New to Boating, Allow me to introduce myself... and ask a million questions.

superwade57

Recruit
Joined
Sep 24, 2016
Messages
1
Hi Everyone!

My name is Wade. I live in South Central Wisconsin. I have three young kids. I have, and they have boated before, but I've never owned or solely operated a boat. I'm a mechanic by trade. I also do on site again and industrial tire repair, which is how I ended up here lol. I have a passion for all things old vintage and neat. while on a tire call a few months ago I spotted an old boat tucked away under a 3 sided south facing shed lean to. those of you in the north understand the importance and purpose of a South facing lean to. anyway, I looked over this boat, it's been sitting, for a while. since 2000 best I can tell. although dirty, it appears to be in pretty awesome original condition. i believe it's a 68 starcraft 14 ft mustang. fiberglass body, has a 40 hp evinrude lark x selectric motor. the shifter is lying In the boat. I know almost zero about boats and boating so please give me some pointers and tips. I picked this thing up for 200 bucks. has a mouse nest under the hood, interior looks in really good shape just dirty.gelcoat looks like new under the dust. how'd I do? what should I do first? what are some quirks of the motor and is it a good motor and good boat? I tried to add jpegs from my gallery but it keeps giving me errors
 
Last edited:

Baylinerchuck

Commander
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
2,726
Welcome!!! I think others have said on this forum that you need to have at least 3 posts prior to being able to add pics. Post a couple more times then add some pictures! We love us some pictures!!!
 

s.hadley81

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
245
Also there a sticky at the top of this section with a lot of great information about buying a boat you might wanna check it out.
 

drrnjnr

Seaman
Joined
Sep 11, 2016
Messages
55
Hiya Wade, I'm new too- I came here looking for information after a repower(a serious one:joyous:), I've been looking around this forum , and I must admit, It aint 'alf bad, very good infact. I love the restoration stuff, It's getting cold here in the Netherlands so I've stored my boat til May:grumpy:, summer/boating weather is about 6 months here, but the boating season is cut short by the brooding birds returning to the nature parks........anyhoo, welcome.

grts Dar.
 

tpenfield

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
17,620
Looks like you will want to go through the boat and motor and what works and what does not. Also a boat of that age may have some rot in the wood structure ( presumably the structure is wood ). Also, when the time comes to register the boat with the local authorities, what sort of paperwork do you have on the boat? Being from 1968, it probably did not have an original title, but may have been titled along the way. You will want to check all the paperwork aspects out before you invest time and effort into it.
 

sphelps

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 16, 2011
Messages
11,429
Welcome Aboard !
974649bdb456de9e2a575086d4c97cda.jpg
 

gm280

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
14,585
:welcome: aboard superwade57. Great you decided to join us here...

being how you mentioned you are a mechanic by trade, I wouldn't wait until spring to start doing any work on the engine. I'd get into it now. Make an engine stand, there are many ideas on these forums for that. Just pick one or design your own. Then remove the engine and set it on the engine stand to work on. That way you can get to everything without problems. And once you have it all worked out, you can even crank it up to see how it runs.

With the engine removed, you can look seriously at the transom. Being how old the boat is, you really need to inspect the hull very closely for rot. Rot usually starts on the bottom. So drill a few inspection holes about an inch into the transom from the inside at the lowest part you can get to, and see what comes out. If it is dry light colored wood, your good to go. Then all you have to do is mix up some epoxy and fill the inspection holes in. However if the drill shavings comes out dark colored and wet, you have to replace the transom, It is rotted and won't hold the engine trust anymore.

I would also buy the factory specific year, HP, model shop manual for your engine as soon as you can. There is no better how to manual then the shop manual from the manufacturer. Don't buy the after market manuals because they try to cover too many models and don't cover the real important things like the shop manuals do. JMHO
 
Top