Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

[ezmobee]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

Welcome to the Starmada. Great project you've got there I love mine.

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

i have an acre here and you're welcome to store boats here. but it may be a bit of a drive from your place to work on it......like just under 600 miles one way.

B2, I'll have to settle for my backyard & house garage for small stuff for now, but thank you for the offer!

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

Thanks EZ,

I been a lurker for a while, Theres prollly 3-4 starcrafts i shoulda bought over the last 2yrs. but in Texas, it virtually impossible to get a title to a boat on bill of sale. Believe it or not, even it the SAD,SAD shape mine is in... I love this craft!!! all wood is just dust when you try to grab it AND I MEAN ALLL OF IT!!! I'll be finishing clean out & dismantle Tomaro & this weekend hope to get a few pics to post.

 

[FishNmemories]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

Welcome aboard ShadeTree, looks like you got a good deal and a wonderful hull to restore. We have only had our 16' SS a few months, but it has proven to be versatile and seaworthy too. Good Luck

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

Them Trackers ain't built the these old Starcrafts are. After you get done rebuilding it you'll be $23,000 ahead. Glad you found us. Good luck to you.

Wasps, snakes, spiders, nothing scares the Starmada.

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

Them Trackers ain't built the these old Starcrafts are. After you get done rebuilding it you'll be $23,000 ahead. Glad you found us. Good luck to you.

Wasps, snakes, spiders, nothing scares the Starmada.

Thanks FishNMem & Bdon,
I have been obsessed with gett'n 1 of these things, NOW I'm obsessed with wanting to work on it every waking moment! LOL
Built my motor stand today after wrk, But I modified it a lil... My motor is a Merc 115 T.O.P. I-6, and I believe i need 40 inches top to bottom, So I used 2X8's for the supports and doubled them up for a simulated transon mount. I also used 5/16 grade 5 bolts all the way through on the bottom board & a 1/4 6inch lag on the top 1, that goes all the way into the 2x6 support. Dont know if i needed to but thats what i did, will know how it works tomaro when i remove the motor.
Wanted to do more today but didnt get off wrk til 1pm & had to make a run to the city dump b4 5pm. then dinner with the wife yada... yada... didnt get to start wrkn on boat stuff til 8:30... DANG IT!!! No biggie though, I have all day sunday to myself & my SC!!!

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

OK guys,
Sorry I havent had much to say, work has taken priority for a bit. I did get a few pics of whats done so far, not much really. but ... if ur the guy dowing it sure feels like a heck of a lot!!! LOL On to the pics....

Here's the motor stand w/ motor on it (yes I tried to modify the plans but another lesson learned) I did extend the length&width buy 2inches.
Heres the TM that came on the boat when it was bought new, and it still works!
did someone say stainless fasterners???

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

More pics of removed parts & the hull,

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

As I said in my Original post, the transom is GONE!!! BTW I haven't touch the transom wood. anything gone, left on its own...
Here sits the tow rig & current lake ready boating pleasure!



Hopefully I'll get to finish clean out & power washing this weekend!

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

That Merc is downright sexy! Nice looking motor stand too. Transom is beyond shot, wow. Good luck, nice progress so far. There are never enough hours in the day to work on you're tinnie. Enough hours for everything else but never enough for the boat.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

I thought I liked seeing pix of the pre-demo'd boat. Until i saw the transom wood, or lack there of, pix.... Yuck...

At least the rot wasn't hidden

Good looking Merc!

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

That Merc is downright sexy! Nice looking motor stand too. Transom is beyond shot, wow. Good luck, nice progress so far. There are never enough hours in the day to work on you're tinnie. Enough hours for everything else but never enough for the boat.

Thanks BDon, and yes I do like that merc, but ... the wiring harness is shot! I'll come back to that later though. gotta get the hull going! LOL, yes plenty of hours for everthing else but not the boat, I hear ya !!!

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

I thought I liked seeing pix of the pre-demo'd boat. Until i saw the transom wood, or lack there of, pix.... Yuck...

At least the rot wasn't hidden

Good looking Merc!

Thanks JB, No sir there wasnt anything hiding at all... well except wasp! only good wood on the boat is up under the bow where the bow light is, 3 pieces of 1x4's and a couple fashioned to hold the TM! I'll tell you this, I glad I didn't have to install the TM when the boat was new, that guy was GOOODDDD!!!! very tight fit & precise cuts to get those wood pieces up in there, he even radiused one side then cut an angle to fit it flush. Just impressed me with the way it was done. I guess thats why starcraft's are, STARCRAFT'S!!

Hopefully I'll get off early tomaro & plan on being with my boat the rest of the day!!!

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

WELL ...
I didnt get off early enough yesterday, however I was determned to get the boat emptied, vacumed, and rinsed! took till midnight to do it but got it done. now I'll get off all the old floor rivits and any others then figure out the best method for "ME" to remove the factory glue, and then another power-rinse.
BTW, I lied when said there wasn't any wood left... I'll get a pic to show y'all whats left of the transom from pure weathered-deteriorated wood!

 

[FishNmemories]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

It was good to see you only had foam pieces to remove and not the spray in foam. Your making great progress on the tear down

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

Thanks fishnmem,
I tell you, this has been some kinda 2weeks, i have been swamped with wrk! worked till 5pm Saturday which was supposed to be a get off at 11am day!!! well I look at it as more $ to get rolling with the boat.
HOWEVER ... while out working(I drive alot) I spotted an interesting Glassboat, Turns out its a 19?? 65-69 Glastron Jetflite V-143 w/Johnson 55hp & appears 100% complete even on its oriinal trailer. But needs total restore. End result as of sunday at 2pm I became the own of said boat. my whole purpose here is to hopefully sell it off it parts for the $ to build the SC, bt ... we'll see! anyhow once again i'm trying to get back on the SC because I really wanna get the build started, this cleaning thing is very painful! but i plan on this boat being the best so...
will update asap with more progress & pics!

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

Well hello to all, Havent done much with SC because I been stripping the other boat parts and Work has been busy so... anyway she's still on the trailer waiting for me to remove some old decking rivits & wire wheel the glue junk off and do, a diluted chemical clean/powerwash. I was reading another build here & am on hold till I get some gluvit or coat-it, still undecided... so for the past 10 days Ive slowed up a bunch til I can get enough supplies to do a great job.

But I do have a few questions:

1- I plan on using 3/4 deck, What length rivits should use for 3/4 deck? the old ones are 3/16w X 3/4long. My alum. stringer looks like 1/16-1/8 thickness + 3/4 deck + 1/16 strap for deck joining. So, I'm thinking I need 7-1/8 L!

2- What L-W rivits should i use below water line?

3- What Epoxy should I use for the deck & transom?

I'm looking for all answers, but those of you that have had long term sucess on a specific product would be great!
More specifically, Part numbers & who has them would be best. and if the $ is fair market, I'm ready to order!!!

 

[fishcumberlandky.com]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

Did you figure out what rivits you were gonna use on the deck, and how you were going to do the transom! Please get lots of pictures of your transom rebuild!! Thanks

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

Not yet on rivits and will doon lots of pics! I hope to be able to give sizes of parts/items, part numbers, cost & venders with the pics in the rebuild process, maybe it'll be easier for someone down the road to get there stuff... My prob. is I get carried away reading the other post & forget were I saw something!!! LOL

Thanks for reading my thread
Mike

 

[shadetree_fish]

Re: Finally found my 1st Starcraft! 1979 SS 180 w/ 115 merc O/B

Well I havent been able to do much, Its been ready to clean the old glue & do a leak test/find, hope I dont find any. So I can gluvit & start cutting the ply for deck & transom. I have been working 6 days a week so the only time I have is sat afternoons & sundays & I kid you not, it rains or something comes up that prevents me from touching it. I did however push off the trailer today & put it on a homebuilt boat stand, works pretty good too! I loaded the glastron on the trailer for 1st available time to run it to the dump. Also been checking & tuning the 55hp to sell for more funds for the SC, sure is ashame to have a pretty large $ stash strictly for the SC & can't use it B/C I'm tooo busy, heck at this rate Ima have more than enogh to just buy everything to finish it out.

Well, I just wanted to check in & let yall know Im still here...

Mike