Re: Starcraft 18' Holiday rebuild - 1974
Thanks all.
Yes, I?m pulling the bow cap so that I can replace the wood supports with aluminum angle and more... No, not going for the bow-rider design, rather looking to keep this a closed-bow run-about.
Conceptual Design Plans
As far as my broader plans, this is not going to be a retro-restore, not looking to turn the clock back to 1974. This will be a new rebuild. The hull is a blank-slate. The platform I?m going for is a modern-looking, fast, closed-bow sport runabout, capable of some off-shore capabilities. Dual purposed as a pleasure and fishing craft.
Here?s the so-called ?road-map?, or 10,000 ft plan ahead :
Bow
I?m visualizing a complete redesign of the bow cap.
Start with shorting it by 6? , aka bringing the front seats even more slightly forward.
Re-position the dash/console mount ABOVE the gunnels height. Typically the top of the dash is level (slightly arched) even with the port & starboard sides. I?d like to simply mount the dash as if the dash bottom matches this height. This would then mean contouring the cap at a slight rise to meet-up with the new higher dash, and then to taper back down or integrate with the windshield sides to continue into the side gunwales. The idea is to offer a 4-6? higher operator seating position offering the associative leg clearance.
Redesigned windshield (only two-panes - no open middle window) with a steeper more aggressive/sport angle.
Self-deployable delta anchor on the nose (borrow this idea from another project on here).
Stern
Closing (raising) the transom - no more splash well ! Going to be putting an engine (off-shore) bracket on with added buoyancy. This will open up another 1.5ft of usable area inside the boat, offer better cruise /planning, better GPH, and function as an ingress/egress swim/fishing platform.
Mid
Open modular seating arrangement - capable of repurposing between pleasure and sport fishing.
Singular or dual bimini top.
Deck - Material not yet decided, but desire no carpet, rather gel coat non-slip coated.
Belly 26 gal fuel tank below deck (hidden).
Floatation - loose foam - no pour foam mix.
Repower
Going with a Primary & Kicker setup.
Primary will be in the 90-115 hp range, most likely used 2-stroke.
Kicker will be in the 7-9.9 hp range and must be 4-stroke on a separate 3 gal portable tank.
Color Theme
White with gray and black trimming. Fresh modern look.
Paints
Complete strip-down bare aluminum, thus will be going with a wash-primer (possible chromate treatment), then a two-part build primer, then two-part industrial/mil-spec gloss white build coat for below water-line, then white color with black sport stripe, followed by two-part clear gloss for above water-line.
Electronics
Typical Chart Plotter / Sounder.
Marine radio & antenna.
LED underwater light modules on engine bracket.
Good sound system.
DIY - "auto-pilot" . Pie in the sky. This is way down the road, but planning to leverage the Arduino platform to implement a home-brew remote course-control system for the kicker. Being the electronic and software engineer that I am, I gotta have some geek-factor in this project here. Key functionality on setting and hold a trawling course, and reversing (180) heading with one touch of a button.
