1982 Starcraft Center Console 18' Rebuild

[Mikesta]

Is the flexseal on the interior or exterior? You might be able to cover areas liberally with paint remover wait 10 minutes and then blast with the pressure washer.

SHSU

It's all on the exterior of the hull. I'll try to get a close up picture of it. Some of it started to peel off when I power washed it last but i was just trying to clean it not focus on blasting the flex seal off. If i try to blast it off I am pretty sure the majority of it would come off. who knows how many more rivet heads will come off with it though

 

[Mikesta]

Here's a pic showing the flex seal. you can see the lighter color white on top which is just paint and the darker white color on the bottom which is covered in flex seal. There is also some kind of grey thick putty in spots on the interior of the hull, not sure what it is. Also finally got the motor off and did some more tear down, didn't get to much done due to the weather but a little is better than none. I'm gonna try to get the motor running without spending much money on it and then sell it to help fund a repower. I know it's way down the road but thinking about either a yami or suzuki 70 or 90, i know for yamaha the 70 and 90 weigh the same so it'll come down to what the funds are looking like when I get there
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[SHSU]

Ya, the previous owner of mine did something similar. It wasn't flex seal but something like it. I had my hull media blasted. If I had the room I would have tried to do it myself, but sadly I do not...

Looking at the picture, looks like you are having rivets heads corrode/pop off. I am guessing you plan to check them all and redo the ones that have failed?

SHSU

 

[Mikesta]

Yea I'm just waiting for the rivets to come in the mail. I got the rest of the interior and foam removed, just have to give it a good cleaning and then I plan on giving it another good power washing on the outside to see if any more rivets pop off and to try and get as much of the flex off then I'll start replacing the rivets. I only ordered solid rivets so i'll have to order some blinds to get the stringers back down to the ribs and when i start installing some of the interior panels.

Anyone got any tips on removing the solid rivets? the pop rivets are easy because the drill sits in the opening but when I do the solids the drill bit keeps wondering, I don't want to be making to many odd shaped holes. I'm thinking taking a punch and making a divot in the head for the drill to sit in

View attachment 12.jfif

 

[classiccat]

Woah man, these rivets are jumping off. You're at a point where you'll want to hit the pause button and test every single rivet. I'd turtle this hull, strip all of the bottom paint and assess each and every rivet...also inspect closely for hull skin corrosion.

For solid rivet removal, I center punch the rivet head drill it using a fresh/sharp 1/8 or 5/64 bit; you're essentially hollowing the stem (most SC rivets already have a perfectly centered dimple in the head).

Then I take a wood chisel and knock off the bucktail (non-beauty side)...hit it with a flapdisc if you haven't removed all of the bucktail.

Finally, take a punch and knock it out (from the bucktail side).

 

[Mikesta]

Woah man, these rivets are jumping off. You're at a point where you'll want to hit the pause button and test every single rivet. I'd turtle this hull, strip all of the bottom paint and assess each and every rivet...also inspect closely for hull skin corrosion.

For solid rivet removal, I center punch the rivet head drill it using a fresh/sharp 1/8 or 5/64 bit; you're essentially hollowing the stem (most SC rivets already have a perfectly centered dimple in the head).

Then I take a wood chisel and knock off the bucktail (non-beauty side)...hit it with a flapdisc if you haven't removed all of the bucktail.

Finally, take a punch and knock it out (from the bucktail side).

Luckily i bought probably enough rivets to redo damn near the entire hull if i had to

these might be stupid questions but should i leave the transom wood in if i flip it? not sure if its adding any structural stability at this point or not

and also should i go rivet by rivet one at a time or should i drill a bunch out and replace a bunch at a time?

 

[classiccat]

Luckily i bought probably enough rivets to redo damn near the entire hull if i had to

these might be stupid questions but should i leave the transom wood in if i flip it? not sure if its adding any structural stability at this point or not

and also should i go rivet by rivet one at a time or should i drill a bunch out and replace a bunch at a time?

that's a good question. I flipped my SS with the transom out but 1st added some 2x lumber to stabilize the empty hull both at the stern/transom & mid-ship.

If you're removing a rib or kneebrace to address damage/corrosion, you should remove the entire part (bunch of rivets). In this case, I recommend getting a set of Clecos for securing the pieces.

If you're doing just to replace leaky/damaged rivets, I'd do 1 at a time.

 

[Mikesta]

Thanks for the info classiccat, i'll probably rig something up like that when I go to flip.

What is everyone using to clean the aluminum on the inside of the hull? I cleaned the inside up a little after work today and just have to spray it out again, but the inside looks almost stained from the pour in foam and there's some glue spots i want to clean up. Are you guys sanding it or wire wheeling it?

I want to get the inside cleaned up nice before i flip her and start on the outside

 

[BWR1953]

I used a wire wheel on a drill.

 

[classiccat]

Thanks for the info classiccat, i'll probably rig something up like that when I go to flip.

What is everyone using to clean the aluminum on the inside of the hull? I cleaned the inside up a little after work today and just have to spray it out again, but the inside looks almost stained from the pour in foam and there's some glue spots i want to clean up. Are you guys sanding it or wire wheeling it?

I want to get the inside cleaned up nice before i flip her and start on the outside

I like an orange Nyalox cup brush; effective for cleaning corrosion/crud while being fairly selective to aluminum.

 

[SHSU]

So my 2 cents take it for what its worth....

Admiral and I redid every rivet in the boat, solid and blind. I tried the center punch method and then drill. It is good and works if you don't have a lot to do. My next option was to get something I didn't need to center punch every time. So I found [FONT=times new roman, times, serif]Air Capital Rivet Removal Tool, Model Number 65007. That worked, but again was time consuming and required a lot of extra bits. The method we finally settled on, and I know is against everything you should do when removing rivets was as follow.[/FONT]

1. Used an air chisel with grinned chisel to get under the heads
2. That will pop all the heads
3. Then I switched adapters and used a fine point punch chisel
4. Hit every chiseled stem and they popped right out.

Again, this is not the correct way to do it. I will be the first one to admit and tell others not to, but if you have a lot to do....

For the hull cleaning, I used a 3/8 SS wire brush. It made short work of any resistant material.

For flipping the hull I am with classiccat, I strung a couple 2x4s across the hull and clamped them down to give the sides some stability

SHSU

 

[Watermann]

I use a cobalt pilot point drill bit to remove the solid rivet heads, very sharp and doesn't wander. Just don't ever use it on any steel, only your AL.

 

[Mikesta]

Haven't had much time this past week to do much to the boat, been working crazy over time with that hurricane that came up the east coast. I did get some work done though.

I got the hull cleaned up a little bit, got the transom wood taken out (smashed 2 fingers in the process) and i started to wire wheel the inside of the hull

The transom was really stuck in there with a white adhesive, it didn't look like 5200 but it sure didn't want to let go. Ended up hammering a chisel into the wood and then using the aluminum transom skin as a pry point to lift it up about an inch at a time. Got it all the way to the top and and it slipped and fell back down, luckily it was broken free already so i could slide it with my hands back up and out. The P.O. made a 3 piece transom, it was the main rectangle piece and then the ear on each side that comes up to the top of the gunnel. I'll be able to use it as a template for the new one which i was pretty excited about.

I was all kinds of excited to start wire wheeling the inside and about 3 minutes into it i realized how much it was going to suck doing the entire boat. There is minor pitting throughout but not anywhere near as bad as i was expecting since i knew the boat was sank in salt water by the P.O. The only deep corrosion spot i have see was up in the bow. I might make a patch for it eventually or i might just marine tex over it and call it a day. I've only done a few small sections that you can kind of see in the picture below....the light gray spots up near the bow. I've been using a ss wire wheel and a nylon wire wheel from harbor freight. I think the nylon is more aggressive than the ss one.

The plan going forward is to
1. finish the wire wheeling
2. hose all the debris from wire wheeling out of the inside
3. hit it with a vinegar/water mix that i've seen guys talking about to neutralize corrosion (if someone could tell me the ratio's i'd really appreciate it)
4. flip it to get the flex seal and paint off the outside of the hull so i can see if there's anymore damage
5. if all the above goes according to plan start putting in new rivets where needed

If anyone has any other ideas to add to the list or order of doing things please let me know

View attachment 12.jfif

View attachment 13.jfif

 

[SHSU]

Any work is good work on a restoration.

I can agree with the wire wheel being a pain, but it is worth it in the end. You get out what you put in.

What is the stuff that is at the bottom of the ribs? Looks like somebody tried to seal up the ribs with JB Weld. I am hoping I am wrong on that.

Thing to do when doing your final clean out, make sure to use a vacuum and air blasts to try and get out all the debris stuck under the ribs.

SHSU

 

[Mikesta]

Any work is good work on a restoration.

I can agree with the wire wheel being a pain, but it is worth it in the end. You get out what you put in.

What is the stuff that is at the bottom of the ribs? Looks like somebody tried to seal up the ribs with JB Weld. I am hoping I am wrong on that.

Thing to do when doing your final clean out, make sure to use a vacuum and air blasts to try and get out all the debris stuck under the ribs.

SHSU

It looks and feels like bondo, never used jb weld not sure of that. i would assume its close to the same thing as bondo. Ive been peeling it up and haven't seen any reason for it. I think they threw it on there to seel up where loose rivets where...hence all the flex seal on the outside

 

[roscoe]

What did starcraft use for the framing? that front deck was definitely rebuild at some point, i can tell just from looking at the "hatch" they had in it.

The floor was flat all the way to bow.
There was a metal U shaped seat in the bow, attached to the flange that is still there.

 

[SHSU]

It looks and feels like bondo, never used jb weld not sure of that. i would assume its close to the same thing as bondo. Ive been peeling it up and haven't seen any reason for it. I think they threw it on there to seel up where loose rivets where...hence all the flex seal on the outside

If you can get it out, I would. To me its not doing anything but being a future pain and possible plugging your drainage holes.

Just my 2 cents...

SHSU

 

[Mikesta]

If you can get it out, I would. To me its not doing anything but being a future pain and possible plugging your drainage holes.

Just my 2 cents...

SHSU

I started getting some of it out tonight, no pics because i forgot to take them :facepalm:

It's definitely bondo and peels up pretty easy. There's a good bit of corrosion underneath it which I'm not thrilled about.

I did some more sanding with the wire wheel too, most of the boat has spotty corrosion spots that aren't deep at all but there's one up in the bow area that's pretty deep, around the knee brace and z bracket, and so fat one tiny hole in the bottom that was under the bondo. I will try to get pics of it all tomorrow but so far I am actually pretty happy with the corrosion levels. I thought it would be waaay worse since it was submerged in salt water

I plan on primarily using using this boat in salt water... after I clean up the interior of the hull should I do anything to it to help protect it from the salt water, like paint the inside. I know Gluvit on the seems but I am talking about the entire interior

 

[SHSU]

I had some mild corrosion up in the bow area as well. I think it has to do with how the boat sits on the trailer and that section is the lowest point (instead of the stern/drain hole). Mine was also used heavily in saltwater, and we still use it heavily in saltwater. Just make sure to have a good zinc anode and do a good washout/drain with freshwater after every use and you should be good.

As far as painting the interior, I am sure others will be along shortly to tell you "NO". A lot of projects out there where PO did something similar and then the restore had fun trying to get it all out.

I did add an epoxy coat to the bilge area, but that was it. The corrosion occurs because the water sits.

SHSU

 

[Mikesta]

Here's a pic of the hole thats mid hull, i'm thinking I can drill it out and put a properly sized rivet in it since it isn't to big. If anyone doesn't like that idea please let me know and if there are any better repair options. Also a pic of the corrosion around the knee brace, probably the worst spots on the boat so far. Havent cleaned up that area though because I still need to get all the bondo out.

I'm thinking with all the corrosion spots i'll hit them with some marine tex and sand them smooth, that might be waste of time and money though as it will be hidden under the floor and no one will see it. Again all and any ideas are welcome!

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