'77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

[jspano]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

search bilge pumps and you probably find more than enough info.
i prefer the pump with 2 on switches 1 with a float that would activate auto, and a manual switch. mine was contected to the knee brace that comes off the hull and bolts onto the transom, the float switch was attached to a small pc of wood and attached to the hull with some adhesive

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=2415692&highlight=bilge+pump#post2415692


joe

 

[PaulyV]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

Those seats actually look comfortable. That emblem is bad a**. Thats located inside where? I have 2 bilge pumps. 1- 360 and one 800. And a big pail under the center console in case they both fail.

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

Great looking SS..I agree, that SS emblem is killer!
900 is a great $$$, hopefully the motor fires back up for ya..

When you get ready to do any work on her..theres no shortage of SS owners round these parts!

 

[deadstriper]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

jspano: Thanks. I'll look into it.

pauly: The emblem is just to the left of the steering wheel. Super 70's! I hadn't thought about having two bilges for safety, but that's a good idea.

kev: Thanks. I expect the motor will be fine. The seller said it worked fine this summer and just began having some troubles starting. It's an old motor though so anything is possible.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

Thanks for posting those photos, they help me out a bunch to know how mine looked back in '79

I agree that the "Super Sport 16" is bada** and I need to get one for mine

 

[deadstriper]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

Huron: No problem. If you need anything from a different angle, let me know.

 

[86 century]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

thanks for close ups of the seats. good luck

 

[deadstriper]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

Installed the new starter solenoid and checked compression on the 75. 125ish on all 3. That's great news. Despite the cold (it was about 20F at the time), I wanted to see if it would run. After figuring out that I needed to depress the key for the choke, I got it to run briefly (maybe 10 seconds), but it wasn't terribly happy about it.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

If it makes you feel any better, my '73 Johnson which was dead reliable all season, had very little interest in starting once it got cold.

 

[deadstriper]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

ez: That makes me feel a little better. Can't say that I've ever tried to start one of these things at that temp. I figure it will run fine once it warms up, but I'll have that tiny bit of doubt/curiosity until I'm giving it a good run. Since I don't know the history of the motor, maybe it's a good idea to change the impeller at some point too.

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

100% on the impeller..
Unless ya did it yourself or had it done, you have no idea what shape its in..
Cheap peace of mind for your summer coming up!

 

[bananaboater]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

sprintst: Thanks. You just about read my mind. I think I'll replace that exterior board (should be easy) and get things tightened/sealed up. If the rest can wait, that would be great.

In the just posted 1974 SC brochure on the cutaway page in point #10 they state that the external piece of ply is there to reduce motor noise. Not to distribute weight like I supposed. So if I replace mine it will be with a piece of ply properly prepped for boating use.

Albert

 

[mikastorm]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

I replaced mine and used oil paint after I drilled my holes. Make your hole a tad bigger so as not to take your paint off after putting your bolts on.

 

[deadstriper]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

Thanks for the feedback on the external ply and the impeller.

Here are a couple of pics. They don't mean much, but huron mentioned capacities for his SS, so I thought "Hey, I didn't take pics of those." The first one is a sticker just in front of the controls. The second is the capacity information plate mounted on the left side of the walkthrough. I may replace these with better lit pics at some point.

 

[deadstriper]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

It's finally warming up and I had some free time, so I pulled the boat out so that I could run the engine hooked to a hose and see what's what. It was about 45F and the engine fired up easily and ran fine.

I think the water works were a bit plugged initially. I only got a dribble of water, so I shut the thing off for a while, then restarted with a good steady stream. A bit of sandy/gritty/oily stuff came out around the prop. Kind of a greyish/pasty goo. What would that be? I was told that the boat had been briefly used on a sand pit for a while. Checked the lower unit and the fluid appeared to have been changed recently.

I want tilt, so I picked up a cruddy tilt unit w/ no tilt motor, complete with cut-off bolts and screws from fleabay this winter. Pic attached. Ooh, purty! I used a drill w/ a flathead attachment to test the operation of the cylinders. Typical fleabay junk: the cylinders were all stuck but they finally broke loose. Fortunately they were only a bit corroded (from saltwater I think). They shined up nice and I worked them in and out.

I also replaced the junky trailer winch w/ rope with a junky winch w/ strap. Pic attached. At some point, I would like something a little nicer, but really I would prefer a wider trailer. This trailer is NARROW -- the fenders are so far under the boat that it's nearly impossible to step on the fenders to get into the boat w/o performing acrobatics (and that's with a dry trailer).

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

Thanks for posting the pics of the data plates...much appreciated. It confirms what I thought I knew

My winch has a rope on it that needs to be upgraded as well. Trailer stuff is going to wait for me until the boat is done.

Looking good, keep after it and you'll be on the water before ya know it

 

[deadstriper]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

Looking good, keep after it and you'll be on the water before ya know it

I'm hoping Thursday (Mar 18). My hope is to at least take it out for a test drive, maybe even wet a line. I'll be able to see what it needs (does it leak? does the motor work OK? ...).

 

[deadstriper]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

The water outlet hose/tube on the 70hp had split and was leaking, so I needed to replace it. It was cold, so in the back of my mind I was thinking "Gotta be careful, this brittle old plastic might break.". But the front of my mind was saying "Come off you POS. I have some boating to do!". The back of my mind was correct, and the little plastic fitting broke. Had to do a little fixing. I found a brass fitting that would fit the hose, and drilled out the plastic fitting so that the brass piece would slide right through. The throat is not as long as I would hope (or barbed) but it fits tight and should work.

 

[deadstriper]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

We had a nice "winter" day of around 70F Thursday, so I took the boat to the lake for its first test (with me at least). The boat has some minor leakage (I saw some trickles just above the drain plug), but nothing too major.

It was a little windier than I had wanted, which made launching less enjoyable since the docks aren't in the water yet. The motor moved the boat well (didn't check speed, but I would guess 35+) -- a power tilt would be an improvement. I need to do some adjustments to the trailer bunks/rollers because the boat didn't slide on/off the trailer very well.

I didn't get any in action shots, but here's an on-the-lake shot:

 

[sprintst]

Re: '77 Starcraft SS 16 (freshen)

Nice to see one actually floating

What kind of trailer is it. Do you know if it's made by Snowco Snow Company?