1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

[odyssey350kc]

So i just inherited my father's 1967 Jet star that my grandfather bought new back in 67. It was given to my uncle who tried to fix it up and didn't get too far so now its mine. So Here's my to do list. (in no particular order)

1. New Paint. Not traditional, Silver metal flake w/ red metal flake flames.
2. Power steering.
3. New Floor
4. New Transom
5. New Carpet
6. Polish Trim
7. Polish windshield
8. New Seats
... Anything else i haven't thought of right now i'm sure will pop up.

Here's a couple of before photos
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I'm glad i found this site its been very helpful so far with giving me some good ideas on the restoration. If anyone has any helpful advise for me feel free to chime in.

[odyssey350kc]

Here are some more pics of my current progress.

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The floor has been a lot of work so far. The front piece especially was a pain. At first i had thought the plywood laid in the groove in the hull, but then quickly realized it was too high off the metal support that runs down center of the hull. I used 3/4" marine grade Plywood that i plan on covering with epoxy resin. The last pic is of the transom. It looks like it needs to be replaced huh? I'll post more pics of that when i get it done.

[BonairII]

Nice progress.

[odyssey350kc]

While Stripping the boat down i noticed the wood dash where it attaches to the hull had broken causing the whole bow to be loose. So it looks like im gonna need to make a new one of those too.

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I tried buffing out a piece of the windshield's aluminum trim. It came out pretty good i think im gonna do this to all the aluminum.

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[BonairII]

What are you going to use for floatation foam.....noodles, blue/pink board, or pour-in?

[odyssey350kc]

My original thought was to use the pour in marine foam. It seemed to me the best idea to seal up any leaks and quiet the boat a little. From what i remember when i was little riding in it was deafening when we hit a wave. Then i looked at the prices like $100 for 2 cubic feet. So now i'm thinking the pool noodles. What would you suggest?

[kfa4303]

pool noodles and/or pink insulation foam board would probably be best. they won't get waterlogged, can be easily removed or replaced in the future, and they're cheap and easy to find. The Dollar store is a great place to find the noodles.

[BonairII]

You can't seal leaks with foam. If you have leaks in the hull, you may need to replace a few rivets and/or seal any breeches with Gluvit(or something similar).

I used noodles on the front half of my SS, but I think I'm going to use insulation board for the rest of the boat. The board is cheaper than noodles and will give me a tad more floatation.

[odyssey350kc]

I have been trying to read as many forums as i can about the starcraft restorations, there is just so much material though its almost overwhelming. This Gluvit stuff keeps popping up in all the threads. I know the hull leaks, i haven't gotten to fill it with water yet though. I want to get all the paint off first so i really know where its leaking.

Would i just Paint the Gluvit on the spots that leak, or coat the whole inside of the hull below the deck with it?
Can I get it at west marine, or do i need to order it online?
If i do paint the entire inside hull, how much do you think i would need?

[barato2]

1. i think most people do rivets and seams. the solid aluminum in between is usually not porous enough to need it. if it is, you got bigger problems than gluvit can fix.

2. not sure on that. IIRC it gets hit with extra shipping so buying it locally would be good plan if possible. i got mine right here at iBoats....figured i should do something to help them keep this server operative given the benefit i get from this site

3. 2 cans?

just FWIW, the exterior paint on that boat looks great, more like an "after" shot. beautiful color too. seems a shame to go to all the work to repaint....had you considered just doing a flame job on the existing paint?

oh, and welcome to the monkey house!

[bananaboater]

Save that label on the transom. Keep us posted.

[GA_Boater]

Welcome to the neighborhood, odyssey.

I think one can of Gluvit will do the rivets and seams in a Jet hull. There is no need to cover the complete interior. Maybe Jasonoutside or LakeLover will chime in with how much their Jets used.

I'm with barato2 on the exterior paint. It looks like only the bow cap and gunnels need new paint. Think light colors - The sun really heats up the top panels.

Show your uncle how to fix up a tinny and have fun. You can do it and we can help.

[bananaboater]

One can (about a quart) will do it. If it is hot up there mix half and use it then mix the rest. It might set up sooner than when I did mine in 55 degree weather. With the cooler weather it also took longer to totally cure (several days), till not sticky to touch. When in doubt, follow the directions...

[jasoutside]

Welcome!

Yup, like the guys mentioned, the qt. kit will be just fine for your cool Jet.

If you have MBS, the gallon package will save $ in the long run, ha!

[odyssey350kc]

Save that label on the transom. Keep us posted.

Yeah i had planned on taking it off carefully. I thought it was in rough shape till i saw some of the other guys pics of there's.

[odyssey350kc]

Thanks for the advice about the gluvit. I think i'll get a quart of it and do all the seams and rivets below the water line.

[odyssey350kc]

There are couple of reasons for repainting, i didn't really want to do it either and i know it looks good from a distance but as soon as you get close it looks like crap, there's runs all over the place, and it has 3 or 4 places with scratches and chips, and he didnt tape off the trim so there's blue all over the trim. I don't think my uncle stripped any of the old paint which was peeling bad. The other reason for repainting it is I recently learned how to paint with a spray gun for my job and i really want to do some more practice, so the boat is perfect for that. I'll get some pics of the problems with the paint job this weekend.

[odyssey350kc]

Welcome to the neighborhood, odyssey.


I'm with barato2 on the exterior paint. It looks like only the bow cap and gunnels need new paint. Think light colors - The sun really heats up the top panels.

Show your uncle how to fix up a tinny and have fun. You can do it and we can help.

Thanks. I'm glad you think I should do I light color paint. My original paint scheme was black and green, but i decided against that for that exact reason, i thought it would be to hot for sure.

[odyssey350kc]

Hopefully I will get to some of the painting this weekend. I'll be sure to post lots of pics.

[odyssey350kc]

Ok so I have another Question. I've been doing some thinking and i would really like to change the seating setup from the back to back seats to two individual seats up front and a bench seat in the back on some sort of box with a door on the front for access to the gas tanks and battery. Has anyone else done this, or something like this?

[barato2]

them spray guns and welders are addictive...learn to use one and next thing you know, yer welding up all sorts of handy projects and painting everything that doesn't move (the dog better look lively if he doesn't want a flame job....)

but yeah, that makes sense. pics are limited in showing stuff like runs/orange peel/fisheyes/adhesion issues or really any paint problems. and glad you're redoing the work and bringing boat back to her orig glory.

[bananaboater]

Ok so I have another Question. I've been doing some thinking and i would really like to change the seating setup from the back to back seats to two individual seats up front and a bench seat in the back on some sort of box with a door on the front for access to the gas tanks and battery. Has anyone else done this, or something like this?

I did something similar using the two original seat boards the Jet has. You might need to do a bit more to get there but it should be easy. I bought 2 seats and a bench seat that were not cheap but not too expensive either. At least not 2 years ago. Some folks have scored well on seats on that east bay site. I took a piece of my Deco Dot vinyl and cut it to shape to fit across the stern and attached it to the front edge of the splash well with an aluminum bar pop riveted to the splash well. Worked out pretty well but I have no pics of it. It is like a top mounted curtain.

[odyssey350kc]

bananaboater - i looked at some of your pics and i like the look of the bench seat. I was thinking about putting it on a sort of box though with a sort of door on the front i could slide the gas tanks out of, and mount a couple of speakers to. But its good to see someone else has thought of the same sort of thing. thanks.

[odyssey350kc]

So I finally started stripping the paint off the boat with the help of my girlfriend. It took us probably a total of 4 hours. We painted on a coat of aircraft paint stripper we bought at autozone. It's some strong stuff, if you get it on your skin it really burns. Then scraped the paint off with a metal trowel type thingy, then sprayed it down with a pressure washer. It worked pretty good but i'll still have to do quite a bit of sanding to get it ready for paint. Heres a couple of before after pics.

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[odyssey350kc]

I also took some pics of my new sanding / paint booth, should work fairly well. And for those interested, the silver and red is the metal flake i will be painting the boat with.2012-06-10 14.51.57.jpg2012-06-10 19.48.14.jpg