My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console resto

[jasoutside]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny..

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny..

View attachment 181709

Ugh, what a mess:facepalm:

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny..

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny..

Ugh, what a mess:facepalm:

Indeed! I will be reading and rereading your thread on its removal!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny..

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny..

Man I'd love to have the little Chieftain. Nice score on the Mirrocraft. Personally I'd run the 85 Evinrude till it developed some sort of lower unit issue. The electric shift system is perfectly fine unless one of the solenoids goes bad. I'm not a Force hater but I wouldn't pay good money for one. If one came on a boat I'd run it but I wouldn't buy one.

(Thread moved).

 

[jasoutside]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny..

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny..

Indeed! I will be reading and rereading your thread on its removal!

See if you can find yourself a couple of these...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDGw7zkq34A

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny..

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny..

See if you can find yourself a couple of these...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDGw7zkq34A

You've got some cool helpers!

After several phone calls and emails, Donna over at Mirrocraft was able to identify my boat- its a 1969 Sport Fisherman 18. Odd since the seller stated it was a '86 and the title says '74. Oh well, now I have the specs for her!

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

Now ya know what she is. It's amazing that some manufacturers keep records for so long. And some don't seem to keep records at all.

On the foam/wood probs - Is the liner in decent shape worth saving? Since MirroCraft dropped the liner in as one piece then you can remove it on one piece. Might take some thinking and ingenuity, but it should come out. Easy for me to say. :faint2:

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

It looks to be in excellent shape and well designed. But yes, much pondering will be needed!! I'm working on removing the splash well and engine right now then I'll look at it. I'm thinking I could leave the live well up in the bow, but as the glass goes up and over it, I would have to cut it on the deck and glass it back in when I'm done. I'm just worried that its adhered to the center of the deck, no way to loosen there.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

Wondering if the liner is stuck to the wood stringers with PL or peanut butter? And the stringers are rotted, so It might be a fairly easy lift. Maybe?

Hey 73, This is a tinny with a fiber glass liner. Does that mean you're a tinny glasshead or a glassy tinhead? LOL

 

[64osby]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

So now you know the model and year, 96, ah 74, err 68. What's the max HP for your beast.

On the liner and the live well. Could the source of the water be the live well? If the liner is attached, maybe a long piece of flat stock could be used to loosen it up. Just thinking. Good luck.

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

I went out and cut the glass (covering as much of skin as possible!) from the front live well and from the rear in the attemp to pull it out in one piece. However, the console section was a different piece of glass to the rest, and the glass is a thin layer over some really crappy fiberboard. It cracked/tore as soon as I put any upward force on it. So it came out in chunks instead. I'm thinking of using Nautalex and plywood instead.

What I found under it is interesting though. All I can see is the foam and the one rotten piece of wood- no other stringers visible. I'm guessing there has to be some, right?? Not seeing any I'm going to have to be very careful in removing the foam as not to damage any that should be there.

Update: I started ripping the foam out between the console and live well. Its 11" deep at the center, and I have found no stringers as I went from the center up the side. What if there are none? Should I just leave the foam in and deal with it?

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console restp

Wondering if the liner is stuck to the wood stringers with PL or peanut butter? And the stringers are rotted, so It might be a fairly easy lift. Maybe?

Hey 73, This is a tinny with a fiber glass liner. Does that mean you're a tinny glasshead or a glassy tinhead? LOL

Glassy tinhead? Either way, no more! I like thinking of it as a donor liner... except for no use. Only reason I have glass boats

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console resto

Heres what I'm up against. From the shovel forward (about 4') there are no stringers save the wood one at the shovel. I've gotten down to the hull in 1.5'x1.5' area in the center and then went aft 3' without meeting any. Should I just put a deck in and live with the couple hundred exta pounds? I'm guessing the foam is structural used instead of stringers/ribs.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console resto

I don't think you'll be satisfied w/ leaving wet (right, the couple extra hundred pounds) foam below decks on a resto/rehab....
Down there, lurking, below deck, in the dark, all wet & uke:

Structural foam, hmmmm a tinny w/ glasser tendencies maybe?

Have you seen a rib structure yet in that hull yet? It surely has those to support the hull, even w/out stringers, right?

 

[64osby]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console resto

Friends don't let friends have wet foam. The boat won't perform like you want.

Pull it out, put a ladder in for a stringer / floor support and add sheet foam. Or go look at a few of the local scrap yards for some C or Z channel that would fit the bill. This will make it easy to put the new tank at the console or even up front.

That really stinks.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console resto

The problem with wet foam and a tinny is it can rot your hull. Corrosion is very possible. This seems like some kind of a hybrid. Wonder if the foam is both structural and flotation?

JB had a good Q about ribs.

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console resto

No ribs or stringers... very odd! Nothing but foam and the one wood piece. I suppose if I remove all foam I could build a wood framework to support the deck and provide rigidity.. but since I'm no engineer I have no idea how many to put in

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console resto

If you can avoid the wood structure I would..... Wish I had a good, I'd: ______............ But I got nothing, sorry.....

Having no ribs makes it difficult to see how you'd attach the stringer system TO the hull. Wood or AL angle....

Rivets thru the bottom of the hull, enough to support a stringer system, yikes... Possible I guess...

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console resto

Yeah, more holes in the hull. I just crawled under the boat, I see no rivits whatsoever in the forward half of the boat... just two holes where I went through the hull chipping the foam out. Its just a thin sheet of aluminum then foam. Very weird design for an aluminum boat!! I'm debating if leaving the foam is the only option shy of junking the project and buy a STARCRAFT instead!! I would hate to cobble something together and have an unsafe boat!

 

[64osby]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console resto

Man who would have thought. Foam supporting the deck and the hull.

Put a new aluminum stringer in. Put in a below floor bulk head in front of the bilge area if there's not one there. Add an epoxy wood deck. Cut holes and add foam. Plug and seal the holes. Seal the deck to the hull w/ 5200. All the water washes back to the bilge just like the FG floor cap was designed to do.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: My fleet grew by another Tinny.. Mirrocraft center console resto

Well:

DriverSeat's thread:
Hands full 69 Mirrocraft 18'

Might try to PM him & see how that all played out... But that doesn't look promising, hasn't posted since 4/2010, or logged on since 1/2011...

This is even older:
Mirrocraft 18' center console boat 1970's

But the OP has posted as recently as late 11/2012.... So they may have some insights or helpful info & is certainly worth a PM......

Else not much out there................W/out extensive digging..........

But I hear the management team bought out the private company that owned Mirrocraft. Might give them a shout too, since they were helpful ID'ing it. If you are at all interested in pursuing a resto...