Bill_Mahergera
Recruit
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2020
- Messages
- 1
My grandpa gifted me his old fishing boat that his dad gave him. It's a 1962 starcraft rocket. It's lived in a garage for the past 15 years, and before that it got plenty of use.
The hull seems to be in pretty good shape to my untrained eye. I've worked on surfboards a fair bit, and can kind of tell when fiberglass is rotten or weak. My understanding is that the only part of the boat with wood is the transom, and it's glassed plywood. I think the stringers are just fiberglass tubes. It doesn't have the carpet or wood on the deck, it's just the fiberglass layer and it looks to be in really good shape. I didn't see any cracks or dings that looked suspect.
It looks like the paint on the transom and the bottom of the hull have some spider cracks, and there's a few cracks and dings on the bow as well. There's a few dings that I can't tell if I need to just repaint, or glass over on the bow. I don't think any of the fiberglass is rotten on the boat, but I'm going to check the transom more closely once I pull the motor off.
It seems like I'll definitely need to repaint the hull, the spider cracks on the bottom are pretty prolific. It seems like a gelcoat paint is the way to go since I'll be using it as a fishing boat and want to to be durable. Not sure if I need to repaint the top entirely, but I think after a bath I'll be able to tell the extent of the cracks better.
I've only found one other restoration of one of these, and they cut out the deck to check the stringers. Not sure if I need to do this since my deck looks like it's in pretty good shape.
The motor seems to be in really good shape. Needs some paint on some spots but overall looks nice. I'm going to check the compression, give it new plugs, wires, fuel lines etc. Then clean out the carbs and regrease and oil everything. I've worked on cars and 2 stroke engines a fair bit, but never an outboard motor. Didn't start it but it definitely isn't locked up. Seems like the main thing I'll need to learn is how to work on the lower unit, whatever that means. I'd really appreciate any advice on what else I should check.
This is definitely a labor of love, and I'm happy to put some cash into it to get it working again. I know this boat was important to my grandpa, and I want to give it a new life. I've been looking for a project for a while too and this seems like the perfect one. Plus I think it could be a really cool little boat. I've never worked on a boat before though, so I'm very grateful for any advice you all can give me. Thanks!
The hull seems to be in pretty good shape to my untrained eye. I've worked on surfboards a fair bit, and can kind of tell when fiberglass is rotten or weak. My understanding is that the only part of the boat with wood is the transom, and it's glassed plywood. I think the stringers are just fiberglass tubes. It doesn't have the carpet or wood on the deck, it's just the fiberglass layer and it looks to be in really good shape. I didn't see any cracks or dings that looked suspect.
It looks like the paint on the transom and the bottom of the hull have some spider cracks, and there's a few cracks and dings on the bow as well. There's a few dings that I can't tell if I need to just repaint, or glass over on the bow. I don't think any of the fiberglass is rotten on the boat, but I'm going to check the transom more closely once I pull the motor off.
It seems like I'll definitely need to repaint the hull, the spider cracks on the bottom are pretty prolific. It seems like a gelcoat paint is the way to go since I'll be using it as a fishing boat and want to to be durable. Not sure if I need to repaint the top entirely, but I think after a bath I'll be able to tell the extent of the cracks better.
I've only found one other restoration of one of these, and they cut out the deck to check the stringers. Not sure if I need to do this since my deck looks like it's in pretty good shape.
The motor seems to be in really good shape. Needs some paint on some spots but overall looks nice. I'm going to check the compression, give it new plugs, wires, fuel lines etc. Then clean out the carbs and regrease and oil everything. I've worked on cars and 2 stroke engines a fair bit, but never an outboard motor. Didn't start it but it definitely isn't locked up. Seems like the main thing I'll need to learn is how to work on the lower unit, whatever that means. I'd really appreciate any advice on what else I should check.
This is definitely a labor of love, and I'm happy to put some cash into it to get it working again. I know this boat was important to my grandpa, and I want to give it a new life. I've been looking for a project for a while too and this seems like the perfect one. Plus I think it could be a really cool little boat. I've never worked on a boat before though, so I'm very grateful for any advice you all can give me. Thanks!
