1965 Starcraft Nassau Refurb / Restore

[g0nef1sshn]

Here's repeat of the stern for reference, any other suggestions on placement for the tow eyes?

If that white board center bottom was for the transducer, Id look into moving the location further away from the motor. I prefer starboard side since thats most likely where you will be sitting with the screen and its less cable to run. Just an observation. Saw this topic pop up not too long ago.

 

[jbcurt00]

That is an official tow eye, but I prefer the Ubolt style eye. You should be able to find 5/16" and 3/8" diameter Ubolt eyes.

The eye you posted needs to be installed w/ the 2 thru bolts drilled level across from each other, and the little hook part to be pointed up. Else I wouldn't trust that little hook to keep the rope where it needs to stay while in use.

A Ubolt eye can be vertical, horizontal or diagonal, but require a hook on the end of the rope.

Above a ski pylon is what I meant wasn't supposed to be used w/ tubes. typo... I'll change it in a minute

 

[Tnstratofam]

If you use a stout enough backer plate then using the tow eyes to pull tubes is very doable. I reinforced ours when I redid our transom with 1/4 inch plates of aluminum. I picked the pieces up at fastenall locally.

The end result has proven to be very strong.

 

[Watermann]

Just went through your thread and see that you're facing some challenges. I've restored a couple tin boats, one of which my Sea Nymph had some cracked ribs too. I splinted the ribs with 1/8" bar stock AL bedded in epoxy using machine screws and nylocs to secure them and that was a few seasons ago. No problems at all and the boat is bone dry still. Looking at your damage I'm inclined to think the boat had maybe struck an underwater obstruction with the motor to cause the added forces needed to create the damage to the knee braces. Is there any outside hull damage where the rib was cracked?

Here's what my repair looked like.

 

[gberl001]

Is there any outside hull damage where the rib was cracked?

Nothing noteworthy, just a few dings and scratches but nothing that isn't expected.

I like your solution to the cracked ribs, I've got some flat aluminum stock so I'll give it a shot and keep an eye on it. Any chance you remember what machine screws you used? Doesn't much matter but I wanted to make sure I get some good ones. I was looking at some SS 10-32 3/4" and then possibly a nylok nut.

 

[Watermann]

SS 10 - 32 should do the trick and nylocs. I also used 5200 on the screws to make sure there was a good water tight seal.

 

[gberl001]

Okay, I'm back to the transom, almost ready but I had some questions. The wood is already a tight fit, I mean I need to beat it with a block and mallet to get it in place (I had to do the same to get the old one out). So the problem is that if I coat it with epoxy, that's only going to make it thicker, should I forego the epoxy on the front and back and just epoxy the edges?

Also, with regards to the holes, I was looking to get some opinions, the last time I did a transom I drilled the holes slightly larger than needed, filled with epoxy and then redrilled to the right diameter needed so that the hole was protected with epoxy. I'm wondering if it really helped or if it would be just as good leaving the hole the size needed for the bolts and just filling it with caulk before inserting the bolts. I did this to the first transom I worked on also but I'm wondering if the caulk was good enough and the epoxy was just overkill. I'm assuming the epoxy would've probably cracked from stress anyway so it may have been useless. I started with a glob of caulk in the hole, pushed the bolt through and slapped some more caulk on both ends of the bolts and washers before tightening it.

Lastly, what torque should I tighten to? I remember from last time, I felt I could keep tightening but I has stopped because I thought it was starting to dig into the wood, is there a certain torque people tend to use, even if it's simply rough like 'one full turn past flush' or something like that.

Sorry it isn't a good photo but I was in a rush but here is the old and new transom wood. I realize after looking at this that these boards don't appear to be equal in size at all but oddly enough they are, it's got to be a combo of the angle and the fact that the bottom is 5 inches narrower than the top and I have these bottom to top.

 

[sublauxation]

Was that 1/8 AL you used for the scab pieces? Just 1 rivet?

 

[gberl001]

Was that 1/8 AL you used for the scab pieces? Just 1 rivet?

I can't speak for the original poster (g0nef1sshn) but I wouldn't trust 1/16th, seems to flimsy and from the looks of the photo it's not thicker than 1/8th so it's probably 1/8th inch and one rivet would seem sufficient since there is normally only one rivet holding the deck to the rib so one rivet from the deck to the scab and one rivet from the scab to the rib should be relatively equivalent in hold.

 

[gberl001]

there's a graphic floating around for a DIY flanging tool, and iboats also sells the plastic drain tube that some use too.

I believe this is that graphic you were referring to, I figure I'll give it a bump since it's a good money saver for such a unitasking type tool.

 

[gberl001]

And here are my latest pics.

Done so far...

• Ripped out decking
• Removed old transom and splashwell
• Stripped varnish from dashboard (just going to reuse the existing board)
• Built new transom wood (needs coating and installation, bought all new SS hardware $$$$$)
• Pulled out old wiring (I'll be redoing it all new)

Got some tearing here, my initial thought is to use angle stock and rivet it in behind this piece. Another idea was to just 5200 it behind but I don't know if that will be enough support, I really don't want to add rivets but I don't want it to get worse if someone decides to lean on it or something. Both sides have this tearing but the starboard side (shown) is the worst, the port side tear is between the first and second rivet from the top.

 

[gberl001]

She's as naked as she's going to get now, I have cleared out all of my tools, removed most everything and prepped the ribs for the welder. I'm going to drop by the welder today and see what he can do.

I've put a single coat of stain on the existing dash that I stripped, there was a lot of pitching and very deep so I had to remove a lot of wood, still has some spots that aren't great but it looks a lot better than it did. I also prepped the transom tin for JB weld to fill some holes and leave others but I got most of the corrosion off.

Transom

Ribs Prepped

Dash stained: awaiting a few layers of clear coat

NAKED! AHHHH!

 

[jbcurt00]

Hmm

That dash doesnt look like mahogany, looks more like oak...

Cleanup looks good from here.

 

[gberl001]

Hmm

That dash doesnt look like mahogany, looks more like oak...

Cleanup looks good from here.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it isn't the original. There is a toggle switch that was installed in the aluminum to the right of the dash, it looks like it's an original switch but it's way to short to fit through the dash unless it was bored out from behind (didn't think of that until now). But anyway, there is no hole for that switch and from what I've seen, the originals had the toggle and the push/pull switch in the dash to the right of the wheel.

I agree, my guess is it would be oak, it smelled that way as I was grinding away at it and it's hard wood.

Thanks, hopefully she'll be ready before my yearly Thousand Islands vacation in a week and a half, I'll finally have a boat that works, the past two years I brought my first boat, the first year the pull rope broke and snapped the recoil spring and the second year it wouldn't start, found out it was a leaky gas tank gasket and wasn't holding pressure. Ugh, hopefully, hopefully....

 

[gberl001]

Got the boat back from the weldor (<-- Apparent correct spelling for the person, not tool) yesterday and took some pics. I'm satisfied but he welded over a few of the rivets and I'm hoping that won't cause problems down the road. I am going to Gluvit the rivets before decking the boat. Also, he charged what seemed to be a large amount of money to me for the work done but I'm not a weldor, it was $100 for the total job.

What are your thoughts?

This one I didn't actually see until I got there, the whole knee brace was cracked almost completely off the flange.

And here's a overview of all but the knee brace (he fixed up a bunch of cracked rivet holes)

 

[Watermann]

Not sure I like the welding on the rivets, guess we'll see when you leak test it.

The torn angle , it would be my advice to just remove the cracked piece and replace it with a piece of angle riveted on rather than scabbing over. These boats are full of rivets, a few more makes little difference.

The hard to fit transom wood. You can try slightly tweaking the AL brackets that are the cause of the tight fit or take some wood off. You'll want to be sure and seal the entire piece of ply so it doesn't start weather checking by next summer.

The big hole filled with epoxy and drilled again. No I would just coat the holes with 5200 using a screw driver blade and insert the bolts.

You're really flying through the tear down and hull repairs, at the rate you're going you should be done in no time after the decking goes in. :thumb:

 

[gberl001]

The hard to fit transom wood. You can try slightly tweaking the AL brackets that are the cause of the tight fit or take some wood off. You'll want to be sure and seal the entire piece of ply so it doesn't start weather checking by next summer.

The big hole filled with epoxy and drilled again. No I would just coat the holes with 5200 using a screw driver blade and insert the bolts.

I'm definitely sealing the transom, because it seems thick already I'm sealing the edges with epoxy and the body with spar urethane. Not sure if it really makes a difference but it seemed to make sense to me (I don't know much about sealing wood though aside from what I've read). It only seemed to make sense because epoxy is gel like and thick while the urethane is more watery so it seemed like it would soak into the wood to seal rather than soak but also sit on top as a thick layer.

How difficult is 5200 to remove? I used the stuff on another transom but never had to remove the bolts. Technically they are supposed to be removable since the transom will eventually need replacing right? Will the 5200 make that difficult for the next guy? I have a tube of 5200 but I was contemplating using something else and saving the 5200 for structural adhesive jobs on the boat like the angle brackets and such.

 

[Watermann]

I use the helmsman spar for my wood sealing and the first couple coats soak in really well but because of the water proof glue nothing will soak in past the first layer of the ply, that's why the edges are so important due to lateral open layers of wood.

If the next guy leaves the boat out in the elements to rot then he deserves to have more than the problem of 5200 sealing motor mount bolts. Anyway 5200 won't keep a 1/2" drive ratchet from loosening the mounting bolts for removal and the hole can be cleaned out by running the drill bit through them. I don't use anything but 5200 to seal up where water comes in contact with a hole in the boat. The only exception which you don't have to worry about is the transom assembly on an I/O config.

 

[gberl001]

I use the helmsman spar for my wood sealing and the first couple coats soak in really well but because of the water proof glue nothing will soak in past the first layer of the ply, that's why the edges are so important due to lateral open layers of wood.

Yeah, I bought a spray can of Helmsman spar but now I decided I am going to get the can, they're relatively close in price per unit which is why I got the spray but with the open can I can add solvents, I was going to use the 1-2-1 Linseed Oil - Mineral Spirits - Spar mixture (Old Timers Recipe or something like that floating around these forums)

 

[classiccat]

You're making great progress!!

Regarding the rib cracks...my tintuition is telling me it was from a bad trailer setup (ie keel rollers not carrying the load).. Do those cracks line-up with the bunks?