vintageglass
Petty Officer 3rd Class
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
- Messages
- 80
Re: Just bought a 1960 Fiberglass Starcraft
I don't think there's much doubt that you have a Starcraft judging by your pics, but I would say there's a good possibility you have a very early 1960 model. I can't speak for 1959, but I had a 1958 Starcraft fiberglass boat here a few years ago, it was someone's barn find, all original, but in need of a lot of work. That boat was advertised even in 1958 as having molded in color, but is was not. After filling in a few no longer needed holes and feathering out the body work, even a light sanding removed any trace of color from the hull. It was gel coated but in plain resin, no color. I have seen some early Starcraft boats which were molded in colored resin. The color was right through the hull, you couldn't sand off the color, you would hit fibers and still have the same color.
I had an older Sea King here a while back, (made by Starcraft), which was molded in color, it was aqua blue top and bottom inside and out.
That boat was a 1961 or 62 model. It however had 7 arched supports below the deck.
Your boat, since its only got the 4 arched supports makes me think it may be older, and maybe a non Starcraft branded model.
I know they made boats for Montgomery Wards, I've seen many of those, I'm not sure about any others but I don't doubt there were many.
I know they sold hulls to various other brands as well, especially aluminum hulls.
If you read the fine print in the 1960 brochure, they even state that the Voyager has 'integrated air chambers' for flotation, not foam.
From what I've seen of those, the only place they could have put an air chamber is in the bow floor section ahead of your feet. That area is sealed in glass, the foot panel is all glass, no wood in there at all. That chamber is formed just the same as the arched tubes below the deck.
The arched tubes are not meant to be flotation, they have holes drilled in them every so often for drainage. Your boat would have had a rear bench seat with a fold down back panel to access storage under the splash tray.
That seat was open on the bottom, but closed off from underneath with a perforated trim panel to keep items from sliding back under the seat. The front bench was solid across the bottom, the top was sort of split in the middle to allow you to step over and through. The front seat bottom lifted up like a trunk and there was some storage underneath.
The seats were made of both plywood and 1by pine. I have the remains of the 14' version of your boat out back, the seats in that look almost like 5/4" deck boards underneath the original upholstery. I'm sure yours was the same.
The color on the 14', which is a very light blue, almost white, is only on the surface.
I wouldn't sweat the no color fact, if they did indeed strip off all the color, its not likely that they would have gotten every last bit of it.
On those that I found with no molded color, the glass underneath was brown with a hint of red. More red than a beer bottle.
Every one of the molded in color hulls I've seen have been badly faded and gotten chalky to the point it rubbed off on you. This fact tells me its not like modern gel coat, which I doubt would ever rub off or get chalky or powdery.
My guess is they painted the inside of the mold with paint vs molding some in color but that's just a guess.
I don't think there's much doubt that you have a Starcraft judging by your pics, but I would say there's a good possibility you have a very early 1960 model. I can't speak for 1959, but I had a 1958 Starcraft fiberglass boat here a few years ago, it was someone's barn find, all original, but in need of a lot of work. That boat was advertised even in 1958 as having molded in color, but is was not. After filling in a few no longer needed holes and feathering out the body work, even a light sanding removed any trace of color from the hull. It was gel coated but in plain resin, no color. I have seen some early Starcraft boats which were molded in colored resin. The color was right through the hull, you couldn't sand off the color, you would hit fibers and still have the same color.
I had an older Sea King here a while back, (made by Starcraft), which was molded in color, it was aqua blue top and bottom inside and out.
That boat was a 1961 or 62 model. It however had 7 arched supports below the deck.
Your boat, since its only got the 4 arched supports makes me think it may be older, and maybe a non Starcraft branded model.
I know they made boats for Montgomery Wards, I've seen many of those, I'm not sure about any others but I don't doubt there were many.
I know they sold hulls to various other brands as well, especially aluminum hulls.
If you read the fine print in the 1960 brochure, they even state that the Voyager has 'integrated air chambers' for flotation, not foam.
From what I've seen of those, the only place they could have put an air chamber is in the bow floor section ahead of your feet. That area is sealed in glass, the foot panel is all glass, no wood in there at all. That chamber is formed just the same as the arched tubes below the deck.
The arched tubes are not meant to be flotation, they have holes drilled in them every so often for drainage. Your boat would have had a rear bench seat with a fold down back panel to access storage under the splash tray.
That seat was open on the bottom, but closed off from underneath with a perforated trim panel to keep items from sliding back under the seat. The front bench was solid across the bottom, the top was sort of split in the middle to allow you to step over and through. The front seat bottom lifted up like a trunk and there was some storage underneath.
The seats were made of both plywood and 1by pine. I have the remains of the 14' version of your boat out back, the seats in that look almost like 5/4" deck boards underneath the original upholstery. I'm sure yours was the same.
The color on the 14', which is a very light blue, almost white, is only on the surface.
I wouldn't sweat the no color fact, if they did indeed strip off all the color, its not likely that they would have gotten every last bit of it.
On those that I found with no molded color, the glass underneath was brown with a hint of red. More red than a beer bottle.
Every one of the molded in color hulls I've seen have been badly faded and gotten chalky to the point it rubbed off on you. This fact tells me its not like modern gel coat, which I doubt would ever rub off or get chalky or powdery.
My guess is they painted the inside of the mold with paint vs molding some in color but that's just a guess.