1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Looking pretty good. Is masonite water resistant? I might be thinking of something else.

 

[odyssey350kc]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Actually the masonite is probably opposite of water resistant. I'm pretty sure it would fall apart in the water its kind of like a really hard cardboard. However I sprayed it with a rubberized coating, and the boxes are mounted under the bow so they should never get wet.

 

[odyssey350kc]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

So I started feeling a warm breeze and decided I had better get my butt in gear if i want to finish this boat by spring.

Tonight I put the bow/hood back on, and let me tell you I had not expected this to be sooo difficult. When I redid the wood that supports the bow and made the mounts for the under bow speakers it pushed the sides of the boat out so that the rivet holes wouldn't line up. Luckily I was able to remove a few screws so the hull could flex a bit. It was still no easy task, I had to take a ratchet strap from one side of the boat to the other just to get the holes to line up, not fun.

I'll try and get some pics posted after this weekend, the plan s to try and finish getting the 15' long aluminum trim pieces polished and put back on, but we'll see how that goes.

 

[odyssey350kc]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Little update, It takes alot longer to polish 15 feet of aluminum than I had thought, I was only able to get one side of my trim done, I did a bit more tonight, and If, Im lucky finish all my polishing this weekend, The whole polishing trim process has turned out to be waaaaayyyy more work than i ever would have imagined, but its looking great.

Also more exciting I wanted to share my refinished bow light. Cost me a lot more than I wanted but I think It was worth it.

 

[classiccat]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Dang! it's hard to believe it's the same piece of hardware!

 

[odyssey350kc]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Yup Its the same piece alright, The buffing/plating guy who is a friend was going to do it for free but he said it took over $300 in labor just to do it, He gave me the $200 buddy price. Still I nearly fell on the floor when he told me. They had to strip off the old coating sand it down as smooth as they could without making the metal too thin, then copper plate it to fill the pitting holes, sand it, copper plate it again, sand it, buff it, chrome plate it, and buff it. Quite the process.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Re-chroming is a rob a bank experience. But boy, that turned out fantastic. Better than new!

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

I knew replating was expensive because I had looked into it myuself & found it was way out of my budget. Sorry you had the sticker shock, but it's an involved process and yours sure turned out great. Looks fantastic. I would haveloved to keep my original bow light. As it is, I'm thinking of turning it into a base for a table lamp.

 

[dozerII]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Bow light looks real nice, but I guess it should for $200.

 

[classiccat]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

While on the topic of hardware refinishing, has anyone tried stripping the old chrome, smoothing-out / filling the pits & using a metallic paint (like Rustoleum?)

Of course it won't come near the quality of what you have illustrated above (money well spent IMO; that's really going to pop!!!) but provide an alternative that allows you to use the original hardware.

 

[AJGeorge]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Wow nice light, but now ya gotta install a alarm system on your boat. Looking good

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Different look for a different boat. But yes, it turned out looking great w/ paint. I think SP used epoxy appliance rattle cans....

Powder coating may be an option, and for bow lights & cleats, powder coat might be DIY in your garage......


The new chrome looks FANTASTIC & if more affordable, it would still be my preferred choice. I am looking to have some cleats cast, since I only have 1 of 4 & they are only a 1 or 2 year part, from the early 60's. And will likely have them powder coated, because of the cost of chrome.

The buffing/plating guy who is a friend was going to do it for free but he said it took over $300 in labor just to do it, He gave me the $200 buddy price. Still I nearly fell on the floor when he told me.

Talented friends are great to have, even at $200 for a bow light.

 

[odyssey350kc]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Wow I really like the white paint, looks great. It actually makes it look like brand new plastic.

If I were to do it all again I would either try to do some sort of painting to the trim, or sent it out to be buffed, All in all I have over 16 hours in labor just on sanding and buffing out all the aluminum trim on my boat, and the buffing wheel makes the garage filthy.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Wow I really like the white paint, looks great. It actually makes it look like brand new plastic..

Is brand new plastic supposed to be better?

Their regular ole plated pot metal, like most 1950-60's nav lights. Zimak (is that right?) or something. It's a low cost process for low cost fixtures from that era.

SP spent some time prepping & filling them, before paint, but yes, they turned out as a perfect fit to his boat.

 

[InMotion]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Just getting caught up... boy things are really coming along nicely! Looks great man! Keep up the super work. The chrome work came up fantastic!

J.

 

[odyssey350kc]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Thanks for all the comments guys!

I spent another 8 hours working on it today, I finally got all the buffing done. Yay :clap2:

Just wondering If anyone had any ideas on how to clean up the rubrail inserts? I'm contemplating buying new ones, but if anyone has a good method for cleaning the old ones I'd like to save a little cash.

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Just wondering If anyone had any ideas on how to clean up the rubrail inserts?

Check this out: http://forums.iboats.com/boat-restoration-building-hull-repair/1964-15-starcraft-aluminum-runabout-project-309879-18.html#post3167181

It was a lot of work, took a long time, chewed up my fingers, and in the end, I replaced them anyway. I couldn't find white so went with black. I saw some white on ebay today, but it was over-the-top expensive.

You might check this out too: http://forums.iboats.com/starcraft-boats/official-starcraft-rubrail-thread-501999.html (Look at post #51 for dimensions.)

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

While on the topic of hardware refinishing, has anyone tried stripping the old chrome, smoothing-out / filling the pits & using a metallic paint (like Rustoleum?)

Of course it won't come near the quality of what you have illustrated above (money well spent IMO; that's really going to pop!!!) but provide an alternative that allows you to use the original hardware.

I did that with my chrome vents on my Jupiter. Results weren't really that bad.

 

[dozerII]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

Thanks for all the comments guys!

I spent another 8 hours working on it today, I finally got all the buffing done. Yay :clap2:

Just wondering If anyone had any ideas on how to clean up the rubrail inserts? I'm contemplating buying new ones, but if anyone has a good method for cleaning the old ones I'd like to save a little cash.

What color are they? The black ones on my SS I scrubbed with Spary 9 industrial, to get the grime off. Then rubbed Armorall in till they looked like almost new.

 

[odyssey350kc]

Re: 1967 Starcraft 15' Jet Star Restoration

What color are they? The black ones on my SS I scrubbed with Spary 9 industrial, to get the grime off. Then rubbed Armorall in till they looked like almost new.

They're black. I'll have to find some of the spray 9 industrial to try out because i'm not payin $3 a foot for rubber. Crazy