1959 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

[Camlee98]

Well here goes my second attempt to rebuild a boat. My first fiberglass boat did not pan out so I cut it up and went searching for a aluminium boat. Here's what I found.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

fiberglass boat did not pan out so I cut it up and went searching for a aluminium boat.

That's the smartest thing any man could do!

You've got a diamond in the rough there, let's see how pretty you can make her.

That transom looks like a rust magnet from hell! You'll have fun getting all of those bolts out.

Keep us posted on your progress and keep posting those pics!!!

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

+1. Tinnies rule! Lots of potential there. She's still got steering and controls too. Of course, you'll need to replace all the hardware with stainless steel and the transom has seen better days, but she's got good bones, and I LOVE the color. It matches my Stratocaster! Can't wait to see what you do with her.

Rules for tin boats:

1. NEVER use PRESURE TREATED wood of any sort. Instead use exterior grad plywood (1/2" or 3/4". it's up to you. I like 3/4" just to be safe.) and seal it with 2-part epoxy, fiberglass mat & wax-free polyester resin, or several coats of Spar Urethane.

2. Use stainless steel hardware and/or aluminum replacement rivets throughout. Be sure to dip any through hull fittings in 3M 5200 marine caulk.

3. Add emergency flotation foam below decks in the form of Pink/Blue closed-cell foam board.

4. If you decide to paint her, sand with 22 grit paper, wipe down with acetone, apply ligjht coat of Zinc Chromate Self-etching Primer, then top coat.

*With the exception of the epoxy and/or f'glass supplies, you can get everything you need in one trip to Lowes/HD. They even sell aluminum L-angle, C-channel, flat stock, as well as round and square tubing, all of which are great for making braces and sub frames.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

I hope you kept the glasser trailer, this one seems more then a tad short.... Maybe the OB too

Did SC change the way they built Jet's in the late 50's and the transom layout? The logo script doesn't appear to read SC, but it's hard to tell. And I can't remember for sure, but a DuraCraft, or something similar, had that same swoosh along the sides. Doesn't look like a PO cut down the transom, then subsequently someone added the removed area back, but maybe...

It also looks to be much longer then my 14' 9" (15'????) Jet. Might be because the trailer seems so short.


None of that ^^^ really matters, nice hull Inside doesn't look too bad either. I will probably forgo trying to pull the nuts & bolts on my next tin transom. Grinder all the way, transom's trashed anyway.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

+1. Tinnies rule! Lots of potential there......
4. If you decide to paint her, sand with 220 grit paper, wipe down with acetone, apply light coat of Zinc Chromate Self-etching Primer, then top coat......

22grit may be a tad aggressive

 

[Camlee98]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Wow so many posts in short amount of time Thanks everyone! To clear up some of the questions I have the trailer posted in the trailer section and someone stated that it looked far too short for that boat. Could I not move that front post forward more? It looks pretty short. I bought the boat without a trailer.
It is indeed a starcraft most of the emblem is there and I have the id plate.
The transom came out pretty easy. I thought the same thing about the bolts but out of all of them only one snapped.
The transom is not the original as you can see the po installed a wider transom and routed out slots for it. It is also setup for a longshaft motor. I do have a extra original transom and dash that came from a twin boat the PO had before this one.
I filled the thing with water the other day and I only have one spot on the side of the boat back near the corner that needs to be sealed. It appears to be some sort of overlap there. So I'm not sure if it's rivets or a seam that is leaking and it's a very small leak.
It's missing the seat brackets. I can see the rivets but the brackets are gone. I'll be doing something different with that anyway so I guess I'll just put new rivets and leave it at that.
Only a few small dents on the bottom and one on the side. So overall it's in really good shape.
How do you go about adding a floor to this thing? The ribs run all the way up to the indents in the side and if I put the floor up that high it will feel like I'm standing on top of the boat lol.
Yes 22 grit sand paper kinda threw me off a bit LOL 220 is much better!
I'll post pics as I go. I'm still working on a game plan for this thing. I think I'll install the new transom first...then work on the floor and paint then flip the thing and go at the bottom. It seems that's the route most have followed on the forums.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Based on this pix:

your transom was adapted to take a long shaft motor at some point, but it the original transom skin did have a slight dip in the center to allow a short shaft motor to be used. The slight dip is what made me think it may have been trimmed down, but it didn't 'look' like that had been done, based on the shadow from the transom 'wood' that is still evident on the exterior.

You can check thru some SC threads here

SC projects posted here

And a few brochure pix from 1958 can be found here

Welcome to iboats dry dock. Try the kool aide, it's great. Then tell everybody you know, that today is the day you discovered that you suffer from a terminal case of MBS.......

The Starmada has detected your presence and is now monitoring your progress & this thread

 

[Camlee98]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Thanks JB I'll get a pic of the back now that the transom is out. I did mess up on my original post and it has been corrected. It is a 1959 Jet I guess I had 58 in my head when I typed it. Here's a pic of the id tag that I have in an envelope waiting to go back on when completed. It's a little hard to see but here goes.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Read thru this thread.

If you are doing a faithful restoration to original, you might prefer the site I posted in that thread, it 'appears' to offer closer to original type 'foil' sticker 'plates'. There are other sources, as well. You can even email the pix you posted to some & they reproduce it....

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Throw away a glasser and grab a metal boat?

Excellent

 

[Camlee98]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Ok repositioned the front post what do you think.

Here's a ad that the po gave me

Transom out

Does someone make these and sell them?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Ok repositioned the front post what do you think.

It looks like the winch on the front of the post is now very close to the back of your tow rig. Too close, maybe not, but close. And the transom should at least fall on the ends of your 2X bunks to be well supported. Don't know if just making the 2X's 16"+/- longer will allow you to move winch post back a little & still get the transom to be well supported on the bunks...

This vintage gator tilt trailer has the transom back on it's bunks 12-16", and maybe more since it's rated for up to a 16' boat:

With the winch located on top of the winch post, this gator trailer also has the post pushed fairly far forward too....

I may not be setting my trailer up correctly, but the tongue weight seems to be good & they both tow well w/ or w/out a boat loaded....

Does someone make these and sell them?

I've seen people talk about using a almost perfect plastic logo to mold & cast their own out of resin. But I've never seen them for sale as reproductions. Ebay & Fiberglassics.com classifieds sometimes. Other websites maybe too.

Many just go graphic:

Other sites have them too, Ebay often has a few choices of graphic.....

 

[Captmills]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

another fun project, looks like someone did the gutting for you. Only problem with that is no template for the floor. You might want to see if anybody has some interior pic of that model, you may be right it looks like the ribs run awful far up the sides. Welcome to the insanity

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Although it isn't exactly the same, you'll want to run the deck (floor) ply 'around' the ends of the ribs like HA did his deck at the bow:

Your cut outs will be larger. A hole saw makes the rib cut-out very nicely. Lay the holes out & drill them before you trim the plywood down to size. And you may want to leave a gap at the edge of the deck, for water to make it's way down to the bilge. But not so large that you're losing stuff below decks.

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Northbeach made a run of Starcarft metal emblems. Don't know if he still has any.

Cut up his Fiberglass project, bought a tinnie, it's a Starcraft, and a 50's era boat to boot. With pictures. Take 4 punches on yer man card, dude.... oh wait, Dude. Come on up to the Starcarft forum section you'll get all the help you need.

"My first fiberglass boat did not pan out so I cut it up and went searching for a aluminum boat." I like you all ready. They burn like crazy too.

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Sweet classic tin. Seeing the potential in the brochure makes it even better.

No help from me, just joining the ride.

 

[Camlee98]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

JB ....so I can set my deck at whatever level I want but I need to wrap it around each rib correct? What does everyone use under the floor for support. Pink closed cell and mabey some alum. c channel or something? Thanks Bawana and truck it feels good to finally be part of the tin can family.
I don't have the seat supports. Someone ripped them out. So does anyone sell them or does anyone have a pic so I can make some? any other ideas for this?

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Hi Camlee. You can set the deck at whatever height you like. I would also make the cutouts for each rib as well. One neat trick is to use a hole saw to cut out a disk at each rib site after measuring for them carefully. You then go back and cut the deck outline to shape. The results are nice clean, even, well-matched semi-circular cutouts at each rib site rather than a bunch of one-off mods. You should add some sort of closed-cell foam below decks for the flotation. The pink/blue board from Loews/HD works fine. As for the braces, you can either screw the decks to the ribs directly, which usually results is a sloped deck, which some folk like. Otherwise, you'll need to add some cross members, which will give you a level deck and allow for more foam below deck. Most folks use sealed 2 x 2, Non-PT lumber or aluminum angle/c-channel like in the pic below. It's up to you. Aluminum is pricey, but will never rot and is very strong. You can use stainless steel sheet metal screws or aluminum poprivets to hold everything together. You can also use either 1/2"-3/4" non-PT exterior grade plywood for the deck.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

On the deck height, you might want to decide a seat/post/bench layout first and see what sort of seat height you'll have before setting the deck height. There are lots of options for seats/posts/benches and they vary in height quite a bit. And the costs can vary from inexpensive (even cheap) to extremely expensive. If you end up using 9" posts, the seats will be fairly high compared to the gunwale if you use a 4" deck stringer, to get 4" of foam below decks. (That's a lot of foam but I picked 4" for comparison). Same if you use 12" posts & a 1" stringer and 1" of flotation.... But if you use a 9" post & a 2" stringer, final seat height will be 2" lower, but will seem more then 2" different then the other options....

Did that ^^^ make sense??

I prefer to ride/sit IN the boat rather then ON the boat Although in the sun, a tinny may be to hot, being able to comfortably rest my arms on the gunwales while in a seat would be my choice of seat height.

For the helm I'd suggest a sliding swivel seat, makes getting in & out of it easier, plus allows adjustments for multiple captains at the helm. For symmetry a similar seat, but maybe only a swivel, for the passenger seat. Then a bench across the back in front of the splashwell. A bench built for 2 adults but it might also accommodate 3 kids..

 

[jtrom]

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Re: 1958 Starcraft Jet... Boat Rebuild attempt #2

Ha!..Deja Vu! I cut up my fiberglass boat and bought the EXACT same boat..a 1959 Starcraft Jet. I am just finishing up a 1 year restoration. I put a cedar wood deck in her with pink foam underneath. These boats are the pre-lapstrake models which began in 1960, so they are different than later Jet's. Let me know if you have any specific questions.