1966 Starcraft Holiday Engine Repower

[jbcurt00]

Never use pressure treated in an aluminum boat, "glassed" or not.

Again, try to be specific: polyester or epoxy resin and fiberglass, not simply glassed, resin, or fiberglassed.

 

[66Holiday924]

I've got a very good running Mercruiser 110. It was rebuilt a few years ago by the guy who custom built the trailer for the boat. With that kind of skill set, it's no surprise that it runs great. I'm going ahead with repowering with the 3.0L and Gen II outdrive. Is the 110 setup worth anything? Is there somewhere on this website where people list stuff like that for sale?

 

[66Holiday924]

What is a good ballpark to have a shop do the transom on my boat? I have somebody saying about 3k. That sounds a little high to me.

 

[Watermann]

Welcome aboard :wave:

Nice Holly! I really like these oldies except for that era of Mercruiser, great idea to upgrade to the Alpha One. :thumb:

Replacing the transom when doing the A1 Mercruiser upgrade is a necessity especially if original. You have a bunch of work to do before you even get close to worry over the new wood for the transom, don't let that get caught up in your spokes, it really is the easy part. There are a couple issues that are simple to overcome, the A1 keyhole is a bit different shape so you'll need to compensate for that by cutting the aluminum and there are 2 bolt holes for the transom assembly that need to be relocated as well.

I did all this same upgrade work on my Chief and then some.

 

[66Holiday924]

Thanks Watermann! I went and checked out a 92 Thompson today. Everything worked mechanically. It had good working tilt/trim, smooth running 3.0L Mercruiser, an Alpha Gen II outdrive, and the trailer was in pretty decent shape. He wanted $1000 for it and as well as everything worked on the sea trial, I was happy to give it to him. Besides the mechanics everything else was basically trashed. I am not going to feel bad about destroying this boat after I strip it for my Holiday. As far as the repower goes, I have been talking to a shop that Mercruiser recommended when they couldn't answer my questions. I've talked to them extensively and they described all the same stuff you're describing for this upgrade.

 

[66Holiday924]

Has anybody used wood from Carter Lumber for their transom? Bennett Supply is Carter's supplier. They are saying it is plain, untreated, 7 ply marine grade plywood with exterior glue on it only. It's $96/sheet. Does that sound like the right stuff for rebuilding the transom?

 

[Watermann]

Not used that brand but 7 layer ply is usually good quality stuff. That price though is 20 more than what I can get marine ply for.

 

[Bondo]

I think I'm pretty sold on the 3.0L. Everything I read says it is an outstanding engine. Going to look at a donor boat on Tuesday.

​Does anybody have any advice on what to do with this transom? Right now it looks pretty straight forward, it's plywood and it was painted with some sort of anti-fouling paint. People are telling me that I should paint over the new transom with fiberglass resin, and DON"T use marine grade plywood if I do that. I'm kind of thinking that my biggest problem in the future is going to be dry-rot. My boat isn't going to be kept in the water and it only gets used a dozen times per summer at most. It almost seems to me that I should leave it exposed (no resin or anything) and use some sort of product on it to prevent dry-rot. If I seal it with resin or something, water will get into it eventually and it will rot. So I'm thinking leave it unsealed and exposed, so it dries out after it gets wet, but use some sort of treatment to maintain some level of moisture in it, so it doesn't dry out completely and dry-rot. The transom that is in there (painted plywood) seems to be original, making it over 50 years old. 50 years is a pretty long life I think... It seems successful enough, why mess with it? Anybody have any thought?

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,.... Just to clear up what appears to be a misunderstandin' on yer part,....

Dry wood don't rot, 'n become dry-rot,....
Wet wood rots,....
Dry-rot is wood that was wet, rotted, then dried out,....

As for treatin' fresh plywood,....
When I did my starcraft transom 20 odd years ago,...
I laminated the 3 pieces with resorsinal glue(same glue used for new exterior plywood), 'n then soaked the semi-finished transom with boiled linseed oil,.....
Slathered the oil onto it, 'n let it soak in for a week, while reslatherin' it daily,...
Then flipped it over, 'n did the same on the other side,....
Ain't found any signs of rot since,...

 

[66Holiday924]

Bondo, sounds good to me. What model/year Starcraft do you have? I want to do exactly what you did. How much linseed oil did you need? To remove the transom wood, I will be removing the screws that outline the transom, which fasten the wood to the aluminum stern sheet? How do you re-seal those screws when you install the new transom wood? 5200? Does the transom wood I described above sound right to you?

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... I've got a '74 Starcraft 221 Islander,....

It mighta soaked up 1/2 qt, of linseed oil,.... maybe more, maybe less, I bought a gallon can as it's pretty cheap,....

As for pullin' the transom, Ya pull all the screws ya find, probably drill out a few rivets, remove the "Stuff" above the transom, 'n start tryin' to lift it out,...
As ya go, you'll no doubt find rivets 'n screws ya didn't see before,....

Goin' back together, I put rivets where there were rivets, 'n screws where I found screws,....
Things below the waterline got 5200, things above did not,....

If yer gonna be a Tinbarge Guy,....
Aluminum closed end pop-rivets will be yer Best friend,....

 

[66Holiday924]

Do you keep your boat in the water all summer? Did you go back and paint around the keyhole edges with the linseed oil when you cut it out?

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... For the last 12 years it's been a dock barge, before I bought my house on the water, it was trailered,....

Don't remember all the details, it was 'bout 20 years ago,.... Probably slathered the keyhole though,...

The topside was painted with 2-pt automotive urethane, the bottom with Rustoleum industrial enamel,....

 

[66Holiday924]

Is your transom wood dry or a little bit oily?

 

[Watermann]

This is a popular wood sealing method here in the Starcraft section.

 

[66Holiday924]

Thanks Watermann. So I am clear, if I do this or what bondo did, there is no need to worry about fiberglassing? Fiberglass is not one of my skill sets. I would probably do an amateur job if I have to do it .

 

[Scott Danforth]

yes, if you use the mixture above, your good to go.

and yes, dispose of the wet rags properly.

 

[Watermann]

Thanks Watermann. So I am clear, if I do this or what bondo did, there is no need to worry about fiberglassing? Fiberglass is not one of my skill sets. I would probably do an amateur job if I have to do it .

I'm not a fiberglass user either so I would say no. I do however use oil base industrial primer and paint on the transoms I've done after sealing them. Another thing I do is dry fit the transom, mark and drill out every hole before sealing and painting. Having a drill guide to keep the holes straight helps out a bunch. When installing every through the transom bolt and screw should be sealed with 5200.

 

[66Holiday924]

I think I am pretty content with the plan to build the new transom. I'll use the marine grade wood from Carter Lumber. I'll ask their supplier how I go about getting the same glue that's used in the plywood, and use it to laminate my boards together. I'll laminate the boards, trace my transom, using my old transom as a template, cut it out, sand the rough edges, treat it with the old timer's mix and re-install. <------ I think I'm good with that plan. Am I missing anything on this end of this?

​I'm thinking the foot wide panel that extends across the back of the boat will need to come off. Is that right? I'm thinking that I am going to have to take the trim pieces off and remove the rubrail at least half way up the sides of the boat (off far enough to push it out of the way without damaging it). I will cut the gunnel and have them re-welded or cover the cuts with a piece of trim. <------ I'm thinking this is what I am in for. Does it sound about right?

I can't go look at it right now because it's shrink wrapped but I'm pretty sure that there is an aluminum bracket that the transom slides in and out of. So my new transom will have to slide in from the top.

 

[jbcurt00]

Use TiteBond3, or their equivalent to polyurethane based GorillaGlue, or GorillaGlue. They are fairly easy to find and are waterproof.

There is probably a small angle at the bottom of the transom plywood that it slides down into, but its not very tall..... IF its similar to an OB setup, might be different for an I/O. But not really substantial enough to call it much of a bracket...

Dont forget the 1/2in horse collar at the thru hole.

 

[66Holiday924]

​"Dont forget the 1/2in horse collar at the thru hole"

​I don't know what this is. Everything else I said above sounds good to you though?