Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

[gfbiii51]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

Thanks, Gun Dog.

I've already moved her forward a few inches by rearranging the winch post. I like your idea about moving everything forward. I'll have to see how the roller bunks would align if moved forward. I'm still not totally comfortable with only 4' roller bunks supporting the whole boat. Having said all that, I think it is the original trailer so she has been that way for over 30 years. Lots of things to consider.

Thanks again for prodding the thinking process.

 

[gfbiii51]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

Time to get caught up.

Before we get to details, (1) based on what I've found and (2) because I haven't had a boat on 20 years and don't really know how we will use it, I decided to patch a few things and get on the water. I think the boat will be safe for at least a couple of years and we'll learn how we can tailor things to our needs when I do floor (deck), transom and paint.

Here are pics of what I did to the Starcraft after the motor was moved from the donor glasser. The boat yard moved the motor and controls but did not connect the fuel tank. I knew the boat sat in a field for a year so I didn't want any fuel that might have been in the tank anyway. I drained the tank and rinsed it out with new fuel. I removed the sending unit and the tank is spotless. I sanded, primed and painted it. I used the veny and fuel lines from the glasser. The fuel fill hose was good.

While I had the fuel tank out, I replaced the bilge pump with the pump from the glasser. I nosed around and the floor and transom are OK. Not great -- deteriorating at the corners.

The Starcraft wiring was such a hodgepoge and had so many splices, I decided to start from scratch. I left the original vintage switches in the dash and made my own switch panel and mounted it under the dash.

I balked at prices for marine wiring materials for a temporary fix so I went with auto quality switches and wires. I'm glad I did. I had a significant learning curve and there are more splices than I want and I can do better color coding. I made my own busses. I thought the pieces I bought at HD were busses but each pair of terminals was separate. Not to be deterred, I made jumpers and put the whole shebang in a plastic storage box. I've been away from stuff like this for quite a while and this was really fun. I was also in a bit of a hurry because I was anxious to get on the water.

 

[gfbiii51]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

Ok, hit the wrong button before I was done.

My junction box:

It's how hard I made wiring a few simple circuits. I did just fine with the bilge pump. The fuel gauge was more complicated but I did have a bad gauge. Glasser to the rescue again. And I really confused myself with the lights. How simple should that be? Oh well, got it in the end.

This got us on the water and that first ride (see post above) was great.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

George - I like the fact that you made a temp. switch panel. The dash looks too nice to mess up. Gives you the time to find the vintage switches while you enjoy the nice SS on the water. Nice elec. box too. Have fun boating and planning.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

Those old style switches are easily found anywhere. Have them on mine and got them at BPS.

 

[gfbiii51]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

After our first outing, I pulled the original lounge seats to reinforce the boxes. The seats are in sad cosmetic shape but I'm putting off permanent repairs/replacement until we know how we use the boat. We'll put seatcovers on them for a while.

When I removed the seats, I learned a couple of things. First, the seat boxes are worse than I thought. Second, the floor directly under the seat boxes is rotten, to the extent, I almost stepped through it. The rest of the floor is sound. Go figure.

You can see the outline in the vinyl (original by the way).

I decided to do another temporary fix so we can continue to use the boat. I'm putting two sections of plywood on top of the vinyl. I'm "sealing" them with porch paint. I figure if the original plywood lasted for 34 years without ant sealing, I can make a couple of years with porch paint. These things take up a lot of space.

There was enough plywood left (aracou - sp?) to rebuild the seat boxes - some assembly required:

Just for kicks, here are some pics of the rotten area:

For what it's worth, although the wood is rotten clear through, it isn't black and yucky. I just put my hand all the way through. The foam is dry and the aluminum I could see looks clean.

Thanks for looking.

 

[gfbiii51]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

Latest progress.

Finally got my floor reinforcements (1/2" arauco with three coats of porch and deck paint - took forever to paint one side at a time and overnight between coats) installed and my seat bases finished. I'm still using the original Avocado green Starcraft lounge seats for now. We've got some seat covers we'll use for a while. Don't worry about your eyes. They aren't on yet.

Pardon the fog on the lens. Not only is it hot, it's humid.

Installing the seats was a pain. I needed to bend in ways and in more places than this old body wants. Between the heat and my recent birthday (60), I'm feeling pretty old.

The admiral suggested a boat ride and after serious pursuasion, I relented. I have to take the boat to storage for a few days. We are getting a new roof (from the 4/23 storms. The ones that hit Tuscaloosa came straight here.) and they need the drive way for the shingles and the dumpster. It's also a good thing. The house next to us is empty but the guy that takes care of it called me trailer trash because of the boat. At least, she'll be out of sight for a few days. We may need to send the Starmada mob after him. There are jerks everywhere, I guess.

Sure was nice having seats that don't move. Admiral is getting more comfortable in the boat. Still won't drive - thus the autopilot use when I took the pic. At least she doesn't have death grip on the boat when we cross a small wake.

This was the first outing after I added a tach and a speedometer from my donor glasser. I am getting full rpm at WOT. I've got a Merc 70 hp and topped out at 30 mph with two people and 18 gallons of fuel. I'm happy. Spent most of the trip cruising at 4,500 rpm and 20 mph to save a little fuel. It's hard to tell. I don't have a feel for the accuracy of the fuel gauge. We were out two hours and I think burned around 9 gal. Good, bad, indifferent??

Thanks for lookin'.

 

[gfbiii51]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

Hope some of you guys see this. I've been pretty quiet.

OK, we've been using the boat for a couple of months just like I planned and having a ball.

One of the issues I've encountered is fuel consumption/capacity. To recap, I'm running a 1977 18' SS with a 1982 70 hp Merc ob. I have the original 18 gal. gas tank. With a full load of people (2 @ 225 lbs and 2 @ 15) and full fuel I have to run near WOT to get reasonable performance and my cruising duration is about 3 hours. I need more than that.

I originally considered just adding a 6 gal portable tank. Then I remembered I have a 15 aluminum tank compliments of my donor glasser.

I plan to install the 15 gal tank under the splashwell. I may have to move the battery forward so it will fit. Or, the tank may move forward.

In any event, I'm ignorant about plumbing two built-in tanks. I don't even know what the options are. Seems like the simple option is to have two independent systems and swap from one tank to the other at the motor, just like the old days when I had two 6 gal tanks. Seems like I saw on the forum a valve to switch between two tanks. I also imagine there is some way to pump from one tank to another.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...
fuel consumption reasonable?
Portable or permanent tank?
location of second tank?
Plumbing?

 

[djpeters]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

I imagine your Merc 70 is working fairly hard given the info above. Your using about 6 gallons/hr which I would think very possible if your running her close to wide open most of the time. Something else to think about, you may have wet foam under the deck adding extra weight.

 

[gfbiii51]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

Thanks, Dave.

Yeah, she'll be getting new flotation, floor, transom and paint this winter.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

Not much help but I know such a valve exists because my Jupiter had one in it when I bought it.

 

[gfbiii51]

Re: Barber's 1977 Starcraft SS 18

Thanks, EZ. Lee finally took his rain up your way and I was able to get out to the boat. Turns out the tank won't fit. I could shoehorn it in but it would block access to the bilge and TnT pump.

Looks good ol' 6 gal portable.