Mirrorcraft 16' Aluminum Refurbish Job

I bought a 16' 1987 Mirrorcraft aluminum boat that the PO left out in the weather for several years. It had weeds growing out of the rotting floor. I knew my work was cut out for me.


After tearing the old wet carpet out, I cleaned up the inside.


The transom was wet and bent and the splashwell had holes in it draining water INTO the boat

Re: Mirrorcraft 16' Aluminum Refurbish Job


More pics of splashwell and inside after tearing out the floor and removing the transom.

Re: Mirrorcraft 16' Aluminum Refurbish Job


Some pretty bad dock cuts and a bunch of pitting on the back of the boat. Had to use a couple tubes of JB Weld.

Re: Mirrorcraft 16' Aluminum Refurbish Job


After pulling the wheels off the trailer to grease the bearings, I found the bearings were shot and the leaf spring brackets were all but rusted through. So had to move my efforts to the trailer so I had a place to put the boat after it was painted

Re: Mirrorcraft 16' Aluminum Refurbish Job


Next I moved onto painting the bottom of the boat. First sanded the old paint, Next applied zinc Chromate to the bare Aluminum, the 2 coats of white bare metal primer. Once that was done, I applied 3 coats of Rustoleum with hardener added from Tractor Supply and lightly sanded between coats. Just before each coat was dry, I went over it with a roller one last time and it laid down beautiful.

Re: Mirrorcraft 16' Aluminum Refurbish Job


Then back onto the finished trailer, and into the garage for the flooring, the carpet, and all the wiring for accessories. I used 1/2 inch marine plywood and covered it with marine stainproof carpet. Before putting the carpet down, I applied 2 good coats of epoxy from West Marine. That stuff isn't cheap but in the long run it will help to save my floor. I used marine grade rubber cement to hold down the rubber backed marine carpet. I added floor LED lights, LED Bow light, LED Anchor light, and Charger for my phone. Also a depth finder. These were all tied into an LED lit switch panel that I installed into the side of the compartment in the boat. The battery is stored up front under the raised deck with some #10 wire running under the floor back to the switch panel. It helped offset some of the weight in the back from the started battery. The console was reinstalled and made a new dashboard out of 3/4 inch marine plywood and coated several times with epoxy.

Re: Mirrorcraft 16' Aluminum Refurbish Job


That left some engine carb problems. Took it to a Merc repair facility and got that fixed. Last thing to install new seats. I kept the old seat brackets, power washed the algae off them, attached the pedestal to the seats and put them in place. Test ran the boat last week and all is good. This project took me about 4 months working on it only 5-6 hours a week. I took my time and replaced absolutely everything except the aluminum shell of the boat. The total cost was about $1100 on top of the $900 I paid for the broken down boat and trailer. So I'm into it for about 2 large.

Re: Mirrorcraft 16' Aluminum Refurbish Job

Very nicely done!!

1st picture looks and reminds me of the condition I originally found my previous boat. A 14' Lund S14 DLX. That boat is now happily at home with my lil brother.

Also, nice pike!

Re: Mirrorcraft 16' Aluminum Refurbish Job

Tks Bonz. Got the pike in Black Lake, Hammond NY. Heading up again on 3 Sep for our annual trip. Hope to get a bigger one this year.

Re: Mirrorcraft 16' Aluminum Refurbish Job

Due to work schedule I've only been on the water twice this season with no fishing, so I wish you all the best on your trip. Saddest part is I bought a newer 16' Alumacraft Classic at the end of last season and now can't find time to enjoy it. Though I'm not giving up yet, might be getting a couple weeks off in Sept myself.

Great looking boat for a $2000.00 investment.

Hi, I recently acquired the same boat for free, The hull is in beautiful shape. My only problem is that I was not there when the old floor was removed. Any idea how I figure out where the floor bracing goes? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Closed

John 46: please.start a topic about your Mirrocraft and ask questions there about it.