1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

[ezmobee]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

I have this one http://www.cabelas.com/product/Boat...=SBC;MMcat104794380;cat104704380;cat104462280 and this one http://www.cabelas.com/product/Boat...=SBC;MMcat104794380;cat104704380;cat104462280 Big fan.

 

[ben2go]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

I've got a couple of the clamp on nav lights and they're junk. (at least the Atwoods) There's no seals to them so the insides corrode in no time flat. And that's with me taking the boat out of the water after every use. Removable ones are the way to go in my opinion.

On those cheapo lights.Take them apart and coat all the electrical connections and bulb sockets with dielectric grease.They will last a long time.Of course they will need a clean and refresh every few years but that should be done on all boat electrics.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Yah, I'll have to find some high quality nav lights at bottom feeder pricing, ya know. Time for some eBay...

________________________________________

K, quick update...

So I got the OB side completely rigged and ready for action! Nice. First thing I did was replace these clamps that came with my uber expensive fuel line...

I noticed fuel leaking into my splashwell from one of those fittings. Pretty lame considering what I paid for it. Replaced em with stainless clamps. Maybe I can use those for wire ties or something.

Here's the OB all ready to go. Just waiting on decals...

Controls all rigged and waiting for the mounting plate to be installed...

Grabbed a new batt charger the other day too...

Little closer, just a little.

Man, this weekend would have been perfect weather for a launch. Sunny and 50's, 60's. I'm late, bummer.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

OK, on the stern bulkhead. So I have been picking away at this for a while but haven't posted up photos on it as, well quite frankly, I wasn't so sure it would turn out. I was thinking it may very well end up in the trash as it would end up in my boat. Well, it just kind of got formed as I went along and I just installed it, so, I guess it turned out. Here is what I did...

I started out with these stern side brackets...

I was trying to think of the easiest way to form the plywood bulkhead. 2" pink foam as a template came to mind. So after some scribing, cutting and forming I had this...

OK, so then I thought, why not keep the foam and skin it with two 1/4" pieces of plywood rather than just using one 1/2" (no foam) as a bulkhead?

All right. Then I thought, hey why not triple that foam? So, I notch troweled PL all over the place and laminated 3 pieces of 2" pink foam together...

(You'll notice some of that is the gray "Self Leveling" PL as that is what I had on hand when I ran out of the regular PL)

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Well all right then. Dry fit, shaping, dry fit, shaping, repeat...

So far so good.

Time to skin it. 1/4" Arauco ply cut, PL notch trowled on, clamped up to cure...

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Had to do a lot of cleaning up and shaping...

Then I had to cap it - PL everywhere...

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Let it cure, sanded it down, cleaned and...

I thought to myself, this thing weighs hardly anything but it seems strong! So, just before my morning run I set it on some saw horses and jumped up on it...

Just about 190 lbs. on 1/4" plywood, pink foam and PL, the thing didn't even flex, at all! BOMBER!

So after a lot of shaping, sanding, some paint struggles and cutting out the rod holder holes here it is installed with ss and 5200 all around...

You'll notice the nice gap between the deck so water can make it's way to the bilge. Also you'll see how, just like with the bow side rod holders, 5200 squeezed in to support the gunwale.

It took me a while but overall, I'm pretty happy with how that turned out. My next challenge is to build a deck for it that is strong enough to stand on but easy to access the fuel tanks and batt below.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

At least it isn't a box full of pool noodles and empty jugs,....lol..


Actually it looks really good,....Great idea,......

 

[bananaboater]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Great innovative work. You could have had an elephant stand on it and I doubt it would have broken.

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

out freeeking standing!

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

And if the Jet ever goes down (perish the thought) the O/B will be high and dry. Another nice multi-function piece, Jason.

 

[Triton II]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Fantastic effort Jas, love your innovative ideas!

TII

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

this boat keeps getting better and better. Awesome.

 

[rrumba]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

JO she is looking sweet............

 

[zopperman]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Looking great, Jas. You coudl probably make your furniture like that and add strength and reduce weight. Cool idea man.

 

[dozerII]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

That there Jason is some pretty inovative planning and building. Super strong, light weight and talk about extra flotation.
Glen

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Hello jasoutside,

Been following along your thread.

Super job on your tinny, it is coming along real nice!

Just saw your bulkhead design/build and am completely blown away. That is a fantastic idea. I used to work with this stuff, to build model railroad scenery.
This stuff works great as a molding material and has the added bonus of being watertight and it floats...KUDOS, man!

This stuff could very well end up in my glasser as a new interior takes shape...sometime in the distant future, of course:redface:

Best Regards,
GT1M

 

[lakelover]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Fantastic idea there! I never would have given up so much floor real estate on mine, but since you'll be standing/sitting on yours, no worries about that. That's a lotta flotation, great innovating. How are you sealing off the rod holes on the inside?

One thing about those motors-they looks like an octopus with all the wires, cables, hoses etc. going in. At least yours all come from one side. I noticed that the throttle/shift cables on mine tend to vibrate & buzz at certain speeds on the splashwell, so I'm going to use wire ties and encase them in some small foam pipe insulation & see if that helps.

Great work to be proud of there!

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Hey, thanks a lot for the comments guys! Much appreciated!

Yah, I really had know idea if that bulkhead would even materialize. Just kinda kept plugging away on it and it worked, eh!

As GA said...

nice multi-function piece

That is what I was after. I got a huge amount of flotation as that is about 3/4 of a 2" thick 4'x8' sheet of foam. I got great structure for the hull and gunwales. I got a storage hatch and rod holders. I still maintained drainage to the bilge and that thing might weigh all of about 5 lbs. or so. And, I had just about everything here on hand so it was cheap too!

Lake - the rod holder holes (as well as the bottom and sides) are all sealed up with paint actually.

Rock on doods!

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1968 15' Starcraft Jet Star Rebuild

Alrighty, progress report...

I spent some more time on that bulkhead. First I grabbed some scrap alum and bent up a pair of brackets...

I installed them on the inside of the bulkhead. 5200 on the bottom mating side and ss screws. I also installed anchor points to strap down the fuel tanks (hit ribs which was cool). These fit perfectly in the groove on the bottom of the tanks...

Installing those brackets strengthened up that bulkhead even more, like it! Now, the deck, hull and gunwales are all connected by that bulkhead, way bomber

Here is what my setup will look like in there (I'll have another 6 gal tank on the starboard side too)...

Two 6 gal tanks on each side with the starting batt in the middle. I still have enough room back there to throw in some PFD's, tools, nav lights and whatever else.

I also got the control mounting plate cut out, sanded, painted and ready for install...

Getting there guys, getting there.