I've been reading the posts for awhile, and joined today. I should have done this sooner! I have had a few boats (14' very narrow aluminum fishing boat), and an old 18' Plywood Skeecraft boat which would require more work and time than I have available to put into it. My dad had a 1964 18'Thompson Wood Lapstrake boat that I grew up with, but it deteriorated and was not cost effective to repair. I decided I wanted something that if I fixed up would last awhile, so I started looking for an Aluminum boat that needed an outboard which I would transplant from the Skeecraft. The outboard is a 1961? 80 Mercury Kiekhaefer (I think, I need to pull out my paperwork). In Nov 08 I found a locally owned Starcraft on CL, but I thought the owner was asking too much and he didn't accept my offer after I looked at it.
In July 09 I contacted him to see if he ever sold it, but he still had it. I picked it up a week later and paid $400 for the boat and trailer (1967 Dorsett trailer with rollers). I had already measured it and knew it would fit in the garage. Cleaned out what I could, started tearing it apart as the wood floor was falling apart. Flotation foam was all waterlogged, tossed everything but kept a few things sample pieces. Cleaned out all the debris left behind under the floor. Found a few places where there were leaks around some of the rivets. Winter arrived and in order to get at least one car in the garage, the project went on hold.
2010 didn't bring much free time for me, but here is what I have done this year. Replaced a missing hull rivet with a matching one, Removed and replaced the trailer wheel bearings. New tires, New trailer winch, replaced trailer lights. Decided I wanted to put it in the water so I could mark the inside of the hull with a marker where the leaks were coming through the rivets. Purchased anchor rope and dock lines, a couple of life vests, flotation cushion, fire extinguisher, and anything else that was listed as "required" for a 16' boat. Installed a bilge pump, cut some plywood for a temporary floor to mount a Marine Deep Cycle battery to, put the electric trolling motor on and headed to a small lake nearby. That was Nov 9th and it was about 70 degrees that day. Since then I ordered some gluvit, some rivets, and have a few more things on the list to order. A cold garage may put me on hold this winter unless I figure out something different. Probably won't strip it down to bare metal or paint the outside, might have to do something with the little bit of paint that is on the inside and on the consoles. I plan on using this more for the family than for fishing, but would like to have some features you might find in a fishing boat if possible. I'll add some pictures. Thanks to everyone so far for posting what you have, this is a great site, and has been very helpful so far.
In July 09 I contacted him to see if he ever sold it, but he still had it. I picked it up a week later and paid $400 for the boat and trailer (1967 Dorsett trailer with rollers). I had already measured it and knew it would fit in the garage. Cleaned out what I could, started tearing it apart as the wood floor was falling apart. Flotation foam was all waterlogged, tossed everything but kept a few things sample pieces. Cleaned out all the debris left behind under the floor. Found a few places where there were leaks around some of the rivets. Winter arrived and in order to get at least one car in the garage, the project went on hold.
2010 didn't bring much free time for me, but here is what I have done this year. Replaced a missing hull rivet with a matching one, Removed and replaced the trailer wheel bearings. New tires, New trailer winch, replaced trailer lights. Decided I wanted to put it in the water so I could mark the inside of the hull with a marker where the leaks were coming through the rivets. Purchased anchor rope and dock lines, a couple of life vests, flotation cushion, fire extinguisher, and anything else that was listed as "required" for a 16' boat. Installed a bilge pump, cut some plywood for a temporary floor to mount a Marine Deep Cycle battery to, put the electric trolling motor on and headed to a small lake nearby. That was Nov 9th and it was about 70 degrees that day. Since then I ordered some gluvit, some rivets, and have a few more things on the list to order. A cold garage may put me on hold this winter unless I figure out something different. Probably won't strip it down to bare metal or paint the outside, might have to do something with the little bit of paint that is on the inside and on the consoles. I plan on using this more for the family than for fishing, but would like to have some features you might find in a fishing boat if possible. I'll add some pictures. Thanks to everyone so far for posting what you have, this is a great site, and has been very helpful so far.
