1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

[boatguy94]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Looking great yoop! I really like the swing away hitch because my boat barely fits in my garage, but my coupler doesn't stick much out past the boat to be usefull. You're really movin, already got me beat !

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Did some quick clean up on the tongue sprayed it with some royal blue and gloss white I already had from some other projects (no idea why ) and stuck the fold away together.

Now she will fit in the garage forever and I can finally hook the trailer to the truck again if I need to move it.

Did a quick clean up and spray bombed the other stuff while I was waiting for tongue to dry yesterday let em dry/freeze dry overnight (still getting cold and not the best for painting but couldn't wait) replaced the crappy old bow rollers and modified the way they fit a bit so they don't hit winch eye anymore. Also sprayed the old jack and started putting it all back together today.

Installed the refurbished winch as well

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Looking great yoop! I really like the swing away hitch because my boat barely fits in my garage, but my coupler doesn't stick much out past the boat to be usefull. You're really movin, already got me beat !

Thanks boat guy I think the swing away was a worthwhile addition I would recomend the bolt on ones a few more bucks but doubt I'll ever keep paint on this weld on one as it fits together so tight and bolt ons have a stainless look to em so may not need painted.

Wish I could resize pics fast enough to keep up with posts lol anyway......

Doesn't look to bad from a distance I'll see how it holds up as paint is still a little soft and ended up touching up a pile of scratches after assembly good enough for this year or until boat gets splashed anyway

Pushed her back into her parking spot for a while still waiting on that warmer weather and my menards trip .

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

A few more pics because I took em

So a little before and after ( or after and before as I posted in the wrong order) that's how I left it for now still a lot of work on the trailer and of course the boat left but made a little progress.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Wish I could resize pics fast enough to keep up with posts lol anyway......

When you upload to photobucket, there's a link on the upload page that says "Customize your upload options". You can have it automatically size them to 640x480 AS you upload them. How sweet is that? I haven't had to mess with that in a year. Much faster.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

When you upload to photobucket, there's a link on the upload page that says "Customize your upload options". You can have it automatically size them to 640x480 AS you upload them. How sweet is that? I haven't had to mess with that in a year. Much faster.

Hmmm good to know next time I upload I'll try to find it thanks Ez.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Well done on the swing away yoop, way helpful to keep in the the garage.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Weather is still crappy had a couple nice days when I was at work (of course) but when I'm off still cold and rainy mostly but figured I should post a few pics to show I haven't been slacking completely. No real boat progress but decided I should make another engine stand as I still have the donor boat motor to deal with figured while I was at it I would try to make a little test tank as both motors,controls etc.. are questionable at best.

Had a rusty old hunk of sheet metal figured it might be just the thing for a water tank marked it out to give me max I could get out of it 20" wide 32" long and 20" deep scored it with the grinder and a cutoff wheel

Then cut loose the corners and folded her up

Didn't have enough angle to do everything I wanted to and this was a 0 $ project just using what I had laying around and could scrounge so I reinforced with angle where I could and pipe ( recycled from the retired inflated swimming pool and a long dead deer feeder) for the rest

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Had some wheels from an old portable generator that never got put on making a mount for em

Axle was to short so just cut off the ends and welded on to some angle

Added some pipe for uprights to hold engine couldn't get an accurate measurement on motor as it was tilted up when I took it off and need to reconnect tilt circuit to tilt down so drilled a bunch of holes in some angle and welded it on should allow to use for any motor.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Just make sure you are able to get the motor deep enough. The water pump is located on TOP of the lower unit and must be submerged. Just submerging the intakes won't do it (ask me how I know this ).

I'd make sure you could submerge it to the pink line here:

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Thanks Ez found I can get it to about the pinstripes on your motor but may need to add a bit more depth have some more pics coming but computer froze up and had to restart so lets see if it works now

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Yooper, that's some good old fashioned resourcefulness right there and I like it.

Hope the sun is shining up there once in a while. This spring has been a weird one to say the least.

Hopefully the summer makes up for it once we have these boats back on the water

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Sprayed it with some old gray primer two different shades but good enough for now

Cut a piece of 2X10 and stuck a piece of 1/2 " plywood to it with construction adhesive

Just a quick pic to prove I used official starcraft length hardware

Hooked up the tilt wiring and got the motor down where it belongs then played around with tilt a bit as it was working poorly filled the oil and manually ran it up and down to bleed air got it working pretty good

Now it thinks its an Olympic gymnast

Put it in the tank and bolted it to transom ended up with transom lower than I expected still have a couple inches of clearance underneath but may need to add a bit more height to sides of tank to get it submerged better.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Thanks Ez found I can get it to about the pinstripes on your motor but may need to add a bit more depth have some more pics coming but computer froze up and had to restart so lets see if it works now

I was concerned because I tried starting my '73 in a truck box I have that looks to be similar in size to what you just built. It overheated. I ended up taking it to the shop only to find out there was nothing wrong with it.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Bolted on an angle bracket to lock steering in place

Moved it around a bit just to try it out seems to be very well balanced and reasonably easy to tip and move I'll probably pull it back off tommorrow and add another 6" or so to sides of tank as I think I have another piece of sheet metal big enough then tackle the wiring and control cables. I got new cables a while back so need to replace the ends from the old ones and if I get this tank right it should let me test out my wiring harness before and after I extend it for new console location. At least Its keeping me busy while the weather is bad

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Thanks for the replies and info guys back to the drawing board for a little more depth but pretty happy with how solid and portable it is (and the fact that I didn't spend a penny making it ) I figure its worth the time to make it now as I'll most likely end up tinkering with motors a bit more in the future

HA snow is gone again for now but still 40ish today. We spent the weekend at camp around the end of April though and here's what it looked like

White stuff in the pics is snow for those who don't know

 

[emoney]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Wait, what's the difference between the tub and muffs? They don't cover the water pump only the "intake holes".
Is it the pressure? (that doesn't seem logical, does it?)

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

Is it the pressure? (that doesn't seem logical, does it?)

Yep.

 

[yooperangler]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

I'm guessing based on what Ez said and my own assumptions that the pump won't pull water up to it (at least without having a prime first and no way to prime it) so water level needs to exceed pump height. With the muffs water is forced up to the pump I think.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'

I love that you are building stuff out of scrap at $0, love it.