1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

[SigSaurP229]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Epoxy lasts a lifetime spar has to be reapplied every few years. None of my epoxied wood sees direct sunlight my transom is fully covered on the 18 foot ss my floors are completely covered as well. To me I went epoxy on my boat to last a lifetime. Though starcraft just used bare untreated wood

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

You shouldn't have any issues with either spar or resin degrading if they aren't exposed to the elements. I like to put on 3 nice even coats or spar and just put it on the bare wood, no need at all for other oils.

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Okay so got a little work done today. Most of the day was spent cleaning up the shop and putting extra stuff in the attic of the garage, but Did get some work done. I have a few questions to ask but first I wanted to show the picture of the engine pull that I doctored up. Worked pretty well and was pretty simple. The eye ring is 1/2" forged and the bolts were 5/16 Fine thread. I bought a harmonic balancer puller set from an Autozone and then (3) 5/16"X2-1/2". Worked great!!

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Got a couple sections of the floor out and fish tank out today. The sides of the boat hand some aluminum that went from the gunnels to the floor. Is this to help prevent any water to get down under the floor?? Anyway, they came out pretty easily, and the floor is coming out pretty well. All in once piece at least.



Bow


Middle section. You can see the floor was supported with Aluminum under the front seats as well as in between the middle floor and the back section. Is this factory???





The back seats look to have been replaced later. The seat bases are not the same as the front seats and you can see they cut into the floor for the seat bases as well as the foam. Thoughts here?? Should I go back with seat bases that go into the floor/foam or flush mounted type like the front seats had?

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Last post for tonight...

So I am planning on removing the splash well off the boat. It is made up of about 3 separate pieces, However, the one piece that is covering the transom is one piece with the cross brace of the boat. My plan is to try and remove the splash well as one large piece but nervous to pull the cross brace off and have the boat warp or something. Is this something I need to worry about or will it be okay? Any thoughts on how to do this easier?

I have already drilled out the blind rivets underneath the splash well and unscrewed it from the transom. I have 4 solid rivets on each side of the cross brace to drill out and then it should be free.

Any help would be great here. Thanks!

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

You can rig up a bracing system out of 2x4 but I wouldn't sweat it to much. I didn't with my 18ss and nothing warped.

OMG pour in FLOTATION FOAM MY EYES THEY ARE BURNING. I never wanted to see that carp again it is a bear to remove.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Capt. R - The gunnels are plenty stiff to keep the hull straight. Unlike a glasser, none of us have had any alignment problems after pulling the splashwell.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Lots of progress! Looking good. :thumb:

The strips of aluminum under your deck at the ply seams are factory.

You should be able to lift the well out without removing the cross brace.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

The sides of the boat hand some aluminum that went from the gunnels to the floor. Is this to help prevent any water to get down under the floor??

Water will always seek the lowest point in a container ... err boat ! If designers/rebuilders spent more time of figuring how to get water to drain to the drain plug/bilge pump and not get trapped/blocked by foam or structure boats would last longer.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

If you haven't done so yet, removing all the rigging going through the SW holes helps to get the job done with it all out of the way. The steering cable is usually the toughest to remove although it looks like you've got it out already.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

If you haven't done so yet, removing all the rigging going through the SW holes helps to get the job done with it all out of the way. The steering cable is usually the toughest to remove although it looks like you've got it out already.

TIP ! A bit of silicon spray on the cables/boots and they will slide right through !

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Okay so got some more work done. I am amazed at how little I get to work on this project, but I feel really good about the progress we made today. We were able to get the transom out and the splash well off. The Transom is in pretty good shape. Solid wood, no rotting to speak of but once we got the splash well off, we could see the cracked knee brace much better. Going to be a bit of a challenge to get her fixed, but looking forward to it. also got most of the floor out. Kept a few pieces in just to make working in the boat a little easier. They are all loose, but saving the knees.

Here are some pictures... I know the rules... no pictures = didn't happen...



Guessing this is where I was getting some water in the bilge... bolts were loose... can't imagine why!




Thin pieces of aluminum that finished the rest of the splash well.



Came out really easy... pretty solid for the most part.

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

So we did run into a few issues though... having a hard time getting the fuel out. we have the fuel line running out the drain hole, and we hooked the bulb up to it hoping to try and siphon the gas out. We were able to get a little bit out, but couldn't keep it running. Does anyone have a better suggestion on this? Seems easy, but maybe I am missing something.


We are a little worried about how to flip this boat and especially flipping it back once it is painted. Does anyone have ideas of the best way to do this? We have rollers on our trailer and I was planning on lifting the bow up with the engine host, and then slowly pull the trailer out from under it. Once we had it on the ground, flip it using straps and a bunch of guys. Still, seems easy in my head, but I know I am not thinking this all through.

Thanks again for the suggestions. They have been great so far!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Look thru Dozer's current build, he unloaded & flipped his 18ft Holiday solo. It can be done. Gut the boat, pull it off the trailer, roll it onto it's side on a couple tires & over it goes.....

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Any possibility of renting or borrowing A second engine lift? I always hoist mine from a beam in the shop but i wouldnt suggest that for a garage. Rent a 2nd lift get a large eye bolt and swivel run it through the splashwell the one lift with swivel on the bow eye roll the trailer out from underneath and flip it right over

 

[dozerII]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

The fuel not siphoning is probably because there is an anti-siphon valve on the tank. The barbed fitting that is in the tank that you fuel line connects to is the valve, remove it put in a normal barbed fitting (only to syphon) empty the tank then put in a new anti-syphon valve.

To get the boat off the trailer, pull it back with the winch still hooked up till it gets to the balance point. Move the trailer and boat to the spot you want to unload it. Place two old tires, fairly wide, on the ground under the two back corners of the transom let some winch line out and the boat will gently settle down onto the tires. Place a third tire under the keel of the boat near the front, let out winch line a little at a time pulling the trailer forward as you go till the boat is sitting on the tires. You can do it by yourself but a second person makes it a lot easier. Flipping by yourself is pretty tough but can be done.

 

[barato2]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

using straw bales instead of tires will keep you from having to lift n drop hull as much, since they will hold it at nearly the same level as on most trailers.

and not absolutely critical to flip it to paint....can be done on the trailer, one side at a time.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Good job on the tear down, now comes the tough part of the job, the clean up and repair. See in your pic all the white on the transom wood? That is galvanic corrosion and the white comes from the aluminum corroding. Be sure to do a good clean up on the areas of the transom skin with the corresponding corrosion. Don't be alarmed at the pitting, you just have to deal with it by skinning with JB weld or Marine Tex.

You will be very surprised how light that hull is now without anything inside it. All I had to do on my boats was to slide the boat off the trailer down onto 4x4's and then 2 of us rolled it over into the turtle position. I'm pretty sure that SS hull is a bit lighter than the Chief too. Most of us use a brace inside to keep the sides from compressing and tighten the hull against it with a tie down strap.

Have fun!

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

So, I am just wondering what else I should be doing before I flip the boat over to paint it. It is starting to get nice out here, and I am wanting to paint this pretty soon so that I can get going on the inside of the boat. Should I cut my new floor and transom and dry fit those pieces first before I flip? Or does that even really matter?? I am not taking the foam out. From the samples I have, I feel very comfortable that the foam is dry.

Should I be cleaning all the carpet glue off the boat before I flip or again is that something I can wait to do after I paint? Obviously worried about wrecking the new paint while working on the inside. Am I rushing the paint step? Just don't want to flip it and paint it and then wish I had done something else first. Still planning on having this in the water by June....

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Good job on the tear down, now comes the tough part of the job, the clean up and repair. See in your pic all the white on the transom wood? That is galvanic corrosion and the white comes from the aluminum corroding. Be sure to do a good clean up on the areas of the transom skin with the corresponding corrosion. Don't be alarmed at the pitting, you just have to deal with it by skinning with JB weld or Marine Tex.

Waterman- how would I go about cleaning the aluminum? What is the reason behind the work? I am guessing if it is not cleaned it will end up seriously damaging the structure of the hull later. Sorry if this seems like a stupid question. just not much experience with this. Thanks.