Lido 14 to Water Taxi Conversion

Mike Smith makes magic with this small boat transformation

Some of you might recall Mike Smith’s letter on possibly converting his Lido 14 sailboat to a powercruiser.

In that article he shared a few sketches and some photos of a model he made:

Some time later, Mike came across the boat that would be his inspiration:

A water taxi in the harbor at Victoria BC Canada

Then is was just a matter of getting to work:

Removing the old centerboard trunk

Filling the centerboard slot

“Once I saw the water taxi I knew the paint scheme!”

“Floats very stable. The Lido 14 hull is 6 feet wide with a relatively flat bottom and there are two car batteries just for the seats which help a lot with stability.”

“I believe I can seat up to six people at a time inside the boat. I have a portable tiller handle extension for the six horse Torqeedo Outboard. Extension cables allow the battery and the controller to be moved upfront. Next, I’m gonna make it little captain‘s wheel up forward.”

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