1977 Mirro Craft Restoration

[Blake0912]

I did it again!!! I was on the CL hunt cause I'm addicted and came home with a 14ft Mirro Craft tinny with a 1985 25hp johnny. Picked up the boat/trailer/motor for the price of what I feel the motor alone is worth. My gf says I need to go to AA for boat buying..I now own 4..but I disagree its just a fun hobby.
Anyways the boat is a good shape for its age had it out for a few hours today and had no leaks and handled some chop very well I was suprissed (this is my first aluminum boat/jon style boat). I have a few questions that you could possibly help me answer. What model of boat could this be? Looks kinda like a deep fisher to me. Also the transom was replaced by the PO but it was not sealed or anything just made with treater plywood. It creeeaks a little bit when you first plane up..Is this normal for a boat like this? or should I look into replacing the transom? Also was wondering how hard it would be to repaint the boat i have never messed with aluminum painting before. Also am thinking about making a deck but that will be farther down the road.
Any input would be helpful, give me your thoughts ill include some pics.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Easy restoration I like bare open hulled tin boats.....easy to work on

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

That is a SUPER nice hull. My dad and I have a little 14' also but it isn't nearly as high sided as yours and certainly couldn't handle that big of a motor. Really nice boat. As you've probably read on here, the newer (as in like the last 7 years or so) pressure treated eats aluminum. Not knowing when that one was done, I'd probably replace the transom again using exterior ply sealed with epoxy resin and painted, or with poly resin and fiberglass. It doesn't look like he did that great a job on it any and you could probably do better

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

If it is indeed PT plywood, you need to remove it ASAP. The chemicals in the wood have been known to have adverse reactions with the aluminum and could damage your boat. EZ is correct about using ext. grade ply and coating with epoxy. It will last as long as you have the boat, and longer.

 

[Blake0912]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Thanks for the responses, As far as I was told the transom was replaced in 06 and I'm not sure if it is treated ply or not but I'm going to replace it anyway because the guy did not coat it with anything and appears some of the bolts are kinda loose. I assume i can just use this old was as a template and cut the shape then coat it with epoxy then remount it? Also it has carpet glued everywhere in the boat and i tried to pull it up and it looks like a disaster so idk how I'm going to manage that one sounds like a job for a box cutter and sander but I may just leave it for a while and see how much I actually like the boat before going threw the paces of installing a removable deck and possibly repainting the hull.

 

[Blake0912]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Question about replacing my transom. Should I use 2 pieces of 3/4 ply sandwiched together with epoxy or just one?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Good question, wish I had a definite answer. The standard transom boat a little bit larger boats is indeed two sheets of 3/4". That may be overkill on yours. Obviously I wouldn't go buying 2 sheets of differing thicknesses of plywood for this but if you happened to have some 1/2" or maybe even 1/4" exterior ply laying around, you could add that to a piece of 3/4" and it would certainly be plenty strong for that boat.

 

[Blake0912]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

The board on it now is about 1/2in thick and 9in tall. I asked the PO today if the wood was treated or not and he said it was and it was for sure replaced in 2006. Ive read and was told that treated ply is not good for aluminum. So what should i look for after pulling this transom off..like what type of damage could the treated ply have done to the boat already? I plan on pulling it off monday. Also I have never used epoxy resin on anything before..what is the exact name of the product I should use and can I buy it at Lowes/Home Depot? Thank You

 

[Blake0912]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Bump

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

No you generally can't buy epoxy at the home stores. You have to order it from someplace like U.S. Composites or Clark Craft.

Your concern is pitted aluminum from the existing PT. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

You might have some nasty corrosion under that plywood, hopefully not too bad.

Either way it can be repaired, some folks use old street signs to rivet in a new transom skin.

 

[Blake0912]

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Re: 1977 Mirro Craft possible resto

Okay have a small update I pulled the transom off and did not see that much corrosion but I took a sander and wire brush the the part where the board was and cleaned up all the funk. Then had a bright idea to use duraback and coat the transom/supports/bildge area since I had it laying around from another project..I dont know if it was a good idea or not? but it looks and feels good. Then I went and got a non treated 2X10 from home depot and used the old wood as a template and cut a new one and coated that with some water sealer and gave it a coat of exterior grey paint to match the duraback with an ol' rattle can looks good. And I also added 4 more bolts to the support made it a heck of alot more solid..also used sealent in the new holes that I drilled and coated the bolts real good with it before i but it all back together, ill include some after pics. So now seeing how good the new grey looks it has lit a fire under me to go ahead and rip alll the nasty brown carpet out and replace it with some grey that i have some another project and sand and etch primer the whole boat and paint the inside "sides" grey and the out side a nice dark blue to match my truck and then hit it with some clear for some shine. So if all goes well i will have this funky carpet out by the end of the week the stuff is realy glueeeeeeed down and it almost feels like some sort of tile glue the guy used cause its not hard its kinda soft and its 4 years old.

and the 2 new bolts to each support (4 total)