22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

Well guys, here starts the restore of AndySkys 22'3" 1984 starcraft mariner cc. This boat is huge, actually bigger than my best friends 23 cc mako that we take shark fishing 40 miles offshore. The boat has been ghetto rigged with cajun persuasion beyond belief, and it is my task to undo this and start this hull from scratch. As many of you know, this hull has been super epoxied to death, probably in an effort to stop galvanic corrosion from the steel/cheap stainless steel nuts and bolts used to repair this hull. Let me begin this restoration by stating ALUMINUM RIVETS for an ALUMINUM BOAT!! Even the best stainless steel/ aluminum fix will lead to corrrosion over time, whether it be sooner or later. I dont care who says what, aluminum is to be paired with only aluminum, and preferably rivets, as they are a much better waterproofing seal than people think.

In any case, this boat doesn't have much of anything on it that won't be rebuilt. I want it to be perfect, and accomadate long trips, multiple people, and big catches of fish(god willing).

I will post pictures of almost all steps of this rebuild, as well as video's. I'll also try to show some neat little undiscussed fix up tips that most people other than me either wouldn't nit pick or not mention. Lots of help will be asked for from everyone on this forum, because you guys have much more wisdom than i do. Without Iboats and its patrons this restore would not be posssible ( my dad says scrap that heavy hunk of sh**)

The hardest part,which was the driving, is already over with this restore...I hate driving long distance more than anything , so I'm gonna get right into it tomorrow evening after Gmoms 90th birthday party. The epoxied areas will be spot glass blasted and pics/video will be posted of before/during/after. There is much anticipation to see just whats under all this epoxy, so hopefully Monday will be blast day and everything should already be set up to go. Pics will be up tomorrow of pre-restoration.

I was going to list everything to be fixed, but its just too much, and new stuff will come up as I go..Theres still two ports in the bottom front of the boat that I don't even know what are for, so I'm in for tons of surprises.

Before I go for the night, Andy mentioned the PO stated with a 200 hp it hit 70 + mph. The boats rated up to 240 hp, but I'm thinking thats why there is all this epoxy in the first place. After looking at an 18 ft mr with a 90 horse that hit 46 supposedly, I'm thinking 70 + is correct and have this urge to slap a 240 on it just to see what happens..who wouldnt want a fishing boat that can go offshore 80 mph on a clear glass day with no swells!! But my smarter half of my brain says go with something like a 175 to be easy on the hull..but it would be nice just to know.

Girlfriends yelling at me to give her attention, talk to you guys tommorrow, goodnight. P.S. I think it would be nice if iboats sent me just a small sticker saying iboats.com to put under my boats name after the restore is all done(if they approve of my work) to boast there website and for people to find my boats restore.

sponsorship, hint hint jk

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

Sweet, after watching the other thread I'm glad it's finally made its way home and not to the scrap heap.

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHvP...DvjVQa1PpcFMXsh2gADRKnWsG82O3F9OPjHdWFZf9B-4=

Everything should be lined up for tomorrow, I'm gonna get to the bottom of these mysterious epoxy patches

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

One of my ex-BILs thought he was doing a good job when he went around the house with a caulk gun and caulked around the glass of every window to reseal them instead of making the proper repair of reglazing. Perhaps a PO had the same thought process with the epoxy.

The things on the front sides of the hull look like through fitting for livewell drains that have been capped.

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

I'm glad to see that big girl found a home. There is probably a wooden backing at places in the gunwales for mounting cleats and other hardware. Good luck with your project, I'm going to subscribe and follow your thread.

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

You're not kidding about big, Doug. She is huge! I think you are going to really enjoy the splash and enjoy the Mariner for years.

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

Man,..............Yous could square dance in that thing!!!,.........

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

Hey guys thanks for keeping up!! Teamster, I'm thinking on splash day a bunch of girls and a bunch of music, it might not be square dancing but it'll be some kinda gettin down!!

In any case guys, I can't blast till wednesday because our compressor's being used in Baltimore, so I decided to start on the floor. I removed the steering cable and wiring(trash) from the center console, seperated the livewell(doubled as center consoles forward seat) from the center console, and began ripping up the aluminum floors. Luckily everything came up easy for me. The only issue was 92 degree weather, that aluminum got HOT. After the floors were up I made a scrap pile and started working on the 14 foot starcraft's bottom side. I still have some painting and little things to do on my first baby before opening day of flounder.

I got back to the big boy around 5:30 and used a flat shovel to start digging up the spray in foam. The bottom 4 inches were soaking wet, but to my liking there was no pitting whatsoever underneath. I only got about a fifth of the way done and decided to put everything away for the night.

Ill post pics and video tomorrow, and show how I'm removing the foam, etc. The gas tank is a 60 gallon and I'm undecided whether I want to remove it to flush it or just do everything with it in there. I'm definately gonna do an air test on it though. Splash well is gonna stay in for now until all the foam is up, and then I'll remove the splashwell and put that with the livewell to get cleaned up.

I was looking at the gunnels today, I was really hoping to replace the top sheet metal AND the plywood underneath it(thanks lmuss), but man does it look like a lot of work, a lot of rivets, etc. I still think I'm gonna do it, but it should be a big hassle.

Thinking of also making a boat dolley/stand, but I'll have to do some research first to see how i wanna make it. On this restore, I'm keeping all reciepts just to show you guys how much it costs me to get this thing back on the water, whether it be sandpaper, gloves, or a 200 horse engine, everything will be accounted for.

Have a good night everybody

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

A 250 Tiller would be cool,...............

Yous would really have room for the dancing girls then!!,....

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQI_...DvjVQa1PpcFMXsh2gADRKnWsG82O3F9OPjHdWFZf9B-4=

Just got inside and most of the foam is finally out!! I ended up backing my boat up to the work dumpster and almost filled the entire thing with foam. Took about four hours total using a small flat garden shovel. The water in the foam actually aided in clean removal. I put together a video at the beginning of the day and will post another one tomorrow showing the work I just finished.

Some neat finds today, no pitting anywhere!! Also, the rivet fixes by PO were stainless steel self tapping screws, removal shouldn't be that bad. Almost half the stringer rivets are loose, so this is cause for concern... just means more rivets to fix, no big deal.

One thing i completely disagree with starcraft doing was lack of support for their stringer systems.( either that or PO removed them and was too bothered to reinstall) Staracraft relied on their foam system to support the stringers vertically, but yet didn't completely fill the middle of the boat with foam. Basically, rivets along the bottom of the boat were the only real support keeping the stringers in line. You cant even lean on the stringers without putting severe stress on the entire thing, and when you do, some rivets can be seen moving. Not only will i fit my foam tighter to reduce flex of the stringers, I am also going to use solid aluminum braces to keep stringers braced correctly.

I was inspecting the outside hull tonight, and I'm guessing the PO moved the livewell pump and drain from the bottom of the boat to the back, next to the plug hole. Would there be any other reason for two fittings to be near the boat plug hole? I also noticed two bilge pump holes, so I'm guessing its recommended to run a backup bilge.

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

It is so cool that I'm able to follow this project! This is really cool. Keep it up, your motivating me to keep moving on my own project!

Doug, your guess for where the PO placed the batteries is correct.

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

I wouldn't cut the "beams" you referenced in your video,...

On most aluminum boats with ribs (should those be called ribs??) like those there should be a water way under them, Yours are probably just full of "stuff",...........That's my best guess anyway,...

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

Dougy - the foam is not structural at all, simply flotation. Stringer support is by riveting to the rib and then riveted/screwed to the flooring. The stringer is floppy until the floor is fastened. There is no need for additional bracing. As far as the stringer rivets being loose there is no need to replace loose ones, just re-rivet any that are missing. Those rivets are internal to the hull and won't cause or add to leaking.

DO NOT CUT The RIBS! Each rib has a limber hole or drain formed at the keel so water runs from the bow rearward to the bilge pump area. Wait until you get the hull empty of all the years of trash and muck - then you'll see them. I guarantee the limbers are all plugged now. Pressure washing cleans them out well and helps finish the foam removal. You will probably be pressure washing 3 or 4 times.

I would run two bilge pumps, one switch controlled and one with an automatic float switch. My tinny from the SC factory had NONE. It now has two, one with a float switch.

Keep it up. She will look a lot better when the inside of the hull is clean.

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

I forgot to say ^^^^ it looks like your live well guess is right. When I saw the white corrugated hose running fore and aft I thought "Bingo". I wonder why he moved the fill/drain from the center to the stern. Maybe he thought the water pick-up is better at the rear. He only need to move the fill line, but who knows.

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Hey...that's my hull! Good luck. You pourr in foam pic brings back many bad memories for me! LOL

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

I also run two bilge pumps like GA Boater,....

Though I also have a switch on the pump with the float switch, I don't want the float switch turning the pump on and off while going down the road on the trailer,.........

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Just stopping by to say howdy and sign on to the project Dougy! This is going to be a big job, rock it!

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

hey Andy good to see you stop by.

GA, I double checked and unfortunately (for me) they are in fact thru-hull rivets that support these stringers (except for PO's self tapers lol) I fully understand what you mean by using the floor to secure them, but with 15 inch stringers they loose a lot of dexterity and even the slightest flex, even while installing the floor, can mean a loose rivet and thus a leak. I would feel safe with a just a bit of bracing because once these floors are put down I do not want to be tearing anything back up to rebuck a rivet. About 50 percent of the rivets along the main stringer are either loose or replaced with the self tappers already.

As for limber holes, I didnt find any, but I did see a possible? 1/8" clearance between hull and brace/rib at keel, I'll take pics... I'm hoping thats enough drainage.

As for today, I have to call off of work to go to the flyers game, so I'm gonna feel a bit awkward asking to use the blast pot before work and then not being able to work at all... so I'm gonna save that task for tomorrow. Today I will pressure wash, get that gas tank out, and clean the hull spotless. If all this goes fast, I might take of the splashwell too. Vid coming in about an hour

oh, and its about to rain, but I ain't paintin so Ill work through it...thanks to everyone who subscribes, I didn;t even know you could do that

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congrats again...I half regret not taking that boat myself.....it just was soooo much bigger in height and width thatn i had imagined, and I didnt have a trailer that would fit it.....soooo i passed....may regret that one day! I dont think the epoxy is going to be any issue to you...I bet he just gobbed it on to cover the ss bolts..... you grind that stuff down along with the bolts and i bet the rest just pooped inside and you probably have a nice round hole to fill with you aluminum rivets! I am going to love following along....

my plan was to use it as a dedicated seaduck boat....but ill just have to have my 18.5 footer fill in for now. yeah layout hunting i a lot of work...you need a crew and a big tender... you do that down on the jersey shore?

bob

Re: 22 ft Mammoth Starcraft MR CC Complete Restore end to end

Hey bob, yes we do! Its just starting to get popular. I've always wanted to do it but everyone always said i was nuts and could never get anyone else to do it with me, and because I didn't own the boat I was stuck hunting the banks with everyone else. Did it once last year and l loved it. I plan on buying a light canoe or a float chair for my freshwater excursions and turning this boat in the image into a layout.. I know its not of the layout design but with a bit of shiny gloss gray/whatever color paint to match the water, it should be pretty effective. Its also VERY stable... if it doesnt work out I'll sell it and get an actual layout. The layout guys get the most shooting by far... here people just use a legal style of sink boxes, you find them all over barneget bay. If possible I'd like to squeeze some tips and knowledge
from you if possible on the topic.

Here's a vid of my work to date, and where I'm at.