry the highest deductibles that I can on all of my insurance. I can afford to "self-insure" for smaller claims. I, also, have never had a claim other than a roof or two and/or a minor fender-bender, over nearly 60 years of owning "Stuff".

Click to expand...

When I got coverage on my Sylvan my agent basically asked how much coverage I wanted. It's not like cars, motorcycles and whatnot with pre-determined values, I could have said it was worth $50,000 if I wanted but I obviously would have paid a much higher rate. I thought long and hard and pretty much decided what it would cost for me to buy an replacement in the event of a loss. $15k was the number, $1000 deductible and I think that policy costs me less than $150 a year.

Click to expand...

Cars are actual cash value policies. Boats can be agreed value or ACV. Agreed value is better, IMO. Like you say, cost seems reasonable for the amount of coverage provided.

But be careful. A diligent adjuster could deny a claim if the value were purposely misrepresented. I doubt an agent would ever put in writing that they were aware of an inflated value being submitted.

Well men I digested all your inputs, thank you, all valid

In May, pulled the trigger on this replacement, as any used stuff i found was just filled with abuse, heavy salt water use, no title, or full with holes from mods to make it into something it was never meant to be.

My hinged plywood casting/sun deck fit well with just a little sanding adjustment. The diamond plate style foam interlocking mats are glued to the plywood for a cool, tractable surface that is also pleasant to stand barefoot or lay out on.

The rear split bench is not how i prefer, and may modify it later this year.

recently added a bimini for those scorching days. Was able to use a set of oarlocks as the main pivot attachment point

It stunk to buy another boat, as the other was on track to last me another 36 years, but so far working out well

thanks men

Looks good. A new "canvas" on which to work.