1982 sportsman 16 and old 10.5ft smokercraft

[Wildhorsecustoms]

Hello everyone names Jeremy I'm new to the forum been around for a couple days just doing research and trying to find all the information I'll need to do my boat prior to asking the silly questions. I recently got my hands on my dads old 10.5 ft smokercraft aluminum that has been sitting out in the western Washington weather for the last 15 years as well as a 1982 sportsman 16 that's been sitting on a 1961 kalkins trailer since 1999 and is like most all the other rebuilds I've seen so far and needs a total teardown I've started a bit on the blue fin but just mostly taking chrome off and tearing out the old seats I decided to go ahead and start on the smokercraft to get a bit more experience and practice working on aluminum before I really get into the sportsman. I'm a navy veteran been on a few floating cities as well as in the small boat teams after 8 years I'm a railroader by trade now and work a whole ton make it home about every other to every third weekend so bare with me as these could be a bit slow of a build. As soon as I can attach pictures I'll get some put up for everyone to see as I go along and to get some extra input from everyone who has all the experience that I am lacking.

 

[Wildhorsecustoms]

Some pictures of the smokercraft after I washed it and scraped most of the moss off. I also got a 15 hp seaking short shaft with it that my dad has had for the 20 years we had the boat also hasnt run for close to 15 years but I'm hoping to get it going wont put it back on this boat as it's a bit much just gonna get a 40 lb thrust minkota for it to use it when I want to go fishing quick as I can just throw this and the motor in the truck bed and head down to the lake and dont need a launch or anything to get on the water.

 

[Wildhorsecustoms]

Some pictures of the sportsman when I got it up to the house was pretty excited to have it as this is my first actual power boat of my own I've always been a wooden drift boat guy and a canoe man upto this point but wanting something the mrs. can go out on and relax and enjoy the water more pushed me to get a larger boat and one with an engine as well.

 

[Wildhorsecustoms]

So yesterday the mrs and I started dismantling after I got home from work I have a week where we are working close enough to home that I'm able to make the drive to and from each day. We got the old rotten back to back seats pulled out as well as all the moss and just about every chunk of wood that could be removed without drilling rivets along with the windshields and all the trim off the gunnels that wasnt wierd in. This boat is going to be a fishing boat for the Mrs and I we are planning on doing two pedestal air ride seats behind new consoles a relatively low sitting casting platform with a pedestal mount up front and two jump seats in the back I have the poles for having a canopy on it and the button down canopy but its shot does anyone know if they are still making the full closure canopies for these boats or is that a custom build type of item? I also have a button on how cover that as well is shot and needs replaced but I'd like to get a new one as well. I'm still on the edge of I'd like to do a electric trolling motor mount for the front or not. The boat will be used year round in the rivers and lakes both.

 

[roscoe]

Welcome to iboats.

Looks like a fine project boat.

As you may already know, your Blue Fin hull was made by Starcraft.
Starcraft built and sold bare hulls to several manufacturers.
Your boat shares the same hull with the Starcraft 16 SuperSport, which was later renamed to 160 SS.

Many Starcraft enthusiast here and many rebuilds you can draw info from in the starcraft forum.

Starcraft Boats

forums.iboats.com

 

[Wildhorsecustoms]

Awesome I knew they were close but I didnt realize they were the same that makes it even better being able to cross reference there as well. Thank you for the information.

 

[Wildhorsecustoms]

Today I only got about an hour after work to work on the boats I've kinda started focusing on the smokercraft at the moment as there isnt nearly as much going on there and I can take what little time I have and still accomplish something. I got about half of the outside sanded down been using an orbital sander to get the majority of the paint off and then a red scrub pad in my drill to get the odd spots dents and around the rivets all cleaned up. We have dogs a cat rabbits sheep and horses and all but the horses make thier rounds up by the house which is where I'm working on the boats currently so I've avoided using any sort of stripper since I'd hate to lose an animal because they got into it. I was thinking about getting a brass brush fitting for the angle grinder or the drill to see if that would work better then the sander and or scrub pad any inputs and opinions are welcome on a way to get the paint off that may be better. So far I only got about an hour and a half probably into it and almost all of the right outside is cleaned up so I'm not complaining about that just my lack of time in general

 

[Wildhorsecustoms]

Well today the mrs and I did a little window shopping to see what colors of seats and types she wants in the boat as well as picked up three cans of gluvit for the two boats expecting that to be more than enough to do all the rivets and seams on them both. Looked at some new Lowe boats and some other sleds seen the marine vinel I decided I wanted to put in the boat anyone know of some good possible places to order from?

 

[Wildhorsecustoms]

Been a little while have had some long work days and getting kicked by a horse hasnt helped my mobility but I'm making some more progress on the boats the mrs and I picked up the two tempress highback seats we are using for our back seats I'm gonna do these with a storage box underneath each of them and an area for our cooler between them. Has anyone had any experience with doing an aluminum floor in these instead of plywood? I've seen it done in plenty of smaller boats but not a 16ft like these bluefin and starcraft boats. Any thoughts on it? I'm pretty set with doing all aluminum hatches and flooring on it and feel itll be more rigid lighter and have more space then if I did plywood and for the price of marine plywood and everything it really isnt much of a price difference I also dont have to fiberglass the aluminum.

 

[Wildhorsecustoms]

I got some more work done on both boats this weekend been slow going with only being home every other weekend and having other projects that need accomplished as well but I got almost all the paint off of the smoker craft as well as did some test work on the bluefin the paint removers I tried both worked great and were both very affordable I have the blue fin almost entirely stripped down now with the entire floor out having some issues getting the gunnels out so I can start getting the rotten transom out of it. The smoker craft had some issues where the previous owner didnt use stainless hardware and had also drilled extra holes for oarlock mounts and then put ones that weren't designed for the boat on it torqued down the screws and crushed the aluminum along the sides one of the holes was actually splitting I was able to aluminum braising the holes closed as well as fill in the majority of the denting as well from a distance of about 10 ft you can barely see it figuring if I use some jb weld as filler and sand it down itll finish off well and then be able to primer and paint over it well. I also have some fairly deep scratches around the bottom of the boat and was planning to fill them as well was wondering if aluminum braising would be the best way to fill them or just filling with jb weld and sanding smooth before priming and painting would work fine?

 

[Wildhorsecustoms]

Some pictures of the bluefin as I got the wood out of it had some standing water in it at the time but got it all drained out and it doesnt seem to leak anywhere either.