Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

Hi,

Against my own better judgement I have taken on the task of restoring my grandfathers 1972 SC 18foot holiday.
He has owned the boat at least since 1975 and spent its formidable years on the Merrimack River in MA up until the striper moratorium around 1990. This boat caught a lot striper, blues and fluke. Unfortunately not many of them made it back into the water...

Since then it has been on Lake Champlain up until gramps passing (always sad, but he lived an incredibly good life, 92 years old). Purple Heart recipient in WWII, he was hit by shrapnel as a machine gunner. Gramps was fiercely proud of that and he should have been.

As everyone is, this is on a TIGHT budget. The goal is to get it solid again and then go from there. Hoping to get all
the wood out of it before the snow flies and use it as templates, so I can begin reinstall in the spring.

Its under powered with a 40 HP Merc, but the engine has barely been used as gramps putted up the lake 2 miles once a week for its entire life.

I am thinking I will try to swap it for something bigger as I will be having more people on it than gramps ever planned too. We will see. It still pushes it at over 20MPH, I can make it to the Burlington water front in 10 minutes. good enough for me, (for right now)

I have redone my entire bathroom to the studs, moved the plumbing and redid my entire kitchen to the studs. So I am not a newbie to restoring things. I also worked at a marina 18 years ago. So I have an idea of what boats are all about ($$)
This thread will get buried because its going to Move slowly (also have an 8 month old)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRjL5rLh4fw&feature=plcp

Will post interior pics later.

Also, probably going to pull the transom as well. From what I have read its a straight forward job.

thanks,
Scott

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

What are peoples preferred products and methods?

FOr right now I am going to concentrate on the floor. Detergent bottles and noodles obviously.

What products do people like for epoxy and paint?

And what method do people use to secure the floor to the 2 aluminum I beams?

thanks!

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

Scott, this thread is and will be awesome!

Super cool this Holiday has been handed down from your grandfather, that just makes this boat all the better!

I love that you are on a budget too. Some days (even this morning) I feel like Captain Scroungealot as I am rebuilding boats. Total bottom feeder I am. It's all good though. With these old alum boats you can keep the budget tight and still build a quality rig that looks good too!

First, if you are on a tight budget, a replacement engine/controls should be on the back burner. That stuff can break a man and your little Merc looks to push that boat just fine there.

For your deck, exterior grade ply along with spar varnish (I like spar urethane lately) or porch and floor paint will work fine for your application. There are better materials out there, course you'll pay for em too.

For flotation, I would not recommend soap juggs. They will be just too difficult to fit in that smaller space sub deck. I also wouldn't recommend noodles as they will add up $$ wise. For that boat I'd run pink or blue foam board. Check out PMC's flotation job, totally awesome.

I'm a big fan of US Composits for epoxy if you want to go that route for sealing up your wood.

I personally like Rustoleum for painting everything. Cheap (by comparison) and readily available at a dozen hardware stores in my area.

For attaching the deck to the stringers, the guys around here use SS screws, decking screws, or rivets. I personally like the latter but it also depends on the specific application too.

Welcome to the iboats drydock and the Starcraft Brotherhood!

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

thanks for the information. The key to this is finding products that work, but are incredibly expensive and after reading your threads. You seem to have mastered that!

I never try to pay retail for bigger items or things that can be readily found in other avenues.

The goal for this boat is to be spacious, simple to maintain (or simple as possible), light and functional for
fishing and family day trips. Cool thing about Champlain is the 1000's of things that can be done and seen on the lake.

I have no illusions this will be easy, but I am excited to get started.

The motor is on the way back burner. The Merc starts and runs like a dream. I can live with the speed.

My eyes and ears are always open though.

If anyone has any knowledge on a 1996 Mercury 40 HP let me know the nuances. For instance it is oil injected and I know some people
immediately disconnect that, but as far as I know it seems to work quite well.

thanks!

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

Welcome to iboats dry dock! Nice looking Holiday, but as Jas mentioned, all the better that it was your Grandfather's.

Hopefully your grandchildren will tell the tale about how their grandfather restored some Starcraft family relic back in the day and that it's still in use & in the family

Surf over to the Mercury forum, and if you can't find any info about your 1996 Merc, start a thread there too.

Welcome again & it will be awesome to follow along, however slowly....

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

I agree with J on the floatation, blue and pink XPS sheet foam is the way to go... pound for pound of floatation it's cheaper than noodles. Not only are the soap jugs hard to fit in tight places, the will rattle around under your deck like 2 skeletons boinking on a tin roof.

Rivets are the cheapest fasteners for holding down the deck, and they do a real good job. Stainless steel self tapping screws are good too, but they're expensive. I wouldn't recommend decking screws, but some people do use them.

USComposites has the best price I've found on epoxy resin anywhere, they also offer great service and fast shipping.

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

Thanks! I do like the idea of the sheet foam. feel like if I do it right I could use 1/2" ply instead of 3/4" looking to save weight where I can.

Here are some more interior pics. Gramps must have stumbled on a nice Blitz in '82. Never one to conserve they all went to the market.



Also, the very first thing I replaced was the winch. Rope Snapped when I went to pick it up. That was it for that!

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

Looks like Gramps was living the High Life in that Holiday

And this pix HAD to be enlarged:


I'm guessing that was 776.18lbs (Kilos? can't be that much, right? What's that in simple american, 1700+lbs ??) Hmm , sent them to market, $776.18 worth of fish maybe....

You're likely to have enough distance between deck support stringers, to need at least 5/8" and w/ out the more expensive pour-in foam to stiffen it up, you'll likely have a bouncy deck w/ out the 3/4"....

Still a great rig, even greater story w/ the huge haul of fish

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

I am pretty sure my cousin in the picture and gramps hauled in 776 lbs of bluefish that day. 10lb average = 76 blues.

In a september blitz on the merrimack could be done pretty easily. (its not really a huge mystery why the striper fishery collapsed in the late 80's)

thanks for the input!

ps- first spat with the wife about the restoration happened 10 minutes ago.. This is going to be a sweet process!:facepalm:

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

What a great project you have. And one with family history!
I will be following your rebuild

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

iamsaws said:

ps- first spat with the wife about the restoration happened 10 minutes ago.. This is going to be a sweet process!:facepalm:

Click to expand...

Keeping the Admiral happy, & staying her good graces is an important line to maintain, and always know which side of the line your standing on In the course of a resto, you may cross it, it happens. You just need to know you've done it :facepalm:

Some find it helpful to include the Admiral in some decision making, most don't take to kindly to being enlisted for demo & sanding duty. When that happens, you will feel like the conscript.

If she's looking forward to some demo, sanding & prepping the boat for paint, likes to seal plywood w/ the sealer of your choosing, and wants to sew all the new boat cushions, keep her extremely happy during the resto, upto & including promises of house renovation after the boat splashes. She'll be invaluable.

And see if she's got any single like-minded sisters in the family. Preferably, 1 who's a big fan of using a grinder on fiberlgass

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

Great story, great project and great boat. It means more when family roots are preserved. With any luck some of the fishing karma is embedded in the tin. Welcome to the Tinny drydock and have fun.

Now about the Admiral, I'm useless for that kind of advice. You're on your own there.

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

I assure you I will be getting no help with this project My daughter dominates free time. You could say she is the michael Jordan of
free time around here.

The fact i am getting the go ahead is enough for me.

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

jasoutside said:

Check out PMC's flotation job, totally awesome.

Click to expand...

I can't find the thread? i'll figure out the site soon!

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

[h=2]PMCs current project: 1988 Sea Nymph GLS[/h]

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

jbcurt00 said:

You're likely to have enough distance between deck support stringers, to need at least 5/8" and w/ out the more expensive pour-in foam to stiffen it up, you'll likely have a bouncy deck w/ out the 3/4"....

Click to expand...

+1

3/4" decking will be a must for a solid deck in your boat.

When you remove the thin and weak 1/2" old decking from your boat you will see it was laying on top of the foam for support. This is a bad design that doesn't allow for proper bilge drainage and will be one of the reasons your old floatation is probably waterlogged.

With 3/4" decking and sheet foam floatation you can have the best of both worlds, a strong deck and proper bilge drainage.

As for the extra weight of the 3/4" decking over the 1/2", 3/4" decking is only 25 lbs. heavier per sheet than 1/2" and you're going to loose a lot more weight than that when you remove the old wet decking and foam from your boat.

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

3/4" it is!

This is what makes this site great! Lightens the guesswork! And hinders :facepalm:

Might as well start looking for parts I know I will need.

Where can I find this bracket?


also any one have a starboard corner transom bracket laying around?
pic is just an example

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

iamsaws said:

Where can I find this bracket?
View attachment 171522

Click to expand...

Are you talking about the rub rail channel or the arrowhead end cap?

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

iamsaws said:

I assure you I will be getting no help with this project My daughter dominates free time. You could say she is the michael Jordan of
free time around here.

The fact i am getting the go ahead is enough for me.

Click to expand...

I'm down the road from you in Burlington (I launch at Shelburne Bay Park), and I'm about to start a backyard fiberglass resto. If you need any help with heavy lifting I'd be glad to lend a quick hand. I've also gotten less than half-hearted encouragement from my better half, but, luckily, I've got a well-placed sturdy tree limb and a come-a-long. PM me if you need help flipping the hull or anything. I check the site often.

I will start a thread here this week, so perhaps we can commiserate over our mutual weather-related challenges going into the rapidly approaching cold and dark of northern VT winter.

Re: Slow Rebuild of Grandfathers 1972 Starcraft Holiday

iamsaws said:

3/4" it is!

This is what makes this site great! Lightens the guesswork! And hinders :facepalm:

Might as well start looking for parts I know I will need.

The arrowhead end cap. that one is in the best shape.

Where can I find this bracket?
View attachment 171522



T

also any one have a starboard corner transom bracket laying around?
View attachment 171523 pic is just an example

Click to expand...

The arrowhead end cap. that one is in the best shape.