**eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pics!

[erikpn]

As promised, I found my camera and got it working. It's a '75 jupiter I believe... Title just lists it as 16' Starcraft. It's going to be a new decking/paint. I have already returned the motor to full function. When I got it, it is an ugly cheapo camo job.

I am trying to decide whether to do it grey/white or black/grey or blue/white. I really like the look of sprintst's Holiday, so I would like to emulate that if possible.

Thus far, I have removed the side boards, the deck, and the foam underneath. The deck came out all in one piece. The bow piece is in surprisingly good shape despite being the original deck. I think I can save it, sand/reseal and reuse it as is. It will save me from having to do any complex cuts.

The foam underneath was in pretty good shape too. The bottom layers were waterlogged, but the top ones were totally dry.

I have currently got about half the boat cleaned of loose debris. The other half is still pretty nasty.

I am hoping to get the rest cleaned off tomorrow and ready for gluvit.

I think I will focus my scrubbing only on the seams and around rivets, where the gluvit will go. Do I have to get all the rust around rivets out in order to have it stick well?

I bought some 3/4th plywood. CDX, apparently the X stands for exterior. Or that's what the guy at home depot tells me anyways. Currently thinking about whether to epoxy it, glass it, or coat with polyurethane... Thoughts?

 

[jspano]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

erik
i pressure washed the heck out of mine. shop vac dirt out. comet cleanser and scrubed and pw again. let it dry out and oven cleaner sit awhile and pw again. the wire wheeled where needed.
also look into the extruded(closed cell) foam to replace that white stuff

joe

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

Erik..
Nice lil SC..If I had a lil 14ft John boat SC with a tiller I'd go for that camo look..

I'd re use that bow section..If it looks as solid in person as in the pic..You are on the money with sanding it & re sealing it..Cutting the new bow deck piece in my Holiday was no pic nic..lol

I agree with Joe..May as well clean her all up before the gluvit..You wouldn't want any dirt keeping the Gluvit from sealing and wasting your $$..

Looks like you should have a fairly quick resto and look forward to seeing more progress soon..

 

[erikpn]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

Thanks. I think I will borrow a power washer and try to get it as well cleaned out as possible. Are you guys worried about electrolysis? Did you use stainless screws to reattach the deck, or aluminum rivets?

 

[reelfishin]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

Thanks. I think I will borrow a power washer and try to get it as well cleaned out as possible. Are you guys worried about electrolysis? Did you use stainless screws to reattach the deck, or aluminum rivets?

The factory used large headed aluminum rivets, That's what I put back in all of mine.
Screws, no matter what they are made from can loosen over time and many won't be easily accessible. I have had 5 Starcraft aluminum boats now, every one had it's floor attached with rivets. I believe they were 3/16" with a head the size of a nickel. The reach you will need will depend on the plywood thickness you use. I got my rivets from a local auto parts store, I just ordered a few boxes. I went with aluminum/aluminum rivets and they were a breeze to install. I used the old floors as a template and most of the rivets went back into the original holes as well. I also over sized the holes drilled in the deck plywood so I could coat and seal those holes prior to installation. I did add a few rivets near the back, and I added a new side to side brace out of aluminum tubing at the rear of the floor too. This gave me something stronger to attach the rear edge of the deck to.

I used wheel cleaner to clean up the inside of my hull, on the smaller boats, I just laid them over to one side on a couple of old mattresses and used a garden hose to blast them clean after some scrubbing. On the larger boat, I used a vacuum cleaner to suck up the water that wouldn't drain out the bilge. A good aluminum wheel cleaner will remove just about anything from the inside of the hull but be careful some are pretty strong acids. Mine looked like new when I was done. I used a pretty strong cleaner but followed it up with a neutralizer right after then a good soap and water scrubbing. When it dried, I laid on the Gluvit. None of mine leaked before hand but Gluvit is good insurance on any riveted boat.

 

[bananaboater]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

While you are at this stage be sure to clean out the limbers, those raised areas at the keel line under the ribs. The water that gets in has to be able to flow to the stern. If you go to my photobucket you can see my approach to cleaning them out.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

I bought some 3/4th plywood. CDX, apparently the X stands for exterior. Or that's what the guy at home depot tells me anyways. Currently thinking about whether to epoxy it, glass it, or coat with polyurethane... Thoughts?

Depends on how long you want it to last. I think many of us (myself included) are going with epoxy resin-ing all sides, couple coats. Then installing the deck in the boat and then adding a layer of glass on the top. I don't think just polyurethane would last too long.

I think reelfishin' has convinced me that rivets are the way to go for attaching the deck. I used those tan deck screws from HD on the Jupiter and they worked for for 5 years but I have no doubt the rivets would be better. Just have to figure out where to buy the rivets and the tool to install them.

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

I guess it depends on how much you want to spend on one..
I have seen them at wally world, all HD & Lowes as well..

HF & Northern Tool have them as well..

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200305954_200305954

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1286497&CAWELAID=109344788

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=11740849&sourceid=44444444440163410489

Sears has a Campbell Hausfeld Air Riveter..I dont remember if you have a AC or not Ez...

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_...LE01&sid=IAx20090815x000001&aff=Y&origin=prod


I also used the deck screws as I was on a budget...I will eventually have to re do my deck in "X" years....But by then I may be an old man..(ok older)

 

[jspano]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

i bought my rivets from http://www.rivetsinstock.com they were ok to work with only a 20.00 min i spent like 30.00 on 100 of one kind and 200 of another and 10.00 shipping

ps ez i bought they cheap hand rivet gun @ lowes for 12.00 and used it for reinstalling the ribs using 3/16 closed end rivets... worked fine

joe

 

[erikpn]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

I'm getting tired of waiting for one thing or another. I also plan to keep a running tab of costs in this thread. Thus far
-Starter solenoid $60
-Electrical wiring- $7
-Grommets- $4
-Orbital Sander- $30
-Shop vacuum- $30
-Plywood- $30
-Sanding disks-$8
-Paint stripper - $10
-Gluvit- $50
-Aluminum cleaner-$7
-Larger Sanding disk- $5
-Acetone-$15
-Paintbrush- .50
-Respirator - $5
-Latex gloves- $5
-Wire wheel-$5
-Rivets- $15
-Rivet tool- $11
-Epoxy- $57
-Clamp-$3

Cleaning the boat is teh suck. The aluminum cleaner works well. I decided I WILL only detail clean the ribs and seams where the gluvit will go. The rest is going to get dirty again anyways, as long as the gluvit has a good place to stick that's good enough with me. The shop vacuum I have sucksssssssss! 2 gallons is way to small. It actually only fills up to about a quart before it poops out and needs to be emptied in reality.

 

[erikpn]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

seams are all cleaned and the paint inside boat is stripped.

Note the dent. Should I try to hammer it out? Regular nail hammer?

cheapo spray paint camo is a chore to work on. Anybody have tips for getting it off the viny and plastic parts?

home depot sells a "spar polyurethane" that is advertised for boat use. Will it work to seal the new deck? Will fiberglass + resin work better? a bucket of epoxy would be expensive.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

home depot sells a "spar polyurethane" that is advertised for boat use. Will it work to seal the new deck? Will fiberglass + resin work better? a bucket of epoxy would be expensive.

It all depends on how long you want it to last. The best way is resin and fiberglass. Spar varnish will work just won't last as long. I plan to epoxy resin (couple coats) all sides of my deck boards, install them, then add a layer of glass to the top. Yes epoxy IS expensive but I plan to keep my boat for a LONG time.

 

[erikpn]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

Glass and resin isn't too expensive. Why doesn't everyone glass it all around?

 

[erikpn]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

The new deck was cut and test fit yesterday. Gluvit was placed in today. Some of the paint prep has been done, and stickers scraped off the body. Tired and losing motivation. I'll at least get a break while I wait for the gluvit to harden.

 

[ryand895]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

Hows the projects going? The cleanup looked good.

Instead of polyurethane, you could coat your floor boards with rubberized roof coating (About $15/gallon, but covers quite a bit.) I gave it a go on my old bass boat. The floor has held up good. (The transom is gone now.)

Post more pics.

 

[bananaboater]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

The new deck was cut and test fit yesterday. Gluvit was placed in today. Some of the paint prep has been done, and stickers scraped off the body. Tired and losing motivation. I'll at least get a break while I wait for the gluvit to harden.

My motivation has been affected by the cold weather. I am arguing with myself as to whether or not to get some sort of heater for the garage. But I live in the south so spring is not far away.

 

[bankfisher]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

My motivation has been affected by the cold weather. I am arguing with myself as to whether or not to get some sort of heater for the garage. But I live in the south so spring is not far away.

It is the same here!!! 16 deg this morning! What happened to global warming? This past year has been one of the coolest, wettest summers that I can ever remember! I hope the weather gets back to normal soon!!!

 

[redfury]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

Man, I wish it was 16! Woke up to -20 this morning and I think we finally got to 0 degrees!

It's a nice looking boat btw, even if it's a Starcraft

 

[erikpn]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

Gluvit has dried, which means back to work. The seams at the rear aren't as clean as the ones at the front. Bits of debris are there under close inspection. Guess I was getting lazy towards the end. I bought some foam. Also discovered a mysterious goopy bubbly spot on the paint of lower transom as I did some sanding for paint. Found this

3 holes underneath the goopy caulk sealer or whatever it was.. Looks like something might've been mounted there? Oh well, I have my closed end rivets now and feel confident if I have to seal the holes. I am planning on installing a fishfinder anyways.

Rivets have also arrived. Cautionary tale for the uninitiated. I thought something was broken because as I followed the instructions on the back of the package, the mandrels never broke off as I squeezed. It wouldnt let go of the mandrel even after I cut off the rivet. It came out looking something like this

Turns out I have to force the rivet tool's legs open to get it to release the mandrel, then regrip and squeeze again. The current travel isn't enough to fully flatten out the rivet or exert the pressure needed to break off the mandrel. A 2nd squeeze did the job.

I also found a small spot of rot around the bow piece I was going to reuse. Right in the middle, where a rivet was attached. I cut it out and am going to reseal with epoxy.

Epoxy has also been ordered online. The max pcr stuff from ebay. Cheap, but I hope it works fine.

 

[bananaboater]

Re: **eriks official '75 starcraft jupiter restoration blog/thread!**... now with pic

My deck riveting took 3 or 4 squeezes to set them. I think it depends on how thick the material is in relation to the length of the rivet.