1978 SS 16 restoration

[Moserkr]

Just a thought for the knee brace vs welding new wings. Im not the only one to have done it this way but finding them in poor shape is pretty common. Guaranteed this is stronger than it was when originally manufactured too. Edit: Made all the rivets 1/4” instead of 3/16” where its attached to the hull to help fill holes and add strength.

 

[Siva283]

Gotta get some pics. Installed water\meth injection on my car yesterday. Got some more rivets done. Man this things are a pain got the epoxy on one side of the transom too

 

[Siva283]

Just a thought for the knee brace vs welding new wings. Im not the only one to have done it this way but finding them in poor shape is pretty common. Guaranteed this is stronger than it was when originally manufactured too. Edit: Made all the rivets 1/4” instead of 3/16” where its attached to the hull to help fill holes and add strength.View attachment 371464View attachment 371465

Awesome Idea I didn't think about that. I might go that route. Looks awesome

 

[Moserkr]

I obviously used some thick AL too and wish I would have gone with thinner, mainly to make it easier to work on. Harbor freight metal bender and .125” AL sheet cut with a jigsaw. Believe that starcraft used .88 or .96 or something for various parts of the boat, other guys with more knowledge will know exactly what thickness and where. But overkill definitely works too lol.

 

[Siva283]

Not much to show this weekend. Here's the transom just coated the second side with UV resistant epoxy. Once it dried and the now I bolts I ordered get here I'll put it in install those and get the other holes drilled. The z brace is currently pop rivited on. I just want it to stiffen up the transom. I am gonna use block and tackle to lift it off the trailer and put it on its side to finish the rivit replacement I'm almost to the %25 complete on the rivit replacement but the trailer is blocking me. When that's done I'll flip it over and paint the bottom and once that's dry I'll get it back on the trailer gluv it the transom and mount the z brace permanently. Then gluv it the entire floor. At the point it'll be time to make a new floor. Oh and the knee brace while it's on its side that will get mounted to the bottom and transom I won't be putting the bolts on through the wood yet. So I can't take the transom and z brace back out. The transom has some bad pitting though not all the way through so I am gonna put a coat of gluv it on it. Before putting the transom on for good

 

[Siva283]

I obviously used some thick AL too and wish I would have gone with thinner, mainly to make it easier to work on. Harbor freight metal bender and .125” AL sheet cut with a jigsaw. Believe that starcraft used .88 or .96 or something for various parts of the boat, other guys with more knowledge will know exactly what thickness and where. But overkill definitely works too lol.

Wait did you make a new one from scratch or just make the wings and rivet them to the original brace

 

[Siva283]

This is my knee brace. Rather then bending I think I am gonna see if I can get .100 aluminum angle or maybe.125 and add bracing on all the bends so the rivets go through the hull the knee brace than camp onto fresh aluminum and kind of sandwich it. I am running technically 5 more hp's then the boat is rated for. And I could get caught in rough water sometimes so as another said overkill is never bad.
I also have 4 gallons of pour foam. I am gonna use 3 inch PVC pipe and create a channel down the center to keep the foam from blocking the limber holes and I am filling everything under the floor with it except that center channel the pipe creats an a 2 foot by 3 foot square in the back center for a bildge area

 

[Moserkr]

Wait did you make a new one from scratch or just make the wings and rivet them to the original brace

I just made the wings and attached them to the original knee brace. That being said, if you are worried about additional load force coming onto the knee brace, you can use heavier AL, as well as larger wings to spread the force out more. The limiting factor will just be the original knee brace. I like the use of rivets too because they offer strength and flexibility. Would definitely recommend upsizing your hull rivets with a bigger motor. I believe some guys have even put a backer plate on the outside of the hull for additional support but that requires longer rivets. With a new transom I wouldnt worry about going above and beyond how starcraft setup the knee brace. Just build some new wings and attach it well, should handle the extra 5hp without issue. Or go nuts and build it as overkill as your heart desires haha!

 

[Moserkr]

Reread your post and looked at the pics again of the knee brace. Reinforcing with angle AL or replacing the tabs with it should both work. Id still upsize the rivets for more strength and stacking the angle on top of the original may require longer tails. Only issue with upsizing rivets for more strength would be if the hole is on the edge of the tabs, which looks like you have one at least that is on the edge. Starcraft didnt always drill holes in a nice straight line as Im sure you can tell by now.

 

[Siva283]

Reread your post and looked at the pics again of the knee brace. Reinforcing with angle AL or replacing the tabs with it should both work. Id still upsize the rivets for more strength and stacking the angle on top of the original may require longer tails. Only issue with upsizing rivets for more strength would be if the hole is on the edge of the tabs, which looks like you have one at least that is on the edge. Starcraft didnt always drill holes in a nice straight line as Im sure you can tell by now.

The idiot Po drilled a second set which is half the problem. But a backer should fix it. I have rivits with up to a 1 inch tail so it's no biggie to use longer ones. I needed 1 inch ones for a few spots in the front where it had to go through that thick bow brace then throw 2 layers of hull and throw an inner rib

 

[Moserkr]

Ah understood. I agree, backer would fix it and add strength. Sounds like you’re all set with rivets! Shouldnt be too bad to get back together now.

 

[Siva283]

Ah understood. I agree, backer would fix it and add strength. Sounds like you’re all set with rivets! Shouldnt be too bad to get back together now.

Nope just gotta finish the grueling process of drilling the old ones out. Its a pain. I have a tool that makes it easy and centers the drill for you but it requires them to still have heads to work and most if the ones I am replacing do not have heads anymore.

 

[Moserkr]

I drilled out around 200 rivets and honestly never had much issue doing it free handed. The ones with the head missing seemed even easier since you could see where the rivet tail begins. Only ones I screwed up were if I wasnt perfectly aligned with the tail hole as I drilled though.

My trick was going slow. I used a hammer and punch to put my pilot mark onto the head. Then drilled slow until the head popped off. Once the head was off i put the bit right on the tail and let it go through til it popped the tail out the other side.

I also used a size smaller drill bit than the tail size to give me wiggle room for error. Once the pressure was relieved, the tails seems to pop out easy.

At least that was my method. All results will vary! Haha. Good luck with getting them all out. I tested a lot that looked corroded too. Did not want to be tearing up my floors in the future for one bad rivet I missed…

 

[Siva283]

I drilled out around 200 rivets and honestly never had much issue doing it free handed. The ones with the head missing seemed even easier since you could see where the rivet tail begins. Only ones I screwed up were if I wasnt perfectly aligned with the tail hole as I drilled though.

My trick was going slow. I used a hammer and punch to put my pilot mark onto the head. Then drilled slow until the head popped off. Once the head was off i put the bit right on the tail and let it go through til it popped the tail out the other side.

I also used a size smaller drill bit than the tail size to give me wiggle room for error. Once the pressure was relieved, the tails seems to pop out easy.

At least that was my method. All results will vary! Haha. Good luck with getting them all out. I tested a lot that looked corroded too. Did not want to be tearing up my floors in the future for one bad rivet I missed…

Part of my problem is I have trouble center punching the center. I am mostly blind in my left eye and it throws me off. My hands are also kinda shaky. I have a bad back the pain makes me shake. So I am always happy for anything that can make life easier.
I got a better set of punches to try for ones with missing heads. I may order some new drill bits a size smaller too. I dont know why I never think if stuff like that.

 

[Siva283]

Pics coming tomorrow. Got about half the rivets replaced that needed it. Dabbed them in 5200 and put them in. They ain't ever coming out which is good cause some fit pretty loose. I found one decent size pit through the bottom that I am gonna have to slap a patch over. Buttering it with 5200 and riviting into place. Tomorrow I should have the transom in temporarily. Gonna hang the boat sideways to make it easy to get to the rest of the rivets. They will probably be finished next weekend. I need to get the knee brace straightened and reenforced too. I am also hoping to get the gator glide on next weekend. Once that dries out it back on the trailer pull the transom back out and the entire inside will be coated with gluv it. Then it gets easier. She's also getting all new stainless hardware. .most of the screw holes in the gunwales I think are gonna get Rivits as well. I do however suspect my schedule is a little optimistic and figure it might take me 4 weeks to get to that point but 2 is the goal.
Pics coming tomorrow of some of the rivets and the boat hanging hopefully

 

[Siva283]

5200 is impossible to get off your skin looks like it's part of me for the next week or two

 

[renns]

If the pit is small in diameter but deep, you might be able to just drill it open and buck a rivet in there, rather than patching?

 

[Siva283]

If the pit is small in diameter but deep, you might be able to just drill it open and buck a rivet in there, rather than patching?

I did that with a couple. This one is to big. It definitely needs a patch. It's not wide but it's a little over 1\4 inch long

 

[Siva283]

Well as promised a boat hanging from the ceiling found a bunch more putting all the way through the bottom where knee brace rivits to the floor so that's gonna get a big patch that will include the knee brace rivets and some inner rib rivits plus some that I add

 

[Siva283]

Pics of the bad area. NO clue how well you'll be able to see everything but you'll be able to see the big ones. That's the area by the knee brace so there's rivit holea too