1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

[wrfalpacas]

Look what followed me home! A 1957 14' Starcraft Ski Champ and original trailer. I also just picked up a 1956 Evinrude Lark 30 hp electric start engine for it. Just what I need, another project boat! SWMBO thinks I am nuts! here are plenty of photos for you to look at:

http://old-omc.de/bilder/1956_lark.jpg

http://lasvegaspix.com/projects/starcraft57skichamp.jpg

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

More Pics

The logos are intact!

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

More Pics

What is this thing?There is one on each side, some sort of trim tab or wake modifier for skiing?

Tilt Trailer

Raisable and locking bunks

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

And the motor:

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

I brought the SkiChamp in out of the rain to begin It's resto. First off is to remove the trim so I can haul it up to Sturgis MI to get soda blasted Saturday. I found a guy that will blast for $130 an hour, and he thinks about 2-3 hrs to get it to bare metal. I did find some rot in the oak rubrail under the aluminum trim, so I may be doing some wood work this winter. I am planning on a new transom, and we will see if I can salvage the mahogany seats and dash. Here are some updated pics.

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

A few More:

I cant get over the tilt mechanism

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

I drove about an hour to lower Michigan to get my boat soda blasted today. This stuff is slicker than snot! Boy I wish I had done this on the cuddy, I probably spent the same on sandpaper and stripper! Not to mention the Hours and Hours with my palm sander. Well I got it all stripped in 2-1/2 hrs, and what a great job this guy did.

Soda is nice in that it doesn't remove or pit the metal, it leaves a nice satin finish. And clean up consisted of stopping at the local drive up self serve carwash and dissolving all the leftover soda dust with plain old H2O. Try that with sand/glass bead/walnut shells. The guy only charged me $300 as compared to the estimate I got in fort wayne of $1200.
Before:

After:

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

We did find some damage to the keel under one of the trailer rollers... Any ideas on a repair? It doesnt affect the watertight integrity, but it needs fixed nonetheless

I also got the cowl blasted, and while Barney was working, made a run over to a place called Hildebrand's Marine salvage yard 517-238-2828 in Coldwater Michigan. HOLY CRAP, this place had, and I am not kidding, THOUSANDS of old outboards you could get parts from. I was like a kid in a candy store, not only did I get bearings for my Mercruiser outdrive (1968 R Model 120) but I got parts for my 56 30 hp Evinrude lark, and my 54 5-1/2 hp johnson. As well as a mess of cable steering pulleys.

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

I started some more teardown today, got the transom out (1 pc solid oak!) and removed the coaming trim. Started taking all the rusty screws out of the oak rubrail. still not sure what to do with that. it is a solid piece 14' long, but has some rot under where the aluminum trim covers, I was thinking of git rot and then filling the areas with a waterproof putty befor the varnishing.

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Got some more work done on the boat and engine this weekend. The flywheel finally popped of after sitting with the puller on it for a week and a half. I also decided to pull the seats to refinish them, and found some more rot to deal with. hopefully it is all in non visible places, and I can make repairs without corrupting the look of the boat. I foundout it was originally red and white, and am planning on trying to match the original design. This is the first outboard I have worked on, and so far seems a breeze compared to a 120 hp I/O. I am slowly accumulating bits and pieces to fit her out on fleabay. I also ordered some bits and paint for the motor, as well as picked up an impeller, new coils, a tuneup kit, and a carb rebuild kit.

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

I got back to work tonight and finished removing the cap and front flotation pod. for some reason they made it out of galvanized steel, and as you can see it rusted thru in spots, so thats one more thing to replace. If I can I am going to try and drill out the rest of the rusted screws and swap the inner and outer rubrails, that will give me virgin oak that is already bent to the proper shape to use. then I can fill the rot voids in the inner rail with epoxy to make them structurally sound and the stained wood will never be seen.

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

So Much for a simple polish and paint
Before:

Now:

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

I got the rubrails off tonight. after removing all the screws and nails, I reversed them to see how it would look. I put the stained and rotten wood in the back (treated with get rot and epoxy encapsulated so it will rot no more) and the new/old wood to the outside. I think it will work great. I am going to power wash the hull again this weekend, and then get it all painted before re-installing the rubrail.

inner and outer reversed (you can see the stained old outer rail behind (it will be covered by the cap, and not seen.))

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Got her flipped over to work on some rough spots on her bottom and repair the keel crack/break. I used a piece of 3/8 aluminum rod epoxied in and extending infront and behind the broken area 3". Then I added a layer of filler epoxy, and finally epoxy fairing compound. It should be stronger than original and invisible once painted.
Before

After

Getting slightly closer to ready to paint!

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

The windshield saga:

The boat came sans windshield, so I have been on the lookout for one, as new ones From Taylor Marine are $400 plus shipping. Well I found one in wisconsin and bought it for $60, then spent $ 120 to get it here. Instead of it being 54" it was 60" which was too wide. I mulled it over for a couple of weeks,and decided to cut it in half and then use a center mullion to make up the difference. In a blonde moment, I ended up cutting too much out of the middle, and now am faced with having a windshield too narrow. I get the bright idea, of heating the plexiglass and making the 90 degree curve more of a 60 degree curve,thus givingme the correct wingtip width. So I gin up a heating fixture with a quartz infared chicken coop heater and a cobbled up plywood fixture. It workedpretty well, but I still got a small crack on one side. Here is the windshield, minus the trim, sitting on the bow top. My question: Does it still look too narrow?

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Started work on a little re-assembly and woodwork. I wanted to get the oak rubrails re-attached prior to painting, so the hull wouldn't flex so much and potentially pop the paint. In order to get them installed again, (remember I swapped the inside and outside rail sandwich to get good wood out due to the staining /encapsulated rot) I needed to sand and finish them first. So I broke out the spar urethane and gave them 4 coats and then drilled and re-attached them with stainless screws this time. I also started work on the seats, and it promptly split in half. After gluing it back togeather I sanded and started the multi layer coating. I am planning on at least 7 coats, as that seemed to give a nice thick finish on the Starchief. I also got the steering wheel painted/polished, and am planning on resin casting new starcraft emblems for the sides. I got the nicest logo I had, and mounted it to a piece of aluminum, and started to fill the irregularities.

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Banana, as far as lake anna, the jury is out on which boat to bring
Vegas, Here is the scoop on the casting.

Step one, mount your original to a flat surface and clean up it's flaws as best you can

Step two, build a mold box and pour in your silicone mold mix

Now you have a negative flexible mold

Mix up your urethane resin mix and pour it in the mold after spraying with mold release compound

Viola! A new Starcraft Logo! Ready to paint to match your color scheme.

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Merry Christmas to All!!

After opening presents, (I got a 14 Gallon Flow N Go Gas tank and pump from my wife) I got a chance to work on my boat a little. Started working on the dash, mounted the wheel and vintage speedo, Made a center for the steering wheel, and got the NOS Evinrude starter panel and it's starter switches mounted.

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Vegas & SBTOM,

Gret minds think alike, I used some plexiglass weld to stop the crack The steering wheel to some work,but luckily there were only a few minor cracks to fill.

I started work on the trailer. Seems the PO musta hit something with the rt wheel, as the wheel and torsion axle on that side sat 1-1/2" lower than the other side. I took it over to my friends house today, and we flipped the trailer over, and then manuvered the whole shebang into his hydraulic press, heated the stub, and re-aligned the axles. I shoulda gotten some pics as it was quite a sight. We also straightened a few other things out, and I removed all the roller hardware for rejuvination. I also got my birthday present (from SWIMBO) installed today. No more mini electric heaters in the garage

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Vegas,

Dont know if it was stock or custom, but it's a neat trailer for sure.

Ive been working on a couple things lately. went up to Chi Town last weekend to salvage a windshield off a 59 alum starcraft. Before and after pics of an afternoon of polishing with the novus system

after

I also found some nice rattle can epoxy no skid from this place : https://www.nonskidpaint.com/index.php
It went on really smooth and even, took 4 cans, turned out really nice and covered the old missing areas pretty well.

after