1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

A virtual cornucopia of crap in there more life jackets a pair of binoculars etc... At least I found that other set of controls I thought was in here though.

Handy dandy marine vinyl

One of my bees nests

Took the opportunity to take a pic of the other one under port gunwale.

Screws holding front of bow compartment on glad they were stainless as between the leaves dirt and soggy marine vinyl this was a mess.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

At least this vinyl stuff is good for something simply fold it up, throw it away and cleanup is a snap

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Look at all those staples saving these for patterns.

Figured I already had the drill here soooo....

Out comes the bow floor

Foam was a little soggy but mostly intact one garbage bag full.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Cut off a few stubborn rivets and do a little cleanup

Not too shabby still alot more to do before gluvit but good enough for now

Next piece of floor is partially under console and console is still frozen in on the front so decided to skip to the wiring nightmare next.

Inch or so of Ice in front part of console

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Started with wiring for electric tilt

Pretty simple just unplug

Haven't gotten ambitious enough to sort through all the stuff under console yet

Disarming the nuclear device is it the red wire or the blue...........Actually just cutting loose a bunch of zip ties

Disentangled a couple of transponder cables no fish finder to be found though

One of the dilemmas I found is this strand of romex white wire goes to fuse box ground goes to ground lug on console black isn't hooked to anything on this end in the stern ground hooks to ground lug white goes to common on dual battery switch and black is hooked to #2 Bat terminal on same. It seems this may be power in to fuse box but cant figure out the black wire or why they would have used the bare ground for a negative?? Any thoughts ??

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Nice teardown work, I use the same trick to get rivets off the drill

No Mepps spinners or red and white Daredevils under there?...bummer.

What's that red stuff under the bow cap? Looks like some type of sealant maybe?

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Stern end of tilt wiring

Just unplug red goes to bat switch black to negative post on splashwell. Pic also shows my romex problem.

Dual bat switch removed white for romex,red for tilt , and red for positive to motor on common lug, large black on #1 bat lug is positive from battery black on #2 bat lug is from romex.

Negative from battery ,ground from romex, black from tilt and negative to motor on lug on splashwell

Control cables going through splash well are way to tight think they may be to short

One mess gone

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Found the bilge pump it was running ( if it ever ran) off the indoor extension cord with the ends cut off.

More lights under stern starboard side running off the trailer wiring only two wires seem to be used port side not hooked to anything

Port side

Finally got tired of messing with em and started cutting bilge pump and nav light wires removed

Looked at motor wiring (and took a bunch of pics for later reference but thought maybe it would be easier to unhook everything from controls first.....Never been good at thinking

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Nice teardown work, I use the same trick to get rivets off the drill

No Mepps spinners or red and white Daredevils under there?...bummer.

What's that red stuff under the bow cap? Looks like some type of sealant maybe?

Just saw your post HA Red stuff is definitely a sealant thought it might be something like gluvit but looks like that red coat stuff you can use in rusty gas tanks. No daredevils or spinners up there but plenty of misc. stuff on shelf under console.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Got her apart finally and got the cables out (need replaced anyway).

Studied the wiring for a while

Neutral safety switch I assume

Eventually decided this was a good place to stop for today. I think it takes longer to re-size and post pics than it does to do the work but does seem a nice way to wind down and evaluate your progress. Anyway need to shower and get a quick nap before work more to come..

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

I bet you'll sleep better now that all that evil junk is out of your boat. You're going about it the right way..........rip all that stuff out and then start building it back up the way it should be. Great work so far.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Thanks Teamster those cabelas guys think of everything

Most of the big walleye boats have the swing tounges on the trailer from the factory,....

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

If those deck panels are still mostly intact......make sure you keep em for templates for the new deck if you're not changing the layout too much.

Been to busy posting pics to read lol just now saw this the panels your referring to were an extra layer of plywood p.o had thrown over floor not useful as a pattern but good entertainment anyway I plan on keeping the actual floor panels intact for patterns as well as console etc.. I think the layout will be pretty much as is hope to move console forward a little (maybe) and narrow it a bit if possible but not a lot of extra room for steering as it is.I will mostly be using this boat for trolling and hope to keep things as open and simple as possible while providing some removable seating for the occasional extras. Thanks for the advice

 

[sprintst]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

You're are flying man. Getting all the demo out of the way was a real milestone.

Anything you can salvage as a template will be a big time saver. Some minor adjustments and you'll have the deck back down in no time.

My wiring was more of a mess than I originally thought. Some of the grounds were just spliced in at various points instead of going back to a ground bus or the battery itself.

I ended up picking up an ezacdc accessories harness with quick connects for the accessories and lighting. The individual marine wiring here is expensive but where you are from it might be cheaper where you are located to just but the wire and start from scratch as the last owner did you no favors with his wiring

PS The little strip of alum that extends over the top of the transom can just be bent up when it come time to pull out the transom and then hammered back down after. Some cut it off but I like to keep it as it stabilizes the tops of the gunwale supports as it will only be held in place later by a bracket and a couple of rivets.

 

[CBGale2]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

I figured out why this boat is such a mess, It came from the wrong part of Michigan pic is hard to read but says Lansing , MI you down state guys should stop sending your problems to the U.P. Anyway time for dinner might get back out there later though..

You think you have problems, my boat was registered in Wisonsin at one point. LOL

Project is coming along great yooper!

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Just got home from work and want to get to the garage but figure I'll post a little of my progress from yesterday. Put the controls back together and decided to unhook everything from the engine.This proved to be really simple took a bunch of pics for future reference.Then.......

Still no daredevils but lots of stuff under console.

Going.....

Going.......

Gone... Once motor controls and steering were out console came out without much trouble I did have to fasten it together a little better to keep it from disintegrating on the way out though

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Floor under console was still completely soaked that vinyl stuff just can't be good.

Took a moment to contemplate a little Shakespeare

Stubborn rivet removal 101 (Plywood was still smoking but doesn't show up in the smaller pic)

Another chunk of floor gone

Found a small nest of bobbers (I thought they grew on trees but apparently not true)
Surprised to see the little ones had survived through the winter.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Only thing noteworthy about this piece of floor is that it had little notches where rodholders are to make removal ( and presumably Installation) easier.

Only reason that was worth noting....... The last piece DID NOT HAVE NOTCHES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I developed a plan.....

First remove the wooden parts then using a dog chain, a couple of screws and a ratchet strap hooked to winch.........

This worked really well and I was busy congratulating myself until............

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

The plywood got stuck against the front two rod racks :facepalm:

So I ended up cutting part of the starboard side mount off anyway to get the last piece out .More proof that I should never be allowed to think

But I won anyway..

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Then I cleaned up all the foam pulled out the wiring tray(which wasn't fastened in at all and never had been) and straps that supported joints..I think I will use the tray for bracing and run pvc for my cables etc...

Knee brace seems to be o.k will be able to tell more once I get it cleaned up better.It is missing 3 nuts at the top looks like bolts may have broken off at some point or may just be sticking out other side of transom.

Only other thing I noticed back here so far is this really long screw sticking through hull below transom doesn't seem to be holding anything on the outside so just a bonus I guess.... Anyway that's pretty much how I left off yesterday. Time to go play some more.