78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

[starcraftone]

Been working on this boat for a couple of years, as money and time allows. I am new to this, so bear with me. I am in the process of cleaning the rest of the bottom paint. Thinking about using U-POL Products UP0821 - Raptor Tintable Truck Bedliner Kit for the outside of the hull as it says it is supposedly water tight and pliable. Wish there was a way to use extruded polystyrene (Styrofoam) from a spray to fill in under the floor, don't know if any of the other types of spray foam will resist holding water. Anyway, here are some pics.

 

[starcraftone]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

I know how important pics are, so here's some more.

 

[Rickairmedic]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Starcraftone welcome to iboats and since you included pics the Starcraft club. The canopy looks like it will keep you dry while out in rough water buuuuut I gotta warn you. You are gonna get alot of ribbing from the crew for canabalizing a Super Sport into a cabin cruiser.


Rick

 

[starcraftone]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Yep...jumped right out of the box on this one, but what the hell, crabbing on the Oregon coast is a hit or miss for comfort. Hope I can keep the wet side down. I think about 10 batteries will do.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Starcraftone welcome to iboats and since you included pics the Starcraft club. The canopy looks like it will keep you dry while out in rough water buuuuut I gotta warn you. You are gonna get alot of ribbing from the crew for canabalizing a Super Sport into a cabin cruiser.


Rick

Yah he might get a ribbing but look man, he built a TANK on top of it!!

 

[Pugetsound]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Very Very nice work I see you do your own Aluminum welding.. Thats a big plus. I have a super Sport and a 22 Holiday.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Starcraftone, Welcome to iboats and the gang!

As far as customizing that boat, with what we've seen on the cost of boats in that area and the weather conditions, I say Good Job!

Things are probably a little different there than say a lake in Virginia.

 

[coolbikeguy]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

welcome to iboats and the starcraft club ....... that was an SS ????

tisk tisk ... shame shame ... LOL

 

[bananaboater]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Starcraftone is a perfect name...you have created one of a kind. Welcome and thanks for sharing your unique former SS.

 

[starcraftone]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Thanks for inviting me to the club. Thinking maybe a retractable set of pontoons on the side with an aluminum diamond plate deck for fishing and swimming, not to mention the stability that would add, a 45 watt sun ketcher on top to keep all those batteries in check, and maybe an electric motor to swap out the evinrude gas burner...just thinking...who knows where this might end.

 

[Pugetsound]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Do you make House Calls???

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Welcome Starcraftone! Great work. I love seeing guys doing their own thing, couldn't be more interesting. I spotted your Lincoln TIG welder in one of your pics, one day I aspire to get one of those and have aluminum welding capabilities. For now, I'll stick to messing with my trailer with my MIG. Keep the pics coming as you progress with your innovations!

 

[fshngho]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Truly awsome Starcraftone. I like the ingenuity and the skill. Have you considered the weight on the front of the boat? Just curious if you will be able to "bow up" when needed. It sure does seem like it will keep you dry and warm. Can't wait until you upgrade more! Dale

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Now that is some ingenuity

Seems like the cabin will stay dry in the worst conditions, a few bilge pumps and a reliable outboard or two and she's a all-weather big water rig!

Nice work, I like the ideas they truly are out of the box. We could use a cabin like that for trollling in the rain here in the great lakes.

 

[ts]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Now THAT'S something! I think you've just been elected the local Aluminum expert.

Mind if I ask for some expert advice on how you stripped the hull down to it's shiny state? :redface:

...and are you gonna leave it bare?

 

[elkhunter338]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Looks good, nothing wrong in modifying your boat to fit your needs.
One think I would recommend would be to coat your fuel tank with rustbullet to prevent the tank from corroding from the outside in. It looks like you have carpet or somthing around the tank. That will collect water and corrode the tank overtime.
A friend of mine had that happen to his boat that had an alum. tank foamed into the hull. He replaced the tank with an alum. tank and coated the outside to prevent that happening again.

 

[starcraftone]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Now THAT'S something! I think you've just been elected the local Aluminum expert.

Mind if I ask for some expert advice on how you stripped the hull down to it's shiny state? :redface:

...and are you gonna leave it bare?

I used "Dads easy spray" paint remover. Spray on, let sit, then scrap off with a plastic putty knife. Buy some extra plastic scrappers since they will eventually melt from the chemicals. The upside is that the aluminum doesn't get scratched up, thus no sanding. I then used some fine steel wool to finish what the scrapper couldn't get. This stuff works great, but will leave a hell of a mess on the ground. I used newspaper to ketch the drippings. Ummmm... drippings.

I love the shinny state of the boat, but she leaks. I could try to get a friend to man the anvil while I use the rattle gun to pound the rivet tight, but I don't have those tools, and eventually they will come loose again, so I am thinking about a urethane bedliner kit from Raptor. This is a new bedliner kit (or at-least to me):redface: that is flexible and water tight. I'm going to wait until someone tests this on aluminum to see if it will stay on.

 

[starcraftone]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

I saw a drift boat the had Linex bed liner on the hull, man, it looked good. Any thoughts?

 

[starcraftone]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Looks good, nothing wrong in modifying your boat to fit your needs.
One think I would recommend would be to coat your fuel tank with rustbullet to prevent the tank from corroding from the outside in. It looks like you have carpet or somthing around the tank. That will collect water and corrode the tank overtime.
A friend of mine had that happen to his boat that had an alum. tank foamed into the hull. He replaced the tank with an alum. tank and coated the outside to prevent that happening again.

The fuel tank is aluminum, dont think it will be a problem, but I will be using the boat in salt water, maybe your right...Anyone?

 

[starcraftone]

Re: 78 Starcraft home made welded canopy

Truly awsome Starcraftone. I like the ingenuity and the skill. Have you considered the weight on the front of the boat? Just curious if you will be able to "bow up" when needed. It sure does seem like it will keep you dry and warm. Can't wait until you upgrade more! Dale

Thanks, I currently have a 55 Evinrude, 25 gallon fuel tank and maybe some extra batteries in the stern area and will be putting some solar panels on top of the cabin. Also, if I use undercoating, this will also add weight. If she doesn't come out of the water to play, well I'm not in any hurry anyway. Ill just drag a sinker on the bottom and maybe catch a ling cod.