Floor Replacement: RE:1986 SS160

[maineboat]

The ol' Starcraft has been running great since my last post, except that the transom has basically turned to mush and has been in the garage for the last 1-1/2 years. I was a little disappointed, since the floor came out so nice!!
Here are a few pictures of the floor replacement. I really like how it came out! It's super solid and I like the vinyl way better than the old carpet, even thought the carpet felt nice on the bare feet, my preferred way of boating.... LOL!!

 

[maineboat]

Because I didn't trust the pedestal seats being screwed down to just the plywood, I cut and tapped 2 pieces of 1/4" aluminum plates, and put them under the plywood, and screwed the seats through the plywood, to them. they are rock solid, even when I snap the throttle wide open from midrange, and clear everything off the dash and floor, into the back of the boat!!

 

[maineboat]

The "test" for the overhauled floor/boat was a camping trip for a week, and the ol' girl preformed excellent, right up until the last day, when I noticed that the motor seemed to be slightly louder, and there seemed to be more water coming from near the base of the powerhead. When I got it home, i pulled the engine off, and found that several of the lock washers had failed, and the gasket between the motor and the exhaust horn had failed. Thankfully, a fairly simple fix......

 

[maineboat]

My final post for today; the last time I had the boat in the water was 2 years ago this coming August, and I noticed that when I was idling back to the boat launch, that the motor seemed to be shaking a little more than usual, and the whole transom seemed to be shaking with it; when I got her home and did a better evaluation of the transom plywood, I found that it was basically a big sponge. She has been on moth balls in my garage since, but I have purposed this winter/spring that I WILL have it back in the water this year!! I have accomplished quit a bit on it so far, and will post a few pictures soon. Let's just say that it's a pretty good feeling (again) to be almost ready to "turn the corner" on a project and be headed toward the finish line once again.......

 

[airshot]

Looking good....I do hope all those lead bars were to hold the vinyl in place while the glue set and were not being used as ballast !!....lol...

 

[maineboat]

Looking good....I do hope all those lead bars were to hold the vinyl in place while the glue set and were not being used as ballast !!....lol...

yes. I have tons of them, very hand for weighting things down!