1974 StarCraft Holiday 16' / 1973 Johnson 65hp OB. Father,Son restoration project.

[capebreton1967]

Well, I've been lurking around the iboats forums for a few years now, reading, reading and reading... About 3 years ago my Son and I bought our first aluminum boat for fishing and exploring around our cottage near Bobcaygeon, Ontario. It?s a 1964 Springbok 14' with a 1974 Mercury 7.5hp O/B that we bought for $500 with a very old Sears boat trailer. We did some patching and painting and still continue to have lots of fun with it.
Our newest project is a 1974 StarCraft Holiday 16? powered by a 1973 Johnson 65hp O/B. We purchased it from the original owner for $150.00 and a promise not to scrap it. This is a true project boat as it needs a new transom, floor and complete paint. Here are some pictures of it when we picked it up late last summer 2014.
Regards,
J & R

 

[GA_Boater]

I don't know if that was a recovery or a salvage operation, CapeB. Holidays are nice models from Starcraft. What are your plans, make her usable again or a full restore? The kids looked they were ready for the splash.

 

[jbcurt00]

Welcome to the tin hat party, nice rig, certainly worth digging it out.

GA, perhaps this could be added to a new category:

Back from the brink.

This 1 rivals InMotions Falcon and BobJohnsons Islander rescues.

Plus pix right outta the gate

 

[dozerII]

Welcome Capeb, to the Starmada, and dues paid right on the first post. Great looking Holiday, that will be an awesome project for Father and Son, should create lots of lifetime memories.

 

[Tnstratofam]

Cool looking Holiday. I didn't know they came in 16 ft. Looks like a good candidate for resurrection. It also looks like your two helpers are eager to get right at it. Welcome to the tinsanity, and you've certainly come to the right place for good advice on getting her sea worthy again. Nice job keeping the mob at bay with pictures in your first post. The word must be spreading through the boating world that we're a bunch of tin nuts who can only be satisfied by looking at other peoples tin.

 

[capebreton1967]

No Title

It certainly was a recovery operation. I came into contact with some Poison Ivey getting the boat out of the woods.:grumpy: Ha, ha.

This StarCraft was on the hard for about 15 years (or longer) and as expected the transom and floor is completely rotted, it looked like a wet bag of potato chips and as such there is nothing left to trace a template with to make a new floor pattern. The transom is in much the same condition.

Our plan for this StarCraft is to return it to a usable condition with a new floor, transom, wiring, seating some interior work and paint. I?m sure plans will change as we get into it.

Currently we have the boat inside our garage but it?s too cold to do any outdoor work, all we can do now is post pictures and make plans for spring. I will certainly be asking lots of questions and I?ll put those in a separate post.

Here are some more pictures from late summer 2014 once we got it home and started gutting and cleaning it up.

Regards,

Capebreton1967

 

[hadaveha]

Id love to tag along if you don't mind great looking project, and those Johnson 65hp or hard to beat 73 is it a electric shift

 

[capebreton1967]

Id love to tag along if you don't mind great looking project, and those Johnson 65hp or hard to beat 73 is it a electric shift

No Problem. My 1973 Johnson 65 is mechanical shift.

Regards,

Capebreton1967

 

[jbcurt00]

Unless you just want to, questions can all be posted here. Often deck questions lead to flotation foam or seating questions, so sometimes it gets confusing have them spread over multiple Topics.

But if you'd prefer separate, post them.

If you do decide separate, i'd encourage you to link the other topics in the primary rebuild topic and link your primary in the separate ones. Helps us keep track....

Exception would be engine questions. They should be in the engine forum. But link those back too.

Good luck.

BTW: Holiday also came in 14ftr. That was Dozers last flip boat.

 

[capebreton1967]

No Title



Here is a picture of the original bill of sale that I found in a plastic bag inside a red plastic tool box that the PO had given me. I've blanked out the PO name and address for privacy. Kinda cool to have. $3236.73 Canadian dollars was a lot of money in 1973.

 

[jbcurt00]

Interesting that the OB and boat were only $105 different in pricing... Cool,

 

[Weep'n Willy]

You have a great looking project boat. Working on it together as a family project is wonderful. My grandson and grandaughter both helped with my project and it was a wonderful experience. Looking forward to seeing your project progress.

 

[capebreton1967]

Here are some pictures of our leak testing fall 2014.

 

[64osby]

When I did a leak test it was very successful.:watermelon:

Now I try to do non leak tests.

 

[jbcurt00]

Looks like a great fall day to be IN a boat

A test is always a great idea, hope for no leaks, plan to deal w a few....

 

[Willyclay]

J&R, you hooked me with "Father, Son" in the thread's title. I probably will not have much to contribute because you are in the best hands possible with the Starmada at iboats.com forum. Good luck and enjoy the QFT ride!

 

[Chad Flaugher]

Oh boy! You hooked a keeper! Good job, I'll be following this adventure.

 

[capebreton1967]

UPDATE.

I have sold this project boat to fund the purchase of a 1996 Sylvan 16' BR fishing boat that better suits our needs. It was too good a deal to pass on. Thanks for everyone's contributions to this post.