1980 Starcraft SS160 Restoration

[baldwibr]

Hey guys. I figured it's time for me to get this out there as I'm planning on restoring my 1980 Starcraft SS160. Picked it up last summer for $1,000 in working condition- does not leak at all (I've had it out about 15 times last year).

Now with a wife and two small kids, I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to do this, but I know I would like to follow it to completion. I know the electrical and fuel systems are not safe and want to at least rewire all the electrical and rebuild the dashboard with new switches and gauges. I will also be towing the boat behind our fifth wheel when we go on our camping trips this summer so I want to make sure the boat trailer is in good condition for peace of mind and safety on the road.

I'd like to really utilize the versatility of this type of boat meaning it'll be mainly a fishing boat, but I'd also like it to be comfortable for pulling tubes or wakeboards for the boys and have it be comfortable for pleasure boating too.



The hull paint is well scratched and dirty so I'm thinking a full repainting is in order. The trailer is also in rough shape and needs to be worked on. I will be towing this behind our fifth wheel this year, so I want to be sure the trailer is in great shape for my peace of mind. That will mean new tires, wheels, and bearings. It may also mean new hubs and leaf springs, converting to 2x4 bunks instead of rollers, new lights, new hardware, and a new paint job.


Both console faces need to be rebuilt. For the passenger console, I'd like to utilize more of the space in the console rather than a plastic insert box that is currently there. The driver console will have a whole new dashboard with new gauges and switches. I'd also like to add some LED interior lights and maybe a radio system as well.


The motor is a 1969 Chrysler 70HP outboard (7071) that was in running condition. The only thing I had to do was replace the coil since it was showing continuity on my voltmeter (the coil was shorted out). So I replaced the Magnum power pack and existing coil with a NAPA automotive coil (plus new condenser and spark plugs) and it ran once again. Still doesn't idle the smoothest in gear at low RPM, but I'll get that figured out. Only bummer about the motor is parts are very hard to find.


The previous owner had built a front deck which is pretty much just plywood on top of the seat structure below. The floors are pretty solid for now. I can't tell how or when they were replaced. It did come with a bow mount trolling motor (65lb?) Powerdrive V1 but the pedal doesn't seem to be fully working. I'll have to figure that one out too. The bow needs to be reinforced to handle the trolling motor or a future better trolling motor.



It's currently in the back yard in storage condition, but it's warming up a bit so I'm thinking of putting it in the garage and getting started on it. I'd like to have the boat ready by May when the lakes in Michigan are thawed out and ready to fish.

So my main question is: Since I have to redo some of the trailer, the electrical, and the fuel system, is it worth just spending the money to do a full restore this year? From what I've been able to plan, the electrical, fuel, and trailer stuff is about half the cost of a full restore anyways. Plus, I figured it would just be easiest to have the hull completely stripped and flipped to redo the paint on the boat and trailer. What have you guys done?

 

[mbroughton02]

Nice looking boat. A few of my thoughts, but there are others here who have more experience than me. I'm almost done restoring an 18' supersport.

- How's the transom? The location of the crack in your splashwell I'm thinking may have been caused by running the boat with a bad transom. If the transom is rotten you are going to want to remove the splashwell to replace it (no big deal).

- You said the floor feels okay. I suppose if the floor isn't needing to come out, you could do a pretty quick restore. However, if I were you, I'd want to know if there was flotation under the floor. Especially with young kids in the boat. You might be able to take a peek by sticking your head down where the bilge pump is. Factory put in white styrofoam which is prone to becoming totally waterlogged. If a previous owner replaced the floor, they may have kept it, or removed it completely, and may or may not have put other foam in its place. I wouldn't do a bunch of improvements to a boat without knowing for sure that the flotation situation was acceptable, because if you have to install / replace foam later, you'll have to take the entire boat apart to get to it.

Fishing in May is pretty ambitious if you're starting now and you end up gutting it first, IMHO. And if the transom is bad you'll want to do that at a minimum. I started with a boat that at first glance was about like yours, except I knew I had to replace the floor, transom, and I had to fix quite a few leaky rivets. It took me just over a year from gutting to test drive-able, averaging approximately 10 hours a week working on it. But I'm admittedly slow, and there were many weeks when I couldn't work on the boat at all.

 

[Watermann]

:welcome: to the Starmada and thanks for all the pics!

I would gut the boat and rebuild it but you're going to have to put in a ton of work in short order to meet your deadline. My 2 Starcraft rebuilds have taken just over a year. The PO has removed your side panes which are a very important part of the boats structure and need to be replaced. My guess is the PO also just decked over the old rotten plywood since he took so many short cuts it wouldn't surprise me.

Take a look at my 18' SS resto and see what I did with mine. It sounds to me like you want something similar to what I did.

 

[baldwibr]

Nice looking boat. A few of my thoughts, but there are others here who have more experience than me. I'm almost done restoring an 18' supersport.

Thanks for the feedback, MB. I've been following your restoration and have gathered a lot of ideas and advice from your thread. Your Starcraft is looking great! I used your winterizing method of the high 2x4's to winterize my boat since we get plenty of snow in Michigan.

- How's the transom? The location of the crack in your splashwell I'm thinking may have been caused by running the boat with a bad transom. If the transom is rotten you are going to want to remove the splashwell to replace it (no big deal).

When I bought it, the transom was completely rotted out. I did a quick replace with 3/4" exterior ply doubled using 2 part epoxy and sealing with 2 part epoxy. I just wanted it done so I could use it for the summer.

- However, if I were you, I'd want to know if there was flotation under the floor. Especially with young kids in the boat. You might be able to take a peek by sticking your head down where the bilge pump is. Factory put in white Styrofoam which is prone to becoming totally waterlogged. If a previous owner replaced the floor, they may have kept it, or removed it completely, and may or may not have put other foam in its place. I wouldn't do a bunch of improvements to a boat without knowing for sure that the flotation situation was acceptable, because if you have to install / replace foam later, you'll have to take the entire boat apart to get to it.

Yeah, many of the guys here definitely put a big priority on the flotation foam for safety's sake. I can see towards the transom there is what appears to be the original factory white Styrofoam and I'm assuming it is still under there and what I see doesn't appear to be water logged- not to say there isn't water logged foam in there somewhere. I'm also very curious if there is a ski locker under the floor or if it's just filled with foam too. It's space I'd like to utilize if it's available.

 

[mbroughton02]

Nice job on the transom. If that floor / flotation really is good, May is likely do-able I'd think. If you're dead set on fishing ths year you could probaly use it as-is again and then really dive in in the fall. But Watermann's advice is also solid...the side panels need to go back in, and maybe the floor is just a new layer over an old layer. If so, that's a lot of extra weight.

I don't know if a factory ski locker was an option. I put mine in from scratch.

 

[baldwibr]

:welcome: to the Starmada and thanks for all the pics!

I would gut the boat and rebuild it but you're going to have to put in a ton of work in short order to meet your deadline. My 2 Starcraft rebuilds have taken just over a year. The PO has removed your side panes which are a very important part of the boats structure and need to be replaced. My guess is the PO also just decked over the old rotten plywood since he took so many short cuts it wouldn't surprise me.

Take a look at my 18' SS resto and see what I did with mine. It sounds to me like you want something similar to what I did.

Thanks, WM!! Long time listener, first time caller.

Yes, very similar to what you did with your V5 (which looks fantastic).

 

[nrf414]

Welcome aboard baldwibr . I'm shooting for April and just finishing paint removal. I kinda did like you, used it for a season to truly determine what I wanted out of it and address some functional issues along the way. Now I'm on to full rebuild. I would definitely make sure floor and foam are good to go and reinstall those side panels. That's easy peasy if you already did a transom replacement. Honestly it's easiest to do all at once since stripping inside leads to flipping and rivet repair and paint. If you can I would do it all at once so you don't have to do it 2x. My .02$

 

[MD28]

Welcome baldwibr. I also believe may to be ambitious but maybe you have a lot of time and money between here and then. I’d try to get the boat safely off the trailer and get that out of the way first. See how long it takes to get that done and then decide if you can blitzkrieg through the boat tear down and rebuild. I for one thought I’d do it in a year and I’m on 1 1/2 and counting. There are guys who do it as fast as your deadline, but they do it a lot. I think budski in Canada slams them out in about a month or two.

 

[baldwibr]

Thanks for all the advice and opinions. Given that it's a tight timeline, I think I'll make a couple small safety upgrades this year, then maybe next year do the full restoration. I'll have to figure out how I want to fabricate the side panels since the original tracks and trim are gone (I never had them). In the meantime, I'll keep reading the forums and dreaming about what I would like to do when the time comes in the fall.

 

[66Holiday924]

The SS is an awesome model boat, especially in Michigan. It's small enough and has a shallow enough draft to take into the Irish Hills and do some tubing and skiing. At the same time, on a nice day, with a custom canvas bow cover (at least onboard), it's big enough to take out on Lake Michigan or Erie. Good choice! No rush, enjoy your boat this summer, get the mechanics and trailer squared away and then start the heavy hitting in the fall.

 

[baldwibr]

The SS is an awesome model boat, especially in Michigan. It's small enough and has a shallow enough draft to take into the Irish Hills and do some tubing and skiing. At the same time, on a nice day, with a custom canvas bow cover (at least onboard), it's big enough to take out on Lake Michigan or Erie. Good choice! No rush, enjoy your boat this summer, get the mechanics and trailer squared away and then start the heavy hitting in the fall.

I agree, 66Holiday924, this boat is perfect for Michigan.Plus, the motor should be just strong enough to pull tubes and maybe a wake-board / skis. There are lots of smaller lakes around me that the shallow draft and length of the boat works perfect. But it also has high gunwales, deep V hull, and just long enough for some of the larger lakes in northern Michigan or even in the great lakes on calm days. The tall gunwales will help too with keeping my kids safe.

I found the bow cover and snap on bimini on Facebook marketplace last fall so that will be nice for the big lakes and also for the wife and kids during inclement weather. I also do walleye fishing on the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers early spring and late fall, so the snap on bimini with back curtains will help keep us warmer. I just can't wait to get it out for the spring!

 

[66Holiday924]

I think it will pull skiers just fine. I learned how to ski behind a 16' Starcraft with an 85 Horse Johnson. I know the adults skied behind that boat too. My dad (probably 200lbs at the time) slalom skied behind it. I hear you, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I've resigned to the idea that I will be without a boat this summer. It's killing me. lol. I think Torch Lake up by Traverse City would be an awesome trip with the Admiral. That lake is beautiful. It looks like tropical water. It's more of an adult trip, they party hard there supposedly.

 

[MD28]

I think it would be fun to do the chain of lakes with the family as well. I did that with my parents as a kid. Nice easy boats to haul and just the right size for most Michigan situations.

 

[baldwibr]

As mentioned before, I have decided to wait on doing a full restore until maybe next winter. But I will be redoing the electrical since what was in there is simply just a hazard. I also need to permanently mount the fuel tank and put a new filler neck and vent. I also need to do some basic maintenance and upgrades to the boat motor.

So, I awoke the boat from it's winter slumber. It's a mess but the winterize did it's job. No signs of moisture or critters.




I also was sure to pull the aft floor boards and see what I could see. Thankfully, it looks like it still has the original floatation foam. However, it does have some space for a rod / ski locker in the future. Floorboards are still solid but they don't look like they're in the greatest of shape. There's also flotation foam in the gunwales.



Other than that, I got the first round of parts ordered to begin the electrical, fuel, and motor update / repair.

Next on the list is to disassemble the console faces and start working on a redesign. More to come.

 

[Watermann]

Amazing condition for her age, but I can guess how all that old smelled under the tarp. :lol:

 

[crankbait cowboy]

nice outfit baldwibr and welcome aboard, lots of ideas and great advice on this forum , whether your fixing and repairing or going the full restore mode. i just happen to be working on my dash and gauges also, and after looking at many that have gone before me , i am happy with the way they are coming along. my plan is 3/4 marine grade plywood dash board, with 3 coats epoxy on it , and after that you got lots of options as to layout and how you want to dress it up. good luck!

 

[66Holiday924]

The canvas looks to be in pretty good shape. It's nice to find a boat with custom canvas. I think that bow cover is definitely a plus for our area (Great Lakes). You wouldn't catch me out on Erie in an open bow without some kind of canvas over the bow. It gets too choppy too fast. There doesn't appear to be a lot of foam under that deck. I don't know much about it, only what I've seen people put in there on iboats, but it seems people are piling it to the top of the stringers when they install the loose purple foam. It's got to feel good to be bringing the project back to life!

 

[66Holiday924]

my plan is 3/4 marine grade plywood dash board, with 3 coats epoxy on it , and after that you got lots of options as to layout and how you want to dress it up. good luck!

I plan to rebuild my dash. I am doing my transom right now, having a new engine installed, and then my dash should be redone. I'm going to have a lot of 1/2" Marine Grade Plywood (Doug Fir) leftover from my transom project, so I was planning on doubling it up and building the dash. I'm trying to keep clutter down and keep it somewhat classic looking.

 

[baldwibr]

I was able to get to the hardware store and get some new hardware for the bimini brackets. I decided to super glue them for added strength along with new stainless steel machine screws and nuts (#8 - 24, 5/8"). I put them back into the slides.



I also removed the instrument panels from both consols. Then I took out all the existing wires after the picture.


That's it so far. Been doing a lot of sitting and thinking in the boat trying to plan it all out in my head and double checking my parts list. I need to get some wiring now and can begin installing... but it will probably have to wait until next week. We got my youngest's first birthday party this weekend so I'm sure there's a hefty honey-do list to prepare for weekend guests.

 

[baldwibr]

So I've been going back and forth about whether to make the new console faces machining 1/4" aluminum and having them anodized, or do build them from wood.

The anodized aluminum would look slick and last forever, but it really wouldn't tie into anything else on the boat, unless I were to also machine some other accent parts for around the boat to match.

On the other hand, my father rebuild his console faces last year using a bamboo wood and sealed using an outdoor urathane. I think this also looks pretty sweet and I can make some matching bamboo step pads and other accents to match. Thoughts? Opinions?