78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

[Dirt_Farmer]

Howdy all, new poster but have been reading the restorations posts for the last few weeks. I've been trying to search for some answers, but am not finding what I'm looking for.

I just came into possession (free) of a 78 18' starcraft SS, OMC 120 I/O. Hull looks to be in good shape, with bad paint,and the interior is rotted away. I've read most of the opinions on the stringer drive so I wont get into that yet.

First question:
The resto's I've read seem that very few are happy with their paint, so I'm wondering about stripping and leaving the bottom naked and just use some auto paint for a stripe above the water and topside. The boat will only be freshwater only and at most left in the water a few days while camping. Anyone have opinions or suggestions for a naked boat?

Second question:
I have been thinking about rebuilding the deck with composite (house) decking material, its a little expensive, but I wouldn't have to coat or put any cover (vinyl/ carpet) on it. I would even gap it 1/8"-1/4" so the water would run right through. Is the wooden deck structural enough that this would be a problem? What I've found is 1" thick but that should only affect the consoles since everything else needs replaced. Any other opinions or problems this would cause?

I'm sure I'll have more questions if I tackle this restore, but this gives me a place to start my plans. Also a big Thank You for all the restorers that document their rebuilds and make this look so easy

Thanks again, Jeff

 

[Star]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Dear farmer,
I have a tiny 14' 61 Starcraft and was faced with the same problem nine years ago. B ad paint, rotted seats, dirty, dirty, dirty! replaced the seats Philipean Mahogany. Washed the inside for three years before I could paint it. Bought over $150 in pain,primers and thinners. Striped the paint with stripper. Cleaned it with
Steel wool. I came out so nice I never painted it. I run in fresh water mostly, but I also venture out in Long Island Sound ten to twelve times a year. I do flush it down as soon as I return and it is a small boat.
At this point I have polished it with compound and it is like a mirror. twice a season I go around it withtwo sos pads just to freshen it up. If it was going to live in salt I wouldn recomend it you need all the protection you can get. If I could figure how to post a pic you wouldn't believe it was a 61 that livedoutside all it's life.
GOOD Luck!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

I think stripping it and leaving it bare is a great idea! Have you seen this thread? http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=387390&page=3 My boat is attempting to go that route all by itself Not a fan of the composite deck idea though. It's very heavy and has very little lateral strength. If you must have a composite, look up Coosa Board. Properly sealed plywood will still last a LONG time.

 

[GLG fishing]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Hi Jeff welcome to iboats and the Starcraft Club. There is another Starcraft floating around that has no paint on it so you would not be the first. If you want to go for that look you should investigate a soda blast job to remove the paint. Paint stripper works but not that well. The trick would be to have it come out shinny with no sanding marks. You could then apply a product called Sharkhide and it would keep it shinny. I read somewhere that the only reason that Starcraft painted these things was to make them look good. It had nothing to do with protecting the hull. As for your idea on the floor, can?t say I would do that, as I would be worried about the lack of structural support. The stuff you are describing has no support compared to doing it with plywood and epoxy. Others may chime in if they have other experience. You may want to post up a picture of your boat because we have members out there that roam around in gangs looking for Starcraft owners that ask questions before posting photos.
GLG

 

[Dirt_Farmer]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Thanks guys, ez your thread is what brought me here (google) and only took about a week to read beginning to end. Star keep trying on the pictures I would love to see it. GLG I was planning to strip, pressure wash, and blast what ever paint is left. Then go with an original looking stripe and maybe paint the transom.

I will look up the coosa board and nix the composite idea, plywood is fine just a little more work. Pics will come when i start the project, right now its in the barn on a dilly trailer that the rear end collapsed when put the boat on and a wheel bearing was gone by the time we got back. fun fun

-Jeff

 

[Star]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Hi Again Uall
Along with Paint Removing stripper, 3M makes a fingery abrasive Gizmo that I used around the rivets and stuff. different grades of coarsness! I agree on the deck being to heavy. Got 5 year from 3/8" ext ply coated with polyeurathane. Epoxy and glass is better but expensive. reinforced with oak ribs of molding glued and screwed. Hd carpet cover works well just stapled.

 

[Dirt_Farmer]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

very sharp Star, gives me hope, although the thought of polishing an 18 footer every year seems daunting.

Thanks for posting the pics.

-Jeff

 

[Dirt_Farmer]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Well she looks better in these photo's than in person. Got dads boat back together and on the water last week, so we switched parking spots in the barn today. You can see where the rear crossmember of the trailer broke when we winched it off the ground.



Full of junk and rotted wood.



Looks better already, easy to disassemble no wood left to hold anything.



The first project, see if I have a motor and outdrive worth using. Looks like the upper was dry, I couldn't turn (steer) the outdrive at all. I got the worm gear and sector shaft freed up and filled it full of oil for tonight before picking up the kids and heading home.



pretty nasty in there.



Still not sure If I'm going to do this project or not, I've always wanted a bow rider, and don't mind rebuilding the inside. Its just going to depend or how much the omc needs to be reliable. My rebuild won't be a quick one, I should be planting corn right now if the weather would cooperate.

-Jeff

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

If your wanting to get down to bare aluminum I found that paint stripper works well. Im using Klean Strip aircraft stripper and have had good results. Leaves a smooth finish behind. As far as the OMC they are usually very expensive to fix. Even used units bring a premium in unknown condition. Here's a link to my rebuild thread. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=477984

 

[Dirt_Farmer]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Boatnut74 Looks like the stripper is working well, I'm surprised how shiny it is after stripping. I'm not a stranger to the OMCs, Dad has Grampa's old 76 renken with the electric shift.

Well looks like the upper gearbox on the ss is toast, adding up parts, looks like I'll wait to find a donor boat. I've seen to many fun pics of sawzalls and fiberglass boats to miss out on. So for now the project is on hold unless someone has a OMC 400 upper they want to get rid of real cheap.

-Jeff

 

[Dirt_Farmer]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Well decision, decisions. So dad just bought a stripped down 24' pontoon to use as a floating dock on his pond($350). It has a mid 70's 115 evinrude hanging on it that is supost to run that I can get cheap. I can trade the starcraft back where it came from for dads 1968 Renken trihull with a blown (overheated and locked) mid 77 115 johnson (very solid and ready to go cept the engine), easy swap. Or continue with rebuilding the starcraft and look into outboard brackets.

The trihull is the one we grew up on but 17' and not a very wide beam. It does have a bow seating dish (6"deep) that we used to ride on as kids but not very comfy. That Starcraft just looks like it will have a lot more room when finished, but I've never been on a aluminum boat to know if I'll like it or not. I have 3 young daughters so I need mostly a watersport/ cruiseing boat to use on the local lakes (they will learn to fish to). We've had the renken all over from the gulf, ohio river, cumberlan, erie, and most of the lakes in southern ohio so I know its a capable boat.

Any help on what I should do?

Thanks, Jeff

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Or continue with rebuilding the starcraft and look into outboard brackets.

Any help on what I should do?

Thanks, Jeff

Yes, do that^^^^^^^.

My suggestion on your driveline....

Forget the OMC Stringer. Sell it for parts/scrap.

Now your options...

1. Use that pair of fat aluminum engine stringers in your boat to hold up a new/used 3.0 4 banger or a 4.3 V6 Merc. Going this route means you have many additional challenges. Check my Islander thread if you want to see what those might be. Caution: I am only half way through my transplant.

2. OB on a bracket. Often talked about, seldom seen. On an 18 footer it seems like that would be a lot of weight hanging off that far back.

3. Fabricate that transom from an IO to an OB. If your fab skills are good, this would be the way to go in my opinion. Cutting the transom itself should be pretty reasonable, splashwell would be a little tricky.

Have fun!

 

[sschefer]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Bare aluminum below the waterline is customary on welded boats. If you're going to go that route on a riveted boat just make sure you replace any bad rivets and re-buck as many as you can below the waterline then give the inside a good coat of GluvIt after you clean it shiny and bright.

 

[sschefer]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

2. OB on a bracket. Often talked about, seldom seen. On an 18 footer it
seems like that would be a lot of weight hanging off that far back.

The correct term is offshore bracket. They are very common in the higher end boats and allow you to mount an outboard 18-24" behind the transom and then realize the added space in the interior. Outboard brackets usually have a sponson built into them to handle change in the boats center of balance (cb).

I'll be doing a thread on building one in the near future. It's going on my 16' Jetcraft Falcon.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

3. Fabricate that transom from an IO to an OB. If your fab skills are good, this would be the way to go in my opinion. Cutting the transom itself should be pretty reasonable, splashwell would be a little tricky.

I like this idea for an 18'. For a larger boat I'd vote for a bracket. If you look at some of the outboard Starcraft resto thread you'll see they aren't exactly real complicated. I bet you could cut down the transom and fabricate a splashwell pretty easily.

 

[Dirt_Farmer]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Thanks for the comments guys. I decided to go ahead and tear her down, and worry about the propulsion later. I can get the front of the deck done and worry about the rear deck and transom when i figure out the means of movement (Maybe some long oars).

I left the drivers console in until I can do an engine test.



Got the bow seating out and front deck came out intact, also glad to see the drop in foam.



Does anyone know what the top left switch is/was here? or have a wiring diagram? The wires are cut from that switch and from the missing ignition switch.



Thanks, Jeff

 

[Dirt_Farmer]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Well she runs, needs a new fuel pump but it does run. Shes stripped but I still need to pull the engine, finish vacuuming her out, and pressure wash. The foam wasn't very wet but to many mouse houses to keep. The front three deck sheets came out good enough to use for templates, the rear came up in hand fulls.





I've still got a lot of rivets to clean out, what have you guys done with the bottoms of the rivets that fall down in the ribs? I'm afraid they'll rattle around in there.



Thanks, Jeff

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Yah, I drilled mine out as best I could, then ran the power washer from the top of the rib down in hopes that it would wash out through the limber hole. As good as it gets far as I can figure. I'm sure I didn't get them all, oh well.

 

[starcrafter65]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

I am the owner of the Bare Naked Lady - thread referenced above - and below - I tried to paint her hull - but she simply preferred the naked sparkliness of no paint and simply shed per paint. - I have to say it looks awesome and the $ and time saved is the bonus!!!

I believe my paint adhesion problems came from inadequate keying of the surface - it was too smooth for primer/paint to stick completely.

My one suggestion - when you are stripping - do not use a wire brush or any abrasives - they will just scratch the aluminum and you don't need to - just put on the Zip Strip, wait and wash off with a scotch bright pad and a power washer. Get a buffer with some polishing compound....

Good Luck!

 

[Dirt_Farmer]

Re: 78 Starcraft aluminum boat ?s

Thanks Jason, I haven't read any posts about the lost rivets, so it must not be a problem. I found a 302/ mercruser but I think it might be a bit to much power for my boat.

Clark, I'll be very happy if mine turns out half as nice as yours. How long did it take to polish?

I can't get webshots to work tonight, I'll try to posts todays progress pics in the morning.

-Jeff