Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

Just purchased a boat this afternoon and as soon as I got home I started the process of tearing the boat down. I have been reviewing a lot of posts on this website and I'm excited. I know I'm in for a lot of work.

I have some questions if someone can help.
1. I didnt notice a large dent in the hull until I started to remove the floor. What would be the best way to tackle the dent?
2. How can I find out the year of the boat?
3. I have to remove the transom as well to replace the wood. Any suggestion on how to do this? This is my first build only owned boats that were new.
4. Cleaning the steering box and throttle... Both seem sticky and wanted to clean and relube. What is the best product to use?
5. Best product to reseal is the 5200?

Thanks,
Dan

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

Welcome to the Starcraft dry dock, Dan. Let me try some of your ???s

1) Post a pic of the dent from the outside - might help on a plan. I'm not getting a good idea of where the dent is from the pics, sometimes a little further back is better.

2) Gonna sound dumb - but what did the state paper work say? Isn't NC a title state?

3)Transom removal - take the motor off, take out all the screws and nuts through the outer skin, remove about 40 screws under the splash well, take the end caps off the transom, remove the transom cover strip, bend up the skin covering the ends of the transom and finally pull the plywood straight up. Make a new plywood transom and reverse all the steps. It isn't a hard job at all.

4) I'll let the remote up to someone else but what motor/remote do you have. For steering - it could be the swivel on the transom clamp, cable itself or the steering box. If you have and outboard, disconnect the cable from the link arm after it passes through the tilt tube. Is it any better? We'll go from there. A little bit different is you have an I/O set-up, but similar and a bit harder to do.

5) Re-sealing. 3M 5200 for places that get wet - figure it's a boat and it gets wet. Sealing rivets is done with a product called Glu-vit.


You have a Super Sport BTW. A Holiday is closed bow. What length is she - looks to be about 18'. Lots of SS's have been re-done here. Have fun and more pics, lotsa pics. It keeps the Mob at bay - sometimes.

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

are you planning on keeping it mostly like it was from the factory or are you going to do some custom fishing platforms and boxes and so on?

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

I'm not sure if I will change a lot on the boat but I do know my son would like be to add as much fishing stuff as I can. We do have stripers on our lake so we may add a downrigger. I'm overwhelmed with the dent, transom and floor right now.

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

1) Post a pic of the dent from the outside - might help on a plan. I'm not getting a good idea of where the dent is from the pics, sometimes a little further back is better.I will as soon as the rain stops... I looked at it yesterday but I didnt look at it from the front to notice how bad it was. The dent is right at the bottom front like someone hit a rock or the trailer very hard.

2) Gonna sound dumb - but what did the state paper work say? Isn't NC a title state?I guess you are asking if it is considered salvage? The title doesnt show that.

3)Transom removal - take the motor off, take out all the screws and nuts through the outer skin, remove about 40 screws under the splash well, take the end caps off the transom, remove the transom cover strip, bend up the skin covering the ends of the transom and finally pull the plywood straight up. Make a new plywood transom and reverse all the steps. It isn't a hard job at all. Thanks for the information I feel a little better. It looks harder than it is I guess.

4) I'll let the remote up to someone else but what motor/remote do you have. For steering - it could be the swivel on the transom clamp, cable itself or the steering box. If you have and outboard, disconnect the cable from the link arm after it passes through the tilt tube. Is it any better? We'll go from there. A little bit different is you have an I/O set-up, but similar and a bit harder to do.Is it OK to open the steering box and clean and relube? What kind of grease is good to use? Can you lube the cable with a special tool?

5) Re-sealing. 3M 5200 for places that get wet - figure it's a boat and it gets wet. Sealing rivets is done with a product called Glu-vit.I will look into Glu-vit it looks like you would pour it around the rivets and let it flow into the gaps...


You have a Super Sport BTW. A Holiday is closed bow. What length is she - looks to be about 18'. Lots of SS's have been re-done here. Have fun and more pics, lotsa pics. It keeps the Mob at bay - sometimes. It is an 18' boat and I will try and post some more pictures.

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration



This is day one...

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

Nice SuperSport project. Be prepared for a lot of nickel and dime stuff after you get all the major parts like the floor and interior done. I am just completing my '77 SS 18' I/O and have spent the past week ordering small items from various places. Iboats has a good selection of aftermarket parts and I've had to source oboslete parts from E-bay.

If I had to start over I would put in a 3/4" floor instead of a 1/2" floor because I had to reinforce the areas where I put pedastals.

As for the year, on the drivers side corner of the transom (outside) there should be a HIN tag starting with STR and the last two digits are the year. I'm guessing mid 70's (like 74 or 75).

I have the same Mirax gas tank that you do and mine leaked on the bottom back seam, stunk up my garage for weeks even after I took the tank back out. That area gets wet and doesnt have good venalation so after 34 years the seam started to leak. I had to order a new one form Mirax and it should be here any day now. The old tank is steel and the new one is aluminium.

There is lots of good info on this site and I refer to it almost daily for various things.

Good luck, you will have a nice boat when you are done.

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

Hi, Dan. Often the state paper work has the year on it. My registration has the year built.

On the steering usually the cable or swivel at the transom is the culprit. That's why I said to disconnect the cable and see which part is sticky. The out drive has a few grease fittings for swivel and tilt pins. What kind of power do you have? Mercruiser/OMC?

Hope this helps.

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

Great boat man. I did my deck in 3/4 and it's solid as a rock but I did add some weight to the boat. Were I to do it over again I'd try 5/8 marine plywood.

I've got pics on my thread for pulling the transom though I did have someone pull the engine. The rear deck skin slides out after drilling out the rivets holding it in place.

You'll find lots of help and pics on this forum as I just looked to see how others did everything and copied them

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

Thanks for the information. I was thinking of using the same thickness of ply but adding some aluminum supports down the middle. I also don’t know what to do with the water-logged foam that was in the boat. What have you replaced yours with?

It is still raining but I had a chance to run out for a minute to look at the tag on the boat and it is a 73.

I will try and get pictures of the bad dent in the hull tomorrow evening.

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

It is a Mercruiser engine... The engine seems to be in good condition and starts almost instantly.

thanks for the infromation... Just trying to learn about the boat.

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

My foam was in good shape so I reused it. I have seen several people use pink insulation foam sheeting that you can buy at any home improvement store. If you want to keep it stock check out www.marinefoam.com or others on the net.

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

That dent appears to be along the keel ..........

There is no way you are going to remove the dent in that spot.

You need to seal the inside of the dent fully since it is on a rivet joint and then you are left with two choices...... ignore it and use the boat OR you could use a filler on the exterior of the hull (which will show) and basically fill the dent and repaint.

The plywood you use should be the same thickness that is removed and NEVER use pressure treated The old plywood lasted a long time and the new will last 20+ years too.

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

I was thinking of trying to find a salvage boat and remove the keel and re rivet the piece in. Your thoughts?

Re: Starcraft SS Holiday Bowrider Restoration

I guess the pink insulation would hold up... I will check out the website. Thanks

Re: 1973 Starcraft SS BTW Restoration

Re: 1973 Starcraft SS BTW Restoration



I havent had a lot of time to work on the boat since the weekend due to rain and work. I did have 20 minutes to work on the dent in the front of the boat. I do have a question about the brown rubbery compound with fabric imbedded in the compound. What is this compound and do you think Gluvit would be OK to replace it with?

This weekend I plan to remove the rest of the floor and pull the motor and outdrive.

Re: 1973 Starcraft SS BTW Restoration

Re: 1973 Starcraft SS BTW Restoration

If the work you have done on the keel is as good as it looks and it doesent leak. then between glov-it and 5200 sealer you should be ok . advise is to fill the bottom with water ad see if it leaks out of the keel. Might not look pretty but its under water when in use and should be ok is solid.

Re: 1973 Starcraft SS BTW Restoration

Re: 1973 Starcraft SS BTW Restoration

At this point it will leak I still have to replace a few rivets and seal it with the glovit product on the inside of the hull. I plan on running some 5200 sealer along the outside joint as well just prior to painting the hull.

Thanks for the reply and I will post more pictures this weekend. I have been so busy with work and the boat.

Do you or anyone else know if you can get a replacement keel for these boats through Starcraft? Mine looks like someone dropped the boat on rocks.

Thanks

Re: 1973 Starcraft SS BTW Restoration

Re: 1973 Starcraft SS BTW Restoration

I don't suppose they keep em in stock clear back to the 73 vintage

Besides, there is no way you'd want to do all that work to replace.

Keep on keepin on

Re: 1973 Starcraft SS BTW Restoration

Re: 1973 Starcraft SS BTW Restoration

1st of all, I like your SS with the i/o looks like a sweet ride. Wow, to replace the keel is huge undertaking, I had a 14' tincan, rather a springbok, that had a pretty good dent in her keel too and honestly it never bother the performance of the boat. As i beached her many times on rock that is often sharp, I just added to the dents. Might not be that bad...nice boat though!!

I think the brown rubbery stuff is a putty used as a sealant that most guys recommend to leave alone and just use the glov-it and 5200 to seal the hull with that like pugetsound recommends