1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Then I slapped some more epoxy on the top edge and managed to get it all over myself while working on the rest of the bow supports. I had some 1/16X1 angle And used that to make braces on each side these were pretty tricky to cut as I wanted them to tie in to an angle on wooden brace and the existing brackets on bow and run at an angle so it took some time.

I thought about cutting these with the angle grinder but after guesstimating the marks it was easiest to free hand em on my bandsaw

I'm nowhere near as good as most of You guys but I think I can live with it

Somehow I got the other side a little shorter but just mounted the attaching angle to wood a little farther in and I'm happy

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

I decided to use 1/8" down the center cut it to fit and cut another 4 " long piece to fit inside it and attach under existing bracket .I had to cut a slight bevel on the end to keep it from hitting bow clamped it and drilled both pieces.

And riveted together

I attached a vertical piece of angle to wooden brace, vice grips again and rivet it in.

I think it turned out ok but if I did it over I would use 1/8" for all of it middle brace is mucho stronger.

Then I slapped in the top piece for a trial fit. it was still a little low right at the bow so I used some rubber mat as a spacer underneath to even it out.

 

[Triton II]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Wow - you're powering along Yooper... I'm tired keeping up with it!

TII

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

A pretty underneath shot

Then I screwed it in place and started filling the holes in front of wooden cross brace. I had planned on wooden plugs here to fill the screw holes but since I drilled for those other bolts I just used some bondo I'm hoping that once the final coat of epoxy goes over that it will be durable enough and should seal the holes well. Then prime and paint over that so should be pretty durable I think

I think I'm done for today have to go school clothes shopping tomorrow for the last straggler in the nest so probably no progress as back to work tomorrow night. I'm sooooo happy to put something back in this old girl

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Great work Yooper! She's going to be bomb proof - the way you're putting her together, your grandaughter will still be using her in 50 years time!

TII

Wow - you're powering along Yooper... I'm tired keeping up with it!

Thanks Triton I'm hoping She will be using it someday. It feels really good to be making forward progress after nearly a year of going slowly backward.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Building stuff rather than tearing stuff apart, excellent man

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Nice work on the knee brace reinforcements, I need to do the same on mine so I appreciate the tutorial

That bow is gonna be strong enough to walk around on for sure.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Jas Yeah if I can just get this finished,transom in, flip prime and paint (debating on the order of those) and flip back over It will be all downhill from there, sort of maybe

HA I sat on it and it didn't budge so I think it will be ok I only weigh about 180 but really doubt there will be very much bow walking happening anyway once bowrails and trim,nav lights horn etc.. are up there not much left to walk on I mainly wanted it solid enough for leaning over to drop an anchor or in case I mount a trolling motor or something up there in the future. Only way anyone is walking up there is if some strippers need a stage

As far as the knee brace reinforcement goes I had thought about making those pieces longer to have more rivets in em but figured I would end up getting stuck on em when I had to pull the drain plug or something and drown in the bilge. After installing them I'm satisfied they are plenty strong enough the way they are.

Thanks for stopping in guys

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Ok time for a question I'm thinking at some point I'll want to do some bobbing for lake trout and will need to have around 300' of anchor line and a fluke anchor on board. Looking at anchor reels all of em I find only handle about 150', looking at rollers and such most of em I see would be a pita to mount with bow end cap as they seem to run out flat with bow. No expert on anchor rigging so curious what you guys might suggest? Thanks

 

[paparoof]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Don't anchor - troll. You don't want Mr. Lake trout to wrap your line around an anchor rope and break free. I don't think there is a reasonable way to manage that much anchor rope.

Now someone will show up with a perfectly reasonable solution and make me look dumb.


Nice looking bow Yoop - I tried to do the same thing to my little 14' many years ago - I'm glad I didn't take pictures, I'd be embarrassed to show 'em after seeing how you did it. Believe it or not, I used 2X4's. :facepalm: That was before I knew about iboats.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

The best solution I can offer is expensive but pretty cool.

Get a bow-mount trolling motor with the connector to a GPS...then you can set it to hold within 3' of your location even in wind/waves and not use an anchor at all.

Since you're buying the cost is not a problem for me

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Thanks for the replies guys I have on a number of occasions managed that much rope just trying to come up with the best/easiest/neatest way to do it with limited space. I'll probably just keep it in a bucket or something as I won't need it with me all the time. Bobbing a heavy jig near the bottom is a common way of catching lake trout around here usually around 180-260' and very close to the bottom making running downriggers nerve racking. Trolling is definitely My first choice but sometimes You gotta go where the fish are I was just hoping for a neater way to handle all that rope thanks again.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

I still wouldn't anchor to jig,....

Have you ever tried "back trolling" to maintain your boats position while vertical jigging???

 

[Frayed_Knot]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

the best/easiest/neatest way to do it with limited space...

with those as the criteria, i would agree with HA - the GPS linked trolling motor would be the best option. if you are anchoring in 260 FOW, you're looking at having 800 feet of line onboard (if you shoot for 3:1 scope on the anchor). I have done the deep vertical jigging for lake trout as well but only ever drifted... just set up on a drift over a path to fish and use big enough jigs to keep on the bottom - like those monster 3-4 oz saltwater butterfly jigs.

If you set on anchoring maybe look into somethign like the Simpson-Lawrence / Lewmar windlass systems. they have manual or electric... maybe something that handles relatively small diameter rope to help with space issues - you could cut a rubbermaid in half and rig it up under the nose cap.. just let the line feed into the bin from the windlass it should feed back out without too much issue anyway those are just some ideas... maybe not good ones, but they are ideas

good luck!

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Thanks for the replies I do like the gps linked trolling motor idea but not in the budget at the moment . I'll eventually upgrade to a depth finder with gps but for now (next year most likely) I'll just be using My handheld one. I'm guessing I'll need around 500' of line as thats what we have on BIL's trophy and works fine. I've looked at the windlass set ups and decided they are more than I need or want to spend as its easy enough to just pull the anchor up to a ball or float and pull in the rope by hand. I was trying to figure out what else I might need to do in the bow area and had considered a container for rope and a "pipe" to run the rope through but think I'll just keep it simple and use a 5 gal pail or container for rope storage/anchor float and just bring it when I figure I want to bob. It's not My personal favorite fishing method but at times it is an enjoyable and cheap way to put fish in the boat. I was hoping to find a nice reel that could handle the line and may find the time this winter to rig something up.
No real progress to report finished epoxy on one side of the back transom piece and working on other side also done with bottom of console and flipped it over to get to other edges and seams hoping to get these finished and transom in this weekend but lots of family stuff so we'll see. Have a great Holiday weekend guys.

 

[LonLB]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

I still wouldn't anchor to jig,....

Have you ever tried "back trolling" to maintain your boats position while vertical jigging???

Ya I would stick to the Electric Trolling motor on calm to relatively windy days, and a kicker on really windy days.
Use to use a kicker on my last deep V to hold position in really heavy wind, and it worked great. Would be ideal for jigging in open water/heavy wind conditions.

 

[KellyC]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

I know this is kind of late yooper, but there are a ton of boats out here that run 300 ft of anchor rope. Most of the guys just stuff it in a into like a mesh laundry bag or something like that along with a float tied to it or inside the bad. When I had my 15 ft I had 300 and ran it the same way. Just played out what was needed and then tied to the boat. If we had to break loose we would just toss the anchor line bag overboard and it stayed at the anchor float until we came back and hooked back up. And some guys just stuff it into a bucket, but I would not recommend that here. If you are in a hog line and hook a fish you need to break loose and fight and chase your fish. With the anchor float system you can just motor back up to your anchor line and hook back up. This is what it looks like for the most part.

You can google columbia river anchor system and there are videos and such on it and how they are used around here. Not sure you would need them there but it would help pulling up 300 ft of line that is for sure.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Thanks for stopping in guys . Kelly that is the way we do it now and always works fine I was just thinking there might be a better way and wanted to hear what folks suggested. Went out yesterday for a few hours with BIL's got a few lake trout , all on the small side though. Hoping salmon will pick up a little soon. No boat progress should have taken some fish pics but forgot to bring the camera. Thanks again for all the input guys

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Guess I should post something since it's been a while. I'm finding more and more often that space in the garage is My biggest problem really can't do much while I'm waiting on paint/ epoxy to dry. I've mostly been working on the console lately finished epoxying the seams and edges and slapped on some primer I wanted to try out the spray guns on this but way to much stuff in the garage so just brushed it on. I used the Magic hardener and really like it dries quick. Only problem is it was shipped on its side and due to the heat in garage some leaked out the top of can and no way it would open so ended up punching a hole in the top.

I also primed the front of the transom figured an extra coat won't hurt anything

Then some Royal Blue rusto with magic hardener as well first 2 coats went ok should have thinned the 3rd coat though as lots of brush marks etc.. I can definitely see where thinning is a must when trying to roll and tip/ brush a whole boat with this stuff.

3rd coat on nice and shiny but a long way from perfect. I think it will do though. It took a full quart of rusto for the 3 coats on console seems like it will be pretty durable.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

I did a final dry fit on the transom to make sure everything still lined up and fit ok after 3 coats of epoxy and the primer and tried the drain tubes to see if they would still fit in the holes everything seems fine. I'm off for 2 days after tonight so hope to get this installed tomorrow.

I scrounged around the garage and found this heavy chunk of plastic (think it was a tool for installing laminate flooring) I think it will work well for a negative bus bar I need to pick up some bolts then I think I can drill some holes and use these little spacer things to hold the bolt heads and should work fine.

I've decided to reuse the old fuse box for now so dug it out and cleaned it up. If it gives me any trouble I'll upgrade it later.

I removed the old wires tightened some loose screws and cleaned everything up seems to be just fine. This will be installed in the higher open area in console for easy access, negative bus will probably go underneath near batteries.

I had picked up a cheapy set of stencils (.99) a while ago and found I couldn't spell starcraft with em. So I used a blank piece to make an extra "T" .

I think it turned out OK kind of distracts you from the carpy blue paint job anyway .