Here's my old Starcraft. It was a 1966 Jetstar that I did a full restoration on - twice. It had a 1987 Evinrude 50 on it, and it was pretty fast for such a small, light boat. We had it for about nine years, and it was a great little boat. But it was tough to bring friends on - it only seated four, and didn't plane well with four adults. Then we had a kid, and as he's gotten bigger, we needed to upsize. I only wanted one thing.
Another Starcraft of course! This is my 1973 SS18. I bought it three years ago from a guy who had restored it, but was being deployed for a few years and didn't want to pay to store it. He'd done the paint, seats, carpet and dash, and did a really nice job. But his wiring skills were suspect. He used red wire for EVERYTHING, so sorting out that mess was a pain. Oh, and the motor that was on it died after a month. (it was a 70hp Evinrude - I forget the year.)
Rather than have that rebuilt, as it was a bit small for the boat (boat is rated for a 140), I found a guy who rebuilds motors and sells them and warranties his work. He had this 1996 Evinrude 115 in his shop. He rebuilt the whole top end, and repainted it in original colors and decals. Really high quality work. In fact, I dropped off the boat with him last week to replace the transom wood because I know his workmanship (and his bid was $1000 less than anyone else too!). I absolutely love this boat and would never sell it. You can't find aluminum bowriders new and a new setup anywhere close to this would be in the $30-40k range, which I am NOT going to pay for a boat. I don't get as many comments as I did the old one, but I'm definitely in the Starmada...
