1977 15' StarCraft Holiday Restomod

[Watermann]

One of my favorites, paint stripping! A necessary evil that while doing it seems to have no end or reward. :lol:

Nice looking ply you got there, should be stronger than original. it'll be nice when things start going back in, it seems like the the rebuild goes way faster after the decking.

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Your project seems to be coming along well and looking good. I see you are also from Michigan and I will have to say it has been awful nice to have such a mild winter this year and am looking for an early spring to get back out on the waters. You mention going up north walleye fishing - where to? Saginaw Bay? We usually hit up Sebewaing in June when the fish are in the slot and usually can bang out 4 man limits in a couple hours. Great fun and great eating.

 

[coostv]

Watermann, paint stripping, woohoo!! I wish I could just sand it and be done, but it has a couple of layers on it and I am not sure what they used for paint, no sense in putting new paint on just to have it peel later.

Weep'n Willy, I hear about the bay a lot, but this year will be Tippy Dam. I have a buddy who goes every year with his brother and says he can put us right on them, so we are going to give it a go. I've only tried for Walleye once and caught one... Hopefully this will be a better go of it!

 

[coostv]

Been busy with other stuff around here the last few weeks. But, the stars aligned yesterday and my buddy was able to come over with his orange friend and help get the boat off the trailer.

We first brought it back into the bay and set it on my saw horses and determined it was going to be way too high, after a quick adjustment with a saw, it sits at a workable height! Plan to start stripping it this week.

Still not 100% set on a color for the hull. I am thinking I may borrow some of the Viper Vapor Silver I have on hand for my Mustang. Not sure what color the topside will be if I go that route, maybe GM Bahama Blue. Whatever I decide, it will carry over to the outboard as well.

Another thing I am considering is cutting the bow open and building a platform for fishing from. This has been a source of anguish for me, I was set to do it a week or two ago, then decided to hold off and see how I feel after the hull is complete.

 

[Watermann]

Bare hull assuming the turtle position :heh:

That little 15'r should be fairly easy to man handle with 2 guys.

 

[coostv]

Bare hull assuming the turtle position :heh:

That little 15'r should be fairly easy to man handle with 2 guys.

I figured it would take at least three of us since the bow seemed heavier than the stern. I carried the stern by myself with no trouble.

While this thing is off the trailer I would like to convert the trailer to bunks. I am not sure how long the bunks should be though. I was thinking they should be as long as the strakes (or chines, or ribs, or? I have no idea what they are called, lol) and as close as possible as seen in my crude depiction below. Is this correct?

I picked up a gallon of stripper this last weekend, but I also picked up three gallons of satin interior house paint at the same time, so guess which one gets to be used first. Admiral always comes first.

 

[Watermann]

That's correct, make the bunks the same length as the flat portion of the bottom, it's not much in the way of support once the curve starts towards the bow. I've put a keel roller up front to take weight off the winch stand bow stop.

 

[coostv]

Thanks Watermann. The trailer currently has four keel rollers in conjunction with the 6 bunk rollers per side. I was thinking I may leave all of the keel rollers or at least three anyway, my old Starcraft had two I think (one midway and one at the rear). Speaking of which, I was looking for pictures of something else tonight and ran across my pictures I took when I sold the old one('73). I had not used it in over a year by the time these were taken, but she was still in decent shape for what it was. I think I painted the hull in '01 or so (this would have been '07 I think).

 

[coostv]

Well, I took the day off of work to play. What I have found is this, above the waterline has apparently been sanded all the way back to metal and etch primed and then painted. I could have probably just sanded the boat, but the stripper is making quick work of taking off the paint on the sides, but the bottom is a hot mess. Whatever was put on there does not want to come off whatsoever. I'll deal with that with the D/A and 80 grit, I'm done messing with stripper on it.

I still have drywall and painting to work on in the house, so my time out in the shop may be limited this weekend.

 

[Watermann]

Isn't that fun! :lol: Oh wait I'm up to bat next on my SS.

 

[coostv]

I saw that you picked it up! I will be following the build. I lurk more than I post. I should at least tell someone good job...

Side two is coated and bubbling as I type this. I need to get all of the extra crap out of the stall it is in, this is my spraybooth too. It tends to catch a lot of junk since the spray jobs are far and few between these days.

 

[dozerII]

Gotta love stripping, I'd be real careful with the D/A and 80 grit rivet heads take a real beating and because thier is a slight dimple around each rivet in the hull skin the sand paper can't get all the paint off. I know how much we all hate stripper but it is the best way. Have you tried putting a good thick layer on then cover it with poly and let it set for a few hours? This usually gets even the toughest paint.

 

[g0nef1sshn]

I am not sure how long the bunks should be though. I was thinking they should be as long as the strakes (or chines, or ribs, or? I have no idea what they are called, lol) and as close as possible as seen in my crude depiction below. Is this correct?

I think its ok for bunks to be longer than actually needed for support. I say that because I have used my dad boat on some crappy steep ramps. When it drops pretty good, the longer bunks are still able to at least catch the bow from hitting the trailer and helps keep the boat centered when pulling it out.

 

[coostv]

Gotta love stripping, I'd be real careful with the D/A and 80 grit rivet heads take a real beating and because thier is a slight dimple around each rivet in the hull skin the sand paper can't get all the paint off. I know how much we all hate stripper but it is the best way. Have you tried putting a good thick layer on then cover it with poly and let it set for a few hours? This usually gets even the toughest paint.

Thanks Glen, I did not try covering it! I will try that today. After making that post on Friday, I was thinking yesterday that I would hit all of the main portions of the bottom with sandpaper and go back with stripper and a razor blade on the rivets if needed, but I did notice that when the stripper was left to dry around the rivets overnight it came off with a wire wheel chucked up in my drill fairly easy. I put some stripper on last night to experiment with the wire wheel again later this afternoon. I definitely do not want to sand the rivet heads off, that was going through my mind too.

Yesterday's progress was pretty good, I avoided the bottom for the day and instead focused on the sides and transom. Made very good progress, and should be done today and be at a point where all that is needed for the sided is washing, sanding, and hammer/dolly work on one good sized ding. Will post some pictures once I get today's activities done.

 

[coostv]

I think its ok for bunks to be longer than actually needed for support. I say that because I have used my dad boat on some crappy steep ramps. When it drops pretty good, the longer bunks are still able to at least catch the bow from hitting the trailer and helps keep the boat centered when pulling it out.

Thanks gone, I did some measuring yesterday, the rib on the boat is about 8 feet long, from the rear cross member of the trailer to the furthest cross member forward is 6 feet. So, with that I am thinking they will end up just over six feet with a little overhang at each cross member making sure to come at least flush with the transom once the boat is back on there.

I talked myself into getting the trailer sandblasted, so between sessions of stripping, I am going to start tearing the trailer down today if the rain holds off.

 

[StarTed]

Hi coostv,

Good work so far. You're still making progress.

I used paint stripper and left it on for over 24 hours uncovered in my cool shop and it worked much better that way. Following the instructions it didn't seem to work. It didn't really dry out in that time and scraped off with a putty knife quite well. It took a wire brush on an angle grinder to finish the removal.

Looking good.

 

[MyOutdoors]

Nice job coos, I'm rehabbing mine as well. I'm also thinking of cutting out the closed bow and making a nice raised platform for fishing. Did you strip the paint on the top side before flipping it? I'm in the process of taking off all the hardware and filling the holes with JB.

 

[coostv]

No I didn't do anything to the topside yet. I just plan on sanding that and priming and painting over the factory paint on top, it it still in pretty good shape with just minimal scratches. I also am still not 100% sure I want to cut it open. I waver back and forth because I really like it closed, I may just finish it off as is and see how I like it and possibly cut it open later.

 

[coostv]

Not as far as I thought I'd be by now! Bare metal is showing more and more though. I will keep picking at it over this week and see if I can't make a big move toward progress next weekend.

Anybody ever see one of these tanks before? Seems to be in great shape and very old, possibly same age as the boat?

 

[Watermann]

Wish I was that far along on the hull stripping job, looking good so far.

That is a super cool old tank, you're going to use it?