22' 1978 Starcraft Holiday rebuild

[Sunny Jim]

Watermann, no more streaking for me!

The Chieftain has an old Mercruiser 165 (the old 250 six I believe) in it, I'll check the block next visit and see if I can pull a date of manufacture off it. The Holiday is a '78 OMC 185. Too many Starcrafts in the yard. :embarassed:

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Too many Starcrafts in the yard. :embarassed:

Well that is downright blasphemy right there!! Never too much tin to admire and tinker with.

 

[GA_Boater]

Watermann, no more streaking for me!

The Chieftain has an old Mercruiser 165 (the old 250 six I believe) in it, I'll check the block next visit and see if I can pull a date of manufacture off it. The Holiday is a '78 OMC 185. Too many Starcrafts in the yard. :embarassed:

If you have too many Starcrafts in the yard, the Mob can streak into your place and fix that problem.

Merc made the 165 from 1970 to 1981. Not sure of the year range of Chieftains in your style, but there has to be some overlap. Or a PO upgraded to the Stovebolt six. Does the Chief have a HIN plate on the stern?

 

[Sunny Jim]

If you have too many Starcrafts in the yard, the Mob can streak into your place and fix that problem.

Merc made the 165 from 1970 to 1981. Not sure of the year range of Chieftains in your style, but there has to be some overlap. Or a PO upgraded to the Stovebolt six. Does the Chief have a HIN plate on the stern?

LOL. The mob is welcome, bring your own beer and I'll fire up the BBQ!

Didn't see a HIN plate but it may have been covered over by the PO's repainting job.

To keep the mob interested here are a couple more shots.

Outdrive being sanded down for Zinc Chromate.



Paint stripping. I'll have to do another pass to get the tough stuff off. I used HD stripper and it is doing a fine job so far.



Rotted out storage well. It looks to be made out of galvanized sheet steel possibly. Weird.



Gratuitous Chieftain pic That trailer is about two feet too short.



​SJ

 

[Watermann]

That leading edge of the OD skeg is a bit jagged in spots, you could take a file to it and belt sander to smooth out the nicks before priming and painting.

That trailer under the Chief could be the right size, move that jack stand up behind the coupler and then slide the winch tower up to get the hind end of the Chief over the bunks.

 

[InMotion]

Nice rigs there man!!! Whoa! That there is a fleet!

Your hull looks like it just needs a little tlc... should be able to fixed up in no time!!

Jim

 

[Sunny Jim]

OK, back at it.

The weather didn't cooperate, buckets of rain and then the temperature dove to freezing. Managed to put in a solid day tearing out the old stuff.

So, to start, with the seats gone this is one good sized boat. Lot's of room to work with.



Taking the cockpit side panels off was fairly easy but I did have to drill out 5 bolts or so. The floor rivets easily drilled out (some were nothing but aluminum powder) and the plywood was definitively rotten in spots. I'll keep it for a pattern. The goods news, the foam was dry with only a few critter homes here and there, and no further signs of leaky rivets. Quite the pile of stuff and that carpet is a severe bio-hazard all by itself. Lots of Easter eggs in the bilge, hooks, sinkers, bolts, coins, etc.









The gas tank filler hose is in OK shape but the vent hose looks like something pulled from a zombies belly.



Hey it's a 50 gal tank! And it's almost full, bonus (I thought).



As usual with these things one surprise, one let down and a helpful find.

The surprise, a bent stringer with no signs of damage anywhere close to it?



The let down? The foam under the fuel tank and the supported wood, are completely waterlogged and rotted. The tank will have to come out, darn it.



Helpful find? I wanted to know rivet size and Mr Starcraft left one in the sealer.



Half naked



All nekid.



And finally, rib end doublers. No cracks visible.



I have a couple more pics I'll post later. :sleeping:

SJ

 

[Watermann]

Nice work on the tear down, yeah I see the reason that stringer was broken, all the rotten wood that attached to is allowed it to be worked and crack because the boat was used when rotten. The best way to look for cracks in the hull at the rib ends is from the underside. The foot of the rib and the doublers could conceal a smaller crack underneath.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Thanks Watermann. I'll have another look at the exterior after I strip some more paint. I suspect you are right, all that waterlogged foam and wood probably allowed the tank to move around more than it should and the stringer cracked/snapped like the tab on a soda can. I managed to get a coat of zinc chromate on the lower unit (sorry no pics) after an acid etch. We will see how it holds up.

Nice call on the Chieftain trailer, looks like I'll be able to slide the winch tower forward and the jackstand, probably have to adjust the forward beds. That should help its road manners.

Sooo, ordered the riveting goods from JayCee, hoping they arrive by the end of the week so I can start damaging my hearing. :facepalm: I'll draft number one son into bucking bar duty, it will be good for him. Also picking up a siphon/pump to empty the tank.

BTW anybody know what solvent/stripper is good for removing the carpet cement from the sides?

Meanwhile I'm sketching out a gallows setup to sling the beast so the bottom can be stripped. But I don't know if I can get that done prior to the snow flying.

SJ

 

[Sunny Jim]

Should there be a ground on the gas tank sending unit?



I picked up replacement shafts for the upper outdrive but it looks like the ball gears should be done as well. Do you need a press to get the ball gears off the shaft?

 

[Watermann]

Xylene is an adhesive reducer that has worked wonders for me removing goop like that. Buy a gallon of it because the best way to apply it is to pour it from the can into a sprayer and then soak the old adhesive until it becomes soft and can be removed.

Yeap the fuel tank sending unit has the power in the center and a ground wire, normally there's a barb connector on the sender where the ground wire connects. Looks like yours was or is still top left in the pic of the sender.

You'll need to post up in the OMC forum to get some good answers on that drive. Most of us here are Mercruiser guys.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Thank you sir! I'll check out the I/O Forum for some guidance.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Quick update. I've picked up some xylene for the carpet glue and I've been trying to get the ball gears off the outdrive.*^^$%^^&^$# things aren't letting go without a fight so it will be off to the machine shop to use their press.

 

[Sunny Jim]

OK, still slogging away with the outdrive. Ball gears are off and I have the intermediate shaft replacements for the impeller etc. As far as the Holiday goes, the floor is out and I'm draining the gas tank (it was full to the brim). Lots of lawnmower/chainsaw/tractor gas now. :lol:

I'm a little concerned about how the tabs are fixed to the transom, SS screws through the tin without any backing plate/block. I'm wondering if they will work loose over time (one of the screws shows signs of leaking).

Pulling bearings off the impeller shaft:



Screws through the transom



No signs of cracking on the chines, won't know for sure until I get all the paint off.



If the weather cooperates I'll get some more work done in the next week or so.

 

[pckeen]

If there was cracking, you would have seen it there by now - looks like you have a nice solid hull there.

 

[Sunny Jim]

If there was cracking, you would have seen it there by now - looks like you have a nice solid hull there.

Fingers crossed but I think you are right. Apart from the cracked stringers everything is pretty straight. I want to get the outdrive back together and the riveting done before the weather swings into full on winter mode. The property I'm keeping the boats on was my Father's and it has become overgrown over the years and it needs tidying up. I do the boat work when I get a break from dropping trees and clearing out brush which I should have complete in a couple of weeks. That will leave me with more time to feed the StarCraft addiction. Have to take the boss lady (aka wife) to Vermont next week for her birthday, have to accumulate those brownie points somehow.

I think I'll go practice riveting on some scrap in the garage.....

 

[Watermann]

The cracking starts off at the rib ends, I didn't see any either until I stripped off the paint and looked them over very closely.

Looks like your transom has a bad case of dandruff. :lol: You are planning on replacing it right?

I would use closed end blind rivets to attach those tabs below the transom wood. Also be sure to back butter the tab and coat the rivets/screws with 5200 during the reassembly.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Sorry guys, I've been out of town for a bit.

Watermann, I'm hoping once I get the paint off there won't be any more surprises but if there are cracks so be it. I'll fix it.

That transom is flaking a bit. The wood is dry and solid (unlike the floors) but could stand replacement as cheap insurance. It is looking at what it would take to pull it that has me a bit spooked, and hoisting out the V8 appears to be a lot of work... or I'm just being lazy. I afraid to mess with the Stringer installation...

I'll rivet the tabs back on (with 5200) and pick up some Smart Tab actuators when I get a chance. Just to show I haven't been totally sandbagging it, here are the tank removal pics. The wood below the tank was totally rotten and the foam was waterlogged (still) and breaking apart. The tank is solid and not showing any leaks although some mysterious black chunks came out when I was siphoning.

It was snowing today when I was working on it, not many productive outdoor days left.

I tried to rotate this pic but it just won't cooperate.

 

[Watermann]

Thanks for the update. The black chunks in the tank are coming from the old fuel lines, most likely the filler.

It's easy to pull motors, nothing a guy can't do in half a day.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Thanks for the update. The black chunks in the tank are coming from the old fuel lines, most likely the filler.

It's easy to pull motors, nothing a guy can't do in half a day.

Pulling it is easy, chain from the outdrive to a big tree and about 40kts of truck persuasion! Won't be much left to work on though....

I'm wondering if I pull the Stringer I should go for a full repower with something newer (that OMC bellows arrangement has me twitching a bit). Or a bracket and outboard? Ah well, too pricey probably and CINC House will give me one of THOSE looks.

Cheers