1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

[jasoutside]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Dude, you are doing a lot of reading. I have been too.

I'll watch ya close to see what you come up with, though I may not end up following.

I am trying to balance out the cost and work necessary to get a professional looking, super high quality paint job with the budget of a bottom feeder. Sometimes the two just don't seem to meet, ya know

 

[djpeters]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

After reading all the bad stuff about chemical stripping and the amount of work that might be, I called around to see about having my boat soda blasted. I got a quote of $400-$450 to have the entire hull blasted with soda. The guy mentioned he could also sand blast it for quite a bit less if I wanted to go that way ($200-$250). My first concern to him was warpage. He said you can get warpage from soda as well if it is not done right. He went on to say he does cars which are a lot thinner metal with no warpage. The other plus to using sand would be a rougher surface for primer to stick to. This place has been in business for 30 years.

I have also come to the conclusion, after much reading about paint and prep, that the best was to go is what I posted above...acid etching, alodine, lots of rinsing...blah, blah, blah. This process could not be done by the average do-it-yourselfer and to have it done would be big bucks.

I believe the next best way would be to strip it, roughen up the surface either by blasting, sanding or scotchbrite, clean it really good, zinc chromate, a two part epoxy primer, and a compatible, quality top coat of your choice. I believe this is what I am going to do. The other thing is what I spend on blasting should lessen the prep time for the painter.

Any thoughts before I proceed???

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Funny you just posted that DJ as I was just chewing on the idea of soda blasting.

I know Brett did his Ski Champ that way and if memory serves me he didn't pay all that much (though much smaller rig).

$250 to $450 range seems reasonable to me when you consider all the cash invested in chemicals and all the time you'd spend stripping/cleaning.

I'd drop $250 in a heartbeat to have mine done, though, sand makes me nervous. $450 starts to hurt the cause.

I am still watching close!

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Funny you just posted that DJ as I was just chewing on the idea of soda blasting.

I know Brett did his Ski Champ that way and if memory serves me he didn't pay all that much (though much smaller rig).

wfralpacas actually towed his Ski Champ up here to southern Michigan to have it media blasted. I forget how much he paid but I think it was near Coldwater or Battle Creek.

It's probably in his thread, there was a photo of the guy's truck w/ contact info.

 

[djpeters]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Funny you just posted that DJ as I was just chewing on the idea of soda blasting.

I know Brett did his Ski Champ that way and if memory serves me he didn't pay all that much (though much smaller rig).

$250 to $450 range seems reasonable to me when you consider all the cash invested in chemicals and all the time you'd spend stripping/cleaning.

I'd drop $250 in a heartbeat to have mine done, though, sand makes me nervous. $450 starts to hurt the cause.
I am still watching close!

That's exactly my feelings as well. The $250 wouldn't bug me too much, but $450....that's some coin! Although like I said for me paying someone to paint it, it should save some money there......but the last thing I want is a warped hull or a hole in it.

HA...the ski-champ thread is where I read about soda blasting. I actually e-mailed that guy with a pic but haven't gotten a response. That guy was in Sturgis.....

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

I wonder if he would give us a volume discount??

Check this out - DJ, you and I meet at Mikes place in Lansing and the fella knocks out 3 boats at once! Who else in the MI area needs their boat stripped? Charlie? Who else?

I wonder what sort of a deal he'd give us, $100 each?

Yah, don't think so. Worth asking though!

I have this vision in my head of a 1/2 dozen Starcraft rigs parked in Mikes front yard, all bare aluminum, surrounded by a beach of soda media.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

I think the fact that your hull is made of thicker gauge aluminum should help a lot as far as warping from blasting goes.

Since Bret was happy with how his turned out I'm sure he can handle your boat too.

My only concern would be getting the paint style back to original, are you planning on keeping the swoosh?

She's looking great, looking forward to seeing how she ends up.

 

[fshngho]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Now you three are starting to worry me. Go to Wally world, buy some stripper, and get to work. Surely you aren't going to spend that kinda coin on something you could do in a few days, are ya? Just think of the boat toys you could get with $450.00

And I only say this because..well, because I had to strip mine..so there!

 

[boatguy94]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Hey dj, Just wanted to stop on by and say that you have a great boat! I love the V5 hulls. I was so close to geting an 18', but I wasn't ready yet and it sold. Good luck on the rest of the resto I will be following along!

 

[djpeters]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

I think I will schedule it to be done next week. I will decide what blast media after talking to him some more. I have knocked out most of the rivets that I want to replace and have everything to do it. Hopefully I can get that done this weekend and get it back on the trailer to take it to the blaster next week along with the splashwell, consols and the front seating support. After blasting I then could install my new transom and put the splashwell back in. I would like to get the floor cut too and then I think we'll be ready for paint.

Am I missing anything? Does this sound logical?

HA, as for the swoosh, the painter said a few measurements and a pic and he should be able to get that stripe back on very close to original.

Fish, time is not my friend right now. Working 60 hours at work with no end in sight, which also means I have a little extra spending money. So that means someone else will have the joy of stripping my boat!!!

Jas, the sandblaster asked where abouts I lived as they are mobile as well. I said i'll bring it to you. I live in a subdivision. That would look a little crazy having the boat on stands in my driveway with a beach around it. My girls would like that though......

 

[v8mgbal]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Hey DJ boat is looking good. I'm not sure what you read about alodine but in aviation we use it to protect bare aluminum so not sure its needed for painted AL but if you use it keep it wet. and I know this sounds weird but the easy way to do that is paper towels or TP and a spray bottle. you lay the paper on the bare AL and wet it and it will kind of cling to the hull as it needs to stay soaked for a time to treat the metal. good luck and hope this helps.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Now you three are starting to worry me. Go to Wally world, buy some stripper, and get to work. Surely you aren't going to spend that kinda coin on something you could do in a few days, are ya? Just think of the boat toys you could get with $450.00

And I only say this because..well, because I had to strip mine..so there!

Didn't you strip yours twice fsh?

Yah, I WON'T be stripping mine unless somebody with a soda blaster can give me a good deal or you want to swing up my way and show me how it's done.

My paint is in pretty good shape (with a few exceptions) so I am headed the light sand and go method. Unless you dudes can convince me otherwise, eh!

Rock on!

 

[fshngho]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

OK FINE, do it the easy way, ( I wish I could have ).
DJ, the only thing I would reccommend is after it is stripped, do the transom & floor but not the splashwell. Wait untill later after the floor so it won't be in the way. Less head bumps that way.

 

[djpeters]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Alright, after all this talk about stripping, I now have an easier and cheaper plan. I called the painter today to let him know I was thinking about having it blasted and asked him if it would save him some time, and was it a good idea to get all the old paint off. (When I talked to him before he was a little shy on details about how he would go about the job. Basically he said "Yeah I can do that). Today he tells me in quite a bit of detail what he will do. He said since there is only one coat of paint (which is thin) he figures one trip over with a DA sander and some scotchbrite, the hull will be stripped, so don't waste the time and money stripping it. Apparently (I did not know this) when I had the holes welded up in the transom a few weeks ago by his brother, their paint rep came by and they took a look at the boat while it was there. He says after sand/strip they will prime with a 2-part epoxy. I asked about ZC first and he said they have gotten very good adhesion on aluminum with the epoxy primer, but he would check into it. Then the bottom would get a one part industrial coat that should be very durable. The sides and gunwalls will get 2 part auto paint. So, seems I wasted some time going down the stripping route this week, but at least I called him and am not out $$$ on stripping. I can't wait to get this thing painted. Hope my long-winded-ness has been useful in some way.......

Hopefully tomorrow we'll do some rivets and Gluvit.

 

[djpeters]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Got some good work done this weekend. There is nothing hard about doing rivets or applying Gluvit, just takes some time. My dad came over and ran the rivet gun while I bucked inside the boat. The sound really resonates inside there when the gun is hammering! We got about half of the rivets done, and today I got about 1/3 of the "Gluviting" done.

I had some supervision today.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Man that giant hull can swallow all 3 of you!

 

[djpeters]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Took the front bow cover/plate and braces off tonight as the wood underneath needs to be replaced. Kind of a pain to get apart, I think it was put together before the gunwalls went in. I first thought of replacing the wood pieces with leftover 3/4 marine ply from the transom, but I think I'll go with oak instead. The long cross piece looks to be red oak and the thinner ones look like pine. All oak should be stronger.

Here are some pics.

The cross piece will need to be covered with new vinyl before it goes back in. So now I have to commit to a vinyl color. I am still leaning toward stock colors, but with a grey carpeted floor instead of all red everywhere.

Below is the bow cover with a bunch of holes from a bow-mount trolling motor. I am going to price a new piece of aluminum for this. Maybe that will be the way to go instead of welding them up.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

DJ, I'm pretty sure all that wood is mahogony. The lighter peices are just un treated.

And you're right about that brace going in before the gunwales-The dash on the LL was no fun to remove

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Yeah that piece was a bear to remove on my SS also. I made a joke in my thread about it apparently being the "keystone" of the whole boat and a pic of all the fasteners that were in it.

 

[djpeters]

Re: 1979 22' Starcraft SuperSport V5 Restoration

Got my transom in, but have yet to drill a hole in it.

On the bow cover wood supports, any reason I can't rip some pieces from the transom scraps? (3/4 marine grade). If I epoxy coat them, do you think I will be able to drive staples in to hold the new vinyl? Or just use uncoated? That 3/4 ply will probably be way stronger then the original ever was.

Tomorow I am going to order enough aluminum sheet to to replace the gunwall tops and bow cover. I figure cost will be a wash because I don't have to pay someone to weld all the holes up (like 30 or more) and then I don't have to pay the painter to then smooth them all out after they warp. He said after welding, they would probably require some hammer and dolly work and some filler. I didn't like the thought of having filler in a boat that is going to flex, so with new tops we'll be starting like new again.

I am begining to think a better plan of attack may be to hold off on the painting for a little while. I'm stressing myself out trying to get that done before snow flies, so I don't have to deal with wet, sloppy, salty roads going to a from the painter. But, it will be a lot easier to get the foam in, tank in, floor in, consoles and front structure in, and a lot of other stuff done without paint on it. Basically do all i can do, then hope for a break in the weather and get it painted. Then a major part of the big stuff will be done.