Re: 1969 Starcraft Offshore V
I decided to name my 1973 Starcraft Chiefton, Snowball. Thats the effect its had so far, I knew I was taking on a restoration project but ran into a lot of unexpected surprises. I pulled the lower unit to replace the shift cable, it has a Mercruiser I, and the water pump for safetys sake. The exhaust, water feed, drive shaft hose were dry rotted. The transom looked fine until I saw a water stain by the inside nuts on the lift eyes, I poked at it and found there are two pieces of plywood layerd on top one another the visible one was fine the one behind it was rotted, LOL, sometimes you have to laugh so you dont cry. Then what I thought was a lifter noise turned out to be something deeper in the engine, even though it was tinny sounding and not your typical bearing knock, when you disconnect the plug wire the noise just about disappears and the noise gets worse with higher RPM, probably a cracked piston or piston slap, either way time for an engine rebuild. Not to unexpected but still an expense I didnt want. Im not going into everything that happened here, I learned to take that stuff in stride because its what restoring a boat is about, but it adds up in the long run. A cheap boat turned into an expensive boat, Ill probably have about $2000.00 or so in it when its completed because Im doing the work myself and have a source to get dealer pricing on parts. Ill know the boat is fresh and done right, which will give me a bit of confidence when I have it offshore. Always expect the unexpected and price the boat accordingly.
