nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

[nature1100]

Hello all!! Have been reading this forum since last August to get ideas for my own restoration of a 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday. It has a 1974 Mercury 1150 outboard. It was originally my parents, and they are letting me have it to restore and use. The boat is still at their hose, but last summer I brought the outboard home to work on. I have been slowly working on things throughout the fall/winter.

Here is what I have done so far:
-Replaced all fuel lines
-Rebuilt fuel pump (new seals and diaphragm)
-Rebuilt internal wire harness (insulation severely brittle and crumbling)
-Rebuilt water pump (new seals, plate, and impeller)
-Ordered/test fitted new control cables
-Checked/fixed control harness and re-greased control cam mechanism
-Changed lower unit oil
-Checked each cylinder compression (all within spec)
-Checked spark for each cylinder (all OK)
-Removed outboard decals to repaint cowlings

I will be going to get the boat early in April(have new trailer tires already), so until then will be working on painting the cowlings and putting decals on the outboard.

Big fun project ahead. Floor is rotten, transom is rotten, seats were rotten, steering cable shot, and all the interior is shot.

Here are some pictures:

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Congrats, and welcome to iboats & the Tin-sanity.

If you have questions about the motor, the Merc motor forum is uber helpful!

Best of luck, and don't forget to check out all the SC restos over in the Starcraft Owner's forum.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Oh goody, goody. A new guy to send for beer and ice cream. Welcome to the Tinny drydock, nature. Holidays are nice Starcrafts. Looks like you have hard to find pieces too. And the Jetson anchor light with purple glass is almost priceless and turns the proper shade of white when it's on.

You can do it, we can help. Lordy, I sound like Home Depot. Have fun getting the old gal back on the water.

 

[dozerII]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Welcome 1100, nice looking Holiday. It looks like a complete restore by the pictures.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Welcome to the madness. Nice hull and tower 'o power.

 

[nature1100]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Getting a little anxious to start on the boat, but not getting it for another couple weeks. Still buried in a snow bank. So I have been busy getting other things ready. I have been working on designing the electrical system and needed new tires for the trailer.

Old Tires

New Tires

Also working on the Tower O Power by prepping it for paint. See picture below. The cowling had lost its paint due to the weather. The black bands seen are where the decals were. All the decals have been removed, and sanding and filling dings and scratches in the top cowl and driveshaft housing trim cover. Still need to work on the lower cowl that is still on the outboard. Will get pictures soon.

Was actually thinking of stripping the paint on the cowling and front cover and leaving it as unpainted aluminum. Then apply in the decals to them. Would give the outboard a different look. Opinions???

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

That would be an interesting look, nature. Trying to visualize that.

Hey - Those old tires have at least a half a trip to the ramp left in them.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

The polished aluminum wrap around & front cowl cover would have a 'look' of a black late 50's~early 60's Merc:

Might be interesting...

To get the right look w/ the stickers/badges on the polished aluminum, you might need to try different year's details, might look better w/ none original stickers to stand out against the aluminum:
These 1971 stickers may not stand out against an aluminum background:

But these 1972 might:

His website is printed across his graphic..........

Be absolutely sure you want to strip them to bare before you start stripping them. Lots of prep if you change your mind and want to go back to painted.

 

[ben2go]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Another great tinny build I'll be watching.

 

[nature1100]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Decided to work a little on the outboard. Haven't really had a chance to work on paint since it is still cold, like -7?F this morning. So will have to wait to strip paint from the cowling. Started sanding on the bottom cowl, had a lot of nicks and dings. You can also see the new wiring.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

New wiring looks GREAT, really well done.....

 

[ezmobee]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

New wiring is always a good thing on an old Merc.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Nice job on the wiring, nature. Merc wiring is one of the weak spots. How is the boat side harness? Mine was as bad as insidi the motor.

 

[nature1100]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Overall the boat side harness was really good. The positive cable insulation was falling apart, but wrapped with electical tape and had 4' of red shrink tube that I put over the tape. Made the cable look like new. I also had to replace the cover over the control harness and battery cables through the motorwell. Had some automotive cable conduit that was the exact size of the hook on the side of the outboard. Connector to the outboard was in great shape. I will try to get some pictures soon.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Good - Out of the internal and boat side harnesses the only decent wires I had were the two from the stator, thankfully.

 

[nature1100]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Got a little more work completed on the paint prep for the outboard. Finished sanding and preping the lower cowl. I am not going to touch the swivel, driveshaft housing, and lower unit. Paint looks pretty good on them. I think all the prep on the outboard is complete until it warms up so stripping will work on the cowling and then can start painting!!!

Also got a picture of the boat side harness, cables, and control box. Still need to crimp the end on the positive battery cable. Other than that all ready to go back in.

 

[nature1100]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Just an update. With the swivel on the outboardbeing a little stiff after breaking it from being "frozen" I decided to break it down to take the swivel pin out and clean it. It also gave me an excuse to tear it apart to get the lower cowl off for painting. I have gotten the power head and lower unit removed, but ran into a snag with the exhaust extension plate not seperating from the driveshaft housing. Also posted this in the Mecury Outboard forum topic. For the restoration the lower cowl is off and i can get it better preped for paint. Was pretty easy to get the outboard torn down this far. Here are some pics.

 

[nature1100]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Haven't had an update for a while. The progress on the outboard is that I got it fully broke down to get the swivel pin out. I had to clean up the pin, there was some minot corrosion. Put the pin back in and regreased the swivel. Now I have the the driveshaft housing back on, and waiting on some gasgets to get a little farther. Still waiting for it to get warmer so that I can start painting.

On the boat, I brought it home on Sunday evening. Travel beautifully on the new trailer tires. All I have had time to do so far till tonight is to get it backed into the driveway. Tonight I did get some stuff torn down. I have both side panels removed and all the hardware required for these. I also stripped out the old wiring. Next is to get the motor well out. I will get some pictures tomorrow.

 

[nature1100]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Pictures from yesterday's work.

Boat in the driveway

Interior LH side

Interior RH side

Also, tested out some polish to see what the hull color would look like.
The back is the oxidized paint. The darker color is what was polished. Looks pretty good.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: nature1100's 1965 Starcraft 18' Holiday Restoration

Since you dragged her home, I guess the work begins. Check DozerII's latest SS resto. His paint was chalky and he found something that brought it back to life.