1985 Starcraft SS 160 with 75HP Mercury Outboard restoration and upgrades

[EchoNovember]

Level will be draining into the bilge for now, it looks like. Unless I can figure out a way to bore through the foam under the deck to get to the drain. I added notches to my sharpened PVC pipe to make it more like a keyhole saw, and then added a thin screw a few inches down going across to act as a cutter. It started working better after I did that. I think I'm going to add a short screw at the end, then progressively increase the screw length going down, like spiral stairs. That may cut through the foam better.

I'm open to any non chemical suggestions about how to bore through the foam to get to my livewell drain. I gave the hole a sniff and it smells fishy. Wow, that sounded dirty... Anyways, I'm fairly confident that the livewell used to drain into the bilge at some point, so I may end up doing that for this trip.

 

[Watermann]

I'm open to any non chemical suggestions about how to bore through the foam to get to my livewell drain. I gave the hole a sniff and it smells fishy. Wow, that sounded dirty...

Bahahaha! ound::rofl:

 

[SHSU]

Thats a little Kinky, sniffing holes!!!! ainkiller: :lol:

On a serious note, how far of a distance are you having to bore? You thought about just cutting out huge chunks and not trying to make it pretty?

 

[EchoNovember]

From the seat behind the driver to the transom. I can only get about a foot long PVC pipe under there, planning on extending it as needed. Not going for pretty at all, just trying to get through the stuff.

 

[SHSU]

From the seat behind the driver to the transom. I can only get about a foot long PVC pipe under there, planning on extending it as needed. Not going for pretty at all, just trying to get through the stuff.

That is not a lot of space at all. Wonder if you can "Red Neck" a drain snake to get down there and core some foam out that way

 

[EchoNovember]

Been thinking about it. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to get the boat ready for our trip. The water temp is going to be in the 60's anyways, so too cold to safely have fun with water sports. We're going to fish off the fishing pier on Saturday, and the rest of the time be rained in. :-(

Learned a few things, though.

1. Never work on a boat under a time constraint with someone you care about when you are both new to the work - lots of stress and arguing
2. Measure twice, cut...better measure a few more times to be absolutely certain
3. Once the epoxy is on, a power sander should go nowhere near the transom
4. 5200 gets every where. Wear gloves and protect surfaces.
5. You will need more 5200 than you think, partially because of number 4. The other reason is when coating screws and bolts and drilled holes, it goes faster than you think...
6. You can do two coats of epoxy with a quart, but barely. Spend the extra money, get a gallon. You can always use the rest later.
7. Keep all screws sorted by where they came from. It sucks figuring that out when they get mixed up.
8. Ratchet straps work great for slowly and precisely lifting the motor off the boat. Not so much for trying to lower it onto a stand without looking like every movie with slowly snapping ropes, giving dramatic short drops.
9. Drilling holes straight through the hole on the outside and cleanly through the hole on the inside is pretty much impossible.
10. When someone says a rotting transom is dangerous, listen to them. When I get the pictures uploaded, you'll see why.
11. West Marine may be the only place nearby that sells marine grade products, and they know it. Expect to bend over at the cash register and be charged 2-3 times what the same product costs elsewhere. A gallon of Pennzoil two stroke oil costs $18 at Wal-Mart, they charge $40. The oil measuring bottle costs $2.50 at Wal-Mart, $7.50 there. Spark plugs? $1.80/ ea at O'Reilly, $7.50/ea at West Marine. Some stuff was on par with other suppliers, others had extreme markups. Do price comparisons before buying anything.
12. Aluminum hardware is difficult to find. Washers, nuts, bolts, screws, etc. are not as readily available as you might expect. Don't substitute stainless steel or brass, or you are asking for trouble.
13. Know when to quit and understand what your limits are for stress, fatigue, budget, time, etc. Leave extra time and don't be afraid to admit you won't make your deadline, especially when confronted with multiple delays.
14. Boat stands for Bust Out Another Thousand. Told to me by a guy at West Marine.
15. iBoats ships from multiple warehouses and charges shipping fees for each. A $60 order for merchandise was going to cost $90+ after shipping fees... I really want to support them, but I cannot afford to. :'(

I'll get pics of the progress up as soon as I can. I'll be away for a few days camping first.

 

[SHSU]

Been thinking about it. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to get the boat ready for our trip. The water temp is going to be in the 60's anyways, so too cold to safely have fun with water sports. We're going to fish off the fishing pier on Saturday, and the rest of the time be rained in. :-(

Learned a few things, though.

1. Never work on a boat under a time constraint with someone you care about when you are both new to the work - lots of stress and arguing
2. Measure twice, cut...better measure a few more times to be absolutely certain
3. Once the epoxy is on, a power sander should go nowhere near the transom
4. 5200 gets every where. Wear gloves and protect surfaces.
5. You will need more 5200 than you think, partially because of number 4. The other reason is when coating screws and bolts and drilled holes, it goes faster than you think...
6. You can do two coats of epoxy with a quart, but barely. Spend the extra money, get a gallon. You can always use the rest later.
7. Keep all screws sorted by where they came from. It sucks figuring that out when they get mixed up.
8. Ratchet straps work great for slowly and precisely lifting the motor off the boat. Not so much for trying to lower it onto a stand without looking like every movie with slowly snapping ropes, giving dramatic short drops.
9. Drilling holes straight through the hole on the outside and cleanly through the hole on the inside is pretty much impossible.
10. When someone says a rotting transom is dangerous, listen to them. When I get the pictures uploaded, you'll see why.
11. West Marine may be the only place nearby that sells marine grade products, and they know it. Expect to bend over at the cash register and be charged 2-3 times what the same product costs elsewhere. A gallon of Pennzoil two stroke oil costs $18 at Wal-Mart, they charge $40. The oil measuring bottle costs $2.50 at Wal-Mart, $7.50 there. Spark plugs? $1.80/ ea at O'Reilly, $7.50/ea at West Marine. Some stuff was on par with other suppliers, others had extreme markups. Do price comparisons before buying anything.
12. Aluminum hardware is difficult to find. Washers, nuts, bolts, screws, etc. are not as readily available as you might expect. Don't substitute stainless steel or brass, or you are asking for trouble.
13. Know when to quit and understand what your limits are for stress, fatigue, budget, time, etc. Leave extra time and don't be afraid to admit you won't make your deadline, especially when confronted with multiple delays.
14. Boat stands for Bust Out Another Thousand. Told to me by a guy at West Marine.
15. iBoats ships from multiple warehouses and charges shipping fees for each. A $60 order for merchandise was going to cost $90+ after shipping fees... I really want to support them, but I cannot afford to. :'(

I'll get pics of the progress up as soon as I can. I'll be away for a few days camping first.

We all reach that point some times. Sorry to hear you weren't able to take the boat out. Rain sucks.

Remember the Admiral is always right, even when she is wrong....

 

[EchoNovember]

Lol. Words of wisdom for a happy relationship.

It wasn't just rain, but water temps are going to be in the low 60s, which is too cold to safely swim or go tubing. Only fishing, and even then our first mate gets cold easily, so all around not a good weekend for boating.

 

[SHSU]

Lol. Words of wisdom for a happy relationship.

It wasn't just rain, but water temps are going to be in the low 60s, which is too cold to safely swim or go tubing. Only fishing, and even then our first mate gets cold easily, so all around not a good weekend for boating.

Well, I am sure ya'll will make the best of it. Gives you more time to plan anyways

 

[EchoNovember]

UPDATES!

After gluing the transom together, we went to remove the old one. I can now tell you from experience, an engine hoist or chain lift is better than ratchet straps for removing a motor...

After removing the motor and putting it on a stand (sorry, no pictures of this step), we started drilling out rivets. Just getting the stern caps off made us realize how rotted it was.





The the trim piece came off...



Doesn't look too terribly bad overall, but definitely rotted.



Then we poked it and understood just how bad it was.



It was rotted through and through.






The admiral started in on taking apart the splashwell. I asked her if she was having fun yet.



She was, really.



The transom didn't look too bad underneath, so the level of rot we encountered surprised us. Excuse the mess.You can see the livewell and drain holes.



We got the splashwell sheet off and...



Those holes are the top holes for the motor mount. There wasn't much left holding that motor on. The POs had been tightening down the bolts to keep it snug.



The admiral started pulling off chunks and I started in with the mini shop-vac.



I think I vacuumed up almost half the transom, it was THAT rotted.







That was one rotted transom! And we hadn't even removed the whole thing yet.

 

[EchoNovember]

The rest of the transom was largely intact, so the admiral wedged a board in and pried it out.






Holy crap, this thing looks bad... What's left of it anyways.



That is all that is left that was intact.



Well, barely intact...



That transom was beyond shot. We were laughing most of the time in disbelief that we had the boat out on the water with a transom this bad. I actually apologized to my father for risking his life by taking him out in this boat.


I vacuumed out what I could. Later I used a whisk to brush off as much of that rotted wood as I could.



Next we started in on cutting out the new transom!

 

[EchoNovember]

I should mention that I had to cut back the aluminum under the stern caps. There was overhang from the gunwales that was keeping the transom from coming out, so I used a dremel and cutting wheel to cut it back enough to get the transom free.

 

[SHSU]

Yep, that is a rotten transom. Now you can see why everyone talks about it being a must for replacing. LOL Glad yall had "fun" taking it out and repairing it.

That lip that overhung your transom, guys often bend them back, but you eliminated the problem for the future.

You going to take a wire brush or anything to the back of metal skin to clean up the junk that is on it?

 

[82rude]

Lol. Words of wisdom for a happy relationship.

It wasn't just rain, but water temps are going to be in the low 60s, which is too cold to safely swim or go tubing. Only fishing, and even then our first mate gets cold easily, so all around not a good weekend for boating.

We wish water was that warm on this end of lake superior.Went boating for 5 yesterday and a bunch of kids were swimming ,temp 52! Heck middle of summer its only 60,s.Beaches are packed.You guys in Minny are spoiled,lol.

 

[SHSU]

We wish water was that warm on this end of lake superior.Went boating for 5 yesterday and a bunch of kids were swimming ,temp 52! Heck middle of summer its only 60,s.Beaches are packed.You guys in Minny are spoiled,lol.

Man I wish we had that here!!! We are dealing with 90-100 degree weather with 70+% humidity!!!!! It so hot and humid that when you walk outside of the house your glasses immediately fog up.

 

[Watermann]

Man that one was super rotted. I think it was mentioned earlier that your transom was shot and the boat was unsafe to use.

You really should remove that splashwell and clean the inner transom skin, all that crud on there needs to come off, the corrosion that is there needs removed too and then the pitting skinned/filled. Finish the job with se primer and paint before installing the new sealed transom wood

 

[EchoNovember]

Yep, that is a rotten transom. Now you can see why everyone talks about it being a must for replacing. LOL Glad yall had "fun" taking it out and repairing it.

That lip that overhung your transom, guys often bend them back, but you eliminated the problem for the future.

You going to take a wire brush or anything to the back of metal skin to clean up the junk that is on it?

I brushed off as much as I could with a straw whisk. Cleaned up pretty good, and the only way to clean it better would be to scrub the hell out of it.

 

[Watermann]

I brushed off as much as I could with a straw whisk. Cleaned up pretty good, and the only way to clean it better would be to scrub the hell out of it.

The proper way to clean the inner transom skin is to use a fine wire wheel on a drill with a side handle and or an angle grinder. Wash throughly with cleaning vinegar and scrub it into the pitting with a wire brush before skinning it with JB weld or Marine Tex.

 

[EchoNovember]

Man that one was super rotted. I think it was mentioned earlier that your transom was shot and the boat was unsafe to use.

You really should remove that splashwell and clean the inner transom skin, all that crud on there needs to come off, the corrosion that is there needs removed too and then the pitting skinned/filled. Finish the job with se primer and paint before installing the new sealed transom wood

Yeah, I'll listen about that next time.

Transom is mostly mounted back in already. To take it out, clean it, and then put it back right now would be too much work as we're going to be taking it all apart for a restoration over the winter. We need it to be safe for the rest of the season. We'll be roughing up the transom when we do the restoration and adding another layer of epoxy to seal up the edges of any drilled holes, places that scuffed during install, etc. That's also when we'll remove all that corrosion.

We're going to epoxy the hell out of the deck, with extra layers on the undersides and ski locker, in case of a forgotten drain plug at launch again... We're going to seal up everything as much as possible so that we don't have to ever worry about rot again. I want the hull to wear out before we have to replace wood again...

 

[Watermann]

You went though all that work just to put back a raw piece of wood in the wettest part of the boat. Okay.