I have attached some pictures of our 1960 Mirrocraft 16ft tinny called "The Tin Man" I needed to be able to pull tubers, skiers and kneeboarders and also fish with some efficiency. Hard to work this out in a tin runnabout.
We opted for a wood floor running from under the front seats, flat all the way back to the transom. This gives us a seating height in the front very similar to the original, in the back the two pedestals can be lowered almost to the floor and I provided handles on the gunwale so passengers feel secure, The boat will corner on a dime and is very stable in a hard turn, not "tippy"
There is storage under the floor with carpeted hatches running down the length of the middle of the floor. We have a 65 hp merc and a 9.8 kicker rigged to steer off the main motor. Is is set up with remote shift and throttle next to the main set of controls. Unlike some other setups, the kicker steers easily with the main motor tilted up. The kicker motor steering and control linkages I fabricated myself and are of a quick release nature. The kciker can be off or on the boat in about five minutes. The old pulley and cable steering has been replaced with a modern system. We added a bilge pump. The boat is wired with a switch for dual batteries, the primary battery is under the floor between the two front seats, the trolling battery can sit on the rear of the deck in a removeable battery box. The trolling motor is wired in to a plug on the gunwale and has a depthfinder mounted near it with the transducer on the motor. The trolling motor can be easily removed and you can see the mounts for the swim ladder next to it on either side on the transom. We added storgage compartments belwo the gunwales, rod rack and rod holders, a hard wired bait bubbler air pump is mounted below the port aft gunwale. The original dash had too many cuts and holes so it was replaced with a plywood and Diamond plate fabrication. We added modern gauges. switches, stereo, compass etc. We did retain the vintage hand pumped twin air horns.
There is a second fish finder on the dash.
The boat is a compromise but it works well enough for either fishing or watersports. It will do 35 mph with two people in watersports mode. With three fisherman and gear, coolers etc, it can manage about 7mph with the 9.8 kicker. There is a bimini top removed for the pictures
Any feedback or suggestion welcome
We opted for a wood floor running from under the front seats, flat all the way back to the transom. This gives us a seating height in the front very similar to the original, in the back the two pedestals can be lowered almost to the floor and I provided handles on the gunwale so passengers feel secure, The boat will corner on a dime and is very stable in a hard turn, not "tippy"
There is storage under the floor with carpeted hatches running down the length of the middle of the floor. We have a 65 hp merc and a 9.8 kicker rigged to steer off the main motor. Is is set up with remote shift and throttle next to the main set of controls. Unlike some other setups, the kicker steers easily with the main motor tilted up. The kicker motor steering and control linkages I fabricated myself and are of a quick release nature. The kciker can be off or on the boat in about five minutes. The old pulley and cable steering has been replaced with a modern system. We added a bilge pump. The boat is wired with a switch for dual batteries, the primary battery is under the floor between the two front seats, the trolling battery can sit on the rear of the deck in a removeable battery box. The trolling motor is wired in to a plug on the gunwale and has a depthfinder mounted near it with the transducer on the motor. The trolling motor can be easily removed and you can see the mounts for the swim ladder next to it on either side on the transom. We added storgage compartments belwo the gunwales, rod rack and rod holders, a hard wired bait bubbler air pump is mounted below the port aft gunwale. The original dash had too many cuts and holes so it was replaced with a plywood and Diamond plate fabrication. We added modern gauges. switches, stereo, compass etc. We did retain the vintage hand pumped twin air horns.
There is a second fish finder on the dash.
The boat is a compromise but it works well enough for either fishing or watersports. It will do 35 mph with two people in watersports mode. With three fisherman and gear, coolers etc, it can manage about 7mph with the 9.8 kicker. There is a bimini top removed for the pictures
Any feedback or suggestion welcome
