1974 Starcraft SS "Restoration"

[j-arnold.5]

That pvc/carpet thing sits in the center of the boat underneath the hatch in the floor and makes for a great place to store 6 rods. Unfortunately I didn't manage to take a picture of the inside of the rod locker after installation...

 

[j-arnold.5]

On we go:

 

[j-arnold.5]

The white plastic looking stuff lining the inside of the storage boxes was leftover from when my grandpa redid the walls in his car wash. I figure it should hold up nice and it looks better than epoxied wood and in my mind it beat having to paint everything. All of the seams were later sealed with whatever that white 3M caulk stuff is that everybody on here loves (the name is currently escaping me). It was more for looks than anything. The bottom of the storage boxes was also lined with the white plastic stuff and sloped so that water would run out.

You can also see where my CD player will eventually go in (kind of at your feet underneath the steering console).

 

[astor]

nice! I like the floor and the rod holders

 

[j-arnold.5]

And then it was trailer time. I ended up replaced the axle with one I bought online (some assembly required) because I was pulling the boat 18 hours or so up into Canada and didn't want to mess around. Hubs and wheels and tires were new as well. I stripped the trailer as much as I could, then primed with Rusto heavy rust primer before using a finish coat of Rusto truck bed liner. I'm pumped about how the trailer turned out, and it's held up great thus far.

 

[j-arnold.5]

The only other thing I did with the trailer was beef up the license plate attachment so that my plate didn't end up a total piece of junk. Also note the LED lights and all new wiring. Definitely worth the hassle of not having to worry about crappy, cracked wiring shorting out at the dock.

I'm down to just the finished (but really, it'll never be finished) product pictures. I'll throw those up tomorrow.

 

[Chad Flaugher]

Awesome build! I like the customized aspect of it most of all. Putting a Mopar engine in a Ford truck would warrant serious harassment, but building YOUR boat inside an empty shell reflects ingenuity. Good job, I can't wait to see the final pictures! hoto:

 

[Tnstratofam]

I agree very nice build. I want to do a below deck rod storage similar to what you've got. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

 

[j-arnold.5]

And to finish it out:

 

[j-arnold.5]

More from the interior:

 

[j-arnold.5]

I was able to buy the front 2 hatches, the back 2 hatches with liners, the little hatch up front, and a bunch of wiring/switches/random boat items from a guy on craigslist for $100. The middle hatch in the back is an old aluminum gas tank. I was going to make that into a livewell, and then I snagged the 2 hatches for the back off of craigslist so I converted one of those instead. The other plastic liner in the back has a drain and could easily be turned into another livewell if I ever decide I want to. The middle hatch and container in the back of the boat comes out so I can refuel and pull out my batteries etc.

The current battery setup consists of a small battery in the back which starts the motor and runs the fishfinder, and a large battery in the front compartment for everything else. There's room for another battery up front if I ever end up with an electric trolling motor. Everything is run through switches on the dash and then through fuse boxes in the front battery compartment.

Currently I have a bilge pump (automatic), livewell pump, livewell aerator, horn, exterior legal lights, two led lights up front, 1 led light in the back, an led map light by the keyswitch, and a fishfinder. I might run a stereo setup before spring, or I might not.

 

[j-arnold.5]

It lights up like a Christmas tree!

 

[j-arnold.5]

Some action shots from Canada in August:

 

[j-arnold.5]

As for the to do list:

Stereo

Some sort of something to hold the rod locker hatch open when I'm putting rods away

I'm not real satisfied with the battery compartment lid, so I'll mess with that

I need to mess with the livewell fill pump, it tends to suck air (I think I have it figured out, I just need to fix it)

Rod holders (I'm really thinking this out as I don't want to drill a bunch of holes twice)

It's obvious that I like to dress up like an idiot and wear wolf t-shirts, so some sort of wolf decal is a possibility. I can't decide if I think the boat is too plain or just right.

Further down the line I'll probably strap on a bigger motor and put the 9.9 off to the side. I started with the 9.9 because legally it's all I can use at a lot of the places I like to fish.

A nice bow mount trolling motor, but I'm too cheap to want to spend $$$ on that right now.

And then whatever gets added to the list when I get on the water this spring and start thinking of things I should have done...

 

[j-arnold.5]

If anybody has any questions or wants to see other pictures of something on the boat let me know and I'll see what I can do!

 

[Tnstratofam]

She turned out great. I really like how you have all that storage space. Nice layout with the casting deck in the front. All in all I'd say you did a great job.:thumb:

 

[j-arnold.5]

Oh, and a windshield for the console. At this point it's hardly necessary with a monstrous 9.9 pushing the boat, but down the road I think it would be nice and it might even up the looks of the boat as well.

 

[Chad Flaugher]

Kudos to you man! You dun did good! Real clean organized look, just the way I like it! I just ordered the parts for my build, and seeing this really gets me excited!

 

[dozerII]

Very nice job, love all the storage.

 

[jbcurt00]

Nice work, would have made a good addition to the SOTY this year.

Congrats on getting it back on the water

Thanks for posting the process and finished boat