Hey crew! Welcome to my summer of COVID project/play toy. My regular summer hobby has been pretty much cancelled...so I asked the kids what they wanted to do. They said go fishing...so here we are.
The boat is a 1981 Starcraft SS 160 with a 1996 Mariner 40hp on the back. Best that I can tell, she's a pretty dry rig. After four hours yesterday, I don't have enough water in the sterntstern even come out the drain hole with the boat tipped up in the bow. I've now got between 15-20 hours total on water time with it and never had enough water in it to come out after pulling the plug.
The one area I have of concern is the port corner on the transom. The cap is broken and the prior owner never sealed it.
esult, the small triangle chunk of wood is rotted underneath. I don't have great access to the main transom board over on that side. But the tie down hook feels solid and I don't see evidence of an issue on the main board. The main board could use a coat of paint for now but feels fine otherwise.
My plan is to use it all summer and then in September put it in the garage and rebuild the transom completely. I've read all the restoration threads on here and feel pretty confident that I can tackle it as a result. The amount of information on here is amazing!
By looking at the three piece design in other resto threads, it appears I'm not in high risk of catastrophic failure. Clearly the upper small piece of transom needs replaced. But I should be good to use through the summer and replace the entire thing in the fall right?
Thanks again for being here and being an incredible resource. As a result of this boat and lurking here... I'm now on the prowl for a 20 or 22' SS v5 for a resto project as well!
The boat is a 1981 Starcraft SS 160 with a 1996 Mariner 40hp on the back. Best that I can tell, she's a pretty dry rig. After four hours yesterday, I don't have enough water in the sterntstern even come out the drain hole with the boat tipped up in the bow. I've now got between 15-20 hours total on water time with it and never had enough water in it to come out after pulling the plug.
The one area I have of concern is the port corner on the transom. The cap is broken and the prior owner never sealed it.
esult, the small triangle chunk of wood is rotted underneath. I don't have great access to the main transom board over on that side. But the tie down hook feels solid and I don't see evidence of an issue on the main board. The main board could use a coat of paint for now but feels fine otherwise.
My plan is to use it all summer and then in September put it in the garage and rebuild the transom completely. I've read all the restoration threads on here and feel pretty confident that I can tackle it as a result. The amount of information on here is amazing!
By looking at the three piece design in other resto threads, it appears I'm not in high risk of catastrophic failure. Clearly the upper small piece of transom needs replaced. But I should be good to use through the summer and replace the entire thing in the fall right?
Thanks again for being here and being an incredible resource. As a result of this boat and lurking here... I'm now on the prowl for a 20 or 22' SS v5 for a resto project as well!