Re: starcraft boat quality
Merc16,<br /><br />Here is my StarCraft experience...<br /><br />I bought a used 15' fiberglass 1978 StarCraft TriStar (tri-hull) about two months ago. I have had it out every weekend since, finding and fixing all the little things the previous owner neglected.<br /><br />Two things have happened with this hull that tell me this is a solid boat:<br /><br />1) On first (or second?) outing, coming back into dock, shifter got stuck in forward and I bashed into the corner of the pier at about 12-15 mph; got a slight dent in rubrail, but no noticeable hull damage.<br /><br />2) On most recent outing, the leaf spring shackle welds failed and the axle fell off the trailer as I was doing about 15-20 mph over speed bumps on a residential street. The bunk boards smashed to hell and the boat wound up resting on the bunk brackets (ouch!). A few deep gouges to the hull, but no evidence of puncture or cracking. In fact, the boat was resting on the bunks right along its two outer keel lines (tri-hull, remember), and the gouges exposed structural steel members in the keels...hows that for strength!<br /><br />I do not know if StarCraft went to crappy hull construction in the 90's like most everyone else, but I certainly believe my boat can last another 30 years (once I get the trailer fixed!)<br /><br />BTW, I have a 70hp Mercury O/B on it (the boat is rated for up to 100hp, and the hull weight is supposedly 850lb). According to GPS, it gets onto plane at 8-10mph, and does 35mph WOT on the bay, 40mph on nice, flat lake water. The prop is in only fair-to-good shape, and is slightly under pitched...so I bet it can do more!
