Re: 1979 18? Starcraft Supersport Resurrection (warning ? lots of pics)
Re: 1979 18? Starcraft Supersport Resurrection (warning ? lots of pics)
After the carb cleaning & reassembly, I took her out again Thursday afternoon w/ the wife.
Performance with the 60hp Mercury:
With just us two in the boat, and about 3 gal of fuel, we hit 33.0 mph on the GPS (32mph on the way back). That's with a 10.5X13p prop. RPM's were unknown - my tach had us at 4800 at 3/4 throttle. Full throttle it dropped to around 4600 (and yes, the engine sped up, and we picked up speed). Don't know what's up with that. This is after playing with the trim, also. I may move to a 10 7/8X11 prop for watersports and if we make a habit of bringing friends with. Although I might want a larger engine in the future, but this one's fine for now.
Interior:
Splashwell Area:
I made a "sunken floor" so I'd have a little extra room. Battery and trim pump went there. Battery got a main cutoff switch from Harbor Freight, then 2 20A circuits (yellow wires) go to the starboard dash for power distribution. Control cables are 15', and had to be coiled since they were too long (ebay, so not a perfect fit). I tossed the steel Mirax gas tank for these 2 plastic ones. While the Mirax has a fuel sender in it and was filled from a cap in the splashwell, it was just too big and I was also afraid of it leaking, being so rusty.
Console area:
Gunwale covers were originally gray, and that was too much gray for the interior. I painted them white with satin acrylic latex ($8/gal at Wally-Mart.... I couldn't pass that up). Dash panels are 3/4" pressure-treated plywood (left over from transom) and were epoxy coated, then painted w/ the white latex. I would not do this again. It turned out OK, but carpet would've been better, or take a sheet of plexiglass, paint the back of it, and have that cover the wood. It just gets dirty quick.
I may add a glovebox to the port side dash. Haven't decided yet.
Trim:
I used Krylon Fusion to paint any plastic. This included the rub rail and plastic trim on the cleats. The bow rail hardware was originally chrome plated aluminum. The chrome and aluminum had reacted over the past 30 years, causing the chrome plating to flake off. I couldn't remove them as they fused with the rail tubing. So, they got masked and painted.
Electrical:
2 20A circuits are fed from a master cutoff switch at the battery. They branch into 2 10A circuits each at the dash, through a fuse holder. Each circuit is switched by a dash-mounted lighted switch. I have 2 speakers for the stereo, 1 under each console. There's an AUX in for an iPod, and it has a power antenna. Horn button is there, just have to mount the horn. And yes, I'll clean up this wiring w/ some zip ties.
