1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

[monsumer]

I have had this boat for a few years, and just recently decided to take it all apart and clean it up. The aluminum seems to be in decent condition, but the floor and transom are rotting out. I have already started, so I will post some pics to get up to speed. It originally came with a 78 Johnson v4 85 that is now off and in my garage(and for sale).

​

 

[monsumer]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

I began the restore two years ago, and removed all of the flooring. I spent the past few weeks removing the outboard, hardware, and just about anything else that's screwed on. From the pic, you can see I started cleaning up the aluminum, though I will likely focus on the rivets and seams so I can gulvit soon. Next on the list is to pull the transom and bumper rails. Any advice on how to remove the nose cap?

​

 

[classiccat]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Welcome!! Looking forward to the rebuild!

 

[pckeen]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Hi,

Look forward to following it along. When I removed mine, it was screwed on, so it was simple. How is yours held on - screws? Rivets? Can you see the fasteners?

 

[monsumer]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

pckeen,

There were two rivets on the bottom, but I drilled them out. I also removed the bumpers on both sides, but they terminate under the nose cap and are currently only being held on at some point under the nose cap. It moves around a bit, and I can pull it forward about an inch, but it stil seems like there is something still keeping it attached to the rest of the boat.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Any chance there's a screw up into the bow endcap from below?

There's a screw or a rivet thru the rubber insert of the rubrail under that bow endcap. That's what's keeping the rubber from shrinking back out from under the bow endcap.

 

[monsumer]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

jbcurt00,

I suspect there might be screws on the inside, but they don't make it easy. Up under the bow are the wood supports. Right near the front of the bow is a piece of plywood that looks to be held in place by a single bolt/nut. I am guessing that behind that plywood might be a screw or screws. Problem is that while I can see the nut, the bolt head is between the top of the plywood and the underside of the aluminum bow sheet. I will have to have a look this week at it, but for now here is a pic of where it is currently at:

​

I believe I can see a screw on each side, don't really know if they connect just the rubrails to the boat, or if they connect to the bow cap as well

I also appear to only have the left transom cap. If anyone knows where I can find its brother, PM me.

​

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Transom end caps. PM me for more info..

Yep, use the PM system & see if MichaelP has some or can make you a pair.

Click the little carrot " at the end of his user name in my quoted text above & it will take you to his original post, and there you can right click his user name & you'll get a drop down list w/ send a PM

 

[pckeen]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Hi,

I have a '68 Starcraft that looks similar to yours - just went down to the dock to take a look at it. Two rivets holding it in from the outside as you describe. Nothing visible inside, but there are a couple of bolts holding the wood supporting the walking pathway on the bow cover, shown below. I suspect these are too far back to hang up the bowcap, but don't know. Is it possible you are getting hung up on a screw or bolt head that is underneath your bowcap?

 

[monsumer]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

pckeen,

It's possible. I took a pretty good shot at removing it today without any luck, but I was trying to use the rubrails as light leverage. If those are screwed in, I can see why it wasn't working. I will give just lightly prying the cap off a try tomorrow and see where I get..

jbcurt00: I will send him a PM, thanks

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Your cap is held captive by the rub rail channels. If you look closely, you will see where the channel goes under the cap and it narrows toward the bow. To get the cap off, use a putty knife under the cap beside the rub rail channel and lift the cap and push/tap until the cap is on top of the channel. Do the other side and once the cap is on top of both channels, gently tap the cap forward. Be very gentle, the cap can break easily.

There are no screws from inside. My cap had four rivets from the bottom to be drilled out.

 

[monsumer]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

GA_Boater,

That was it. Some gentle(notsomuch) prying took that sucker off. Pics included for anyone that needs to do the same thing:

Here is the above view after removal

​

Front view closeup(you can see the rivets holding in the rubrail bumper

​

Pullback of the bumper to see the screw holding the tip of the rubrail


Nosecap removed FTW
​

Next, transom removal.........

 

[Grandad]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Hi monsumer. I just noticed your thread. Now that you've removed the nose cap; why did you? What's planned that needs the cap off?
- Grandad

 

[monsumer]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Grandad,

I was really only looking to pull the rubrails off, straighten them out in a few places, clean them, and replace the rubber(that was in poor shape). Doing it on the boat was a bit problematic, and once I got started, I realized the nose cap had to come off.

 

[pckeen]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Monsumer - love the photos and info - very useful!

 

[monsumer]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Finally got the Transom out today. It looks to be in pretty decent shape, but might as well replace it while it's apart.

​

Next step is to finish cleaning up the inside, put some gulvit on, and check for leaks.

 

[Grandad]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Finally got the Transom out today. It looks to be in pretty decent shape, but might as well replace it while it's apart.

Good enough for using as a pattern that's for sure. - Grandad

 

[monsumer]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

I do have a question about rebuilding the boat and purchasing a new motor. I would like to clean up the aluminum and patch any unnecessary holes. At this point I expect I will be looking at a new motor, so I find myself in a conundrum. I don't have the outboard that will be on the boat, but I want to prep the transom. I don't plan on purchasing the new motor until I get closer to completing the restore. Any recommendations?

 

[pckeen]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Last year, we bought an 18' 1968 Holiday, with a '69 Johnson 115hp (the boat we have is rated up to 120 hp). We bought it for the boat, not for the motor. The boat was in great shape, and didn't require any internal work. The transom is solid. At some point, I'm going to do a restore, but not just yet. The old motor was unreliable, and heavy on gas, and we wanted to have a turn key boat (i.e. turn the key, and we have absolutely no worries that it would start). The old motor weighed 245 lbs.

We looked for about eight monghts, until we found a one year old local Yamaha F90L (20" shaft - we have a 20" transom), with 28 hours on it, for a great price. The motor weighs 399 lbs. The only issue was whether the transom was strong enough. It is. The transom is getting to the point where it will need replacing in the next few years, but we figure we'll get a good couple of seasons out of it.

So - locally, a new Yamaha F90, installed, would cost 12k, plus installation. We paid $6800, plus $3200 for installation (which included a new harness, new Yamaha digital tach, new steering wheel, new controls, and new steering sytem). A new motor (motor alone) locally would have been $10-$12k. We now have $11k into the boat and motor, but while the boat is old, it is solid, and we have a motor that still has two years of warranty on it.

So - my reccomendation is start looking for a motor now - you are probably looking for a 90hp 20" transom motor. A 75hp might be enough for you, but I would think it would be underpowered. I would suggest a new or nearly new four stroke. I found there were several buying opportunities over the 8 months that we looked, for major saving over the cost of a new motor. There were several deals on ebay over the year for 'new non current' motors,' as well as nearly new low hours motors, as well as a few deals that came up locally.

If you rebuild then look - you'll be in a rush to buy when the restore is done - if you look as you rebuild, you can let the OK deals pass you buy, until a great deal comes along.

We found that the 90hp was fine for the 18' Holiday. We run it with 2 adults and 5 kids. It runs cruising at 22-25mph, and WOT at 34mph. Fine for us.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1974 Starcraft Holiday 16' Restore

Newer motors use what's called the "Standard B.I.A. Bolt Hole Pattern". Not sure when it became a standard.