Starcraft Garage B&S. (boat and other stuff to talk about)

[dozerII]

That's a pretty kool project Vstar what is it??:noidea:

 

[Vtstar]

It's a ski gondola car from the 60s, taken out of service in 1983. It sat in someone's yard under pine trees for 25+ years until I got to it. I am a bit of a collector of ski memorabilia and such. I have a chairlift chair as well. Have to do something in the winter... Skiing is my thing.

 

[Watermann]

Hey that's a pretty unique and cool project piece Vtstar!

I would pull you around the lake in it with my Chief but you'll need to sign a waiver first :heh:

 

[Joe L. Bachs]

Cool projects guys and a great idea for a thread. I don't have much to add picture wise. Besides my ski-champ project, I'm pretty much constantly in the middle of one small project or another. Recently cleaned up and polished an old elto ace for display at my cabin. I've done 50 or so vintage/ antique axes and hatchets, I clean up and sharpen the heads and carve out new handles from hickory blanks and oil finish them. I've re-done/customized a hand full of old guns, an Ithaca SxS,a ruger 10/22, a WW2 Asikara rifle and a U.S. 1917 rifle. Also Restoring old furniture especially mid-century industrial stuff or old unusual lamps. I homebrew my own beer and right now I'm try to blunder my way through building a 5gallon stove top copper still (it's my 1st try at non-electrical soldering).

 

[coostv]

Glen, cool project you have going! You mentioned other ratrod sites, did you give ratrodsrule.com a try? I found most of those guys to be accepting of about any project someone had going on. Someday I would like to scratch build a body and chassis in the motif of a 30 or so Ford on 32 rails built by me.

For now I stick with cars of my childhood, 80's Mustangs. This is my fourth one and the deepest I have been into one to date... Being a convertible I am not planning on big power so I built a mild'ish roller cam 302 for it. Many subtle mods that will make people think it came that way unless there is a stock one next to it. Externally it will appear factory with the exception of, the Viper Vapor Silver, aftermarket five lug wheels, and bigger brakes. Engine compartment will be smoothed over, all factory holes that I will not need will be gone, and all wiring will disappear behind the wheel wells.

Since this picture was taken I have removed the inner fenders (or front splash aprons) and have begun prepping them for new solid panels to be welded in.

Someone mentioned the shop being away from the house, that is the way I did mine. My better half comes out about 2 times a year, more if I drag her out to see a paint job or something cool I did. Other than that, paging system on cordless phones or texting. In fact, I am posting this from the shop right now...

One last pic of something I built for my wife a few years ago and coincidentally the only picture I loaded to my image host. After a trip to the frame shop I hung all new front sheet metal on the front, rear door, and a new rear quarter panel. This is in my booth, the 9' x 8' door on the left in the pictures above and currently home to my 15' Holiday project.

 

[Tnstratofam]

Dozer I think this is a great thread. Sometimes ( I know most members wont approve of this) I have other projects than my boats.

Coostv I too am a Fox Body fan. I have an 88 LX that is another project I need to get started on cosmetically. Your painting skills look great.


Here is my list of current projects that are in different stages of tear down and rebuild.

1988 Stratos 2000xls Still not gone beyond the initial planning stages.
1989 Ford Ranger Needs a clutch. ( Should be a simple job when I get to it.)
1988 Ford Mustang 5.0 LX Convertible. ( Bought it from my dad 12 years ago. Needs a top and a paint job.) ( Daily Driver )
1981 Kawasaki 750E ( Ride it pretty regularly,but it needs some love.)

The Admiral's list:

Convert spare bedroom to dinning room.
Replace carpet in other bedrooms with hardwood.
Add fireplace in living room.
Add built ins in living room.
Finish my office and bathroom in the shop.( Ultimately I think she may move me out there.)

And Finish The Stratos so we can have more people on the lake than we can hold on the Starcraft.

 

[coostv]

Thanks TNstratofam, I thought I included the year of my Mustang, it is an 84.5 GT. I like them all, as long as they are 5 liter or more powered!

I was going to edit my post and add a couple pics of the Fusion in the "before" state, but I got too it too late!

 

[GA_Boater]

TN, why the disparity in your list and the Admirals?

Your list - Cars, boats and a bike. Her list major Honey-Dos in the house. See what I mean?

 

[Tnstratofam]

No disparity towards the Admiral's list intended GA. Just pointing out who the grownup is in my house. Thankfully the Admiral. She understands the difference between responsible projects and toys.

 

[GA_Boater]

No disparity towards the Admiral's list intended GA. Just pointing out who the grownup is in my house. Thankfully the Admiral. She understands the difference between responsible projects and toys.

Aw - You know who the boss is. No worry, they know too. LOL

 

[dozerII]

Great stuff Guys, some really cool projects. Funny thing about Honey-do lists they never seem to get shorter every time you go back to check one off there is another added

Coostv, I will take a look at the site you mentioned.

 

[BWR1953]

Well, I guess I'll chime in here now. Not much else going on anyway. Basically waiting for the weather to break. Haven't been back on the water with my Kingfisher since the splash nearly a month ago.

School started, my wife got a job and I've been trying to take it easy other than taking care of medical stuff. I have a procedure tomorrow and a regular annual checkup the day after that.

I did pick up my chainsaw from the shop today and it's ready to go again. So maybe I'll be able to cut some trees later this week. Soooo much yard work to do around here on my little 1.5 acre patch. There's enough to keep me busy every day for hours with the chainsaw, tractor, box blade, yard rake and leaf sweeper extending for several months if I were so inclined. Or physically able! LOL! :lol: Whew! Makes me tired just thinking about it.

And none of the above includes actual improvements to the place!

One lesson learned from my Kingfisher project this summer is that I need a good place to work, not just using the bare yard here. In that vein, I've been researching shelters/canopies/workshops and I've determined that I need a much larger wallet! :tongue-new:

Plus! I neglected my other hobby during the entire Kingfisher rehab. Got several planes that haven't been flown yet and one that I started working on 2 years ago and which still isn't finished! It's a true project in itself.

Got the drone in May, flew it around the yard a few times in June but haven't done anything with it since then. The little glider hasn't been maidened yet, nor has the big triangular plane. (That one is a waterplane and will go with me to the lake in the Kingfisher!) And a couple of others haven't been flown in over a year. lane:

So much to do but the weather and the meds are just kickin' my butt! :mad-new: About all I've actually accomplished is clearing my hobby/workshop room today. Got a gold star from my wife for that! :biggrin-new:

Also been researching big Starcraft boats as well! Got a hankerin' for a big old Islander, maybe a Chieftain. Maybe. Need to provide myself a place to work before I can even consider one of those big tin monsters. :facepalm: :rofl:

 

[dozerII]

BWR, some pretty cool plane you have there, it's been about 16 years since I did any RC building or flying, maybe one of these days I will get the time.

 

[BWR1953]

BWR, some pretty cool plane you have there, it's been about 16 years since I did any RC building or flying, maybe one of these days I will get the time.

Thanks. I really should go fly them again but at 7:30pm it's still 81 degrees with really high humidity and I just can't seem to get motivated. So I just stay inside with the A/C where it's comfy! :couch2: :lol:

I started flying RC in 1972. Kept at it for over 20 years but got out of the hobby completely in 1993 because flying was interfering with my fishing. :fish2:

I got back into the hobby 6 years ago. With all the electric powered stuff and "jets" I was enthralled. Built a couple planes from scratch and have had numerous Almost Ready to Fly planes and it's been loads of fun.

However!! I'm not sure if I'll stay in the hobby. With my health stuff and the meds to fight the health stuff, the fine motor control of my fingers isn't what it should be. That led to a near flyaway of my drone! :facepalm: Fortunately it has a Return To Home function and it came home all by itself! :thumb:

And with the recent news that I'll probably have to stay on the meds long term, as in maybe another 1 to 3 years, I have decisions to make. Along with that is my bride and her keen interest in fishing. Competing hobbies once again. Oh yeah, my procedure this morning was cancelled and rescheduled for 2 weeks from now. That's okay though.

Looking back over this summer, I realize that I really did enjoy doing my Starcraft rehab project. Makes me think about doing another one and whatnot! :rofl:

 

[hayko1971]

Here's my other "ongoing project" it's a glasser!



The exterior is next on the list, as soon as I figure out how to work fiberglass..

We worked on the interior a bit, here is how it looks this year





The Admiral and I are working on it together, it's been an ongoing project and doesn't have the urgency that the SS did, but we've been enjoying them both!

 

[Tnstratofam]

That camper looks nice and cozy. My wife loves to camp. We both agree that's a cool project, and I'm sure it will turn out as nice as your SS.

 

[hayko1971]

That camper looks nice and cozy. My wife loves to camp. We both agree that's a cool project, and I'm sure it will turn out as nice as your SS.

thanks! Ironically, the pics of the "dining area" we're taken when we finished putting it together. As you can imagine, in a space that is 10'x7' the dinette is also the bed.... We've never used it as a dinette, ever in the years we've had it LOL.
All we do is sleep in it and store food and clothing. All our camp living, cooking and eating is done outside, so I'm rethinking the interior design.

Here's some gratuitous shots of this years camp...






Sorry this one is dark



The living room


Cheers fellas!

 

[dozerII]

Kool project Rob those old Bolers were a good design. You must be able to screen in those gazebos, I have camped in the north of out province and the mosquitoes can carry you away, lol

 

[hayko1971]

Kool project Rob those old Bolers were a good design. You must be able to screen in those gazebos, I have camped in the north of out province and the mosquitoes can carry you away, lol

Yes, we have both screen walls and wind/rain stop walls for the pop up shelters.
...Ya know, in searching the web for info on these little campers, I see that many hot rod guys are snapping them up and decking them out to match their cars, it's a nice option for shelter while attending car shows etc. Maybe your Rat Rod needs to find one LOL.

 

[BWR1953]

Ah yes, camping. Did that when my daughters were young. Started with tent camping but that got old pretty quickly. Skipped over the travel trailer step because I couldn't pull my boat and the trailer at the same time. So I bought a Class C RV and from that point on "roughing it" meant that there was no cable TV hookup at the campground! :lol:

Here's me launching my Bass Tracker from my RV about 30 years ago. (Dang I'm old!)