1979 Starcraft 16’ SS Refresh

[Moserkr]

Will have to check in to my motor thread again soon, cause I was able to do a little tinkering today. Started off by finally doing my ole girl some justice and put some much deserved decals on.



Then I tinkered with the motor and found a few issues. First, fired her up as she was and had the same surging/lack of fuel issue. Squeezing the bulb helped. So I disconnected the new sierra fuel filter/water separator and put an inline filter on. I found the quick connect to the side of the motor leaked air as well, and also found the gasket around the carbs had gone bad. Considering it was not that old was disappointing, and I was lucky to have another on hand. Fixing those issues got rid of the surging and she actually ran great on the muffs - idled fairly smooth.

So next test was in a trash can. She started surging a little and would not hold idle, only higher idle held. But there was a slight ticking sound too, not sure why. Also saw a lot of what looked like fogging oil inside the trash can, maybe from winterizing her?


Need to go through the manual some more and trouble shoot again. Racerone in the motor thread mentioned checking the flywheel (I think), so Im guessing I may have a timing issue. Will have to order some tools and try again. One of these days I will figure it out, but at least she fires right up still.

Got new gubment tags too.

 

[SHSU]

Fogging or gear case oil? Not sure what fogging oil looks like with water, but milky makes me think gear case.

SHSU

 

[Moserkr]

Yea that was my other thought too. Really hoping thats not another issue since every seal in the lower gear case is less than 2 years old. Ill check the gear oil next time I work on her.

 

[ShoestringMariner]

Yea that was my other thought too. Really hoping thats not another issue since every seal in the lower gear case is less than 2 years old. Ill check the gear oil next time I work on her.

Decals look good. I’m more inclined to think the oil is from fogging due to the pattern and how fine the droplets appear?

 

[Moserkr]

I didnt see any gear oil bubbling up like I did last time I had a leak. Also had a darker color to it. But only one way to find out…

 

[classiccat]

Sorry to hear about your motor woes! Yeah most likely unburnt 2 stroke &/or fogging oil. Your RPMs are going to be a few hundred higher on muffs than when you have the backpressure in the trash can.

I'm not entirely sure of your year/model values; my '75 70HP is 1400 on muffs, 1100 with backpressure and what really matters are the RPMs when in gear on the water...I shoot for around 800.

That's achieved by tweaking the timing ...a task which shouldn't be taken lightly since the linkage then needs to be tweaked to ensure all 3 butterflies are opening simultaneously at the proper time / cam position. IIRC, you should be right around 0 deg advance (timing light) when the roller touches the cam & the butterflies start to crack open. Check your service manual for your year/model for the link & sync procedure. It's a bit tedious so don't get discouraged if it takes a few adjustment iterations.

 

[Moserkr]

Thanks CC. Yup plan is to consult the manual since I have it now. If I need to do a link/sync, thats fine. The butterflies are very well sync’d together, but not sure if it matches the timing/cam. Probably best to do it regardless. Ill rebuild the whole damn thing if I have to lol, just takes time. She fires up and runs, just poorly. She never ran perfect anyway, so Im fine with a full troubleshoot, maintenance, and tune up plan.

Also wondering now if I didnt mix my gas/oil well. When I pulled the spark plugs (new and gapped right) I noticed quite a bit of unburnt oil on them. Brand new fuel tank, and I put all the oil in first, followed by gas. Think I will drain the tank and refill it just to mix it up well. It also has marine stabile in it. May have been my issue with the fuel/water separator too if it just inhaled a bunch of poorly mixed 2-stroke oil…

I need to hook up the tachometer too since it has never worked since I bought the boat. Just need more time!!

Big IF I can get all this done on the ugly duckling motor, then Ill finish the boat’s interior and set my sights on the stinger.

 

[classiccat]

Thanks CC. Yup plan is to consult the manual since I have it now. If I need to do a link/sync, thats fine. The butterflies are very well sync’d together, but not sure if it matches the timing/cam. Probably best to do it regardless. Ill rebuild the whole damn thing if I have to lol, just takes time. She fires up and runs, just poorly. She never ran perfect anyway, so Im fine with a full troubleshoot, maintenance, and tune up plan.

Also wondering now if I didnt mix my gas/oil well. When I pulled the spark plugs (new and gapped right) I noticed quite a bit of unburnt oil on them. Brand new fuel tank, and I put all the oil in first, followed by gas. Think I will drain the tank and refill it just to mix it up well. It also has marine stabile in it. May have been my issue with the fuel/water separator too if it just inhaled a bunch of poorly mixed 2-stroke oil…

I need to hook up the tachometer too since it has never worked since I bought the boat. Just need more time!!

Big IF I can get all this done on the ugly duckling motor, then Ill finish the boat’s interior and set my sights on the stinger.

Yeah a working tach is pretty important. I like to confirm the tach pole setting by measuring the stator output frequency with a multimeter. I believe you have a 12 pole stator in that engine...so each revolution would be 6 full sine cycles for each revolution.

As an example, if I'm running in the trash can and measure 110 Hz (sine cycles per second) with my DDM... and I know that there are 6 sine cycles per crank revolution, we can calculate the revolutions per second (110Hz/6 = 18.33 revolutions per second. This translates to 1100 revolutions per minute (18.33 x 60).

Alternatively you can plop down 20 or 30 bucks and get yourself an inductive tach where you wrap a wire a few times around one of the plug leads...just make sure it's setup for a spark for every revolution (2 strokes & 4-strokes that have a wasted spark on the exhaust stroke).

 

[SHSU]

Second, having a working tach. Good to know how hard you are pushing the engine.

As for the fuel, I am with you now hearing that you dropped oil first and then gas. I know mixing it is important. I have at least 20 minute drives from where I fuel up to where I put in. So I figure there is plenty of sloshing going on to mix up the fuel/oil.

SHSU

 

[Moserkr]

Keep reading about everyone else’s projects and Im getting the itch!! Been cranking out projects left and right around the house on the honey-do list, but havent gotten to my boat!

The boys I sold my old boat to, which let me buy the starcraft, called me up cause they were having issues with their motor. Told em to bring the boat by to work on it.

It was having trouble starting so we checked the connectors, gas lines, bulb, and spark plugs. Gapped the plugs right, and noticed air was getting into the gas lines because they were old and wrecked! Replaced the gas lines, bulb was good, one connector was bad, so replaced that too. Motor fired up pretty quick after that! As it was running, I noticed it was not spitting water out the tell tail!! Told em to kill it, and we will change the impeller when the kit comes in.

Also helped them fill old fish finder holes with solid rivets and 5200. Taught em how to use a solid rivet gun. Added some cleats on too so they got to use the blind gun as well. A good day passing some boat knowledge along.

My boats coming up soon. Dirt bike is down to the frame and parts have been sent out for rebuilding. Will be a bit before she gets reassembled. Just need to refinish a dresser, then my current honey do list is done. Wont be long…. Cant wait to get her right and blow some $$$ on fuel this year hahaha.

 

[SHSU]

Now you just got to get the boys to help you with a 34 ft project!!!! lol

SHSU

 

[Moserkr]

Lucky the admiral isnt on this thread. She might crucify you for that idea!! Haha. The boys (12, 16, & bigger than me lol) and I have become friends after they bought the boat which was purchased with their own hard earned money. Started hunting with them and they fish/boat more than I do!!

I already know my next boat project and there are a few starcrafts that would qualify for the job I need it to do…. Just have lots of other stuff taking priority first. Current boat, dirt bike, kids, bigger house, ya know, little things lol.

 

[Moserkr]

I dunno…. I think I just like punishing myself, or throwing money down holes in the water, and now on land lol. So this happened…


I know what you’re thinking…. That could be a new boat motor right there!! But its not…. Admiral and I got this instead of renting one from other people for our upcoming beach vacation. Plan is to rent it out to other people though, so it pays for itself and hopefully makes us a few bucks.

Best part is…. Admiral said if the renting goes well, we can use that money for a new boat motor!!! Talk about motivation. Cheers guys!

 

[ShoestringMariner]

I dunno…. I think I just like punishing myself, or throwing money down holes in the water, and now on land lol. So this happened…
View attachment 359927

I know what you’re thinking…. That could be a new boat motor right there!! But its not…. Admiral and I got this instead of renting one from other people for our upcoming beach vacation. Plan is to rent it out to other people though, so it pays for itself and hopefully makes us a few bucks.

Best part is…. Admiral said if the renting goes well, we can use that money for a new boat motor!!! Talk about motivation. Cheers guys!

Too funny, I just looked at similar rig this morning. First look from its winter storage…Full of water and water damage…couldn’t drive away fast enough! Check your roof constantly if you’re towing her.

 

[Moserkr]

@ShoestringMariner Oh I agree…. All of these trailers are built like $&@? IMO. If we weren't renting it out, I wouldnt buy it. Horrible use of money. The fit/finish and build quality is embarrassing, and thats every brand, except maybe airstream. Building the boat gave me a lot of perspective on build quality, and keeping water out!! I will be on the roof constantly, and applying copious amounts of sealants/caulking. They use screws to hold this thing together, and we all know what happens with screws vs rivets. Besides the roof, their “waterproofing” is a thin line of silicone along seams and trim - a far cry from a 5200 sandwich lol. These are built by hand in America too (Oregon for mine, with likely all foreign parts) so you would think that means some sort of quality. Nope. So far it seems mine was built on a tuesday, not monday or friday. Knock on wood.

Hoping it holds together long enough with minimal issues to pay itself off and give me a boat motor too hahaha. Crazier things have happened. Until then, will work on my current motors as soon as I have more time.

 

[Moserkr]

My monthly checkin lmao. Been pretty busy and its tough walking by the boat when I should be out using it!! But we brought on a new crew member a few days ago so I have no better excuse. Proud to introduce our little girl, Aubrey, our second mate. And now, back to sleep lol. Be back with some actual boat work soon I hope.

 

[classiccat]

Congratulations!!!

Welcome to the Starmada Aubrey!

 

[MNhunter1]

Congrats! My kids are my greatest blessing. Definately change your lifestyle and have a tendency to put a few kinks in the boat rebuilding and other projects, but I wouldn't change it for anything.

 

[Moserkr]

Thanks guys. Absolutely mnhunter, wouldnt trade anything in the world for my kids. All my son talks about is building boats, cars, trucks, bikes, hunting, fishing - he is a chip off the old block. We will see what Aubrey is into as she grows up, but nature will be instilled in her blood naturally. Enjoying this time with them and they have both been great kids so cant complain.

 

[Watermann]

Awww, congrats on the new arrival. I always love to see the newest models of everything, even humans.