1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

[parsleap]

Well, got the wife to buy-off on getting this old beauty. Advertised and registered as a 62 lone star cabin cruiser, I think they called it a cruiseliner (possibly cruiseliner II). Advertised also as 26' but i can't find anything else out there bigger than 24', and didn't measure it. It has a 120 i/o mercruiser, which I know wasn't the original motor, but I think they did come off the line with an i/o of some sort, but not sure. looking for any and all info. 2 owners back had put a new coat of paint on it, and it looks pretty decent, though I probably would gone with white. Interior needs some work. Love the hull shape, don't know about the i/o. THinking about rebuilding the transom and going with an outboard. Thoughts? Even more drastic but possibly unrealistic, would love to turn it into a dual jet boat like some of the military riverine craft. The hull lines remind me of some of those types of boats, and it's actually a fairly flat bottom. I intend to use it on a river a good deal, but it's honestly not that shallow of a river, but there are logs and snags. Would two jet ski pumps with grates in the bottom, turned by a single inboard motor be a concept even worth looking at? Reverse with buckets? A 120-150 outboard is my more conservative and likely approach, but I'll give the old mercruiser a chance if it can be gotten back into running order easily enough. Anyway, I'm not going to sprint out of the gate on this - too many other things going on, but had to buy this when I saw it. Any lonestar owners out there offer up any advice? The guys at rivermiles.com have a very nice rebuild of a very similar hull but with outboards. Thanks for all comments!! Pics are from sellers ad - will get better ones of it when I can!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

Uhmmm, not seein any pics???

 

[parsleap]

Re: 1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

trying again with the pics....

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

Cool boat!

 

[66liner]

Re: 1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

Nice boat. Definitley 1st Gen Cruiseliner. '57 to '62 model. 23 footer. Have fun with it!

 

[parsleap]

Re: 1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

OK, not much by way of an update here - but when a Fleet Admiral asks, I'm obliged to reply! She's parked where I sat her in Jul of 2011, and still just as pretty as ever, and though the interior is probably worse off, I was going to have to replace it anyway. Was starting to build a house when I bought her, and the wife still casts hateful glances to both me and the boat, but what are you gonna do?! For a thousand bucks, I had to jump at it. I troll around from time to time looking at rebuilds of these old lonestar boats (and starcraft chieftans too). I nailed this down to a 1958 based on some similar boats in posts (and ads) that folks had scanned and shared - thanks to everyone who puts that old stuff up - the better resolution the better.

This is not that heavy of a boat, even though the trailer jumped off my truck ball hitch when I was pulling it home and came over a railroad hump too fast. The trailer started getting farther and farther behind me, so I checked up and the trailer started getting closer and closer - did a number on my truck's taillight and tailgate! Lesson 1 - get chains, and don't rely on break-away cable brakes - the cable just broke!

Being that it's so light, and that I'd truly like it to be a jet drive, my grand scheme is to use a modular yamaha waverunner, aluminum tubed jet shoe, and eventually power it with a single 155mm jet like out of the 1200 waverunners of the early 98-01 genre. There is a guy on tinboats that has done this with really good results and good lessons learned. This is bigger than a jonboat, but it's nearly flat in the rear, and I think it woudln't be too hard to put the intake in and power it up. I think Yamaha has a new 19' jet boat that is using a 155mm jet - and while it has an awesome fourstroke low profile, I think a 1958 aluminum cabin cruiser in jet mode would rank up there among the cooler things I've ever seen.

So the house is built, now just have to build a garage to put the boat in. Sigh.... Sorry for the non-update - I think about it all the time, but the funding and the space just isn't available right now! Kudos to those who are out making the efforts - I hope to join you some day!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

Cool, like I said, I like these big ole tin tubs

BTW: I'm just some random iboater, the Fleet Admiral moniker is merely based on my post count. Many of which are frivolous drivel :watermelon:

But I am working, finally, on a 1957 Duracraft. Link in my signature.

Tagging along for the journey. Can't say I support the decision to re-power w/ a Jet, but it sounds interesting & do-able. Besides, it likely lost it's OB bracket ages ago, and it's certainly your's to do w/ as you see fit. So, I'll tag along, help if I can.

Good luck w/ your project.

 

[parsleap]

Re: 1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

Yeah I know on the post count - but I looked at that Duracraft and knew I had to reply! Some good solid work going on there! I'm envious of a guy that can grab a boat and go to it - while I've got to let mine sit until a few more things line up. I'm not 100 percent on the jet powering either - I think it would work, but it take more alignment detail than I'd be wiling or able to do, and it might eat up even more of the useable sitting space. l also like the idea of going back to an outboard - especially like a later model merc 115 tower of power. I think a mid 80's model with the frills of the 60's models would just be a neat way to power it. And putting dual 115's on it - well it might actually shake it to death! I've overpowered aluminum boats before with not great results - things start to come apart! Good luck on the Duracraft, and I'll keep tracking!

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

Cool Boat! I agree that you should ditch the I/O. There are lots of after market, bolt-on I/O to outboard conversion brackets out there. Jet drive would be sweet, but might eat a lot of gas and not be the best for slow speed cruising, if you're into that stuff. Can't wait to see what you do with her.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

Yeah I know on the post count - but I looked at that Duracraft and knew I had to reply! Some good solid work going on there! I'm envious of a guy that can grab a boat and go to it - while I've got to let mine sit until a few more things line up. I'm not 100 percent on the jet powering either - I think it would work, but it take more alignment detail than I'd be wiling or able to do, and it might eat up even more of the useable sitting space. l also like the idea of going back to an outboard - especially like a later model merc 115 tower of power. I think a mid 80's model with the frills of the 60's models would just be a neat way to power it. And putting dual 115's on it - well it might actually shake it to death! I've overpowered aluminum boats before with not great results - things start to come apart! Good luck on the Duracraft, and I'll keep tracking!

Yeah, that's not exactly accurate, of any of my project boats..... It seems that way for the Duracraft, but it's actually been 'mine' since April or so... Maybe longer, it's hard to say for sure :facepalm:

But I appreciate the compliment on the effort, the work & the boat. I am very partial to it. Rapidly loosing the weather battle, so not sure how much further I'll get outside.....

The good news about the tin boats that we are so fond of: Things have to go drastically wrong for them to be unsalvageable 40 or 50 yrs later..................

 

[greenbush future]

Re: 1962 24 (or 26?)-foot lonestar cabin cruiser

Welcome to the Lone Star group within the resto section, I'm working on a much smaller LS from the same era. My 16 foot LS Fleetwood came with factory twins, I plan to keep her that way because I think twins are cool too. On the jet idea, have you ever ran jets? I personally don't like the way they run for my style of boating, but like others have mentioned, it is your boat, do as you wish. I'll be tagging along just because I love old Lone Stars and your boat is way cool. Load us up on pictures as you begin your project, everyone loves to see how things go, then they can offer knowledge and experience. Great looking boat there!!