1974 Starcraft SS16 Restortation

[FIGMO]

I have been making some progress on the deck boards. Almost ready to rivet them in place. Until I post those pictures, I have earlier pictures I took of the transom area and SW that I forgot to post. So here they are:


The transom is fully install and ready to go. The Z brace and knee brace both worked out well, nice tight fit!


Back transom is secured and you can see the brass drain holes for the SW.



Dry fitting the SW in place.



Nice tight fit and the SW lines up nicely with the drain holes.



Better shot.



Starting to fit the deck boards, and marking a line for the aluminum stringers so I can drill the holes for the rivets.




This is the board on the back of the transom. There is a minor gap there and I was wondering if I should just leave it alone or seal it?



Happy with the corners on the SW. Should be easy to seal it with 5200 when the time comes to do that.


Same for the seal along the transom, it all looks like it will fit back in place nicely.

Next will be the deck board pictures with the wooden stringers I marked out including the supports for the pedestal seat mounts.

 

[budski]

Hey Ron that's looking awesome, are you sure it's going to take almost a year to finish

 

[FIGMO]

Thanks Bud!

I think it will take me the better part of a year. That will include the trailer and work on the motor as well.

My OCD might be playing in to the completion time as well....

 

[Watermann]

The most enjoyable part of the process is putting things back together with the milestone being the decking going down..

That outside wooden motor pad is a sore spot for me and others as they are not needed, serve no purpose and is a source for issues down the road with rot, being chewed up by motor mounts and water between the wood and transom that never dries out becoming acidic and eating up the AL. My SS had pitting that I wanted to cover up from the wood so I made a replacement from .100 AL plate that was completely back buttered and sealed with 5200 before paint went on.

 

[Decker83]

Looking at your pictures you or definitely doing it right. Awesome job..
I would have to agree with Watermann about the wood on the outside of the transom.
The newer boats don't use the wood.

 

[FIGMO]

Hey Watermann & Decker,

I guess I should have asked that question before I mounted the wood on the back. I am stuck with it now as I have already drilled the holes through the transom, and everything has been secured in place. I am loath to go back and try and change it.

So I guess the question is is how to best protect that piece of wood so it doesn't cause any major issues. I thought about running a seal of 5200 along the seam between the wood and the transom, prior to painting, to help protect it. The other thought was that if I do that, I might be trapping any water that does manage to get in between to the two.

 

[FIGMO]

You have to use a belt sander with 60g and bevel the edge on the underside where the rib cut out is so the deck section will lay down flat, you don't want to have it sitting on an edge with the section jacked up.

I have a picture of the issue I was looking at. There seems to be too much room between the deck board and the rib to get a rivet to take hold.

 

[FIGMO]

Some more progress shots. I finally decided on seat location, taking advice from a post I read before on IBoats, but cannot remember who exactly posted the recommendation for seat alignment behind the consoles. The recommendation was 30" back from the console leg to front of the base, and 9.5" from the side of the boat to the edge of the base (marked in the pictures). I have seat sliders, thanks to Bud, for both console seats to accommodate size differences.

Again after much deliberation I finally decided on the rear layout of the boat. As this is a relatively small boat, and intended for fishing, I figure I can seat 4 people reasonably well. This will also allow me to place a live well and cooler on either side of the rear most seat. For the rear seat, I left enough room between the seat the the SW so that the person sitting there won't end up with cramped legs when facing the stern.
I like this location for the rear seat as the 3/4" support underneath helps to support the edge between the two deck boards.


Passenger side console seat location, 30" back from the console leg and 9.5" in from the side of the boat.


I went along the side of the boat marking all the rib locations so that I would not have to guess where the ribs were once the deck boards were down. If you look closely you can see a pencil mark from the original installation just to the left of my black arrow.


Driver's seat location. So it looks like it was actually 9" in from the side not 9.5"


Both seat locations with the aluminum stringers marked out for the riveting.


Another spacial assessment for the front storage area. Using the ladder as a reference for how big the center storage area will be.


More of the same


Laying out all of the wood stringers to ensure they will fit properly and not interfere with the aluminum stringers, or the ribs at the sides.


Last stringer in the front.


Following advice provided here, I remade the support for under the bow out of 3/4 plywood. I also made it wider to accommodate the mounting of the TM.


This is the rear deck board with the wooden stringers in place. I had to carve down the foam to the depth of the stringers. All the boards and foam are now ready for the riveting. I will post those pictures in a few days.

 

[classiccat]

good research & planning FIGMO! Very Nice! :thumb:

 

[astor]

Nice layout work, thanks for posting, it gives me some ideas!!

 

[Watermann]

Don't worry about riveting that nose piece of deck to that rib, is there even a hole in the rib from the factory?

 

[FIGMO]

Thanks Gents, glad to have this thing moving forward. Really looking forward to painting.

Just finished the riveting and the screws for the stringers. In addition I used an oral syringe to drip epoxy into the holes, forming little epoxy mounds over the screws and rivets. I will sand those all down tomorrow.

Picked up some more SE primer and plastic today so I can get ready to paint. I really need to clean the garage out in the next couple of days so I can paint.







All the riveting is done! Now to clean the garage and get ready to paint. Need some of my son's friends to come over and help me flip the boat on the cradle.

 

[FIGMO]

Don't worry about riveting that nose piece of deck to that rib, is there even a hole in the rib from the factory?

Mr. Watermann,

Well you were right again, there was no real issue with riveting in those two front sections. They went in well enough, although one of the rivets didn't bite into the aluminum. No big issue though, its pretty tight. For the nose piece only two rivets required for the very front, and they made a strong grip, so quite happy with how it turned out. The 20 bucks I paid for that used pneumatic riveter is probably the best purchase I made thus far. The thing is brilliant!

As always, thanks for the consistent good advice and support.

 

[Watermann]

Deck looks super nice! :thumb:

 

[FIGMO]

Deck looks super nice! :thumb:

Thanks Watermann!

I now have the boat flipped and I am ready to paint the hull. I plan on doing the SE primer this Sat, and then doing the primer and base coat on Sun (provided everything goes well). A couple of questions for the experts:

a. do I need to sand the SE primer before doing the normal primer?

b. how long after applying the primer before I do the base coat, in order to get the chemical bond?

c. does anyone have an idea of how cold it can get before it is too cold to paint?

d. as for removing the tape after painting the final coat, what is the best period of time to wait?

e. is it better to clean the spray gun with mineral spirits or thinner?

 

[Watermann]

I shoot the SE primer, wait an hour, shoot the regular primer and within 2 hours shoot the 1sr paint coat, 2 hours later top coat and done. Pull the tape an hour or 2 after top coat. It's one long sticky day but it's all done. If the base coat of SE primer is cured it won't matter much as the primer is rough with lots of solids but it will be a mechanical bond not chemical.

For temps follow the paint recommendations and the same goes for the clean up. Normally what they want you to use for a reducer works good for clean up too but thinner is cheap and has worked well for me.

 

[FIGMO]

I shoot the SE primer, wait an hour, shoot the regular primer and within 2 hours shoot the 1sr paint coat, 2 hours later top coat and done. Pull the tape an hour or 2 after top coat. It's one long sticky day but it's all done. If the base coat of SE primer is cured it won't matter much as the primer is rough with lots of solids but it will be a mechanical bond not chemical.

For temps follow the paint recommendations and the same goes for the clean up. Normally what they want you to use for a reducer works good for clean up too but thinner is cheap and has worked well for me.

Excellent, and thank you! I will take to today to get everything prepared and then get at the painting first thing tomorrow morning. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and Sun, but the temperature range looks good.

 

[Candutch]

Everything is looking great! Goodluck painting today, can't wait to see the pics.

 

[budski]

Waiting LOL

 

[PlayD0h]