1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

[boatguy94]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

So much for working again today... Went out when I had some time, and the stuff going on yesterday must have carried over...

Put down some PL with a caulk gun I borrowed. Gun worked much better, so that's a plus.

Then put down the deck, and lined it up nicely. Drilled a hole near the rib, filled the hole with some 5200 then put in my rivet. I made sure to have all the weight in that area, and tightened the rivet. Though it was tight, and I steped back, and up comes the deck :facepalm:.

Thought that I may have hit close to the old hole so I moved to the next rib, and did the same thing just a bit farther back. Put in the rivet, stood in the spot, and it did the same thing.

Tried that in a couple more spots, then brought out the screws... Drilled into the first rib I had tried, and put the screw in with some 5200. Thought it was holding, then tightened it up with the drill, and pop up came the deck. :Facepalm:. Well that didn't work. Tried another screw, and my drill bit broke. So I called it, and headed in. Boat 2, Boatguy 0 . Here's a picture of my fails...

When I go back I'm going to have to get the deck piece up (got one rivet to hold), and scrape off the pl and start over...

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So any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong, or how to go about this would be great. I'm thinking I shoul go with a couple more screws than rivets now. I just hope I didn't order my rivets too long. I think they are fine, just have no idea what I am doing wrong... Sorry to put my problems on here, but I'm almost thinking of giving up right now even though I have came somewhat far.

 

[KellyC]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Ahhhhhhhh don't give up buddy, you will get it. I think that if your rivets were to long then they would still hold, I tried a couple of really long ones when I was trying out my rivet gun on some really thin sheets of aluminum. They held even though they were easily 3 times to long, are you sure that they are long enough? The only thing that scares me about screws is that I would wind up somehow getting ones to long and go through the hull of the boat, but that is just my luck. And looking at your deck there in the pic, my rivets were in closer to the edge than what you have a couple of them. I don't know if it would be any different for my 22 ft versus your 16 ft though. Just a couple of things to think about bud.

 

[boatguy94]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Thanks Kelly, I probably won't give up I just can't win... They are long enough(I think), I've got about 1/4" holding them up to the side of the deck. The screws I tried were not very long, but that also concernes me a bit, just have to be carefull and not use the long ones.

As for being closer to the edge that was sort of an experiment. The one farthest to the left in that picture is around the same distance that the old ones were, maybe I need to go closer(move out more not go in further)? The one all the way to the right was an experiment really. I just wanted to see and try what I was doing wrong so I moved in further, and didn't even hit the rib. I think you have a great point though about not being close enough to the edge. Hmmmmm

Guess I just need to give it some thought again, and go out and clean up my mess(take it all up and clean off the pl) and try again tomorrow... :facepalm:

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Tell ya what BG, I have been there my friend. I am certain the other fellas have been there too. That kind of stuff is frustrating man. Big time.

I wish I could drive down and actually see what you are up against, bummer.

You can do it man! Just keep at it, keep figuring, planning, plotting, scheming, thinking, stewing, chewing. It will come.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Did you mark the side of the hull where the center of each rib is located? That helped me out a bunch.

My ribs were dented, bent, had 2-3 holes sometimes so it's a real turkey shoot.

Kinda gotta get it in the bullseye each time so it takes practice.

In that situation, I would just grab a cold beer, play with the kids to clear my head a bit...and then grab the trusty pop-riveter and go give it another try.

(good news is that rivets are cheap and you can coat it all with epoxy again so no worries)

Good luck to ya!

 

[boatguy94]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Tell ya what BG, I have been there my friend. I am certain the other fellas have been there too. That kind of stuff is frustrating man. Big time.

I wish I could drive down and actually see what you are up against, bummer.

You can do it man! Just keep at it, keep figuring, planning, plotting, scheming, thinking, stewing, chewing. It will come.

Thanks Jas! I've been doing too many of the things I made bold... Now time to put it to work, but I guess it's always good to let it sit...

Yeah it's a bit of a drive for ya, if I was just across the street it would be much easier .

Did you mark the side of the hull where the center of each rib is located? That helped me out a bunch.

My ribs were dented, bent, had 2-3 holes sometimes so it's a real turkey shoot.

Kinda gotta get it in the bullseye each time so it takes practice.

In that situation, I would just grab a cold beer, play with the kids to clear my head a bit...and then grab the trusty pop-riveter and go give it another try.

(good news is that rivets are cheap and you can coat it all with epoxy again so no worries)

Good luck to ya!

Thanks Huron! Yup marked where the center of my ribs were, some were actually still marked when I took the deck out.

I'm going to give it another whack tomorrow. I'm going to take the piece out, clean off the PL, put some tape under the holes I drilled, and fill those with epoxy when I do my top coats for the deck. I'll also give putting the deck down another try

Sounds like putting your deck down was much harder, and here I am complaining about mine... :facepalm:

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So guys I'll take another try at it tomorrow. Thanks for all the support everyone! I really was pretty mad and frustrated when I came in and posted, and now I've been thinking a while and getting a plan put together.

 

[boatguy94]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Half sort of a win today. Figured out my mistakes, I wasn't really hitting the rib dead on center and I was a bit farther back. Also needed to pull it down more so the rivets cold grab. Learned from that. Thinks were going well until the rivet gun got jammed badly again :facepalm: and then getting back into the boat I tipped over my box of screws :facepalm: :facepalm:. So looks like I'm going to have to take the deck up again or get a magnet under there and try to find them... Dang I thought I'd have the deck down by now.

Looks like it'll be a late summer splash date now. At least I learned a couple things today, and once I get a better hand rivet gun (any suggestions?) and get the screws out from under the deck I should be golden. I'm still planning on ordering some stuff today.

I didn't think the deck would be this hard. All of the threads I was looking at made it look super easy, guess not... Maybe I'll somehow hit a winning streak and finish this all quickly. I may or may not be able to take another whack at it tomorrow.

 

[KellyC]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Ok, what kind of rivet gun do you have? I bought a pneumatic one at HF and from what little I have tested it, it seems to be ok. If that is what you have then the next step up will be pretty spendy my friend. I don't recall seeing any under $150 and I think that even sounds a bit low, but not sure. You are going to get it buddy, just don't put any more containers of screws around that will want to go boating with ya.

 

[boatguy94]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Kelly I keep miss saying it. It's just a hand rivet gun thing, I shouldn't say rivet gun because it isn't a gun :facepalm:. It's just an el-cheepo $5 hand riveter. So I'll check Home Depot tomorrow, or ACE or someplace for a better one. Why do I always not say the right things....?

Thanks, yeah I will try not to put any more containers of screws down there. Heck might as well fill the whole boat up now. Hope I can get those out with a magnet. I'm no where in the mood to take up the deck AGAIN!

Thanks Kelly! Seems like whenever I come around here I get some votes of confidence, so maybe I'll keep going at it :redface:.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

I dropped a couple of screws by accident and sure enough, they rolled right off the deck into the hull. Uh, carp.

Huron has a dead bluegill in his rig somewhere. Thats kinda fun

 

[boatguy94]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Yeah I had one sitting on the deck after the spill, and go to pick it up and it rolls right down into the hull :facepalm: dang!

I heard about Hurons bluegill, can't really get a magnet on that one .

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

If it makes you feel any better I had a tough time with my deck too even using deck screws. Especially in the stern corner.

 

[Jayb123]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

WOW.. you wernt kidding BN... our boats and motors are very similar... Sorry off topic I know. Now Im gonna start over and read the whole thread .

 

[boatguy94]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Thanks EZ it does !

And Jayb, yup they really are. Don't worry about going off topic, it's totally fine in my thread . If you want a real good read some say to go read Jas's thread He will probably recite the disclaimer though...

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Plain and simple the boat didn't beat me today! I actually got somewhere, not near done but still way better than the past couple days! I also got those screws out, well at least a couple :facepalm: ohh well.

Not going to say much because the picture says it all. Tomorrow I'll see if I can tackle the rest, and maybe get some epoxy on. We shall see!

 

[boatguy94]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Just forgot to add this yesterday. It seems like I may have a squeak on the second deck piece. It is already almost down. Maybe if I screw it and rivet it a bit more it will go away so I will see. Any ideas on how to get rid of it if it does still squeak?

Heck after all this time I spent I'm probably just going to call it good. I'll probably never hear it anyways.

I'm going to try to get the bow section in today, and mabe do some sanding, and epoxy. I'll try to get some pictures up.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Hey, I bet you are pumped to see that deck going down!

I put some real effort into having my deck squeak free, ya know what, I have one:facepalm: Rats!

Win some, lose some.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

I'll take a rotten bluegill below deck anytime over a squeak.

Not sure how to get rid of squeaks. Hopefully it's just a baby animal that will die peacefully

 

[boatguy94]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Hey, I bet you are pumped to see that deck going down!

I put some real effort into having my deck squeak free, ya know what, I have one, Rats!

Win some, lose some.

More than pumped! It's got me ready to actually finish. Man it was a bear to do, lot's of swearing going on and it's got my blood sweat and tears(ok maybe not ) in it now.

Sucks about the squeaks, I have a couple, and maybe they will go away and maybe not. Ohh well too late now.

I'll take a rotten bluegill below deck anytime over a squeak.

Not sure how to get rid of squeaks. Hopefully it's just a baby animal that will die peacefully

I think I'll take the bluegill over the squeaks and the screws under there now :facepalm:. I sure hope it dies down sometime, and I think it might? I can only hope.

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Deck is down, garage is cleaned up, and I need a bit of a break...

I was thinking on how I really didn't do this at all to the boat builders code. I used regular deck screws, I think the same ones that others used. They were coated in a sort of paint or whatever. I just hope it doesn't do anything later on, I should have used stainless or something else.

Ohh well I wanted to go with rivets, but the only way to pull it down to the ribs was using screws. Same thing for some other places on the stingers. It's about 50/50 rivets/screws.

I'm really just super pumped it's done... What a pain in the butt. So next step is sanding to get it nice, then epoxy, and then the sand. That's for next week. I won't get to it this weekend sadly.

So I'm going to run over my planed splash date, but I think it's way better than running too fast and messing something up big time. I'll be in the water sometime . Have a great weekend guys!

 

[MichaelP]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Did you seal the ends and underside of those panels with epoxy already?

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1978 16' Starcraft SuperSport Resto

Just a friendly tip...

To make those seams dissappear...

Lay down a coat of epoxy just over the seams, let it completely dry, sand smooth with 80 grit.

Then, lay down another coat and feather it out a few inches further, let it completely dry, sand smooth with 80 grit.

Repeat that process like 3 - 5 times (your mileage may vary) feathering a little farther out each time, those seams will simply go away

Have fun buddy...