Hello to all! I'm the new guy on the "water" and have a couple (lots!) of questions. Bought a 16 ft. 1973 Starcraft SuperSport with a 85hp Johnson 50th Anniversary OB, sitting on the original trailer, last weekend. Had been sitting for about 5 years with a worn tarp cover. Needless to say my wife and I spent two days just cleaning the leaves and such out of the boat and hand washing everything. The hull is in great shape with only one small scratch/dent on the starboard bow that is easily fixed along with the normal paint chipping. Glass is all clear with no cracks and the aluminum trim is all there and in nice shape albeit with the usual scratches and such. Original lights and steering wheel are undamaged although the steering wheel is "faded". Took the boat to our local Johnson guru yesterday and he was quite pleased with what he saw and indicated he could bring the engine back to life. Needs new control cables.
I plan to take out all the flooring and replace with marine plywood. What is the best method to remove this plywood and are there patterns available to cut the replacement ply? Do I drill out each pop rivet to remove the ply and then add new pop rivets a bit off to one side of the original mounting holes? Plan to add marine type carpet to the floor and front inside bow area so need information on what to get and where. I'd like to add a pedestal seat option to the bow floor and behind the main seats for fishing (Lake Michigan/Traverse City area lakes) so would appreciate comments on the best way to do this. All in all, we would like to restore and repaint this boat to enjoy some pleasure rides and fishing with the grandchildren so I'm open to whatever leads and help I can obtain to see this project done right.
The other thing I've considered is getting a new trailer verses overhauling/painting the original. There's not much room between the bow and the back of my V6 Ranger when the trailer is hooked up. Not a real problem for me (former LNG tanker long haul driver) but it could be for my wife. What are your ideas?
In short, this is new to me as I've not owned a powered watercraft of this type before, though I did have a 10ft. Jon boat with a trolling motor some time back LOL. All comments, leads for parts and restoration assistance will be appreciated. Thanks for your patience in reading this and for your help.
Safe boating,
Joe
I plan to take out all the flooring and replace with marine plywood. What is the best method to remove this plywood and are there patterns available to cut the replacement ply? Do I drill out each pop rivet to remove the ply and then add new pop rivets a bit off to one side of the original mounting holes? Plan to add marine type carpet to the floor and front inside bow area so need information on what to get and where. I'd like to add a pedestal seat option to the bow floor and behind the main seats for fishing (Lake Michigan/Traverse City area lakes) so would appreciate comments on the best way to do this. All in all, we would like to restore and repaint this boat to enjoy some pleasure rides and fishing with the grandchildren so I'm open to whatever leads and help I can obtain to see this project done right.
The other thing I've considered is getting a new trailer verses overhauling/painting the original. There's not much room between the bow and the back of my V6 Ranger when the trailer is hooked up. Not a real problem for me (former LNG tanker long haul driver) but it could be for my wife. What are your ideas?
In short, this is new to me as I've not owned a powered watercraft of this type before, though I did have a 10ft. Jon boat with a trolling motor some time back LOL. All comments, leads for parts and restoration assistance will be appreciated. Thanks for your patience in reading this and for your help.
Safe boating,
Joe
