Re:New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

[holiday68]

Re:New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Paid $800. for boat 5/5/09. Re-lit trailer and have $145 worth new rollers, shafts and brackets for trailer arriving today. Was hoping word back from cert. Mercruiser repair shop wouldn't be as bad as I got. Guess I jumped the gun talking about Bim tops cause I just spoke w/ Marina and they're saying it needs alot of work;gimbal bearing, bellows, lower shift cable, rebuilt carb., exhaust manifold ($560 part alone from Merc., mech. mentioned Osco as other after market source) some trim work,and elbow that Merc. no longer makes, thats just to get it running and he said it could be more after - no way of telling!? I know Marinas don't like working on these older I/Os because there are no guarantees, and it can be like pulling a yarn on a sweater. He said maybe $ 1200 to see if you have a boat that will keep running or not. As of now I owe $345 on assessing / repair and am going to pick the boat up and put it back in the driveway and re-group. He told of other shop that has mech. who is more amenable to working on older outdrives but am not sure what to do at this point other than try not to cry. I am discouraged but have not given up yet. Have any of you Starcraft owners had similar travails? Mech. said he'd walk away form it which I'm hoping (kinda determined) I won't have to do. I like this boat and want to fix it, though I don't want to keep pouring money into it for naught.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

You can fix this boat for 2 grand and know what you have and where your at with it or you could go and buy something like it but a bit newer that's "ready to hit the water & turn key " for 4 grand only to need to replace those same consumables you mentioned.
I haven't seen your boat and maybe its really nice in other ways but I would say you overpaid for the hull, should have been more like $400 but who knows.

I hope it works out for you, do you have any mechanical inclinations or not really ? Most those parts you mentioned are reasonable to purchase, save for that manifold.

 

[holiday68]

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Thanks for your response. I may have overpaid, didn't think so at the time, but now I wonder. I did place call to seller just to apprise him in a civil manner that his Craig's List representation "boat runs well - needs upholstery" was knowingly or unknowingly way off. Have not heard back but will follow up. What you said does make sense about turnkey boats etc. I am somewhat mechanically inclined and plan on taking this through completion one way or another. A friend's friend is an aircraft mechanic and has really knows his stuff so I am trying to get him to spend some time with me on this once the dust setles form him getting his boats squared away. I think in meantime I will buy the SELOC manual and start reading on this up a bit and find out what specialty tools are required etc.

 

[Bondo]

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

I am somewhat mechanically inclined and plan on taking this through completion one way or another.

Ayuh,.. You'll be an Ace Mechanic by the time you're done....

I think in meantime I will buy the SELOC manual and start reading on this up a bit

Don't bother,.. It's barely worth the paper it's printed on,...
Besides,... The Merc factory manuals are up in the Adults Only section,...
Download what you need,.... For Free....

 

[TonyJ124]

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Do it yourself!! Read the manual(s), and read as much as you can (use the search function on here). Spend some time planning and set small goals, spend your money on tools (not someone else's labor) and you will be boating in no time.

Remember its just a boat!

 

[JustJason]

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

I have that same power package, and I can tell you its not going to be easy to work with. Most every part for it is NLA.

 

[deerslayer303]

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

That a cool looking boat, Sounds like to me its just a bunch of normal wear and tear / consumable stuff that needs to be replaced to me. I wouldn't be scared of it, I would give it my very best effort. Heck I have a boat that EVERY PART on it is NLA. Worse comes to worse look around for an older late 70's early 80's fiberglass boat that the hull is shot and get the power train. Good Luck keep us posted,

 

[APPALOOSA2]

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Holiday start as Bondo said download the factory manual at the top of this section.

I would start with a compression test and see where the cylinders are at 140 is new.

Then procede from there. This is a easy engine to work on in a Starcraft. Heck you can have that engine out of that hull in 1.5 hrs and make it very easy to work on.

 

[holiday68]

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Thanks All. Good advise all around I'm sure. Towed her back from marina to re-group. Spent $343 for parts/labor for new points,water pump, and negative assessment. Have called a few other places most with unenthusiastic responses. They really don't like working on 41 y.o boats. What's the big deal?Will start with trailer and get it squared away. Downloaded Manual as suggested. Going to try and get second opinion from aforementioned aircraft mech. and take it from there. Ayuh.. I'll be an Ace mechanic before I'm done. Will keep you posted.

 

[tmp194972i]

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser

I had a similar experience with a 65 Holiday with a 110 which is even worse than what you have. Didn't know a thing about these things but wanted a boat project and boy did I get one. Best thing is to look at it as a long term project and learn to work on it yourself. Mine is now up and running and running nicely now after much sweat, little blood other than a few barked knuckles, but no tears. Did the work in spare time but took my time so as not to get too frustrated. The process went like this:

Outdrive 1A R drive was shot and 110 hp engine on last legs. Solution, bought a 1969 120 hp and MC 120 outdrive for $500. Both worked great. Then a little later I noticed old parts boat (1974 Jenson) and trailer that the Red Cross could not get rid of so they sold it to me for $50. I drug it home and gutted it for the pieces and parts (trim pump, rams, wireing harnesses, tilt/trim controller and wireing, transom plate, gimbal housing, bell housing, shifter, cables, cleats/stainless hardware etc.) Made the trailer into a utility trailer and dumped the hull at the dump for $50. Then the next summer I gutted the hull of all its running gear and put the 74 gimbal and trim system in the boat after cleaning up thouroughly and replacing the gimbal bearing, bellows etc. New lower shift cable was in order so did that too.

Thus, now have a great running upgraded system the works reliably and one I know pretty well. Ran into lots of little compatiblity problems along the way but had good support from a local repair shop who has lots of left over old parts that he was willing to sell or trade as well as give guidance when needed. One final benefit is I now have lots of knoweledge of what makes the thing tick as well as extra parts left over so when stuff goes down many times there are free spares. About the only thing I did not work on much was the engine and outdrive.

Aluminum Starcrafts are nice boats that cruise well and are alot lighter than glass boats. Cuts through the water nice, has plenty of power and is real good on fuel. The final point is that there is lots of old stuff out there just sitting around. If you keep your eyes open, you just might get her up and running without too much expense. I think I have about $2500 in mine by now but that is over about 4 years. Now its on to the cosmetics. However, the good thing is it is usable now while I get around to the niceities.

Anyway good luck.