'76 Holiday i/o 18' Fishing Rebuild (pic heavy!)

[italianstal27]

Hi all!

My buddy had a 14' aluminum 2 person with gear max boat with a 9.9 hp Johnson on the backside we'd been using the last couple years for fishing on the Willamette here in Oregon. The boat was fine, but after seeing everyone scream by us getting to the decent fishing spots on the Columbia, we yearned for more.

We're also avid duck hunters, so having a boat we could goose hunt with has been a huuuuuge desire for the last 2 years.

Fast forward to a couple months ago, we found a 1976 Holiday 18' i/o on Craigslist with a 120 or 140 (can't tell, marks are indiscernable), and an 8HP Mercury kicker. Boat only has a couple leaks and it was in fairly decent shape. The floor was clearly rotted through, the canopy aluminum was bent on the right side, the dog house was used as a bait tray (gross!), and there was plently of JB weld covering the front, but for $1500 we couldn't pass it up. It came with a SWEET trailor as well!

I can't post pics yet cause I need 3 posts, but once I get up to there I'll be posting pics of our progress! This isn't going to be a restoration as much as a transformation into what we hope is a very fishable / huntable boat. That being said we're not taking short cuts and plan on making this a very clean vessle!

More to come!
-John

 

[jbcurt00]

If you choose option 3, you can post pix before you get 3posts.
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/forum-rules-and-guidelines/9938375-photo-upload-tutorial


I use and recommend Photobucket as my 3rd party host site via option 3. There are other 3rd party sites

Welcome to iboats

Lots of great info in here about rehab of an older SC, take a look around
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owners-groups-by-manufacturer/s/starcraft-boats

 

[italianstal27]

Pics from the previous owner!

 

[italianstal27]

Holder for pics

 

[italianstal27]

Holder for more pics...

 

[GA_Boater]

Post some pics! Only takes 3 posts lift the restriction.

 

[Watermann]

:welcome: aboard,

Lots of options with a 18' Holiday, will look forward to seeing what you're going to be working on.

 

[italianstal27]

No Title

Tent went up yesterday! Harbor freight for $120 can't go wrong. It's between our house and the neighbor's so protected from wind. You can see the old vessel in the back. Tiny little guy! Tent is 20'x10', hopefully it'll last a year.

 

[italianstal27]

No Title

Here are some pictures of a couple buds ont eh maiden voyage. As you can see she's got has a plethora of nuts and bolts holding her together. The previous owner did a lot of patch fixes, but nothing long term. Instead of pop rivets, there are a lot of bolts

Going to have to remove those and replace 'em with rivets! Perhaps 3/16" and 1/4" rivets are the way to go on the bigger holes?

 

[Watermann]

Hey I think I found a pic of your Holly :lol:

 

[italianstal27]

Lol looking for more of the original pics!

 

[italianstal27]

Found two more... I'm not sure how we got into this project without taking some before pictures...

 

[italianstal27]

Starting on the de-install. The first thing we did was take off the sidewalls... (again forgot to take pictures). You can see how badly rotted the floor is. The electrical wiring on the right is a mess. The wiring on the right is also a mess. I'll take another picture, but there's no less than 18 wires running front and back to the panel.

We're not sure what to do with the bow paneling. It looks stock and riveted to the outside of the boat. Anyone removed this paneling before??

Keeping up the good fight,
-John

 

[italianstal27]

Here you can see the wires, steering wheel hydraulic, and ignition wires all wrapped together with zip ties. Still more of that weird original honeycone foam that appears to be rivited to the outside of the boat. The rivet heads on it are fairly large, so we're wondering if they're bigger than the regular 3/16" holes.

Also a lot of holes in the gunnel and inside gunnel (gunwale?). The previous owner put a ton of screws through the sheet metal, so that'll require some touch up work, probably fixed by putting rivets through the holes?

-John

 

[italianstal27]

Port side picture. We have a lot of weird yellow on the shelving part of the shelf. Anyone know if that was standard? We'll probably take a pressure washer to it and see if it clears up. The black cord was for the fish finder so that'll be relocated as well.

Definitely some debate on whether we'll keep the green sheet metal that used to have the arm rest. Since we'll be primarily using her for fishing and crabbing, any vinyl and/or carpet will retain weird fish smells. The metal will probably go and will be replaced, on the bottom, with plywood to reinforce the hull. We could see the flexing of the hull after removing the plywood the vinyl below the shelf was originally attached to. So it appears to be a key structural component further fixing the hull sides to the deck!

 

[Watermann]

Yeah she's a rotten old gal and being used like that was a really bad idea.

The yellow stuff is old carpet glue. From the side hull support shelf up would've been carpet. Hey does that your fella with the beard ever put that phone down? :lol:

 

[italianstal27]

Gas tank and engine. Tank says it's 13 gallons. Wyatt siphoned the gas and we used it in the pressure washer later. Fired up on a single pull after sitting for a year, so I'd say the gas is good! Pressure washer is a Honda though so that might explain it

Engine is idling at 1700 rpm, so we're going to need to adjust idle throttle. Belts and hoses are needed. You can see the fuel line is molded going into the carb. We may replace the alternator as well after looking for corrosion inside of it. New fuel filter, distributor cap, spark plugs, oil change, air filter, temperature gauge, oil pressure sensor, and spark plug wires are probably in the mix as well. Does anyone have thoughts on keeping the plastic gas tank? Is it worth keeping or getting a tank that fits in the middle of the boat?

-John

 

[italianstal27]

Boat came with a hydraulic lift upgrade for the prop in the back. It was screwed into the deck at 3 spots, but had completely rotted through the wood in those locations. The transom looks pretty beat up, but we're going to seal it again after letting it dry out and hopefully it'll last a little longer! We're trying to avoid removing the engine and prop while we work on the decking etc. Does anyone have any experience with mounting a lift like this? Is it better to rivet it down or use screws into the deck?

You can see the metal flashing on the right side that was used as a "brace" for the dog house. We're still thinking about how we want to mount the new dog house and how we're going to finish it. Monstaliner or Herculiner are sounding like really sweet options right now
-John

 

[Watermann]

Front motor mount is black n soggy, time to pull the motor as that transom is original too and I'm sure in similar rotten / delaminating shape. Drying it out is not going to make it not rotten.

That's the standard trim pump for a MC.

If you want more fuel capacity then you can by all means put in a belly tank but it's not ever just that easy. :lol:

 

[ezmobee]

Great project, following along. Good to see another SC getting fixed up.