So here's the story. My girl and I come back from vacation in the Adirondacks where my buddy has a nice little 14ft Duracraft with a 25hp Evinrude. Nice little boat had ablast and got the boating bug again. We talk about finding alittle 14 - 16 footer. 2 weeks after vaca she spots one on her way home from work. We check it out and pay $600 for boat, trailer and motor. A little research later it's a 1966 Mustang. Came with an 81 johnny 35hp. Did the usual stuff got it running like a top. This is where it gets interesting. At time of purchased noted that the floor was a little soggy. No biggy until a couple weeks later. I pulled the floor out and found the original glass floor. Started poking around. It was completely disentegrated. It was worse than wet cardboard. The stringers used to have wood but now it's compost. The short and the long of it is I learned alot more about outboards then I knew before that's a plus. I now have a lot of vintage parts in good shape. I was going to do a complete resto but I don't have a place to do it. Way to much glass work. I decide to start looking for a replacement in Aluminum ( the original thought ) I found a 1966 14ft Falcon in Mass. The guy went to FLA for the winter and won't be back until it thaws out. I found a 1974 16ft Holiday with an 1986 85hp Force (Triple cyl) paid $450 for the lot. Guy was honest it si what it is. I will be sanding and painting at some point and redo the interior. The wife does custom interiors for private jets. I'll post pics of both boats this weekend when I have sunlight. As for the parts I will post pics and put them on CL.
This forum is great I have gotten alot of great info from it.
Had to learn the hard way ??? Starcrafts are sweet little boats and soooo much easier to work on! You're right, There is a lot of great info on this site and these guy's are the best with lots of helpful info, But don't forget what Kev Said: Got to have pics (we can't let just anybody in...well almost)
__________________
Starcraft; won't rust,bust or collect dust
http://picasaweb.google.com/AmigoAzul71/Starcrafts?authkey=Gv1sRgCLq14oHuyIKL3QE&feat=dire ctlink]Well here' s some pics I took after work. The green one is the 1966 14ft Mustang gutted. Buy the trailer get a free ready to resto glass hull . The red one with the bad paint job is the new one. 1974 16 ft. Holiday. I can't wait to get this thing on the water. I think she'll go pretty good with the 85 Force. Motor runs great I'll winterize it this weekend and start gutting the boat and cover her up. Look forward to tips and ideas from the forum members. My plan is a full factory resto with a couple of extras. Should be a good time and also great spousal avoidance.. I thingk she'll do 35 to 40 mph. I had a 2000 21ft. Trophy brand new with a Merc 125 Saltwater that did 45 WOT and trimmed out. I went the opposite way I went smaller and I like it that way. This boat is going to be towed to The ADK's alot and only weighs maybe 1400lbs loaded. Trophy was over 5000lbs loaded.
Thanks guys and look forward to the future.
PS. We should get together a NE tinstock. That's a good idea a previous poster had. Kainon I believe. I 'll do the whole progress thing too.