Transom repair/replace 1957 starcraft fury

[dragginanchor]

Hi all-

Want to repair transom on this old boat ---see pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/113783896709077845656/BoatPics#

Tore some of the old fiberglass off and of course the chrome trim.
The plywood and fiberglass is delaminating

The plywood is soft and coming apart, but stiff enough I might try to run it on the lake just for fun. (25 hp big twin) Now that i got that big 'ol engine running

So, how to go about replacing the transom ??

Chad_E

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Transom repair/replace 1957 starcraft fury

Chad,

Welcome to iBoats! Your boat is very similar to mine, but you have some serious issues with your transom. I would also suspect the stringers are gone as well. Does the interior floor have soft spots? Do you want to restore her to Excellent working condition, or just patch her up to play with her. That transom is Dangerous. You could lose the entire back of the boat in the middle of the lake. I WOULD NEVER take that boat out on the water in that condition. You need to at the very least repair the transom. That will take many hours of hard work and about $300 dollars minimum to repair. The exterior skin of the boat is gone and you will need to patch that in after the transom is completed. Is there any other major damage to the Hull in any other areas? Safety should be your Number one Concern. Give the Hull a very close inspection looking for soft spots and or delams before you sink any money into restoring her. She might be a lost cause. Nice looking boat but she has some serious issues. Lots of people here to help you with the project but you need to decide if she is worthy...

I'm just sayin...

 

[dragginanchor]

Re: Transom repair/replace 1957 starcraft fury

Hi there- Thanks for the reply..

I think I would like to get it into useable condition first, and see along the way if its worth fixing up to look nice.

Should have mentioned, the transom plywood and fiberglass is delaminating on the lower half and mostly port side of the transom. The upper part where the motor clamps on is in much better condition, not delaminating, but its just not as stiff as I would expect 2 sheets of 3/4" plywood to be, like there not glued/screwed together.
The floor and for that matter the rest of the boat is stiff, as far as I can tell.
Theres some ugly looking repairs to the bottom, just epoxy smeared on in places.

The whole inside floor looks like a molded (or should I say moldy ;-) piece of fiberglass attached to the sides, front and back of the hull with no seams.

Back to the transom, it doesnt look like the front of the transom was attached to the fiberglass inside, more like the fiberglass interior was dropped in place. Theres no framing on the front of the transom.

So how is the transom plywood attached to the keel, floor, and sides of the hull? And how would I go about replacing it?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Transom repair/replace 1957 starcraft fury

Check out this guys thread, It explains and shows you everything you need to know about fixing your boat. But again, I can NOT over emphasize the safety issue. ANY and I MEAN any flex in your transom is a DANGEROUS thing. You should be able to hang your motor on the back of your boat, jump up and down on it and the transom NOT MOVE. This Thread will show you what you need to do to make that happen.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=355668

Good Luck with your project

 

[dragginanchor]

Re: Transom repair/replace 1957 starcraft fury

Hi All-

Did some more work on the old Starcraft and heres what I found.

http://picasaweb.google.com/113783896709077845656/BoatPics2

The old Johnson 1955 25hp fired up on the first pull twice now since I cleaned the carburetor, but there may still be lower unit problems..anyways,,

Removed the motor, cut the fiberglass around the transom, and just pulled the old plywood out by hand. Its rotten for sure. Plywood shouldnt crumble or tear in your hand !! Glad I didnt try to run it out on the lake..

Theres water between the plys as I pull them off the stern. Real bad. The last pic is a delaminated plywood ply, and will have to go.

I'll pull some more tomorrow, and see whats under there, how the boat is constructed and possibly figure out how to go about repairing it, more pics to come..

Dragginanchor..

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Transom repair/replace 1957 starcraft fury

WOW!
Not sure it was a good idea to cut the outer skin of the Transom off but looking at the overall condition of it you might not have had much of a choice. Usually you remove the wood from the INSIDE. the Outer skin is an integral structural part of the boat. You are going to have to take special care in rebuilding it. All of the weight, and torque and torsion of the motor bears on this portion of the boat so you will have to ensure that it is built properly to bear these weights. You need to read OOPS thread

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=234392

on the forum to get a good understanding of everything you will need to do to get your boat shipshape. Lot of work ahead for you. You can do it and we will all be here to help you along the way.

 

[dragginanchor]

Re: Transom repair/replace 1957 starcraft fury

Hey thanks for the reply-

I got that far into it thinking I was going to do a seacast transom, by cutting the back fiberglass where it wasn't cracked or gone already, removing the delaminated plywood, then somehow clamping a temporary piece on the back to contain it, then filling with seacast and sanding, finishing and painting.

Fortunately, that went well, got the rotten/delaminated wood out and ground down to the inner skin with little effort.

BUT, theres more problems---see Pics--
http://picasaweb.google.com/113783896709077845656/BoatPics3#

Tore the carpet up and found some rotted plywood/cracked fiberglass screwed to the floor.
Tore up the delaminated fiberglass/plywood and found black wet mushy plywood.

After tearing the carpet off, and then the cracked fiberglass along with the soggy,slimy,plywood deck, I see the front plywood of the deck is rotten, completely gone, and it looks like someone had replaced it at some time using plywood bits and toggle bolts, then badly applied fiberglass, perhaps why it cracked and let water inside.

As you can see in the Pics--
http://picasaweb.google.com/113783896709077845656/BoatPics3#

It looked at first to be a fiberglass stringer but theres some rotten wood, about an inch inside one of the stringers...
And, theres rotten wood inside the cross brace in the pics.

Is there supposed to be a piece of wood under all that glass? the fiberglass is about 3 1/2" tall, but all I saw there was about an inch of rot. Didn't see much of anything through the screw holes in in the other stringers.

Found what I think was a mouse nest in the area. Perhaps thats what chewed up the fiberglass stringers..(see pics..)

Tore the fiberglass back further off the floor and found good plywood..
Is this old barge worth fixing?? I need 6 gallons of seacast for the transom, about $300+ , and whatever $$ to fix the stringers and deck.

Im just wanting a 2-4 person lightweight boat that will go fast with a 25-40 hp motor..The "Fury" seemed just perfect until I found all that rot in the transom and floor.

anyway, Is it worth fixing, or could I buy something I would want for the same I would cost me to fix this old barge?

Chad_E

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Transom repair/replace 1957 starcraft fury

Have you done ANY reading or searching on this forum to see HOW a boat is made? IMHO you need to do a LOT more research on boat restoration before you go any further into this project. this would be a Good one to start with.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=355668

I'm just sayin...