Not ANOTHER Starcraft 160ss restoration!

[eMKay]

Yeah, another one, lol. I've been trying to buy this poor neglected Starcraft for awhile now from a coworker, finally got him to part with it. It's a 1982 with a 1985 60hp (former)VRO. The engine is fine, the rest of the boat is not. Rotten deck, weird hacked in fishing mods, ugly paint.

I work at a marina as a marine tech, but primarily on sailboats (I have had a dozen sailboats, first powerboat) so I know how to do a lot, but certainly not everything. First time working on something not made of fiberglass.

So far I have gotten it home, taken the engine and consoles off, ready to rip out the rotten deck. I'll be posting pictures of that later. I'll also keep a running tab of hours, so far 2.5.

 

[jbcurt00]

Welcome to the Tin-sanity

Looks like a nice start for a project

Good luck

 

[ezmobee]

Looks like a good project to me. Tough to beat a 16' SS for a great small all around boat that's easy to launch and retrieve.

 

[eMKay]

I got the floor out, the interior out, all the foam out which was easier than I expected, I thought it would be really firmly bonded to the aluminum. With the boat naked I can tell Starcraft is a "value" brand, LOL. For one thing, the foam was so thick on the port side it was pushing the floor up, and on the starboard side there was a lot less of it. Other things too, other than the excellent workmanship on the hull, the rest of the boat is just slapped together. The stringers are held to the ribs with pop rivets made from a much cheaper aluminum than the solid rivets and hull are (I believe these are 5052? that's serious quality aluminum) there is no sign of corrosion on anything made of 5052, but the pop rivets on the stringers, most of them are just gone. I think there were only 7 or 8 left holding them on. The knee brace has one crack in it, it's in much better shape than some others I've seen in restoration threads here. Of course everything made of wood is just mush but I have a solid base to work with.

Other than that the previous owner before the last owner did so many weird mods, like the 1/4" steel plate on the bow? trolling motor maybe? There are so many holes all around the gunnels too. I'm just going to cover them with Nautolex. The rest of the boat will be similar to one I saw here...

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...ir/388083-71-starcraft-16-ss-rebuild?t=378656

Except the hull will be blue and black like the current Starcrafts. Marine electrical systems is what I do so that's going to be all new, and pretty basic. It will have a real shutoff switch, real breakers, a stereo, LED lights, an electric trolling motor, and a simple char/finder. Nothing like I install at work, this is just a toy that will see occasional use for fishing, tubing, I'll pull it behind my motorhome camping. If I can bring myself around to buy two slips at work I'll park it next to my 26' sailboat but it's so small and light I'll probably just launch it every time. It's so light I couldn't even tell it was there behind my Sienna, my wifes car can tow this thing (Subaru Crosstrek)

So here are some progress pics, put another 5.5 hours into it for a total of 8

Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

See the steel plate? I mean, really?
Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

Starcraft Restoration by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

 

[Dabbler_E]

Looks like a great start! Can't wait to see what you do with it.

 

[eMKay]

We will see how it goes with this 60hp twin, my parents had a similar one, I think it was a '79 closed bow with a 70hp johnnyrude on it. That was such a sweet handling boat. If I'm not happy with this engine I'm going to try and get one of those. Or if I'm lucky find one of the newer Yamaha f70's, those are only 50lbs heavier than the one I have.

 

[eMKay]

nothing got done over the weekend as we were camping, but today I went shopping, and stripped everything off the gunnels, and got the transom almost ready to pull. also I believe I discovered where the leak is. The knee brace has 8 rivets holding it to the hull, well I should say it used to, because now it only has 3 rivets holding it to the hull. I guess I get some more practice bucking solid rivets.

3 sheets of 1/2" and 2 sheets of 3/8" Arauco ACX, it should be enough for the deck and all the trim pieces. Oh yeah, it's going to be safety blue. I love that color, it's almost like Mariner Blue Mazda used on Miatas.Another 2.5 hours, 10.5 total.
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

Nautolex, epoxy to seal the wood, glue for the nautolex, new trailer lights, a box of rivets, some muffs (I could have just borrowed some from work, but I figured why not have my own set)
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

3 rivets
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

No RIVETS! when I turn the boat over I'll see what it looks like, but I better get some rivets from my aircraft mechanic friends!
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

 

[Watermann]

:welcome: to the Starmada emkay,

Oh yeah the most prolific and popular boat of all time the Starcraft SS. I'm glad I have mine! You're not alone with your 16'r right now there's a bunch of them going in the SC owners forum.

 

[eMKay]

I got the boat flipped over today, there are several rivets popped out, and one 1/4" rivet that's just gone. several more that are covered in some kind of goop. I also salvaged some marine grade plywood used in the berths on a 50' Elco that was abandoned at our marina, and we are dismanteling. It will work well for the transom, I got 3 1/2" thick sheets of it and it's already covered with some kind of very hard paint or epoxy. It definitely feels like a 2 part product. Very strong plywood, much stiffer than the cheap Lowes ACX stuff I bought. I wish I could get more but there weren't many dry parts of this poor boat left. I also tried some 15 minute stripper I got at Home Depot, it's more like 15 second stripper, works good. Completely removes one worry I had about stripping it. I didn't want to have to sand for hours!

My garage is a disaster! Now that I'm at stripping and painting stage I have to clean that mess up and kick my wifes car out.
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

WOW! Can you say hack job?
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

That is a 1/4" hole. In the bottom of a boat. Previous owner said "yeah it leaks but the bilge pump keeps up with it" LOL!
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

15 minute huh? More like 15 seconds...
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

And then I thought "I wonder if it works on the graphics?" "Yep, sure does".
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

This is the boat we are taking apart at work. Such a shame, it was once a spectacular beauty. Some of it will live on though, in other boats, in various furniture projects, part of it will be a bar...
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

My other baby, this boat has issues of it's own that need fixing, but at least it's in the water being enjoyed...
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

 

[Watermann]

Clean up and hull repairs take a bunch of time and effort especially when fixing what the last guy did. Be methodical and make repairs as best you can. Gotta love that Jasco stripper!

So you know the solid rivets are 3/16" not 1/4", big difference when ordering new ones. Here's a link to a tutorial on rivets in the SC section of the forum.
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owner...nd-more-rivets

 

[eMKay]

Clean up and hull repairs take a bunch of time and effort especially when fixing what the last guy did. Be methodical and make repairs as best you can. Gotta love that Jasco stripper!

So you know the solid rivets are 3/16" not 1/4", big difference when ordering new ones. Here's a link to a tutorial on rivets in the SC section of the forum.
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owner...nd-more-rivets

I have some 3/16 rivets already, that one in the picture is most definitely a 1/4" rivet. Most are 3/16" except those right along the edge there. I don't know if they are original or not, but there are a bunch of 1/4" ones mixed in there I have to replace. My guess is this boat has been repaired a few times.

 

[eMKay]

After looking again this morning, on the starboard side there are 8 rivets that have definitely been replaced by 1/4" rivets, all the port side ones are 3/16". So I have to replace all those as some aren't flush, 1 is missing, 1 is a stainless pop rivet, and 2 are some sort of rusting steel.

 

[Watermann]

Good lord, the messes people make. :facepalm:

Take a really close look at the rib ends for any cracks, especially where those rib end rivets were replaced, normally there's a reason for their failure.

 

[SHSU]

After looking again this morning, on the starboard side there are 8 rivets that have definitely been replaced by 1/4" rivets, all the port side ones are 3/16". So I have to replace all those as some aren't flush, 1 is missing, 1 is a stainless pop rivet, and 2 are some sort of rusting steel.

I know how that goes. I am currently re-riveting my entire (not part, ALL) SS16 because of all the bad rivets.... Not saying mine are going to be much better, but at least it wont be blind rivets with silicone. Look forward to see how you progress with yours!!!!

 

[eMKay]

Good lord, the messes people make. :facepalm:

Take a really close look at the rib ends for any cracks, especially where those rib end rivets were replaced, normally there's a reason for their failure.

Will do, thanks. It's only one side, the other side is fine. So there has to be a reason

 

[Watermann]

Once you get her cleaned up and the paint off it should be pretty straight forward for you to get things fixed up. In the pics I can't see the spray rail chine on the side very well but it looks like maybe it was rubbed on, be sure to inspect it well for any signs of cracking or thin spots.

 

[eMKay]

Making progress, I'm about 1/3rd the way done with stripping, and drilled out all the bad rivets. Last two nights I have 4 hours, 14.5 total. I ordered some gluvit today.
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

 

[SHSU]

Making progress, I'm about 1/3rd the way done with stripping, and drilled out all the bad rivets. Last two nights I have 4 hours, 14.5 total. I ordered some gluvit today.
Untitled by eMKayUSA, on Flickr

That is some nice work. How many rivets did you have to remove in the end? You replace them with blind or solid rivets?

 

[eMKay]

That is some nice work. How many rivets did you have to remove in the end? You replace them with blind or solid rivets?

I'm using solid rivets, I trained my wife how to use the air hammer, but I got the wrong type of rivets, after crawling out from under the boat I noticed the heads were damaged, I was using a round head mandrel on brazier head rivets, so I ordered the correct rivets and will do it over, let's see, there are 10 on the port chine, 2 starboard, one up in the bow, 7 on the knee brace, and the entire starboard side of the bottom transom channel, that's another 8 I think. I broke that trying to pry out the transom.

 

[SHSU]

I'm using solid rivets, I trained my wife how to use the air hammer, but I got the wrong type of rivets, after crawling out from under the boat I noticed the heads were damaged, I was using a round head mandrel on brazier head rivets, so I ordered the correct rivets and will do it over, let's see, there are 10 on the port chine, 2 starboard, one up in the bow, 7 on the knee brace, and the entire starboard side of the bottom transom channel, that's another 8 I think. I broke that trying to pry out the transom.

Help from the Admiral is always nice. Mine handles the bucking bar