1976 SS16 restore finally underway👍

[couth77]

Hey guys! I'm excited to have started my long, long overdue restore of my ('76 Starcraft Super sport 16) boat. My grandfather bought it brand new in 1976, taught me how to fish in it, load and launch it, and doing general maintenance on it while I was growing up-so it is very sentimental to me. He gave it to me in 1993 when I was 16yrs old. We still went out fishing together quite often until he passed away in 2004. The last time this baby was on the water running was 2012! I finally got a house with RV parking so I brought her home from storage which is where she's been sitting (neglected) ever since. I am doing a complete restore.. Paint inside and out, floor, sealing seams, foam, trailer restore, transom, and painting the outboard as well. I will attach some pics of it so far. Everything is gutted down to the ribs, and am currently in the process of cleaning all the original vinyl glue off all the insides of the boat with a drill and wire cup brush. I'll be pulling the motor (1987 Johnson 70VRO) soon as well to get to the transom (just finished building a rolling stand for it seen in pics below). After doing some research, I think I will be laying down 1/2" marine ply-- resin coated on each side, with some kind of vinyl flooring for the new deck.
--I'm interested in hearing how some of you have stripped the original paint off of one of these old hulls to prep for new (or is it even necessary to strip it down to bare aluminum to re-paint?), as well as what paint you recommend.
--Also interested to hear what folks have used for below floor foam-pour in closed cell, foam board, opinions on both...
Thanks for reading this and also thanks in advance for any advice you have for me! This is my first restore

 

[Watermann]

Welcome to the fray! Nice looking unmolested SS, should be a fun one to work on.

I would lop off about 2 feet of those side trailer bunks when te time comes for trailer work.

 

[Michigan Lakes]

Congrats on starting the restore. It's great that you've already got a sentimental attachment to the boat. It'll be much easier to justify the inevitable "above-and-beyond" with both time and $$.
For my paint, I did a 600-grit scruff followed by self-etching primer over the the bare spots, and then a filler primer over everything. So far, it's worked out OK but my level of "restoration" is minor compared to some of the builds on here. If I was fully restoring the boat, I'd probably have wanted bare metal.

 

[couth77]

Welcome to the fray! Nice looking unmolested SS, should be a fun one to work on.

I would lop off about 2 feet of those side trailer bunks when te time comes for trailer work.

Thanks man! Glad to be here... I've heard similar things from people about those bunks before.. They are pretty long for sure - but definitely come in handy on windy days

 

[couth77]

Congrats on starting the restore. It's great that you've already got a sentimental attachment to the boat. It'll be much easier to justify the inevitable "above-and-beyond" with both time and $$.
For my paint, I did a 600-grit scruff followed by self-etching primer over the the bare spots, and then a filler primer over everything. So far, it's worked out OK but my level of "restoration" is minor compared to some of the builds on here. If I was fully restoring the boat, I'd probably have wanted bare metal.

Thanks so much for the info! Yeah I think I'll give stripping it down to bare aluminum a shot.. Gonna be a ton of work, but as you said my sentimental attachment will help justify it

 

[Moserkr]

Awesome story to go along with your nice boat! Grandpa would be proud. Im sure you will bring the life back into her and cherish the time on the water! Enjoy your build! Ill tag along.

 

[bayonnebandit]

When I did my restoration I used chemical paint stripper from Home Depot https://www.homedepot.com/p/Jasco-1-Gal-Premium-Paint-and-Epoxy-Remover-GJPR500/308267695

Have to be careful this stuff burns your skin. Wear long rubber gloves rated for chemicals that go up your arms. I put it in a metal paint tray (it will eat through a plastic one) and used a brush to wipe it on, let it sit for a few minutes and then used a plastic putty knife to scrape it away. Not too bad but it take a while. Doing the bottom paint is much much worse if you can’t flip the boat. I did mine laying on my back… oof, won’t ever do that again.
As for paint I originally went the etching and marine paint route. Used interlux products which were expensive. Personally, and I think it was user error, it never came out right for me. Looked nice but as soon as it got a good rub from the dock the paint would come off. After years of touching it up I finally said screw it and stripped then polished the hull to a brushed finish. Then I used sharkhide metal protectant on it and never looked back.

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