Re: Any StarCraft 1709 owners out here..?
I just picked up a used, 1991, Monark Legend 1800 FS. Monark is made by Starcraft and sold in Canada. If you do a search on Legend you find that it is the former Monark company. Starcraft includes Monark on it's website so I guess they're all about the same.
From what I've seen so far, the construction is fair to midland. Mine's a bowrider with a casting deck. I've torn down through it to get to a slice in the hull and found things like 2-1/2" truss head screws where a 1" would have done the job. Blind rivets where screws would have mechanically been a better choice, etc. So, in general, I would say this is a boat that was built with manufacturing economies setting the precedence.
My understanding through research is that decendents of the orignal Star boat company are back at the helm of Starcraft and the boats are re-engineered to a much higher quality. Bear in mind that these are production boats with sales aimed at the general populace so they will never be a North River, Jet Craft or even a Fish-Rite. My opinion is that they are a 20-30 year boat if taken care of and a 10 year or less boat if abused.
Because of what I've found so far, mine is getting a complete overhaul from stem to stern. I'm 55 now so it will last me a lifetime depending on how badly I continue to abuse myself.
