'71 Starcraft Sprint V15 RestoMod

[GA_Boater]

She looks too nice to flip upright. But I guess you did. LOL

Art Deco look, for sure! Who could think tin boats are dull?

 

[natemeins]

No pictures of the job, but I used the old floors as templates and cut new floors from 3/8" exterior grade non pressure treated plywood. This stuff is thinner and therefore lighter than the 1/2" marine ply it replaces. I'll be building up enough foam underneath to support the floor and maintain strength, and hopefully minimize weight gain. After they were cut and fit, I sealed them with thinned epoxy.

Since my best friend and I like to anchor off a rather large rock just off shore we call Dinosaur Rock (because it looks like the back of a dinosaur...duh!) and let the kids jump, swim, and play I wanted better access to my anchor instead of fishing around for it under the seats. So I got a wild hair and decided to build an anchor locker in the floor with the rest of the 1/4" oak plywood. It won't be very deep, no more then 6" max at the keel, but should be deep enough for my anchor and rode.



Found this used hatch on eBay for a decent price. It's reinforced so it can be stood upon.



With the scrap ply I built a small cubby that fit snugly between the floor stringers and sat right on the hull ribs. Also added holes in it to allow drainage. This should have the hatch just forward of the splash well.





It'll be tight, but it should fit. Pay no attention to those professional blueprints!



Hatch hole is cut in the floor. No turning back now.



Note my bilge pump hose.


Perfect fit. And it'll slide all the way to the back of the cubby.

 

[natemeins]

Using 1" x 4' x 8' foam sheets from the local home improvement store, I started installing the foam. Bought a cheap hot knife to cut it. Worked like a champ to cut the foam and suffocate me on the smoke! Bought 12 sheets at $15 ea, wound up using about 4 1/2 of them. And I foamed the entire floor. Go figure.




Stacking them vertically did several things for me: first it was very strong. In fact I could walk on top of them and not sink or damage the foam! Secondly by stacking them vertically they sit on top of the hull ribs and give water a way to move to the bilge for draining. Having the foam vertical also gives water a way down to the voids and not have the potential to pool on top of the foam and potentially be absorbed. In theory, anyway. The marks you see are my lame attempt to melt the foam flat and level with the floor stringers.



Here you can see I installed the nylon splash well drain tubes, the bilge pump tube, steering cable bracket, and bilge pump. All hardware is sealed with 5200. The aft center section is not foamed to make room for the anchor locker. You can also see the large fender washer on the top transom bolt at the corner bracket. As this is a structural member, I permanently removed the old handles on the transom and installed transom eyes for towing skiers and tubes. Decided to run it through here to not only get strength from the transom but from essentially the entire boat structure.



After hearing so many people rant and rave on these SmartTabs, I bought myself a set of the stainless units with the ProTroller brackets. The ProTroller brackets let me in a single simple flip move the tabs from their set 25 deg. to 70 deg, thereby allowing me to idle slower when trolling. I'm a lazy fisherman, I love trolling for crappie, bass, and walleye. Last year the slowest I could troll with this boat was 4mph. I'm hoping to cut that in half with these, not to mention reduce bow lift, stabilize it in rough water, and increase speed and time to plane. We'll see. If you're not familiar, check out Nautilus SmartTabs. Pretty cool stuff.



I wanted the bilge pump as close to the hull as I could get without popping holes in the hull. So I built this little bracket and riveted it to the transom bracket.

 

[natemeins]

Next up was the dash. I planned to install a tach, a radio, a 12VDC outlet, and switch panels. So I started with making my own switch panels. These photos are version 1.0. @.0 Would come later when I added a tilt n trim switch.




Here it is mocked up on my table. Busy, but not bad. as I'm 6'2", I had a hard time sliding underneath the original 15" steering wheel, so I ordered a S.S. 13.5" unit. Yes, that's the original plastic "Sprint" placard on the left. I'm telling you, this boat was original!



New wheel arrived. Holy cow it looks the part!!



So another wild hair came to me: instead of permanently installing carpet, why not do snap-in carpet? So with some leftover Rustoleum Marine Battleship Gray paint and some paint chips from when I epoxied my garage floor (Razorback colors, of course!) I painted the floors and threw in some chips. Not a bad look, and the chips act like a non-skid. When the paint dried, I added a couple coats of clear to seal in the chips.




Cut and sealed some new bow cap stringers. Want to be able to walk on this bow so I plan to reinforce it down to the floor.





Added some strips of exterior carpet to reduce noise of the bow cap vibrating on the wood.

 

[jbcurt00]

Those look like PT 1X4s for the bow, w carpet?

 

[natemeins]

Yup, 1" x 4" 's for the bow stringers.

Nice shot of the dash installed and populated with goodies.



Gunwales had hardware installed then riveted back onto the hull. I've mentioned these hulls were built tough, one thing that DIDN'T last 40 years were the crappy little pop rivets they used to install the gunwales, bow cap, and splash well. Seemed like every time I turned around another rivet head popped off. Wound up replacing all the pop rivets with universal head cherrymax's. They oughta hold for another 40 years.




Replaced the old electric trumpet horn with a proper dual trumpet air horn. This one sounds more like a Ferrari than a freight train. LOVE IT!



Splash well installed. Originally the sheetmetal was bent into tabs to be riveted onto the gunwales. Over time they started cracking out, so I cut them off and made new brackets with 1/8" aluminum "L" bracket. The splash well, like the bow, will be reinforced so it can withstand being walked upon. I plan to install a small swim platform and need the splash well strong enough for a grown man to crawl over it or lean up on it or whatever and not fail. You may also be able to see the two rod holders I installed into the aft gunwales.

Starting to look like a boat!


Here you can see the transom eyes I installed for towing.



Bow cap reinstalled. I feared this job after several horror stories from other Starcrafters. Happily, mine reinstalled without too much fighting.



Found a jewel! Found this NOS vintage "Darth Vader" bow nav light. Looks so awesome! Also ordered my custom registration decals.



Crown jewel of the ol boat! Even has accommodations to have a jack mast. Think I might make one out of oak dowel...



Have I mentioned yet how much I hate metal polishing? This is me after spending the entire weekend (hours and hours and hours!!) knocking the original anodizing off the aluminum trim strips in preparation for polishing. Wound up only polishing the inboard strips, the others I left as a brushed aluminum look.

 

[natemeins]

It may not be period correct, but I love the older trademark!


Trademark and registration decals came! Damn, she's looking fine!




A little before n after...



Originally I had planned to not reinstall the vinyl-covered wood dash cover. Still had some 1/4" oak ply left, and so far it has looked spectacular, so why not? Carried the swoop onto the dash cover to complete the look.



Now I'm in my wheelhouse: wiring. I spent many hours drawing wire diagrams to decide how best I would route and wire the old girl back up, considering there were many new circuits being installed over the existing ones. When I was all done no magic smoke was let out and no fuses or circuit breakers blew. It all worked as it should've. WHEW!

 

[natemeins]

Installed the side panels, trim, and new Kicker 6.5" Two-Way speakers with LED backlighting. The LED backlighting on the speakers may seem cheesy, but actually provide really good indirect lighting for nighttime. I'm still down away how good the wood came out!



Finally installing the engine remote and wiring. Thankfully the engine wire harness was already wired for a tach so that was easy, but the engine hot light had to be wired up, and the remote itself needed a teardown and clean up. Remember, this is a '71 Evinrude Lark 50 with "Selectric" shifting (push-button electric shifting). Made sure all the wiring, switching, and throttle controls were in good shape.



All the engine wiring routed to the stern. I won't be putting the motor back on for quite some time, at least until I get a tilt n trim bracket. Hard to see, but if you look close you can see the garland drain LED light. This sucker is supposed to put out 900 lumens of red light into the water. Can't wait to see it in action!

 

[natemeins]

It was a nice day and the boat had really come along, so I rolled her out and took some photos.




Replaced the aging acrylic with some new stuff. What a difference! And damn, look at that nav light!!



I love how the final look of the swoop carrying onto the dash cover came out!



Still no motor, no money for the tilt n trim bracket.








Replaced the old curtain with some proper marine vinyl to cover the splash well access. Fits in nicely, I think. You can also see I installed some flip-down cup holders, and the backlighting on the speakers. Trust me, they're way brighter at night.

 

[classiccat]

Outstanding design & execution! She'll turn some heads for sure!

I have that same nav light for my SS...can't wait to install it :thumb:

 

[Watermann]

Lots to take in there on your pic series, wow!

It looks like you used a bunch of 5200 rather that gluvit on the transom seam, nasty stuff that pelican poo :lol:

 

[wheeldriver]

Wow, Very nice Natemeins thats first rate stuff!! Very impressive. I did have to take points away for one thing however, your wheel chocks do not match your boat. I'm sorry, I had to find something and that was not easy. All kidding aside well done, and I'm nominating you for Starcraft photographer of the year.

 

[64osby]

Excellent work, looks fantastic.

They only possible issue which jbc had asked about was if the bow supports were made from pressure treated wood?

I did read where the floor / deck was non pressure treated.

Hoping a motor is in the near future.

 

[coostv]

I said stuff about AC2 and aluminum, but then I thought I had better fact check myself. It only related to building codes, so I withdrew what I said.

I personally avoid it and always have ever since the "Good Ole" Arsenic treated wood went away and I learned of the galvanic corrosion issues came about.

 

[natemeins]

Lots to take in there on your pic series, wow!

It looks like you used a bunch of 5200 rather that gluvit on the transom seam, nasty stuff that pelican poo :lol:

Yes, it is. I regularly use sealer of similar consistency in maintaining business jets so I'm no stranger to this goop. The reason I had it slathered on those lines of rivets in the stern was I had removed the old and peeling sealer from the original build and decided to take a provisional just in case. Don't think it was leaking, but wasn't taking any chances.

 

[natemeins]

Wow, Very nice Natemeins thats first rate stuff!! Very impressive. I did have to take points away for one thing however, your wheel chocks do not match your boat. I'm sorry, I had to find something and that was not easy. All kidding aside well done, and I'm nominating you for Starcraft photographer of the year.

HAHA! I accept that deduction. Can't have everything, and one thing I couldn't find was matched painted chocks. Perhaps if I had spent a little more and chosen stainless steel to match the trim? Thanks for the photo compliments, but it's hard to take too much credit, the subject is very photogenic

 

[natemeins]

Excellent work, looks fantastic.

They only possible issue which jbc had asked about was if the bow supports were made from pressure treated wood?

I did read where the floor / deck was non pressure treated.

Hoping a motor is in the near future.

Ah, OK that's my fault. Wasn't sure what was being asked. No, it's not pressure treated 1 x 4's, but I did seal them with thinned epoxy anyway. Just as with all the other wood used, I made sure to stay away from PTW to avoid possible corrosion.

 

[natemeins]

So the timeline now is early February. The last photos were taken just before Thanksgiving. That time of the year is crazy so the boat sat for a while. That, and my motivation was waning. My best friend went to the Tulsa Boat Show one weekend followed by the Springfield Lake Life Expo the following weekend. He puts money down on a boat, and my motivation and excitement comes back with a vengeance! Back to work on the ol boat I go!

Since I'm going to add a swim platform onto the transom I wanted a good way to traverse over the splash well. So with lots of wood left over I built this platform with 3/8" ply and 1/4" oak ply. Stained, sealed, delivered. I reinforced the splash well with some heavy duty 1/8" "L" aluminum angle and cherrymax rivets. Ran a channel of the "L" angle across the rail laterally to prevent sagging, and square channel to the deck just as I had done to the bow.




Swim platform arrived as did my tilt n trim bracket! Had to figure out a way around the oleo strut for the SmartTab so a little cutting, some reinforcing, and cleanup and the job is done. Both these items fought me, though. That motor bracket is no joke! It's awkward and heavy, and it was on and off several times.




Paint is dry, new placards made and installed. Not original looking, but perfect for the look I'm going after! Remember the photo of the Glastron?




"Reunited, and it feels so good..."




Busy, but functional.



As soon as the work was done, she got the boot. Winter is coming...
...and I'm tired of driving a freezing cold car to work!

 

[natemeins]

Highlights from the boat expo. Don't tell my wife, she might very well kill me. :-D
"No. No honey, it's not creepy at all". HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!



Came across this company at the expo. LOVED the graphic they chose for this shirt, HAD to get one. It has now become my best friend's and my "bat signal" for when it's time to get on the lake.

 

[natemeins]

Splash Day has been decided! It's now early March and a decent day is coming. The day before I roll her out to do a quick test n tune to the motor. Two things become clear: the motor runs soooooo much better than it did last year- it idles!!- and I love the tilt function! Just one problem: I've got to go all the way to the helm to control it. I need some form of controlling it at the transom too. Hmmm...





I really do like the Lake30 folks, so I'm gonna show some love.



Another problem solved. Easy money and easy wiring and I now have a transom mounted tilt control.