1979 18' Starcraft SuperSport Restoration

[mbroughton02]

Is it possible to hinge the boxes at the front and use a buckle to hold the seat back to the SW?

Yes, I was also thinking of a solution involving hinging the seats.

 

[Pusher]

What if you did similar to ezmobee's setup but instead of latching to the sw you had the latch connected to a facial trim board on the floor running widthwise against the seat bases. Release the trim latch and the whole bucket seat lifts straight up and out. Might require some extra work :-/

This might sound terrible, but what if the middle seat hinges forward and the starboard side hinged to the port so you'd have a straight shot at the battery. A total exercise in Tetris ;-)

 

[ezmobee]

My seats are hinged at the front where the seat attaches to the box.

 

[GA_Boater]

I vote for a front hinge. If the seats fold, close 'em up and flip forward. That way not too much will be in the way to get to the things behind the seats.

I did something like that for a helm/passenger seat box and no latches are needed to hold the seats down. The weight keeps it closed.

 

[mbroughton02]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think front hinged jump seats is the way to go.

Got some presents in the mail today:

Splashwell installed and primed with self etching primer, as well as the gunnels:

Painting tomorrow.

 

[Watermann]

Oh boy nothing quite like having a pile of new boat parts!

Looking good, have fun with the paint day :happy:

 

[mbroughton02]

I dun goofed :facepalm:

I am embarrassed. I almost didn't post this, but let this be a cautionary tale for those who come after me.

Saturday morning I primed with rustoleum clean metal primer and didn't notice anything particularly unusual. Saturday evening I decided to shoot the first layer of blue. I'm using a HVLP gun by the way. Immediately something seemed wrong with the pattern:

I fiddled with the regulator at the gun, which at first glance seemed okay - 40 PSI with the trigger pulled. Messed with the paint flow knob and air flow knob. Both were right around where I usually set them, but the pattern still sucked.

At this point I should have stopped painting. But I didn't, like a damn idiot. I convinced myself that this was just how the first coat went on, and that the second coat would look better. I know that doesn't make any sense. But I think that I had a goal in mind, and, unfortunately, I was not deterred. I painted the splashwell, gunnels, consoles, and bow seat piece with the gun like this. Not good:

This morning I came in and did some troubleshooting with the gun. I soon realized that the regulator at the compressor was down around 60 PSI. I had turned it down for the rivet gun. And to make it even worse, I have a ball valve between my compressor and auxiliary air tank, and somehow it was half closed. The last time I painted I had been running the compressor regulator at about 100, and dropping the pressure down to 40 using the regulator at the gun. I realized that if I held the trigger down and watched the gun regulator, it would have 40 PSI for only a few seconds before the hose couldn't keep up and the pressure would drop off quickly.

I corrected the regulator and ball valve, but it gets worse. Like a damn idiot, again, I convinced myself that I could still fix this by painting the second coat. So I did, and it's really bad:

Orange peel so bad that I can almost taste oranges when I look at it.

I'm an idiot. I know. When the gun seemed off yesterday, I should have stopped and not painted until I figured out the problem.

The only good news in all of this is that the orange peel seems to sand off without too much trouble. So that's what I'm doing now:

After the sanding is complete I'll need to vacuum & tack cloth and probably do 2 more coats.

Let me have it. I suck.

 

[Watermann]

Yeah I think having to sand all that paint off and buy more is punishment enough. Ya goob :heh:

 

[Pusher]

Could have left it on the gunnels as non-slip ;-)

One step back, two steps forward wins the race.

 

[mbroughton02]

Could have left it on the gunnels as non-slip ;-)

One step back, two steps forward wins the race.

I honestly thought about it, but I just have too many hours in this thing to let it slide. It looks like a 4 year old painted it.

 

[Pusher]

Haha, I'm glad you have a good attitude about it. You'll know if you have any high spots at least and the final product will be awesome!

I'm bbq some brauts if you want to do mine next

 

[ezmobee]

Could have left it on the gunnels as non-slip ;-)

This was my thought when I saw the pics. I was like well considering where he did it, it could look factory!

 

[smevil]

I feel your pain, I am able to mess each paint job I do in at least one way or another, some times I'm the only one can see it, but once you see it that's all you see. So I'm learning to live with a few imperfections. (paints cheap it all the other parts that mix in drive up the cost to "how much was that again")

 

[BWR1953]

I dun goofed :facepalm:

I am embarrassed. I almost didn't post this, but let this be a cautionary tale for those who come after me.....

...After the sanding is complete I'll need to vacuum & tack cloth and probably do 2 more coats.

Let me have it. I suck.

Thanks for the cautionary tale! I really learned a lot and will be uber careful when it's my time to paint!

Only other thing to say is:

 

[jasoutside]

I feel your pain man. I've painted three boats now. Two out of the three came out great! The third, my Islander, was horrible. Painted, sanded and repainted 3 times over and I couldn't get it right. Man was that ever frustrating, and expensive, and time consuming.

 

[mbroughton02]

Does anyone have a source for the rubrail insert OTHER than Wefco?

I emailed them for a price. They replied. $2.50/ft (fine) + $25 shipping (steep IMHO). I politely asked if the shipping would be any less if it was shipped as (2) 20' lengths instead of (1) 40' length. They replied: "NO, UPS is very expensive, we are in California you are in NY".

The email just rubs (no pun intended) me the wrong way. I feel like replying "Okay, dude. I was just asking. And I know where I live."

I guess I'm just not super enthusiastic about giving them my money. Do I have a choice?

 

[jasoutside]

Rub rails are a trick, we've been down this road...
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owne...oats/514425-official-starcraft-rubrail-thread

 

[jbcurt00]

Unfortunately you got a bad cust serv rep at Wefco, IMO.

Also unfortunate that currently Wefco is the 1 source that offers a replacement.

On the whole, the difference between lower cost shipping, say $10 or $15, and the $25 you were quoted, wouldnt be enough for me to spend several hours (more like lots and lots of time over several days) trying to find an alternate after so many have tried before, unsuccessfully.

Try calling Wefco instead of emailing them. Just remember 40ft of rubrail isnt particularly light, and ask about slowest shipping available. You arent in a rush at this point. Might get lucky and the rep on the phone will try harder to be exceptionally helpful.

But as far as I know, Wefco is the only provider of a great match.

Might also ask about getting a discount when ordering more then 40ft. Bwana Don is also likely to need about 40ft of rubrail too. 1 of you could order it all, then ship 1/2 to the other. He's closer to CA then you are. Doubt it'll be enough savings to be worth it, but it might be....

Don: http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat-...ler-conversion

 

[jasoutside]

And heck, so long as we are kicking things around like combining forces, I'm going to be buying all new rubrail for both my Sea Nymph project and my Sportfisherman project. That puts me at almost 100' of rubrail right there.

 

[Watermann]

Wefco is the only maker we know of that makes the SC RR insert profile. If you find another one cheaper with free shipping post it on up.