1964 Starcraft Jet Star Aluminum Runabout Project

[lakelover]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Bought it!

I met the seller at the lake and looked everything over. Overall, it looks pretty good but there is a repair in the rear cross member that I should be able to have welded. The footprint is about 9' x 10' and it will easily handle my boat that weighs in around 750 lb. soaking wet. In looking at the Hewitt website, I see that their smallest lift (and this one is larger), has a 1200 lb. capacity.

The cable and pulleys are new, and he will deliver it to me sometime this week. He also knocked off $50 for the repair, a very nice fellow. He said he had it sitting in the yard for 5 years. We moved it a few feet so I could try out the winch and I was surprised how light it was, a very good thing!

I'm going to have to disassemble to transport it to the lake, and I won't need to switch the side that the winch is on when I reassemble it like I thought I might. I may get a wheel kit, as the small wheels will be fairly useless to me when moving it across the sandy bottom.

Repair:

Winch:

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Kool! Looks like a Winner to Me!!!! You can practice your painting skills some more!!!!

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Good idea, maybe the paint will hold the cracks together! It would have to be red of course.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Do you have a friend with a welder? That can all be fixed pretty easily.

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

No, I don't have any readily accessible handy friends around since I retired. I'll have to ask around, don't know if my garage guy does aluminum welding, if not, he may be able to point me in a direction. I may actually have better luck in the old home town near the lake. In the meantime, I was thinking bungees and duct tape would suffice.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

In the meantime, I was thinking bungees and duct tape would suffice.

Getting fancy, are we? No baling wire for you!

Looks like a good find LL. Dumb question - What are the wheels used for? Surely not to move the lift around with a boat on it.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Just saw the boat lift you purchased...pretty neat, I hadn't seen something like this before, but then again I am still a noob to all this boating stuff...

If you don't have access to getting it welded, might I suggest something similar to what has already been done in an attempt to repair it...

Get two pieces of angle aluminum, that completely cover the original tubing, temporarily clamp everything together drill some holes through all the pieces, and bolt it together with some stainless steel fasteners...

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Getting fancy, are we? No baling wire for you!

Looks like a good find LL. Dumb question - What are the wheels used for? Surely not to move the lift around with a boat on it.

The wheels save a lot of sweat putting the lift in & out each season, roll it, don't carry it. I'm also thinking of trying to rig something up so I could take it out of the water in the fall by myself if I needed to, a winch on a tree and some ramps or something.

Something like this

or this

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Get two pieces of angle aluminum, that completely cover the original tubing, temporarily clamp everything together drill some holes through all the pieces, and bolt it together with some stainless steel fasteners...

That's a good thought, I'll have to see what the welding might cost, otherwise this sounds like a good idea.

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Lift was delivered yesterday. After looking it over and studying the main issue, it looks like it was overloaded at one time and the rear lift arm (looks like an "H" when viewed from the back) bent and cracked. There is also a crack at a weld joint on the opposite side on the middle cross arm. When the bed is lowered, the rear corner near the repair sags a bit.

Mostly lowered:

I think when I take it apart for transport, it shouldn't be too difficult to more or less straighten the "H" arm and have it welded. I'll have to figure a way to apply my trailer-straightening method here.

Side view - out of whack:

Crack on upright joint:

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

I think that should be an easy fix for a welder, eh.

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

That was easy!

It was such a beautiful day out today that I figured I'd give a shot to straightening the lift. I can't say it's perfect, but it's definitely improved. Inspired by the success of my trailer straightening and with the help of a tree, a timber and a come-along, I got to work. I love how light this lift is, I can move it around the yard by myself, even with the tiny lawn mower type wheels on it.

The set up:

Before & after, not perfect, but good enough I think:

Still a little out, but should be OK. Will have it welded later in the spring:

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Beautiful lift. I like the cradle types.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Huge improvement, looks good, nice work...

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

I have a thread in Boat Topics about this lift, seems somebody there might know about lifts, but not getting any responses, so I'll try here...

I need to replace the boards & carpet on the cradles & while working on that today, I noticed that the clevises where the pulleys attach are just the $2 parts from HD or Lowe's. When you think about it, when lowering and raising, each one of those is supporting half the total weight of the boat and all. Should there be something stronger in place of those? What about stainless steel?

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

That's a lifting Shackle and that size will easily hold your boat up...you can find weight information for the size you have here: http://www.mcmaster.com/#shackles/=gde9w9


First item top left, click on that one, then look at the drawing and go measure yours and cross-reference the size you have with the chart and I think you'll see it's plenty strong enough. We use them all the time at the plant site to lift items about 20 times heavier than your boat. That size in the photo looks like the type we use for lifting electric motors that weigh between 250 lb to 1000 lbs. Remember, that 1 shackle is only lifting about a quarter of your boat weight, not all of it.
NOTE: In this case, Stainless Steel is not your friend when lifting (I know it will do better in water but lifting poundage it's not that good)

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

One other thing I would recommend to you with those, find some aluminum wire or solid copper and tie a banded loop through the hole in the bolt head of the shackle and loop it around something that's solid (U shape of the shackle). This is just a safety strap so there's no way that the bolt will work out of the shackle on you. (hope I explained that right) Since you won't be disassembling this connection once you get it to the lake, having these safety straps/wires on the bolts to the shackles will just stop any chance of them working themselves loose. (it would take a lot of get that bolt to work loose) Not sure why they put the shackle with the bolt pointing down (maybe a clearance issue??)

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

.....
NOTE: In this case, Stainless Steel is not your friend when lifting (I know it will do better in water but lifting poundage it's not that good)

Thanks for all the detailed info, Jeff! I knew generally that SS generally has less capacity, but appreciate the link and the explanation.

No way you could see this because of the one photo, but there are only 2 pulleys, so each one lifts half, no?

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Yes, then it would be lifting half your boat and half the framework too, which in this case wouldn't be much since it's made out of aluminum. Not sure how much clearance you'd have to increase the size of the shackle. They look by the photo to be around 3/8's diameter for A? Which would give you a range close to a 1k per side, that should be plenty of the job.

Been thinking about your wheel/removal issue in the Fall. Something simple and yet manageable for a single person to move with no struggles. Will give it some more thought while I'm out on the river today catfishing. Those skid bases would be nice if they were built like a ski, curved up at the end pointing towards the shore, that way when you winch it would slide over the sand.

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

Re: 1964 15' Starcraft Aluminum Runabout Project

The bolts are 3/8".

As far as moving it, I think if I can figure some larger wheels, I could handle it as I've been pushing it around the yard to work on it quite easily.

Here's where it will be:

X=where the lift will be; the yellow line is a short wall about 2-3' high. With the dock taken in, I'm sure I could get it to where the boats are in the picture, and of course they will be out at that point. That will just leave me with needing a way to get it up on top of the wall on the lawn, since the ice comes in all the way to the wall in years when the winter water gets high.

If I was sure to have help, I wouldn't think anything of two people carrying it in, then lifting it up one end at a time to the lawn level.