1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry-- or at least get messed up by the weather. After this afternoon's storms were over, the clouds disappeared, and there was a clear, blue, sunny sky. Walking outside was like stepping into an oven.

It was beautiful outside. We went to Lowe's and got a gallon of black paint with the intention of painting the trailer. I thinned the paint, filled up the sprayer, and handed it over to my husband to paint. He got the first pint or so of paint on the trailer, and then, out of nowhere, there was rain. The sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

This is the rainiest, hottest summer we've had in years. We're holding out hope that we will someday get this boat and trailer painted.

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

Just a quick update on how this thing is progressing. We've got the trailer painted, and now have the boat back right side up on top of the trailer. The fiberglass and resiin have arrived via UPS. I have found a place to make two Starcraft emblems. We found some aluminum already-built consoles on the internet last night and are thinking about going with those. We need to get the windshield off our old boat to see if the consoles will work well with it. I also need to take the old rotten seats from the front of the boat to a local upholsterer to see if he can make us some new ones like them in blue to match the seats we have.

Tonight, we will hopefully get the stripe and the interior of the hull painted. Both of those will be gray.

The rain seems to be over for a while. Now, we have a heat advisory.

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

UPDATE:

The transom is in, and we are finally making a little progress on the boat.

Today, my husband had to work, so my brother-in-law pitched in and cut out some floor pieces. My husband joined him right after work, and I stayed home a little while longer to give some attention to our neglected yard and pool, which was full of leaves, sticks, limbs, and acorns from a storm a couple of days ago. By the time I got there, they had all the pieces of the floor cut out and ready to be coated with resin.

We used poly-resin we purchased from U.S. Composites, and I mixed it up one quart at a time in some 2 qt. Gladware bowls, which worked quite well and could be thrown away after being used. We put the resin on with some cheap paint brushes from the dollar store. All the pieces of the floor are now coated and ready to be put in the boat. We failed to buy the foam for the floor, so that'll probably be on the schedule for Monday. Tomorrow is lake day.

I found aluminum consoles at Jamestown Distributors and have ordered them. They should be here early next week. I also found someone to make Starcraft emblems to put on the boat. They're stainless steel and very pretty. I sent them a photo of the original emblems, and two days later, I had the new ones in hand.


Here are some new photos:


Husband and brother-in-law cutting out the front-most piece of the floor:

Floor pieces laid out in the boat. It fits perfectly.

The original plastic Starcraft emblem

Shiny new emblems

I got the emblems from Kentucky Laser Products in Barbourville. My husband found out about them from the manager at the one of the auto parts stores here. They primarily make license plates, but the owner said they can make "just about anything." Their website is www.autoplates4u.com

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

very nice!

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

We've been working on the boat nearly every day, but it seems like we aren't getting much accomplished, due to the fact that we're always trying to work between rain and storms. It has rained more days than I can count.

We got the floor in, and then painted the inside.

Then we taped off the outside and painted on the stripe.

The stripe on one side of the boat turned out beautiful. On the other side, it didn't turn out so well. Somehow, the sprayer got out of adjustment, and the paint came out way too thick. That stripe is going to have to be scraped off and redone. The paint is so thick that it never dried enough to sand it. It's really just a gooey mess.

We're thinking about adding a blue pinstripe between the gray and the white, since we will have blue seats.

I'm not sure how it happened, but the paint on the top of the boat dried to look like this. We didn't intend for it to happen, but it has kind of a nice texture to it. It doesn't look bad, so we're not going to try to fix it.

We've got half the carpet in. We had intended to try to fix the stripe and finish the carpet this evening, but the weather did not cooperate.

We got our consoles. While my husband put down carpet, I primed the consoles. They're just waiting for paint.

We also took the original cushions from the front of the boat (which oddly enough were still in it and were not in horrible shape) to the upholsterer. He is making us new ones that will be blue with gray trim.

We're taking tomorrow off to go the lake--hopefully-- and then we'll resume work on the Starcraft on Monday.

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

Update:

The carpet is in and looks great. The consoles are both painted gray and are ready to be installed. We took the windshield off our old Thundercraft, and much to our surprise, it fits the Starcraft perfectly.

The messy gooey stripe on one side of the boat never dried out enough to sand off. So, last night, while my husband worked on the carpet, my brother-in-law and I scraped the offending stripe off with razor blades. That side is going to have to be re-striped.

We hope to have the motor off the old boat and on the new one before the week is out. We may have lofty goals, but we're hoping to take it on its maiden voyage Labor Day weekend.

New gray carpet:

After the bad stripe was scraped off:

Removing the windshield from our old boat:

Windshield and consoles in the boat:

How it looks right now:

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

WOW, That is looking great! Keep up the good work and you will be on the water soon!

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

That is sweet how that new/old windshield seems to fit right on there, great!

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

We were really shocked about the windshield, because this boat is quite a bit bigger than our old Thundercraft. We are going to use two seats out of it, as well. We just bought them this spring, so we're really happy that those are going to work too.

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

The ugly stripe has been repainted. It still doesn't look great, but it's much better than it was. We've decided to just leave it for now and move on to more important things. The stripe can always be sanded off and redone later.

The motor and steering wheel are off the Thundercraft and on the Starcraft now. That part went much more smoothly than anticipated.

Tonight, we're going to try to get the lights and cleats mounted, and put back on any other hardware that needs to go back on.

Then, the passenger side console and the windshield have to be mounted, and the seats put in. The cushions for the front end are not done at the upholstery shop yet, but we have the two lounge seats.

With any luck, it may be ready for a tryout trip to the lake before the end of the weekend.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

Very nice work, she's looking great!

Bummer on the striper but you guys seems to stay positive

Good luck with the maiden voyage, and make sure you take the brother-in-law for a nice boat ride(good helpers are hard to find)

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

Oh, yeah, my brother-in-law, nephews, and sister definitley deserve a boat ride-- The guys for helping us, and my sister for putting up with the mess we've made in front of her house. It's supposed to be somewhat cool here this weekend, but if it's finished, we're going to the lake anyway!

It's coming along nicely. The consoles and windshield are mounted in permanently now. The motor and the trolling motor are on. The seats should be going in tonight, except for the ones that are still at the upholsterer's. The railing on our old boat is going to work, so that may go on tonight as well.

Taking all the stuff off/out of our old boat has been really sad for me.
It's the boat I grew up with. My parents bought it when I was a baby, and my sister and I have some great childhood memories that involve that boat.
I'm glad we can at least salvage some parts of it.

I've taken a ton of pictures. I'll try to post some of them tonight.

 

[fshngho]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

Great job and even better the family all has a hand in it. Have fun this weekend and don't forget the video of the splash. Be safe.

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

Here are some new photos:

Putting on the motor:

The consoles were a little too short, so we used some small pieces of wood to make them taller:

It was starting to get dark by the time the windshield was installed:

How the boat looks now:

We had almost completely forgotten about that hole in the front. My husband had originally intended to have a piece of metal cut to put over it. However, running short of time and money, we decided to just use the piece that was on there originally. I'm not really sure what the hole's purpose is. I suspect it has something to do with the boat's originally having a cuddy cabin.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

CMW,
That hole is for the hatch. If it was a cuddy or a windshield model, you could go under, open the hatch and drop anchor or tie off your dock lines. did you folks think about cutting that peice of bow skin off and throwing some cushions up front to make this thing a bow rider?

And have you found the rub rail inserts that match that rub rail?

Sorry about not being able to help with the year and model, but your's seems to fall into that hole we have in brochures in the 70's.

Boats lookin good BTW

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

That hole is for a hatch that flips open, so you can toss the anchor off the bow and secure the anchor line.

The boat looks very nice, think of it this way...some of the old boat from your childhood will live on for many, many years on the "new" family rig

(it's hard not to get nostalgic and emotional about these boats, I will never sell my little 12' tin can because it was my grandfather's)

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

I thought last night that perhaps it was some kind of hatch.

We thought about cutting that piece out of the front, but we were considered that it may damage the structure of the boat. So, we left it.

We will have cushions for the front end, but the upholsterer does not have them finished yet.

There is also a cutout in the front to store lifejackets and such in. That part will have a door over it. Also, my husband plans to put a pedestal seat up in the front to fish from. It will be removable, so we can take it out for non-fishing expeditions. There will be a pedestal in the back end too.

Anyway, it's crunch time. It's 2:25 pm on Saturday. I'm waiting for my husband to get home from work and hoping that my brother-in-law may have done some work on the boat today. I spent the morning giving an acid bath to some metal pieces that go on the transom and cleaning the strips of rubber that go down the sides. I soaked those in hot water and Dawn in the bathtub, and then sprayed them with Black Magic to make them look nice.

As soon as he gets home, we're heading over to hopefully knock this thing out, so we can go to the lake tomorrow.

 

[sprintst]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

Looking good man. We'll be waiting for the pics of the splash.

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

I was hoping I'd be able to report back that we went to the lake Sunday and had such a great time, we went back on Monday. It didn't work quite like that.

We worked until past dark on Saturday and did the same on Sunday, finally quitting around 8:30 to go to Huddle House for some supper with the family. Monday mornng, my husband wired up the trailer lights, while I loaded up the lifejackets, paddle, fire extinguisher, and such.

We got to the lake, backed it in the water, and I watched in the truck's rear-view mirror as my husband started up the boat. It started right up and took off like a rocket--backward, right into the marina!

A good Samaritan tried to help us find and fix the problem, but no such luck. So, we loaded her right back on to the trailer. My husband pushed it off from the marina, and I ran out into the water to catch it. Then, we dragged it back up on the trailer.

We did spend a few hours on the water in our pontoon, which runs great in both directions. From the water, our Starcraft really did look very nice, sitting there on its trailer in the parking lot.

Today, the Starcraft made its second trip -- to the new boat mechanic in town. My husband said the new mechanic was quite shocked to see a 35 year old motor that still had its original water pump!

 

[coalminerswife]

Re: 1973 Starcraft Restoration 19'

Some photos of the last couple of days of work:

Seats going in:

The horn from our old Thundercraft:

Original front light, shined up with some mother's metal cleaner:

Rub rail with the rubber back in it:

Covers for the openings in the backs of the consoles:

Putting on the KY number: