First Boat Restoration!

starcraftmike · Jun 26, 2012

Hey everyone!

First off, great site!
Has been wealth of info so far into my first venture in boat restoration.

I traded a plumbing job for a 16' - 1965 Starcraft Nassau with a 1966 Mercury 650 outboard.

At this point I am into the tear down, grind and making my plans for restorations to commence.

I have included some pictures of where I'm at and would appreciate any tips or comments from anyone.

I really like this boat and a real jewel is under all that oxidation, rust and rotted wood.
Will be doing some major research on this site about...
Flooring and floatation foam
Transom replacement
Wiring battery system
Vinyl repair, interior, bimini tops, seating options
And much more!

Glad to find such a great community
Mike

View attachment 154874 View attachment 154875 View attachment 154876 View attachment 154878

starcraftmike · Jun 26, 2012

Re: First Boat Restoration!

Difficulties with the uploader. Trying some more pics

starcraftmike · Jun 26, 2012

More pics

More pics

How it looked when brought home

barato2 · Jun 26, 2012

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under all that oxidation, rust and rotted wood.
that boat looks way better than most folks' "before" shots. welcome to the horde. lovin the barter plan. are you in Austin area?

starcraftmike · Jun 26, 2012

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I'm in central Illinois area for right now. This boat has been pretty well cared for through the years and its biggest enemy has been the northern hot/cold weather and just sitting. A lot of elbow grease and determination is what she needs! I'm trying to do little bits everyday... Lots to go still.

I'm scrubbing the bottom now and trying to get all the drainage flowing good now. I found a lot of loose change under floatation foam and have noticed some corrosion on the aluminum on the interior bottom of the boat. A few spots look to have almost bored needle like holes that do not appear deep or having penetrated the hull integrity but appreciate any input into correct course of action.

starcraftmike · Jun 26, 2012

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few more pictures of my new project/obsession.

InMotion · Jun 26, 2012

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starcraftmike said:
I'm in central Illinois area for right now. This boat has been pretty well cared for through the years and its biggest enemy has been the northern hot/cold weather and just sitting. A lot of elbow grease and determination is what she needs! I'm trying to do little bits everyday... Lots to go still.

I'm scrubbing the bottom now and trying to get all the drainage flowing good now. I found a lot of loose change under floatation foam and have noticed some corrosion on the aluminum on the interior bottom of the boat. A few spots look to have almost bored needle like holes that do not appear deep or having penetrated the hull integrity but appreciate any input into correct course of action.View attachment 154959 View attachment 154958

Hey man,

Welcome to the place where you may never leave!!! Once in, your in for life!! See if you can get some hull shots of the pitting.... prolly not to big of a deal... but pics say a thousand words as the saying goes.

Looking forward to your progress!

Jim

rheagler · Jun 26, 2012

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Looks like a fun little boat and a nice project. Have fun with it!

starcraftmike · Jun 26, 2012

pitting inside hull

pitting inside hull

Thanks all. Here are some pics of the interior of hull. I have not had much experience with aluminum and now I have 400 lbs of it resting in my garage! In fact I have only scrubbed it with plain water and a scrub brush until I decide on harsh of a cleaner I should use on it. I've read that some oxidation is the protective "skin" on the aluminum. This area will eventually be covered with the floor, but since it is open I am open to any suggestions on the proper path to take from here. I want to do it right but with teenage kids and a wife I want to avoid over engineering the project too and spend my budget on other items I need to get this gal on the water sooner!

North Beach · Jun 26, 2012

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Welcome to iboats Mike. Please post some pics of the pitting if you can. If it's not too bad you should be ok.

starcraftmike · Jun 26, 2012

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I removed the hefty piece of angle iron installed by previous owner(s) to avoid the transom replacement and discovered the original Starcraft plate. Pretty neat... At least to me!

Put couple other photos along with it.

starcraftmike · Jun 26, 2012

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Thanks north beach,
That ad is my boat! Awesome....

I'm really glad I started this project

North Beach · Jun 26, 2012

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At least you found your data plate. A lot of folks haven't been so lucky. And that page is right out of the 65 brochure.

jbcurt00 · Jun 26, 2012

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InMotion said:
Welcome to the place where you may never leave!!! Once in, your in for life!

Yep, blood in. So yeah, that ^^^ about covers it

Welcome to the Starmada Dry Dock! Nice looking motor & rig. Seems a lot of the green rigs are showing up lately, good, I like 'em

Brenn · Jun 26, 2012

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that's a cool boat you have

jasoutside · Jun 27, 2012

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She'll make for a great project Mike, welcome!

ezmobee · Jun 27, 2012

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Welcome! That hull is in great shape and that Merc is gorgeous. Good luck with getting it all put back together.

starcrafter65 · Jun 27, 2012

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Great Boat! - Looks familiar to the first boat I did - it had the same avacado paint scheme - it ended up like this:

Good luck - went fast with the Merc!

barato2 · Jun 27, 2012

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i guess in a way the PO did you a favor with the angle iron....at least you won't have to deal with bowed out external transom skin when you replace the wood.

starcraftmike · Jun 27, 2012

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Thanks guys,
If my wife sees how nice that blue/white color scheme looks, I'm sure to be painting! That looks amazing and really inspires me for this project!

Using Macguires fine cut cleaner on the old paint seems to be bringing back the olive avocado color so well that I will probably stick with it... At least for awhile. I think after a polishing compound then a quality wax job and I think it will look pretty good. Not a color I would have picked out, but it grows on you after thankless hours with the makita buffer!

I watched a video on utube about transom replacement and will be starting that in next few days. The interior hull cleaning is progressing, I'm still sort of stymied on what if any aluminum cleaner i should use on it especially on the pitted corrosion spots from the change. I plan to go ahead and epoxy over the spots but want to properly prep the effected areas.

Thanks all... I really appreciate the input!

First Boat Restoration!

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