Re: 1967 Starcraft Jet Rebuilding
I think it's a shape & fit problem. The tapered ends of the dashboard wood indicate that it was dropped in from above, before the closed bow aluminum skin was added. The gunwales start to taper inward toward the front of the bow so you can't pull 1 end forward & let it drop out of place. The gunwales keep you from doing the same thing, you can't pull 1 side of the dash rearward and have it drop out of place either....
Having to dismantling a gunwale or the closed bow aluminum skin makes LL's overlay a very popular work around. Of course, the closed bow SC chop into an open bow is fairly popular too....
If you choose to cut out a 6" section of the middle of the dash wood, you can probably get the dash wood out. Then you might get lucky fabricating a new dash piece that is about the distance to the hull behind a gunwale shorter then the original. And have the dash piece running a few inches shorter on each end then the original, and be able to put it in behind the gunwale, and under the bow cover, w/out removing either. But that's a BIG may be!
Actually JB that's exactly how you do it. I covered all this in my resto thread. All you need to do is slice the dash anywhere from top to bottom and it will fall right out if you have all the bolts out. Then you just make the end cuts on the new one straight up and down in line with the bottom edge of the old one and it will fit back in. There is a peice of angle on each end that you bolt the new dash back into.
OK Catbones I just read thru the entire restore thread and need to add a few things. First Don't believe all those horror stories about the gluvit. That stuff is amazing! If you follow mixing instructions it will outlast you. I've used it on three boats. The liquid limo was done in 09 and the gluvit is just fine still.
On the hull of your boat where you are missing rivets you can drill out the hole to size and add these. Make sure the head is on the outside of the boat, it is set in a good glob of 5200 and put a small flat washer, a lock washer and nut on the inside of the boat. This is a two man operation. On the inside and outside wipe off all excess 5200. Then using a small dremel or grinder cut off the excess bolt on the inside of the boat. Make sure bolt, washer, and nut are stainless.
On the dash- running all around the inside of your gunwale and accross the top of the dash is an inside trim peice (aluminum, with a rubber/vinyl center just like a rub rail). First you take a cotter key extractor, or a screwdriver at the end near the stern and remove all of the vinyl. save for re-use or you can buy new really cheap on ebay. Once you get the vinyl out you should see bolts like these. They have to come out before the dash will.
This is a quote from my resto thread with some additional pics.
We want to replace the old decrepid, full of holes dash with a new spankin peice of mahogany. Problem is, the danged edges are cut on an angle with the sides of the boat. Guess they were put in before the deck skin was installed and I don't want to detach all the deck stringers in the bow and remove the deck. So first I had to remove all the hardware, controls, and the gunwale rubrail receiver. This came up in the Starcraft forums a few months ago. After you remove the rubrail insert, the receiver is screwed to the dash and rivited along the gunwale. Also there's about 16 thru bolts into metal brackets that also tie into the deck stringers. Removing this dash is not a fun project!!!!
Then you remove the tray attached to the bottom and peel the old canvas off so you can get to the bolt heads counter-sunk in the wood, There are also four bolts on each side up under the gunwale.
Now we've got it all ready to come out. Tomorrow evening, I'll saw it right up the middle and it should drop right out.
I forgot to mention there's a ton of stuff mounted to the back side of the dash-several fuse blocks, etc. and I also marked all the switches with masking tape so I wouldn't be trying to figure out which wires went to what when we re-wire.
Both of the fuse blocks had been totally bypassed by previous repairs except for one. But instead of a fuse, someone had installed a small spring, sort of like the ones you used to see in an old ball point pen???
It's gonna be nice to get all that cleaned up with this re-build.
If you have a bunch of bolts going into small aluminum angle braces tied into the front bow deck stringers (wood) you can install the angles with stainless screws from underneath. My new dash was 1" thick so I used 3/4" ss Screws from underneath. Starcraft used bolts because it's a little easier and they were gonna cover with vinyl.
I know your boat is a 16 footer and mine is a 22 but they were made one year apart and there are many similarities. Go thru my resto thread and look for pics and then the descriptions of things we did. It's provided to help folks out.
And I'm guessing your transom is bowed because your wood is in two peices. Once you replace it the bow should go away....
Don't want to go wrong on this either.
