26 Mackinaw Restoration & Cummins Conversion Project

[SUBH2OHNTR]

This story is a long one that started around Christmas time 2014. I had wanted a Cummins powered Mackinaw for a few years and was on a pretty tight budget considering what I wanted. I found a very ugly 26 predator that had been diesel converted with a brand new Cummins recon 210 in 2006 and had 1300 hrs on it. It also had a very uhhh “custom” wheelhouse built and installed that only the builder could love, this thing was UGLY. Being a pretty talented guy I figured I could build a new house on it maybe a little paint some wiring maybe some new plumbing and electronics and I would have a pretty capable dive boat for the west coast of florida. We loaded up and headed 9 hours south to the Florida keys to look at this ugly duck. We arrived at the boat in the AM and she was a mess. The drive train was solid as could be but the rest of the boat was in very poor condition. I made a lowball offer of pretty much what I thought the engine and transmission were worth and the owner accepted. I was now the owner of the ugliest shamrock on the planet.

[SUBH2OHNTR]

So we brought it back to our shop and it was worse than we had thought. The bottom was blistered really bad, most of the wood in the boat was rotten, the foam was waterlogged and degraded from being wet causing soft spots in the floor. I pulled the engine, the newer fuel tanks, steering system, shaft prop and so on. I put all these parts away not knowing what direction I was heading. I sold a bunch of stuff of the boat including the wheelhouse and was very comfortable with how much I had invested in my parts pile.

[SUBH2OHNTR]

So fast forward to 2019 I still haven’t done anything with my parts pile or what was left of my ugly duckling. There’s a 32 Sermons commercial boat with a broken 315 or 440 yanmar in the water here in town that I have been eyeballing for a while. Supposedly it could be had cheap. The Cummins I had was not nearly powerful enough to move this boat at any rate of speed I was comfortable with, it was going against my plan of getting into a smaller more compact boat that was easy to trailer and economical. Current boat is a Proline 2950 with a pair of Mercury outboards that is 13’6 tall and 10”11 wide on the trailer. But I’m still very close to going to look at this boat. So here we are again Christmas time 2019, well 7 days before to be exact and my brother sends me a link to a Mackinaw in New Jersey with no engine that is priced very low. This is the final piece of my puzzle !! I call the owner Steve and ask him a few very direct questions about the condition. He answers correctly and we make a deal. The only problem is that he is leaving for 2 months and it has to be moved before he leaves on January 1st. So I ask my brother if he wants to go to New Jersey a few days before Christmas and help me get this boat. He was not happy but he agreed to go. If everything went good we would be home Christmas Eve morning. So away we went.

[SUBH2OHNTR]

Couple pictures from the Facebook listing

[SUBH2OHNTR]

A few pics from the ride home

[SUBH2OHNTR]

Few more pictures

[SUBH2OHNTR]

Got it back to the shop on Christmas Eve morning as planned. My family has not seen it yet and I don’t really want them to see it as filthy as it is at this point, so I break out the pressure washer and bleach and the cleanup begins.

[SUBH2OHNTR]

She cleaned up really nice 👍

[SUBH2OHNTR]

Here’s a few more

[SUBH2OHNTR]

This project is 75 percent complete at the current time. I will update as I have extra time to try and get it ip to date.

[crhodes]

You will love your Mack! Keep us posted...

[Ship]

The power washer did do a nice job. Where in Jersey was she located? It looks familiar.

[SUBH2OHNTR]

The power washer did do a nice job. Where in Jersey was she located? It looks familiar.

I bought it from a guy in waretown but the old name under the name that was on it was Jimbo II out of forked river

[Quik Fix]

What happened to the first hull? Love those Mackinaws.

[My My Hey Hey]

Looks exciting.

The second picture looks like it should have benches on the roof with people in them being pulled around Rome by a tour guide in a Fiat truck.