1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

[shawnhowell]

Well, here she is. She's a '72 Starcraft Supersport 18' with an open bow, and a 120 hp Mercruiser I/O motor. I brought her home a couple weeks ago for $300 with no idea what it needed or if it even ran. I knew nothing at all about boats except that I wanted one, and this would be an OK setup in my mind, with the open bow. I have 4 young daughters that would love to be out on a boat with me any chance they got, so space was an issue, but I absolutely did not want a cuddy. I have a 4 cylinder car to save on gas so I'm not gonna burn it all back up in more boat than I need. I'll never sleep on it anyway.

I do all my own mechanic work on my car and all the work on my own house so I figured I could stare this thing down a little while do some research on the internet and figure it out on my own. Thank god for this web-site and all of you people by the way. Well, since then I've gotten it up and running on muffs with no money invested. I had to sand down the points, clean the condenser terminal, clean the plugs, replace the coil wire, and sucked on the gas line so long I was just about ready to give up. For some reason the old mechanical fuel pump would not siphon from the tank until primed.

I managed to get the trim working. The guy I bought it from had me worried until I got into it. He told me there was a leak that he couldn't find. It turned out to be a loose line. Works great now. All I need to find is the max trim sensors for an old type R pre alpha sterndrive, or pull mine off and see if I can repair it. Any advice on that? I know I can just simply omit the sensor all together and hard wire it so the switch works, but I'm a bit picky when it comes to having things work exactly as they should.

My dash all torn apart so I can get the wiring in good shape.

Ha. Ha. The seats that I got with it are a joke.

 

[shawnhowell]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

Tacklewasher, if you happen by here and read this, and I'm sure you will eventually, in JoeyPlumley's post about his Starcraft you mentioned that you had a hull you were stripping down because you had damaged it too badly to repair, and asked me if I had all the hardware for mine. Well, there are a few things I'm missing so far. In the bottom picture above I'm missing everything that's not installed behind the vents/windshields as well as the trim piece that arches all the way across stern above the engine. See photos below. It's the arched outside corner trim I need not the flat aluminum piece.

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

Nice looking find.

On the arched trim piece, mine is long gone. Sorry but I replaced all of that when I went to an outboard.

I'm not sure there is anything from behind the windows to the stern.

Looking at your pictures, I don't see you missing anything that I have, but if there is something specific, send me a pm and I'll see what I have.

 

[Joe_the_boatman]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

In case you haven't seen it yet, this guy has a pristine, all original '76 I/O, if you want a reference point to look at for original hardware.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=269058

 

[shawnhowell]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

Thanks for the link JoeyPlumley. I hadn't seen that one yet.

As far as missing hardware, Tacklewasher, the thing that's bothering me the most is the missing rub strips on the top. You can see where they were in the pics. If anybody has a pair in fair condition with the end trim pieces they'd be willing to part with please let me know.

 

[shawnhowell]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

With my youngest daughter's help I finally got the floor torn out of my boat.

So far it looks like this won't be too big of a deal to put back together. I just need to gather up enough cash to go out and get all the materials. Most of the foam was actually still bone dry, so that should save me a few bucks.

I have the foam out of the boat and stored in the garage right now, and the inside of the hull is mostly cleaned out. I still have some scrubbing to do, and I have to get all the pop rivet remains out of the inside of the ribs so they don't clog back up later on.

I've got a feeling this thing is gonna be my winter project though the way money is right now.

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

Couple of things.

In looking at your stern pictures, I see the air intakes (for lack of a better term) are up near the windshield. Are there hoses attached to them that lead to the stern? Mine (on my Holiday) were a lot closer to the stern with short flexible hose into the bilge. I'm surprised to see yours so far forward. But I've not seen a SS with an I/O to compare.

And, from all I've read, you will lose some hull structure with the foam you've got. The expanding foam does more than just add flotation in the it makes the hull more solid. I have plans to re-do my floor over the winter and plan to use the expanding foam when I do it.

 

[DJ]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

While you've got the floor out, use Gluv It (available here on iboats) on all the rivets, from the inside. Just a little insurance.

If you look at the boat mentioned above (1976 Holiday) you can see that they made the instrument cluster taller. I did the same to an old '76' Super Sport that I used to own.

Great boat, even sweeter with the I/O.

Take a look here:

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=260400

 

[Joe_the_boatman]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

I still have some scrubbing to do, and I have to get all the pop rivet remains out of the inside of the ribs so they don't clog back up later on.

Very smart idea. I sprayed water in one end of the rib, and watched all the junk fly out the other side. Work your way downhill, of course.

That stuff will clog up the drain area underneath if you'd have left it in there.

 

[shawnhowell]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

Sorry guys. I don't get to get on here much. As far as the air intakes, TackleWasher, there were hoses attached to them that I'm going to replace because of dry-rot. The hoses ran down about 12 inches and just barely into the gunwales and then ended. I guess the air was supposed to just carry itself from there to the engine. There are also "exhaust" vents just above the engine that had the same kind of dryer hose material attached to them. When I do get around to putting everything back together I'm considering using PVC so that the air can move more smoothly and hopefully more quickly.

As far as the foam goes, I won't be losing any structure at all no matter what foam I use. What you see in the pictures is the original materials from 1972 as far as I know. It definately does not help the structure of this aluminum hull in any way, so there is nothing to lose. I do agree though that the pour foam may gain me some structure but, given how well this hull has held up for the last 36 years, I'm not real worried.

Thanks for the Gluv It tip DJ. I'll keep that in mind before the floor goes in.

 

[captlee]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

Nice find for the price, I like the I/O, good luck with it.

 

[bigskiohio]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

The seats in the picture go with the boat those are the jumper seats

 

[Skippi]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

Great looking project boat! I just picked up one of these on Monday, it's 18' with a Mercury 115 HP motor, can't wait to get started on the restoration.

 

[fat fanny]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

Allot of the trim senders and limits can be dissasembled and reworked just a copper pick up contact(spring bent) and the electrical connection is a set srew into a copper key imbedded into the limit housing. Worth a shot limits and senders are over $100 and only sold in sets. Good luck and nice rig!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 1972 Starcraft Supersport project boat

Great looking project boat! I just picked up one of these on Monday, it's 18' with a Mercury 115 HP motor, can't wait to get started on the restoration.

Welcome to iboats.

PLEASE start your own thread and read the forum rules on the older threads.

This thread is closed