EchoNovember
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- May 25, 2017
- Messages
- 315
My fianc?e and I recently bought a 1985 Starcraft SS 160 with a 75HP Mercury outboard. We later discovered, to our chagrin, that the deck was a little weak and the ski locker is wet and rotting, the seat backs are loose, and one of the screws holding the controls up keeps pulling out. So now we're planning to replace the transom this summer, and use the insulated garage to do a restoration and some upgrades this winter. Our dream is to make it switchable between pleasure boat and fishing boat.
Ideas:
For watersports: Reinforced transom for skiing, tubing, and space for a kicker motor that's removable when doing water sports, two fold out seats that can turn into loungers. Might leave the kicker on permanently just in case of emergency.
For fishing: the fold flats come out and on one sides have seats with a live well underneath with the driver's seat forward and a higher fishing seat aft (currently on the boat), the other side would have a fishing seat post mount under the fold flat in the mounting box for a single fishing seat, and a tall fishing seat up in the bow, plus a 8 HP kicker motor for smaller lakes, plus a trolling motor. The lakes closest to me have a 8 HP limit, but the 75 can stay on as long as it remains tilted up. I would also have a box mount trolling motor on a quick release mounting plate. Also looking at a removable bait live well for minnows. Thinking of replacing the ski locker with a live well if I can make it work in the space.
For cruising around: same as watersports, but a convertible top (if I can find one for my boat) plus a bow cover, that way we can anchor in a bay and camp out in the boat on calm nights. Probably add bug netting in there somehow.
It would probably take about an hour or so to switch out the seats and hook/unhook the live well and trolling motor each time we switched things around. Things like the convertible top would also be on. Shade would be awesome when trolling.
Going to replace all wood with marine grade or exterior grade and sealed with epoxy, replace foam under the deck and fill in any practical space with it to assist in flotation should I damage the hull, replace the bilge with a 750-800 GPH automatic one that has a warning light in the console, plus a second 800-1200 GPH manual bilge pump wired to the console and with a separate thru-hull output in case of hull damage so I can limp back to shore.
We want to put in a sliding door for under the windshield to protect against cold wind, and protect gear from splashes coming over the bow. We're also trying to figure out how to turn the forward seats into flip top compartments for storage.
Any unused space I want to turn into storage, fill with foam sheets, use for speakers, or somehow use so I have minimal wasted space.
Will be adding:
Marine radio with weather
LED lighting to replace incandescent, but will try to keep the same classic styling when possible
Additional cleats midship as it only has cleats fore and aft. The additional cleats are primarily for boat fenders as we rubbed some paint off this past weekend leaving her tied to the dock with the fender tied the best we could, but lacking a cleat where we needed it.
Hybrid Starting/Deep Cycle battery to help run the bilge pumps
8 HP kicker for emergencies and for smaller lakes.
Extra transom eyes or reinforcements to transom to be able to tow a boat.
Thinking about a life ring in additional to my throwable "seat cushion", but the boat is small and limited on space, and the question becomes where to put it, unless I put it on the top of the splashwell, which could work.
Will also want to either tune up the 75 HP 2-stroke that is on it now to reduce smoke in the exhaust and reduce sound, or repower with a used 4-stroke (new one isn't going to be in the budget)
Thoughts on all of this?
I will need to figure out how to make the transom almost bulletproof and as strong as possible. Looking at marine grade plywood sealed with epoxy. For now I might seal up the openings between my splashwell and transom with globs of sealant. The bilge pump got a work out this weekend from all the water draining from the splashwell into the bilge. I might have enough time over the next couple weeks to replace the transom, though.
We also learned something very important this weekend: make sure to put in the drain plug before launching. I saw the back sitting lower than it should have after launch while we were tying it off to the dock. I asked my fianc?e if she put the plug in because I hadn't, and it turns out she hadn't either, so we quickly pulled the boat out. Thankfully the trailer was still in the water, so we were able to get it right back on the trailer and out on the ramp. With the bilge pump running and boat sitting on an incline with the plug still out , it still took about 20-30 minutes to drain out all that water... Whoops. At least no one was waiting to use the ramp! This is where a higher flow rate automatic would come in handy, along with the manual emergency one and the starting/deep cycle battery. Or, you know, remember that pesky drain plug before launching...
Pictures to come soon.
Ideas:
For watersports: Reinforced transom for skiing, tubing, and space for a kicker motor that's removable when doing water sports, two fold out seats that can turn into loungers. Might leave the kicker on permanently just in case of emergency.
For fishing: the fold flats come out and on one sides have seats with a live well underneath with the driver's seat forward and a higher fishing seat aft (currently on the boat), the other side would have a fishing seat post mount under the fold flat in the mounting box for a single fishing seat, and a tall fishing seat up in the bow, plus a 8 HP kicker motor for smaller lakes, plus a trolling motor. The lakes closest to me have a 8 HP limit, but the 75 can stay on as long as it remains tilted up. I would also have a box mount trolling motor on a quick release mounting plate. Also looking at a removable bait live well for minnows. Thinking of replacing the ski locker with a live well if I can make it work in the space.
For cruising around: same as watersports, but a convertible top (if I can find one for my boat) plus a bow cover, that way we can anchor in a bay and camp out in the boat on calm nights. Probably add bug netting in there somehow.
It would probably take about an hour or so to switch out the seats and hook/unhook the live well and trolling motor each time we switched things around. Things like the convertible top would also be on. Shade would be awesome when trolling.
Going to replace all wood with marine grade or exterior grade and sealed with epoxy, replace foam under the deck and fill in any practical space with it to assist in flotation should I damage the hull, replace the bilge with a 750-800 GPH automatic one that has a warning light in the console, plus a second 800-1200 GPH manual bilge pump wired to the console and with a separate thru-hull output in case of hull damage so I can limp back to shore.
We want to put in a sliding door for under the windshield to protect against cold wind, and protect gear from splashes coming over the bow. We're also trying to figure out how to turn the forward seats into flip top compartments for storage.
Any unused space I want to turn into storage, fill with foam sheets, use for speakers, or somehow use so I have minimal wasted space.
Will be adding:
Marine radio with weather
LED lighting to replace incandescent, but will try to keep the same classic styling when possible
Additional cleats midship as it only has cleats fore and aft. The additional cleats are primarily for boat fenders as we rubbed some paint off this past weekend leaving her tied to the dock with the fender tied the best we could, but lacking a cleat where we needed it.
Hybrid Starting/Deep Cycle battery to help run the bilge pumps
8 HP kicker for emergencies and for smaller lakes.
Extra transom eyes or reinforcements to transom to be able to tow a boat.
Thinking about a life ring in additional to my throwable "seat cushion", but the boat is small and limited on space, and the question becomes where to put it, unless I put it on the top of the splashwell, which could work.
Will also want to either tune up the 75 HP 2-stroke that is on it now to reduce smoke in the exhaust and reduce sound, or repower with a used 4-stroke (new one isn't going to be in the budget)
Thoughts on all of this?
I will need to figure out how to make the transom almost bulletproof and as strong as possible. Looking at marine grade plywood sealed with epoxy. For now I might seal up the openings between my splashwell and transom with globs of sealant. The bilge pump got a work out this weekend from all the water draining from the splashwell into the bilge. I might have enough time over the next couple weeks to replace the transom, though.
We also learned something very important this weekend: make sure to put in the drain plug before launching. I saw the back sitting lower than it should have after launch while we were tying it off to the dock. I asked my fianc?e if she put the plug in because I hadn't, and it turns out she hadn't either, so we quickly pulled the boat out. Thankfully the trailer was still in the water, so we were able to get it right back on the trailer and out on the ramp. With the bilge pump running and boat sitting on an incline with the plug still out , it still took about 20-30 minutes to drain out all that water... Whoops. At least no one was waiting to use the ramp! This is where a higher flow rate automatic would come in handy, along with the manual emergency one and the starting/deep cycle battery. Or, you know, remember that pesky drain plug before launching...
Pictures to come soon.