1995 Mirrocraft MV 860 NEW to me

[zekepa]

Just picked this boat up Monday. Its a 1995 Mirro Craft MV 860, specs I found online say it is around 450 lbs, 18ft long, 60in wide at bottom and 84 in beam width.
Will be looking to turn it into an electric only lake boat. Currently fishing out of a 1994 Bass Tracker Super Pro V16. I'm hoping this boat will be a little faster with a trolling motor since it is lighter and different hull type.

I'm sure I'm going to need advice from the members once I get started on it. Planning on stripping the current interior out, as a winter project.

At a minimum I want a rod locker down one side that will hold 9ft rods without taking them apart. Consoles will be coming out. They are actually the original storage compartments that the previous owner turned upside down and fabricated bases for to make them consoles. One was a livewell the other storage. He cut holes in both so I've got some patching to do to make it back into a livewell.

 

[LDUBS]

That is a roomy boat. Congrats.

The PO sure got creative with converting the storage to consoles. I don't think I've ever seen that. Or, if I have I sure didn't recognize it.


Anyway, nice boat and I hope you will continue to share progress.

 

[zekepa]

Got the back end disassembled enough that I could sit back there and use a transom mounted trolling motor.

Took it to the local electric only lake where I do most of my fishing to check for leaks. Did get a little bit of water maybe 4 ounces in about 40 minutes on the lake. Looked underneath when I got it back home, pretty sure I found at least 1 leaking rivet, from the looks of it its been leaking for awhile. Unfortunately it isn't in a location that would be easy to buck it again will have to see if I can get that part of the floor up.

Reinforcement PO installed for motor he had installed

Water from the lake test

 

[Jim]

Hi, I sent you an email and a PM, let me know if you got them.

Jim

 

[zekepa]

Got one of the consoles/storage compartments removed.

This is where they were orginialy mounted on the boat. They have some holes cut in them that will need repaired if I decide to reuse them. If nothing else I can use them for a pattern.

Removed the flooring that was installed and found some cracks on the ribs/supports. Someone tried to weld them before but it didn't work very well. Looks like they put a lot of material in and hoped for the best. Took it to the local weld shop last Monday to see about getting it welded correctly. Looks like they tried using a MIG welder rather than a TIG.

There is a pretty large dent in the bottom across three of the ribs. It pushed the ribs up to where they are more straight than having a little V to them and cracked right in the center.

 

[zekepa]

Front V of the boat has a crack that needs welded

Removed the front deck for access to repair the above crack

Pic of corrosion on transom after I got all the rotten wood out.

Transom has about 20 extra holes drilled into it. Plan to epoxy them during the transom wood replacement.

Getting the foam out of the rear compartments was a lot of fun. Unlike the front it was not wrapped in plastic so it was stuck to the sides of the boat. The area against the floor of the boat was foam board. I'm guessing that it was exposed to fuel and melted. Ended up using a metal ice scraper to get the foam unstuck for the sides of the boat.

Removed the other rear compartment after this pic was taken. The only thing left in there is the steering cable. I haven't figured out how to remove that yet without destroying it. I don't have any plans on having a steering wheel but would rather not destroy it if I don't have to.

 

[zekepa]

Pic of the transom after I cleaned up the corrosion and sealed it with POR 15.



Waiting for the epoxy I ordered from Raka so I can work on the transom. Also ordered a kit solid rivet kit for working on my leaking rivets and for when I reinstall the front deck and rear compartments.

 

[zekepa]

Original Foam from the front of the boat. Trimmed the ridge where it expanded down into the drain channel for the front of the boat. The original bag it was in was falling apart so I put them in new 55 gallon trash bags.

 

[zekepa]

View from the rear.
Aluminum angle added to the crossmembers to sort of level them out before installing the floor.


View from the front.
You can see the new transom that is mostly installed. Still need to add some metal to the inside for clamping the motor or rear trolling motor to.

 

[zekepa]

Added 1.5 inch foam board between the ribs for floatation and added support under the floor.
The wood pieces are to screw the seat bases to, still need to seal them with epoxy.
Going to use the piece of aluminum for the rear most seat.

 

[zekepa]

Front view of the floor pieces mock up for fitting.




Rear view.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

If you thin the epoxy resin about 25% with Xylol it will soak in better. It will take longer to cure however.

 

[zekepa]

Pulled a bonehead move today. The bow of the boat had the crack in the first picture on the "V" of the bow. When I had the cracked ribs and transom welded the welder added a patch on the inside of the bow.



Pic of the patch on the inside of the bow. Today I was checking how the front deck fit. The front at the "V" wasn't fitting as the "V" was pushed in. So I got out the 3lb alignment tool (Hammer).



About the third swing I missed the patch and hit the original hull and cracked the weld.



Any opinions on just using epoxy the make it water tight again?

 

[zekepa]

Had the boat out fishing on Monday. I'm about 90% done with what I want to do with it. The last couple of things might have to wait till next winter as it's time to use it now. Will post more pics shortly.

 

[zekepa]

I ended up repairing the crack by filling the area between the original boat and the repair patch with epoxy. After that cured for a couple weeks I did a patch with fiberglass cloth and epoxy on the inside of the boat.

Pics of a gun box I bought locally from Facebook Market place. Priced new ones at around $300, this one was listed for $150 at first then he dropped it to $75 after about a month. Contacted him and we settled on $60.

Holes in the box


Did a combination of a riveted patch, then filled with exoxy on the inside where the holes were. I also used the aluminum rods that you use a torch on to fill some small drill holes.


Livewell installed in the boat

 

[zekepa]

Got some aluminum pieces from work that I used as seat bases(the yellow pieces). These worked out really well, Initially I had thought I would use plywood sealed with epoxy but really glad I was able to get/use these.



Pic of a storage locker I built from aluminum, topped with epoxy sealed plywood and Hydro turf.


Right now the only wood in the whole boat is the transom and the storage locker top.

 

[zekepa]

Front area of boat. Still on the project list is adding a step the width of the boat from the main area up to the front deck. Basically where the tackle bag and small cooler are sitting. Hard to see in the pic but that area isn't covered with Hydro turf.

Rear of the boat


Warning sticker so the Crappie know I'm coming for them. Lol



The goal of the project was to have a boat to fish 3 people out of with out being crowded. I think it is going to work out well for that.

 

[Jim]

Loving this! I like the openness of your boat!


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[zekepa]

Tried to keep it open enough to be able to move from the front of the boat to the back without interfering with the other people in the boat. Fishing with the wife and daughter I tend to need to move around the boat. Their idea of fishing has me doing most of the work.

I spent hours playing with the cardboard box from my daughters TV she got for Christmas. Was using it to simulate storage and live well options. Where to put them and what height to make them.

 

[k13west]

Really well done. Nice build, and thanks for keeping us updated!

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