1997 Mirrocraft 18' aluminum fish n ski

[redneck joe]

When a boat owner does not have time to sit at the helm and make motor noises, they have some serious issues !! Get help quickly, a couple good vroom..vrooms can make anyone feel better !!

Well as one gets older certain things happen. Maybe we should have him tested?

 

[BWR1953]

Well as one gets older certain things happen. Maybe we should have him tested?

Ya know, that might not be a bad idea. I totally forgot to measure and order the throttle & shift cables yesterday. Senioritis.

Gonna go over after breakfast to take measurements.

 

[BWR1953]

Eleven days later and my buddy hasn't had a chance to work on the trailer yet. So the boy and I brought the boat home and got it back into the garage.

I can't crawl under stuff anymore (I can barely walk now), but my bud gave us instructions this afternoon on how to adjust the bunks to the boat hull. Very simple and straightforward. Got it done.

I'll have to buy a chunk of steel 3" box channel so that my bud can weld the winch stand at the correct height. It's way low for this boat, but was correct for the donor.

The boy turns 18 on the 21st, so we'll only have one day to work between now and then. The plan is to install the jack plates and get the motor mounted. However, I'm getting a new AC unit installed for the house tomorrow. My 17+ year old unit failed again this week. Time for a new one, so our boat work time will be limited. Home ownership. Ugh.

The good news is all of the stuff I ordered for the new hydraulic steering system has arrived, including a new steering wheel.

 

[redneck joe]

Mind if I spend a bit of your money?

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[BWR1953]

Mind if I spend a bit of your money?

Drotto | Maker of the Catch-N-Release Automatic Boat Latch System

Shop the official Drotto store to learn about and buy the top rated Catch-N-Release automatic boat latch! Join thousands of other happy boaters with safer, faster, and easier boat loading & unloading. One year warranty with all purchases.

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Yah, I've seen those and will probably get one in the future when I'm too old or beat up to do it with the regular winch.

 

[redneck joe]

PPPPPP.....

 

[BWR1953]

This happened today, but it's all illusion.

Gonna have to be pulled back off and redone.

And yeah, the AV plate is way too high. Once I reinstall, I'll get the jack plate adjusted down to being even with the bottom and go from there.

 

[BWR1953]

We took the engine off today and ran into issues when trying to get it mounted properly. The upper bolts worked well enough, but when torquing the lower bolts, the nut started crushing the plywood transom. The torque spec is 55 lbs. There is no aluminum plate covering that portion of the transom though.

So, we pulled the gooey mess (5200) out and started over. This time, we used a big stainless fender washer behind the nut. Still no joy. Pulled it apart again and fashioned a backing plate with some .090 aluminum sheet I had on hand. Same results. So, we had to take it apart yet again.

At that point, I scrounged around and found a piece of 1/4" angle aluminum. We hacked that apart and started to try again, but by then it was mid-afternoon and absolutely miserable outside, so we called it a day.

We'll try again tomorrow. But the good news is that my buddy has a few days off and is available to work on rigging the engine and steering as soon as we have the engine mounted.

 

[redneck joe]

Why would the plywood be crushing with washers and plates at only 55 lbs?

 

[BWR1953]

Why would the plywood be crushing with washers and plates at only 55 lbs?

Because the boy kept turning the torque wrench. Said he was "strong" and that it hadn't clicked yet. Some 5200 had gotten into the threads and under the washer, etc. I don't want to say any more than that.

We'll try again this morning.

 

[BWR1953]

While thinking about the bolt problem this morning, I swept away the cobwebs of my memory and recalled that we had the same issue with the Kingfisher. Washers and backing plates would just spin under the pressure of the torque.

To correct the issue we installed an "L" bracket from the transom over to the knee brace and that eliminated the issue. We'll do the same thing for this boat.

Pix from the Kingfisher solution:

 

[BWR1953]

I had these 1/4" thick L-brackets made up this afternoon. We'll get started installing them tomorrow morning.

 

[BWR1953]

It's on. Finally.

Well, mostly.

I have to buy a couple more bolts to fasten the L-brackets to the knee braces, but everything's secure on the transom and jack plate.

 

[BWR1953]

I bought the extra bolts this morning and the L-brackets are now fully torqued and secure. Next step is a major cleanup followed by installing the trolling motor.

 

[BWR1953]

We got the cleanup done, but not the trolling motor installation. It's going over to my buddy's house this morning as is, so that he can get started on the steering and engine rigging. We'll install the TM once I get the boat back.



Ground clearance will be "interesting" once the engine is fully set up.
The jack plate is way high for now, but will be lowered quite a bit for operational service. I'll have to be very careful to make sure that the engine is tilted fully up for travel and to not lower it until it's actually in the water at the ramp.

 

[MNhunter1]

Ground clearance will be "interesting" once the engine is fully set up.
The jack plate is way high for now, but will be lowered quite a bit for operational service. I'll have to be very careful to make sure that the engine is tilted fully up for travel and to not lower it until it's actually in the water at the ramp.

I've got the same issue with mine, but not sure exactly where the skeg will fall until I mount up the motor. The original motor would sit right on the ground depending on how the jack stand was adjusted. I upsized my tires and may replace my 4" rollers with 5" rollers, so hopefully it'll give me enough additional clearance to lower the motor all the way down for storage. Even with the added swing away tongue, my MR180 will only fit in the garage with the motor down...unless I want to remove a bunch of existing cabinets and built ins. The little added additional height will also hopefully allow my trailer to sit a little higher when level and line up better with the lowest setting on my drop hitch. As it sits now, I need about another inch or more of drop/which also translates back to the stern and the skeg clearance with the motor down.

Doesn't look like your fenders have much more clearance for a larger tire, but I suppose you could always increase the height of you bunks (assuming they are not height adjustable brackets) with a 4x vs 2x. Honestly though, It looks about perfect to me as it sits and you should never tow with the motor down regardless.

 

[BWR1953]

I've got the same issue with mine, but not sure exactly where the skeg will fall until I mount up the motor. The original motor would sit right on the ground depending on how the jack stand was adjusted. I upsized my tires and may replace my 4" rollers with 5" rollers, so hopefully it'll give me enough additional clearance to lower the motor all the way down for storage. Even with the added swing away tongue, my MR180 will only fit in the garage with the motor down...unless I want to remove a bunch of existing cabinets and built ins. The little added additional height will also hopefully allow my trailer to sit a little higher when level and line up better with the lowest setting on my drop hitch. As it sits now, I need about another inch or more of drop/which also translates back to the stern and the skeg clearance with the motor down.

Doesn't look like your fenders have much more clearance for a larger tire, but I suppose you could always increase the height of you bunks (assuming they are not height adjustable brackets) with a 4x vs 2x. Honestly though, It looks about perfect to me as it sits and you should never tow with the motor down regardless.

Yeah, I really like the way the boat sits on the trailer and how it's easy for me to see through my back windshield, straight through the center window on the boat.

The boat tows well as it is, so I'll just keep it like that right now. And those trailer tires are brand new. The PO had purchased them the day before his boat failed. Score for me!

I did have to tow the boat across the street to my buddy's house this morning, but I went super slo-o-ow while rolling. My dirt driveway has some serious rain ruts in it right now. Gonna have to get the tractor out and put it to work soon.

 

[BWR1953]

My neighbor buddy got started on the boat this evening.

The boat is in one of the 5 bays of his shop area. I really like his big yellow floor jack!




The boat is sharing space with a Kubota tractor he's restoring.

 

[BWR1953]

Just a quick update. My neighbor bud has been working on the boat when he can and has made good progress, albeit taking a long time.

I did notice that the big orange Kubota tractor is gone though.

 

[BWR1953]

I just got this from my buddy. Sounds good to me!

The engine definitely needs a new starter. I'll be ordering one soon.

The trailer is also finished, so the boat is ready for pickup. I'll still need to deal with gauges and whatnot.