New to me Starcraft Mariner

[g8er4lyfe]

Hello to Starcraft gurus near and far. I have been following various threads for awhile and keeping an eye open for a Starcraft of my own via craigslist. Pictured below is a 1980 something Mariner which I will be going to look at tomorrow. The motor hasn't run in years as it was owned by a retiree that just lost interest. The good news is it was kept under a carport with a cover on it. I want to know if there is anything in particular that I should keep an eye open that would warrant me walking away. The motor hasn't ran in quite awhile and I don't intend on trying to turn it over. Anyway what do you guys think?

 

[g8er4lyfe]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

 

[jasoutside]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

I don't see you location but given the palm in the background I's walk away if I saw some evidence of bad corrosion or he wanted too much dough for it

She looks great from here though!

Have fun!

 

[g8er4lyfe]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

I am down in Florida. As far as the dough goes, I am actually doing a trade. But thanks for the heads up with the corrosion. I am having a baby and can't sell the wife on putting too much money out. I am hoping it is in pretty good shape where all I need to do is tear out the floor, remove the foam, gluvit the inside, put the noodles in, and then put in a new floor. Does that sound like a good plan of attack for a budget minded renovation? How often do the transoms need to be replaced?

 

[jasoutside]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

can't sell the wife

No man! Don't sell yur wife for a boat!! Wow you are a hard core boat buyer!

(Well, what the Blue Book on er anyway)


Kidding, kidding!!!

Yah, transom is a pretty easy job overall and well worth the effort.

 

[g8er4lyfe]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

We are newly weds so I don't even want to sell her yet. Well except for when the pregnancy hormones kick in. She is giving me a son so I think I will keep her.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

Well, all I'm sayin is one time I tried to sell my wife for a boat and she got REALLY mad at me!

She said, "Don't do that anymore!"

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

Well, congrats on the wedding, the pending son & pursuing a Starcraft.... You've certainly had a big year so far...

Have you seen the Mariner yet? Looks like a good start on a center console fishing boat.

Best of luck grabbing it today!

RE:

Well, all I'm sayin is one time I tried to sell my wife for a boat and she got REALLY mad at me! She said, "Don't do that anymore!"

In boat building & modifications to suit his purposes, Jason is extremely talented. Second Wind is certainly ample proof. With regards to the above statement about selling his Admiral, he is most definitely all hat & no cowboy.

 

[g8er4lyfe]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

Alright so I went and picked up the boat today. It was pretty much what I thought it was going to be. The floors need to be replaced, engine brought back to life and trailer refreshed. It will be alot of fun. But with the baby coming the wife is keeping a very close eye on any expenditures. I acquired the boat in a trade but the wife was still kind of negative about it. Therefore I have determined that the floor will probably soggy until early next spring. The paint looks good, there only appears to be a couple trouble spots and they are above the water line.

 

[g8er4lyfe]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

Ok so I got started on the tear down yesterday and I am so happy it is a mid 70's and not a mid 80's. There was a little bit of spray in foam by the PO, just enough to make me grateful that it was not in the rest of the boat. The PO did a bit of a lipstick remodel. The Admiral finally stopped rolling her eyes and came out and looked at it. She even gave some input on various design ideas. The budget will be tight and I will be focusing on functional restore that requires elbow grease. The thing that will be difficult for me is getting the wires in order and removing the console.

 

[g8er4lyfe]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

How do I remove the console without ripping it to shreds? The controls will not fit through the hole in the console. This is the only thing preventing me from removing the rest of the floor. I am sure I am missing something simple, but I am new to this.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

On the motor end of the control cables aren't there fittings that can be 'easily' disconnected for removal & then pull the control cables thru from outside the console? If you open the control box, the cable end fittings on that end should be easily disconnected as well. But in the control box there is a lot more going on, make sure nothing goes MIA. New control cables are available for many older motors. Vintage too sometimes.....

Does that ^^^ cover it? Or did you mean some other controls that won't fit thru a hole....

Pix always help too

 

[g8er4lyfe]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

Thanks curt, easy is a relative term. I guess I was doing it correctly. I just need a punch to get it disconnected from the motor (30 year old motor) as it seams to like it where it is.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

The other end of the cable could be disconnected at the control box.

I'm sorry, I know you posted that it's a Mariner, but I was seeing my Johnson :facepalm: Oops, sorry again.

If the cables are shot and you'll need to replace them, see if they are still available. If so, cut the cables, make sure you save both ends. Those are often hard to come by..... Then you can soak the pins & etc in liq wrench or other, and dismantle them after they free up a tad....

 

[g8er4lyfe]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

Got the admiral in on the action today. She helped with the Strypeeze on the hull and some sanding. Strypeeze works pretty well to take off a vast majority of the paint and then we have to hit it with the sander to remove the remnants. I also ripped out the center of the deck. I am getting all of the things that require elbow grease done now because I have to wait until I sell my motorcycle for funding. BTW does anyone want a BMW r1200c?

 

[barato2]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

hey gator, welcome to the mob. i appreciate you posting all the pics you can as i'm trying to build a fauxMariner. no interest in a C, i'm more of an old GS type, but i'd think that should hold its value well. and in FL, where there are no roads with curves, it's just the ticket for someone.

have you checked compression on motor yet? do this before buying even tuneup stuff....if yer on ltd budget, no point throwing any $ down a hole.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

Great project you've got there and a great motor also. Good luck with it. No better boat for a budget restore than an aluminum Starcraft.

 

[emoney]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

If the steering turned and the cables shifted, then no need to replace them, just clean 'em up and lubricate them well. Pay special attention to the tilt tube. Because of our lovely salty water down here, that's an area that tends to get overlooked and can lock up on you to the point of it being useless (ask me how I know this). Best to get a 12gauge shotgun cleaning brush and get all the old grease out and apply new. Don't leave any of the old stuff in there, however. Looks like you got the motor pulled so that's a good thing!

Keep up the good work, and "budget" is a language we speak well around these parts. Update your profile as to where in Florida you are and you may find local help if you get stuck on a process (or two). Oh, and lastly, good to see you wearing the good old UK Jersey in the pictures. Always nice to see someone that appreciates a great Basketball Team (heh,heh,heh,heh).

 

[g8er4lyfe]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

Ok so Wednesday is the only day off when my cheap labor aka best friend and I both have off. So we got a good amount done. We first removed the rest of the wiring from the console allowing us to remove it. Now by removing it I don't mean we light took it out of the boat. We moved the cars from the driveway and chucked it so that it wouldn't crash back into the boat. I can say fiberglass center consoles are solid. It took a chunk out of my driveway. I was then able to remove the rest of the floor and the casting deck. I removed the floor in the rear and damn it no gas tank. Oh joy another unforeseen expenditure, luckily they can be found for about 70 bucks on craigslist. After working on the boat yesterday the Admiral gave me a "suggestion" that I should clean up the cluster fornication that is the garage. While it probably is a good idea her suggestions sometimes rub me the wrong way. Anyways this week I will be attempting to sand the rest of the sides and list the motorcycle on cycletrader to try and get some needed funding.

 

[dozerII]

Re: New to me Starcraft Mariner

Making some great progress on the teardown g8, budgets and funding for these projects are always harder than the project itself. Good luck selling the bike.