I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

Hello all. Awesome forum, with a ton of great info.
I've searched the forum, and haven't found even a pic of a Rocket here. (not to say there isn't,) So I figured I'd start my thread.

I found an ad on CL: "Old boat and motor for sale"

It turns out it was:
1960 Starcraft Rocket
1956 Evinrude Lark
And the trailer, (that I've learned tows really nice.)
All for the whopping price of $100. So I had to buy it!

The guy used to ride in this boat when he was a kid 30+ years ago. The gentleman who owned the boat died, it went to his kid for 'a while.' Then he gave it to the guy I bought the boat from. He had the boat as an "I'll get to it" project. It sat outside (with the motor covered,) 'For a few years. . .'

It's a pretty small runabout. It will make a great fishing boat for just me, but if The Lady wants to join me, it will get cramped. Option 2 is to flip this boat and buy the next project. . .

I'm mostly unemployed right now, so my days are free. I'm aiming to be done with this boat by the middle of August. Depending on budget and weather, of course.

Yesterday I picked up the boat and shop vac'd it and sprayed it off at the carwash. Not bad for a 53 year old boat that's been outside for a while.


This pic is one half pass of the pressure washer.


Today I started stripping it down. Everything from the inside, and all the chrome that would come off without a fight.


Then I decided to pull the carpet.

It's nice when the deck starts to pull up with the carpet, isn't it? I wasn't surprised at all, I figured it would happen.

The first layer of ply was only 1/4" It pulled up without any tools, once the brass screws came out of it. The wood was soaked. I folded the pieces and put them in a garbage bag as they came up.

The second layer was 1/4" as well. Towards the stern there was a spongy spot that a pry bar went through easily. Once all the spongy stuff lifted off, the circ saw came out and finished the job.


The rest is under fiberglass, and I was in shorts and a tshirt. No way am I cutting through it without talcum powder, long sleeves and pants, and a mask. That's tomorrow's task. I'll also pressure wash the whole inside and see how bad it really is. I'm hoping it's just a couple of 4x4 blocks that need replacing.

I have to figure out how to replace the transom. It's pretty spongy. There's LOTS of cracks and spiderwebs in the outside glass. Enough to make me wonder if I should put a coat of CSM on the outside before I chop off the inside. Part of me also wants to cut the metal trim off the top of the transom and slide in a piece of wood smeared with PL and be done with it. But I know I'll end up doing it right, and glassing in a new transom.



Truth be told, I need to look at the budget and see if it's worth doing the boat. I know with a coat of paint (and fixing the short in the wiring,) the trailer will make my money back. I could part out the Lark and make a bit of beer money for the summer.

But why give up the challenge?!?

Take a look through my flickr pics, and let me know what you think. Both the boat and the motor aren't pretty. But with a bit of time they easily could be.

Cheers,
B

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

Bad: only 6 pix per post & none of them attached. Here's 1 just as a link, but you'll get more replies if the pix are posted IN your posts instead of as attachments that have to be 'opened'.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2894/9264647433_331d3d331a.jpg

Like this:


Here's the above pix of your boat:


Certainly keeping it parked bow UP

Welcome to iboats dry dock.

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

Thanks for the welcome. I just cut and pasted the flickr 'link,' thinking the board would paste in as correct. I'll change them all to BB code and they'll show up.

It might have had to do with the beers last night after working on the boat all day. . .

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

Photobucket uses an code for posting to forums, not sure BB is correct @iboats forum or not, but try it & see. If it doesn't work, is there an [IMG] code choice? I just copy everything from the 1st [B][[/B] to the last [B]][/B] and paste it in a post.

I did set my photobucket acct to auto-size the pix, that can be a problem sometimes too. Even when posting pix via attachments.........

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

There's a radio button on Flickr that changes from URL code to BB code. I missed that last night. For the record, any time you see the links with "<" instead of "[" it's written as html code. I just changed the links and now they're showing up. Thanks for the heads up.

B

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

jbcurt00 said:

Certainly keeping it parked bow UP

Click to expand...

I had it propped up while I was working on it. There was standing water in the hull. When the boat was level, both the fore and aft drain holes were full to the top. I had to drill a couple of weep holes to get the rest to drain out once it was propped up that high.

B

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

Took some measurements this morning, and crunched the numbers on glassing the deck, bench, and transom. Ultimately I'd like to spend less than $1k on the whole restore. That includes paint (thank you WOG for the $100 paint post) and motor rework. Of course I'm not counting the cost of the new toys I mean tools I buy as part of the cost.

Deck:
1 layer CSM under, 2 CSM and one 6oz cloth on top.

Bench:
1 Layer CSM under, 1 CSM over and 6oz cloth on top. I figure it's not going to be walked on as much, so only one layer under should be fine.

Transom:
1Layer CSM aft, 2 Fore, and one layer of 1708. I'm debating putting 1708 on the outside as well.

All the numbers are rough. Until I pull the transom off this weekend, I won't know if I have to do stringers as well. IF I have to do stringers, I will probably give the boat away or junk it and just sell the trailer and motor.

Looking at US Composites, It's going to be $75 in sheets. by calculations, I need EXACTLY 4 gallons of resin. But that doesn't leave any room for waste or making PB for either the deck or transom. Which means I'm buying 5 gallons.

Pricing out polyester resin, I see West Marine has a bucket for $220(plus tax,) with free ship to store. Fiberglasssite has a 5 gallon bucket for $200, but you pay the $25 Hazmat fee and shipping. But they will throw in a tub of wax if you ask for it. WM would be an extra cost.

I've sent a couple of emails around locally to see if I can get a bucket from a boat repair shop. That may be the easiest way if they'll sell me a bucket. I'm guessing they all get it in 55g drums, so it should be cheap if they sell me from their stock.

What's the best way to get a bucket of resin in Grand Rapids, MI? Anyone have an online dealer they like, that isn't in California or Florida? Any specific brands of resin I should stay away from?

Thanks,
B

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

You may be a bit under on resin, 5gal may not be enough if you need to do the stringers.

Here's where that gets tricky. You DO NOT have typical glass covered wood stringers. They maybe glass covered cardboard tubes, or hollow fiberglass only stringers. But it's probably constructed like this:


Here's some calcs for the resin usage:
[FONT=&quot]THE GENERAL RULE FOR [/FONT][FONT=&quot]CHOPPED STRAND MAT[/FONT][FONT=&quot]IS YOU WILL NEED 1.5 TO 2 TIMES THE WEIGHT IN RESIN AS YOU HAVE IN CLOTH. SO 1 POUND OF CLOTH WILL NEED 1.5 TO 2 LBS OF RESIN. TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE SIMPLE, 1.5OZ CSM WILL NEED 4OZ/SqFt AND 2OZ CSM WILL NEED 5OZ/SqFt. BUT REMEMBER , THE SUBSTANCE YOU ARE FIBER GLASSING OVER WILL ALMOST ALWAYS SOAK UP RESIN ALSO, SO WE ADVISE OUR CLIENTS TO USE 4OZ/SqFt FOR 1.5OZ CSM, AND 5-6OZ/SqFt FOR 2OZ CSM.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]1.5 OZ MAT = 1gal covers 4.2SqYd[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2.0 OZ MAT = 1gal covers 3.4SqYd[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]THESE FIGURES DO NOT ACCOUNT FOR THE MATERIAL YOU ARE FIBERGLASSING OVER SUCKING UP EXTRA RESIN.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]1.5 oz cloth [/FONT][FONT=&quot](not [/FONT]CSM[FONT=&quot])[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]1gal wets out 40SqYd[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2.5 oz cloth….1gal wets out 25SqYd[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]4 oz cloth……1gal wets out 15SqYd[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]6 oz cloth……1gal wets out 10SqYd[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]10 oz cloth…..1gal wets out 6.5SqYd [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]18 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]oz woven roving[/FONT][FONT=&quot]: 1gal wets out 4.5SqYd [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]24 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]oz woven roving[/FONT][FONT=&quot]. 1gal wets out 3.5SqYd[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Biaxial mat 1708: 1gal wets out 4SqYd[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]


You should roll poly resin on any bare wood before you try to lay the CSM. Helps keep the bare wood from wicking resin away from the CSM (or vice versa) and starving the layup of adequate resin.

You will need a good bit of resin to fillet the transom & fillet the deck before glassing them in. Probably the benches too.

Except for the pre-rolling of resin & the total amount of resin, the plan sounds pretty good.

Carmen at a place in Florida seems to be a good resource for resin & etc. I'll PM you her info. Us Composites is another frequently used online vendor.

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

Sweet drawing! Saved it for the restore book. The drawing says the transom is only 1 1/4" I was going to put in 2 sheets of 3/4. Should I go with 5/8? I didn't measure the inside of the trim piece that came off the top. That might be the easy way to tell.

Chopped out the rest of the deck and started on the transom today. Set one Harbor Freight $10 grinder on fire, and cut a hole in the hull! *^&(!

Drilled a small hole down low in the transom, and it was damp.
[
Went back to look at the hole and there was water coming out of the hole I just drilled.

Took the top metal trim off the transom, and this is what was there: see the standing water?


Probed the top corner of the transom and this happened.


Looks like the transom will pull out very easy tomorrow. Gonna have to buy some cardboard to make the new one.


The biggest downer of the day wasn't the soaked transom, it was the 9" slit I cut in the hull with the grinder.


I was cutting out the last of the deck, and got too close to the edge. ****. Since I'll be flipping the boat to paint the hull, it's not a total deal breaker. I'll grind it smooth inside and out, and layer a few layers of CSM on the inside. Then when I'm working the stress cracks on the bottom, I'll smooth out the line before primer and paint.

Tomorrow the transom comes out and all the edges get ground out. Monday I'll order the glass supplies and get the wood for the deck and transom. I checked one HD and one Lowes, and neither had the really good exterior grade ply. Lowes does have some decent exterior grade sanded B/C Since they're all getting glassed on both sides, it will be fine.

B

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

The distance between the inner & outer transom skins & the transom metal cap should gauge the plywood you buy.

If 2X 5/8" will work better & fit, use that.

Don't forget to check for water intrusion in the 2 chine stringers as shown in the pix item #3.

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

The transom skins were both delaminated, and were anywhere from 1 1/2- 3" Today I forgot to measure the transom cap, which is the best bet on size.

Started pulling out the transom today at noon. This much was done by 1 pm.



This much was done by 2pm. about 8" of the starboard side popped out whole. it will make a nice rough pattern for the sides. It's totally waterlogged and falling apart, but it should be fine for one or two tracings.



After that, it was shop-vac and pressure washing. It's supposed to be 90* here all week, which will make for some VERY hot days grinding the glass.

B

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

Decision time.

I just made a spread sheet of the projected costs for the boat restore. Total for just the boat, $653. Which doesn't account for any 'oops.' So call it $700.

The whole problem is I can get a working boat for $500 and go fishing this weekend.

If this boat were fixed up pretty well, (not "pro" perfect, I'm good with my hands, but not that good) with a working '56 Lark, and a freshly painted/new rollers/lights trailer? What would it sell for? About $1k, I'm guessing.

I'm going to try and get the motor started, but who knows after it's been sitting this long. I didn't even check to see if the flywheel would spin. I really want to make this motor work for a couple of reasons. One, these old motors (and everything back then) were made to be repaired, not replaced. I hate the idea of junking such a great motor. Two, I've never rebuilt an outboard before! By all the research I've done here on iboats, the old 'Big-Twin' is a great first motor to work on. Seems there's lots of drawings and parts available, and the best part is there's a bunch of guys here that have worked on them. So any questions I happen to have, someone here will know the answer.

How much is a working '56 Lark worth? The housing isn't in the greatest of shape, so it's not a show-piece by far.

Looking on Ebay, there's a parted out Lark that's sold pretty well. The front latch went for $20, Lower gear case for $85, fuel inlet plug for $10. So in the worst case scenario, I can get my original $100 back on ebay.

So this weekend I'm redoing the trailer, and compression testing the engine. Once i see what the compression looks like, I guess I'll know if it's worth putting the time into the restore.

B

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

Boat restoration is "Long Term" If you want to be on the water this year then this project is NOT for you!!! These old Classics need TLC and time to be brought back to life. There's nothing Quick about them and usually nothing cheap either. You should expect to spend at least $1,500 on the boat. motor and trailer by the time she's back on the water. If you're not willing to make that investment then maybe you should look more of a Lake Ready boat. It's all about what you are wanting to do. JMO

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

WOG, thanks for the input. $1500 isn't so bad, if the boat will be worth it in the end. You see, I don't really LOVE this boat. I bought it as a project for the summer. I'm unemployed for now, so I have all the time in the world to do the work. But spending $1500 on a boat that will be worth $1000 when I'm done is pretty dumb, since I don't love the boat. If it were a Chris Craft Continental, I'd sink every penny that thing needed to make it perfect.

But this is a little glass runabout that needs a WHOLE lot of work. I'm also thinking long-term with the boat. Right now we live in an apartment, with no outside storage. So I'll be paying monthly for storage until I buy a house. The place I'm in right now is cheap, and fine while working on the boat. I won't park a finished, decked-out boat there overnight, because it's not secure.

I'd love to fix this boat. But I can't see putting the cash into it when it won't be worth that in the end.

Time to go grind on the trailer and think it over.
B

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

I seriously doubt you'll get much more than $1,500 when she's all done and pretty!!! If she's not a work of Love then I'd go get a boat and go fishing!!!

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

redid the spreadsheet, cutting out all the stuff for the fiberglass deck, and adding a couple more tubes of PL. Turns out it saves me about $300.

$400 is still too much to put into this boat. Time to dump it on CL and see if someone else wants a project.

Does anyone recommend a selling forum for the parts? Windshield, hardware, rub rail pieces? I don't want to trash them, they are actually worth something to someone.

B

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

Makes sense - if you don't want a project, don't do it. The only thing you have not said is that if you do redo the boat, you will have a better boat that you could otherwise buy for $1500. Having said that - this is a ton of work. By the way, if you do decide to replace that transom, try getting a piece of cardboard, and cutting that to size - then using it as a template - it will be much easier than trying to measure and trace onto a piece of solid plywood....and a mistake is a lot cheaper on cardboard.

Best place to sell used parts would be ebay.

Re: I can't believe I'm the first! 1960 Starcraft Rocket.

I'd list all the parts you have and put em on Fiberglassics.com. Those boys are always looking for stuff. A prisine windshield is highly desirable.