1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

I got back to work tonight and finished removing the cap and front flotation pod. for some reason they made it out of galvanized steel, and as you can see it rusted thru in spots, so thats one more thing to replace. If I can I am going to try and drill out the rest of the rusted screws and swap the inner and outer rubrails, that will give me virgin oak that is already bent to the proper shape to use. then I can fill the rot voids in the inner rail with epoxy to make them structurally sound and the stained wood will never be seen.

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

So Much for a simple polish and paint
Before:

Now:

 

[Darren Nemeth]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Looks great! Keep the updates coming!

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

wrfalpacas,
sweet little boat.
My son lives in FTW.
Bob

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

wrfalpacas,
sweet little boat.
My son lives in FTW.
Bob

Bob,

If you are ever in the area you are welcome to stop by.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

wrfalpacas,
Thanks for the invite, I may take you up on that someday.
Keep us posted on your progress.
Bob

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

I got the rubrails off tonight. after removing all the screws and nails, I reversed them to see how it would look. I put the stained and rotten wood in the back (treated with get rot and epoxy encapsulated so it will rot no more) and the new/old wood to the outside. I think it will work great. I am going to power wash the hull again this weekend, and then get it all painted before re-installing the rubrail.

inner and outer reversed (you can see the stained old outer rail behind (it will be covered by the cap, and not seen.))

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Got her flipped over to work on some rough spots on her bottom and repair the keel crack/break. I used a piece of 3/8 aluminum rod epoxied in and extending infront and behind the broken area 3". Then I added a layer of filler epoxy, and finally epoxy fairing compound. It should be stronger than original and invisible once painted.
Before

After

Getting slightly closer to ready to paint!

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Bret great repair on the hole...who welded it up for ya or did youo do that ...either way slick job looks great

you're making nice headway on this project, will be sweet to splash her this spring! keep on working!

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

above image provided by = LiquidNirvana is a webshots legend, he has booookoooo brochures for EVERYTHING see higher res version on webshots through the link below

click HERE to see his Evinrude Johnson 1950s brochures and such

 

[mikezohsix]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

it's amazing how these old tin boats just come apart.
GREAT project!

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

The windshield saga:

The boat came sans windshield, so I have been on the lookout for one, as new ones From Taylor Marine are $400 plus shipping. Well I found one in wisconsin and bought it for $60, then spent $ 120 to get it here. Instead of it being 54" it was 60" which was too wide. I mulled it over for a couple of weeks,and decided to cut it in half and then use a center mullion to make up the difference. In a blonde moment, I ended up cutting too much out of the middle, and now am faced with having a windshield too narrow. I get the bright idea, of heating the plexiglass and making the 90 degree curve more of a 60 degree curve,thus givingme the correct wingtip width. So I gin up a heating fixture with a quartz infared chicken coop heater and a cobbled up plywood fixture. It workedpretty well, but I still got a small crack on one side. Here is the windshield, minus the trim, sitting on the bow top. My question: Does it still look too narrow?

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Bret

Bummer on the crack

and no it looks great!

live and learn Eh? lol

dont sweat the small stuff!

 

[bananaboater]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Once it is installed with all hardware it should look fine.

Ditto on the bummer re the crack.

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Oh man..You totally screwed the pooch on that one...Dude..lucky ya didnt pay 400 bux!!!!!


REALLY???? C'mon..looks fan freekin tastic...small crack is a small price to pay for saving a BUNCH of cash!!!!

I admire the cajones, ya went for it and it looks good..Like VPM said..dont sweat the small stuff..

 

[HopeSheFloats]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Wow, I've missed out on a lot cool rides & resto's in here while playing with glass...I've got some catching up to do. What a beauty Bret...I think it looks just fine!....way cool!!!

 

[wrfalpacas]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Started work on a little re-assembly and woodwork. I wanted to get the oak rubrails re-attached prior to painting, so the hull wouldn't flex so much and potentially pop the paint. In order to get them installed again, (remember I swapped the inside and outside rail sandwich to get good wood out due to the staining /encapsulated rot) I needed to sand and finish them first. So I broke out the spar urethane and gave them 4 coats and then drilled and re-attached them with stainless screws this time. I also started work on the seats, and it promptly split in half. After gluing it back togeather I sanded and started the multi layer coating. I am planning on at least 7 coats, as that seemed to give a nice thick finish on the Starchief. I also got the steering wheel painted/polished, and am planning on resin casting new starcraft emblems for the sides. I got the nicest logo I had, and mounted it to a piece of aluminum, and started to fill the irregularities.

 

[wvmedic]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Man that is going to be a sweet ride.

Jeff

 

[bananaboater]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

Will we get to see this finished at Lake Anna?

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: 1957 Starcraft Ski Champ Restoration

lookin good Bret, your really taking this to the next level!

So are you going to cast a new one (Starcraft) wow some details on that part would be neat.

Vegas