1975 Starcraft Holiday 15 Bicentennial Project

[holidayboat]

New here on the forum. Thought I would share my progress and get some feedback on my project.

I was given this boat by a friend that who found it stowed in his grandfathers garage. We have no idea the last time it was started, let alone in the water, but overall seems to be in good shape. The last time it was registered was 1988 :faint2:. On the transom came a 1976 Mercury 650 3-cyl.

So far I have changed the trailer bearings, wheels and tires, run a compression test on the motor, tested the wiring, and tore out the interior.

My intentions before summer: strip, seal, paint, reinstall new floor & transom, revamp interior, overhaul lower-unit, perform all maintenance, install new control cables, and paint the trailer. Next winter I plan to overhaul the rest of the outboard.

I would like some thoughts on the renovation, should I keep it as close to original as possible, or do I take it my own direction? I really can't find too much info on these limited edition boats, I figure this is a good place to get some input.

Thank you! Please see pictures below,

-Charlie

My buddy Len happy we finally got the boat out of the garage

No cracked wires found!

My dad came by to watch me (unsuccessfully) start the merc for the first time in 26 years

Some of the permanent magnets in the starter that caused my starting problems. Only got 4 previous cranks for a compression test

Start of demolition

What a carpet, and yes, the fish finder still works

New steering wheel likely, control box in question

Bimini is still in great shape!

The home that likely housed every mouse in Ohio at some point in time

This is what 40 yo vinyl and glue does to ones hands

Carpet removed

This was the WORST job I have ever done :wacko:. This was literally full of mouse/ rat crap and urine. We couldn't breathe. At one point the shop-vac clogged up and i was fist deep in this brown, Styrofoam, death-smelling, SOUP. Really happy that is over...

Just about to leave work and grab some lumber to make a stand, aircraft stripper and painting supplies. Let me know what you think!

 

[classiccat]

Welcome to the Starmada ct3 :welcome: dues are paid in full with that # of pics.

That hull is in awesome shape! shiny aluminum under the rodent toilet bowl is a very good sign. I see no previous owner hackage. This is a great candidate for restoration. You may even be able to get away keeping the same paint/finish...just a little clean & polish. :thumb:

 

[Watermann]

Welcome aboard, cute little Holly you got there :thumb:

 

[Tnstratofam]

:welcome: To the Starmada. Nice job on the tear down so far, and lots of pictures which will keep the mob at bay. Other than the mouse mess looks like you have a very original craft. You can restore her back to original pretty easy having her start out so complete. Or you can go totally wild and make her unique to your taste. That's the beauty of old boats they have their own character, but you can add a little flare and make them one of a kind customs.

 

[holidayboat]

Thanks for the welcome! Really happy I have the chance to get her back in shape. That said, I have considered waiting on refinishing the hull, but I am somewhat happy to hear someone else's thoughts. I have removed everything top-side however since the paint on the bow and gunwales have seen much better days. But, this makes it easier to polish and wax!

Instead of stripper, I bought some heavy duty aluminum safe decreaser to rid her of what I couldn't get out with the power washer, today. New starter comes in tomorrow for a test, and i plan to get her spic and span for paint.

As far as keeping her original, I'll keep the same theme, but likely take some liberties with the details. We'll see, haven't really made any serious plans yet!

 

[Alumarine]

Welcome, nice boat!
Great pics.

 

[Watermann]

A few words of wisdom for the old motor. Since it's been so long since that motor ran, be sure to remove the spark plugs and fog the cylinders with fogging oil. Also that impeller in the water pump will disintegrate as soon as the motor fires and fill the cooling system with it's chunks. Check the wiring harness over carefully too, some of the wires may have lost their sheathing.

 

[holidayboat]

Marc, thank you! I just got the S7 and its camera really lived up to its reputation!

Watermann, that was the plan. Before even turning the flywheel by hand I sprayed some deep creep into the cylinders enough to coat the top of the pistons to prevent the rings from sticking, I will fog it now that you suggest it. I take it you would advise overhauling the lower first then? Or can potential fragments be easily removed when I remove the engine covers and disconnect the powerhead? On the wiring, I have noticed one of the key switch wires on the solenoid has split but I have temporarily mended it to prevent a short. I will also check the rest just to be sure. I will likely replace all wiring since the reliability of this motor will suffer greatly.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Watermann]

I would expect a water pump kit here at iboats would be around 40 bucks and you'll need one for sure. I imagine the carbs will need to be taken apart and cleaned too if they were left full of pre-mix.

 

[coostv]

Nice looking boat to start with!

 

[oldhaven]

Quite a time capsule you have there. Should be a lot of fun. Just the pictures of that foam kicked off a few neurons and gave me smell memories of mine when I got the decks up.

Ron

 

[Patfromny]

I would do as waterman suggested and don't go light on the oil in the cylinders. When you are ready to go, kick the motor over several times without the plugs to make sure all oil is out of the cylinders so you won't hydraulic the motor. Water pump before start for sure.

 

[holidayboat]

Got it. I'll wait to start until I can get the water pump. This will allow me to properly take care of the carbs before hand.

 

[will w.]

You have a great hull to start with. The exterior paint and interior aluminum look very sound, minimal to no corrosion on that hull. Nice find!

 

[Patfromny]

It really is a nice looking boat. I'm digging the red,white, and blue. Don't know if I'd keep the carpetbut I might keep it original when it came to paint. Your choice though. That's the fun part. Over do the structure and flotation. Make it safe. Then when it comes to cosmetics, interior arrangements, and colors you can make it your own. I would keep that special edition emblem too. I would bet everyone here that has altered there boats would like to have that emblem. Good luck and keep the pics coming.

 

[jbcurt00]

I'd like to see a better pix of that limited edition model sticker from the passenger dash. When I enlarge the posted pix, its not clear what the top left circle and star area says.

And absolutely keep it intact or plan to have it recreated by a local vinyl shop.

Great work on the tear down.

 

[Patfromny]

Google bicentennial star jb. I'm sure it can be replaced with one of Woods "Iboats good" symbols. Would be a cool sticker for you startcraft guys

 

[holidayboat]

Hey everybody, sorry for the wait. I have been busy between trying to get her together for a fishing trip at the end of May, and trying to keep up with everything else.

As for the update; the deck is fully stripped, old holes filled and sanded, foam is beginning to get installed in the floor, the floor boards (3/4" ACX) have been cut and sealed with epoxy, and the crossbrace/ console has been sanded, epoxied, covered with new vinyl, and installed. The OB has been cleaned, had its carbs rebuilt, seal kit and impeller installed in the lower, wiring harness rebuilt, new plugs and wires installed, and test run with success. Unfortunately, I had a misfire which turned out to be a bad coil that was arcing through its casing to the coil bracket. I have a new one in the mail. After all these years that thing ran good! And aside from the occasional misfire, I was able to dial in some idle adjustments and got it running like a clock.

Next up, painting the deck, covering the interior side panels, installing the floor, reinstalling the interior, installing the OB and power lift I purchased to install to replace the shocks, and then spraying the trailer.

Lastly, a couple questions. There is a lot of aluminum trim, and I want to do a good job, but I don't want to spend a week cleaning it all. Right now i am figuring on getting polishing compound and running everything through a polishing wheel. Besides that, I haven't really looked into an efficient cleaning operation yet. Hopefully someone on here has experience in the matter. Second, when I reinstalled the lower on the OB everything went smoothly, with the exception of temporarily losing some fasteners. BUT when it was all assembled, I checked the play in the propeller shaft and found that the propeller shaft is able to be pushed in about 3/16" just to spring back outward. I spent time trying to understand how this could happen, and since the propeller shafts free play is taken up by the clutch pin spring, this is resistance I feel pushing it in. When in reverse gear, the propeller shaft can no longer be pushed in, which is probably the clutch cross pin that was pushed all the way towards the propeller by the shift shaft cam, holding the prop shaft all the way out. In forward, the propeller can still be pushed in. I checked the reverse gear backlash and it is good. I am scratching my head and cannot find any information on whether this is normal or not. My intuition tells me it isn't right since the forward end of the prop shaft (shift cam end) is all that is supporting forward thrust. Or am i wrong?

Anyways, some progress pictures below.

Old wiring harness marked up to be disassembled and copied

Crossbrace sanded just about to be epoxied

Transom sealed up

Stripping the stern

Cleaning up

Finishing paint removal

Paint removed, time to fill holes

Close up for holes being filled with marine-tex, had to get inside and press in aluminum tabs to back the epoxy

Testing floor board fitment

Foam beginning to be installed

Sealing floor boards

Lower unit off

Topside of lower after it was removed

Inside of gear housing looking at forward gear

Seals installed in bearing carrier waiting to be installed with the propeller shaft

Topside lower seals removed

How the impeller looked after sitting for ~20 years

Thanks for looking everybody! Until next time, cheers

 

[Watermann]

I see all the pics, everything is coming along great! You'll be on the water in no time. Nice work you've done on the ole gal :thumb:

On the AL trim, I use a deoxidizer like JVV's best which will turn the AL white it's so clean and from there it'll be easy to either paint it or polish it with the oxidization removed.

Not sure about the LU issue, you may have to post up your issue in the merc forum.

 

[holidayboat]

Thank you Waterman! I will take a look at the cleaner you suggested, looks like it is pretty easy to use. I'm going to send some information that way and see if i can get any bites. Really hoping that it isn't anything serious!

Jb, from my end I can see all the pics as well. Maybe an ad-blocker or someother plug-in is blocking the links from imgur?