1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

[Kroussin]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

just sitting in it I get all sorts of (bad) ideas. found ply at lowes. It was exterior (not pressure treated) believe it was BC selling for like 18$ a sheet. menards didnt have squat last time I looked and no HD around here.

Gonna run in to town tonight and grab the ply and get it cut to size. Either gonna grab some urethane or they have"fiberglass resin" (polyester?). I've read is poly resin is not as good as epoxy but less expensive and will still do the job just not as long. With only expecting 5 years or so before I want to redo it again i think it will likely be o.k. please let me know if i'm wrong so i dont have to work backwards.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

just sitting in it I get all sorts of (bad) ideas. found ply at lowes. It was exterior (not pressure treated) believe it was BC selling for like 18$ a sheet. menards didnt have squat last time I looked and no HD around here.

Gonna run in to town tonight and grab the ply and get it cut to size. Either gonna grab some urethane or they have"fiberglass resin" (polyester?). I've read is poly resin is not as good as epoxy but less expensive and will still do the job just not as long. With only expecting 5 years or so before I want to redo it again i think it will likely be o.k. please let me know if i'm wrong so i dont have to work backwards.

Sorry you have limited ply sources. Don't use Poly unless you also use CSM glass cloth. Poly has no strength with out glass and will just flake off. Grab some Spar Varnish when you get the ply. Use 3 or more coats. Make sure the edges are coated really good. Starcraft used absolutely nothing on the plywood and it lasts for decades as long as you take care of the boat. That's all dozerII has done on several SC's and he gets nothing but compliments on his boats. Click on his links and look at the "Bare Naked Lady" - A beautiful SS.

 

[Dirt_Farmer]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

On the floor thickness, I am using 1/2". Everyone has me worried about it not being strong enough, so I used the scraps to do this.



-Jeff

 

[Kroussin]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

So i bought some 1/2 bc ply to repair the back section. also bought a quart of urethane and the first coat is on. think I prolly will be a little shy with a quart but this will not make its way back in (at least not the same spot)

While I was looking at ply I found the "Arauco" ply. They were hiding it on me. no where near their other ply. they only stock it in 1/2" and 3/4" thickness. now ide really like to keep the weight down due to the tow vehicles and I know 1/4" isnt gonna be that much heavier but keep adding little by little and it eventually becomes very heavy....SSSoooooo

My question is should i go with 1/2" arauco or 5/8 bc? either way it will likely be sealed with urethane as i'm pretty happy with how easy it go's on and should outlive my plans by a long shot. Especially if they were using untreated ply from the factory and it lasts as long as it does. I did toss around the idea of running 3/4 arauco but there are several reasons that I'm kinda eliminating it from the options. Either way i'm planing on running backer under the pedestal seats and some othe "high trafic" areas. at this point i'm planing on using vinyl flooring for ease of cleanup and drying out.

I do have 16' of premium cabellas carpet at camp that is begging to be used but it has been there for several years and is unknown if mice or other cratures have made it home as it's still in the box.

 

[Grandad]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

hate to question people that have done it before but is 3/4 going to be a little overkill and overweight?

looks like the boat came factory with 1/2 that was not treated in any way and it has lasted this long, well minus 5 years since thats when it should have been replaced. also by going to 3/4 i am going to have to do alot of reworking since there are alot of piecies that get screwed onto the top of the floor. I know 1/4'' aint much but it's definately enough to cause some issues with the splash well supports, side panels and dash

Hi Kroussin, I had the same choice to make when I rebuilt my Holiday (see link in my signature). Fortunately, the original 1/2" ply (untreated, I think) was still in great shape after 40 years. I only replaced a 2' x 4' piece that was deteriorated where the gas tank sat and I think trapped moisture from a gunwale leak above the area. What I have noticed is that the section that I replaced with exterior grade good one side is slightly weaker than the original 1/2". It also measures only 7/16". Funny how standards shrink over time. Fortunately for me, that area in my boat is all for storage that can no longer be stepped upon. I like dirt_farmer's idea of reinforcing the 1/2" with additional pieces on the backside. It won't increase the floor height that creates problems with side walls etc. In regard to minimum thickness for fasteners, I'm using 1/4"-20 "well nuts" that will not only grip, but also seal the floor. See http://www.iboats.com/Well-Nuts/dm/view_id.38222 - Grandad

 

[Kroussin]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

Good to know. leaning twords 1/2" arauco with some backers like D-farmer did. that's awsome to know that the "well-nuts" worked. I allready have the too to put them in and have alot of aluminum 1/4-20's on hand. I have been using them for building vehicles and they come in incredibly handy all over the place. did you use a tapered head bolt with them then or?

 

[Grandad]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

You can use whatever head design suits your application. In most of my applications (seats, gas tank and toilet), I'm using SS hex head bolts. - Grandad

 

[I_prefer_tractors]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

If you're a big guy go with 3/4.

 

[Kroussin]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

so I sat in the boat for about 5 mins and decided that if i'm not planing on using this ply for the true redeck that i'm just gonna throw it in the way it is. it has one coat of urethane on the top and all sides and it will acomplish keeping my battery and tank above deck for the rest of the summer so i'm happy at that.

see what I mean i sit in the boat and get bad idea's. good news is my cuts were on the money. tomorrow gonna pick up some aluminum rivets to redo some for the back splashwell and gunwale supports and look into anchoring the floor down.

grandad: about installing the wellnuts, i'm thinking im going to drill thru the decking and rib to the correct size in all the needed spots, remove the decking install the nuts, then drill out the decking slightly larger to aid in repositioning correctly. then anchor with SS bolts and fender washers. does that sound about right? really like the idea of going with the nuts that way I dont end up with a bunch of holes in my stringers and ribs.

 

[Grandad]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

grandad: about installing the wellnuts, i'm thinking im going to drill thru the decking and rib to the correct size in all the needed spots, remove the decking install the nuts, then drill out the decking slightly larger to aid in repositioning correctly. then anchor with SS bolts and fender washers. does that sound about right? really like the idea of going with the nuts that way I dont end up with a bunch of holes in my stringers and ribs.

I wasn't suggesting that you use well nuts to secure the floor to the stringers and ribs. Well nuts require a large hole that you probably shouldn't put in the aluminum structure. Also, well nuts are too expensive to use everywhere you'd fasten the floor to the hull. By the way, price around. I found a 20 piece box quantity at HD for $14.49, approximately 1/5 the price of some other places. Stick to 3/16" pop rivets to secure the floor to the hull. Multiple 3/16" holes in the structure are less invasive than a 1/2" hole for a well nut. Use well nuts to anchor any seats or equipment to the floor. - Grandad

 

[Kroussin]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

well it turns out i have the last of the aluminum well nuts that seem to be around here. So i went with rivets as stated above also used a S.S. 3/16 fender washer to help give a little more support. floor is in and pretty dang sturdy. at least for standing on. mounting stuff to it is a completely different subject. the electrical is done for now. but still need to add another battery and an isolator. also waiting for winter to add interior lights. and many many other things.

boat is about ready for another "test ride" tomorrow. before I go ide like to get the kicker motor fired up so I can test that on the lake as well. registration numbers are on along with tags. and cd player is installed and speaker box is under the front until the tear out. when the should be permenantly mounted two under the front and two in the side panels.

also looked at building a rear bench seat and I think previously i was overthinking the whole thing. was trying to do alot of math in my head which never works. it's pretty simple but harder than i care to explain. i figure the more stuff i can "rough in" the more fine tuned it will be when it comes out next spring.

 

[Kroussin]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

test drive went great yesterday so I left everything hooked up to enjoy to boat today and then the storms rolled in around noon. For once cant the forecast be wrong in my favor? well here are some pics from yesterday anyways.

 

[rheagler]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

The boat looks great on the water. Looks like a good time was had by all!

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

The Holiday looks a look better on the water than the Suzuki dirt bike ever did. LOL Enjoy her for a while and work the kinks out then put her up for the winter re-do..

 

[Dirt_Farmer]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

Definitely looks good on the water. What kind of power does it have?

 

[Kroussin]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

79 mercury 800 on the back along with a 5hp montgomery ward kicker. its alot of fun and i'm not sweatin my nards off getting covered in mud like I did on the bike. definately fun time. handles as I want it to but felt kinda SLOOOWWW seeing as the other boat out with us was a 16' glastron with a mercury 115 he was litterally doing circles around us. But 32 if plenty fast and you dont catch fish going that fast anyways. gotta say from the looks of things the holiday handles wake and waves much better than the glastron so thats a plus.

 

[Kroussin]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

plan is to "ROUGH" everything in and then do i redo of everything this winter and fine tune the stuff i'm not liking. hopefully hit the water hard next summer and have minimal issues.

 

[Kroussin]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

took the boat for a good ride on sunday 10 miles round trip per GPS. went up to a friends camp ate supper and relaxed then loaded the family back up and headed back. lake was busy on the way up but not soo much on the way down. boat tops out at 30 MPH per GPS and that was with just me and the dog and then again with 3 people and a small dog onboard.

Only issue all day is the miss/drop in performance showed its ugly face again. turns out that i am droping a cylinder. 3rd one down from the top. only reasone i can tell is cylinder/plug is much cooler than the rest. pulled the plug at one point and was pretty wet (gas/oil) cleaned it the best I could while on the boat and put it back in. problem did not go away initially but after cruising for another mile or so it started catching and finally took off nicely again. the plugs in the boat are Champion surface gap plugs which neither of which i am a fan of. altho the surface gaps were starting to wear on me until this. think i'm going to start off with changing the plugs and dragging the BIL with next time out to tune the carbs as it looks like the upper two cylinders are slightly rich as well. also noted is with 1 droped cylinder top speed falls from 29/30MPH to 18/19MPH. even with the minor issues still had a great time and got some great sunburn

hopefully i can either have this prop tuned or replaced before too late in the season as i'm sure its hurting the performance as well. all 3 blades are bent slightly.

 

[dozerII]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

Nice Kroussin, sorry couldn't resit. Boat looks great on the water, I wonder if you have a bad coil, doers it only happen after you have been running a while, if so the coil could be getting hot and cutting out.

 

[Kroussin]

Re: 1979 Starcraft Holiday 18' O/B refit,repair,rebuild,restore

havent been able to pinpoint it yet. the cutting out of the cylinder has only happened twice and it was after being out for a little bit. as for the hesitation/ bog seems to be worse right after warmup but clears up after running for awhile. once its been running good for awhile it runs great. that is until the lost cylinder showed up.