1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

[barato2]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

i'd leave it. shrink the splashwell by a bit and build platform inside if needed. think of boat structure, looking at it from the bow, as a triangle....this is the third leg of that triangle, as is the bow structure. OTOH, if you build your platform stout enough, though, it might work....run short diagonal pieces of square tube from side edges of platform top up to inside edge of gunwale. ???

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Did get much done the last few week. Back went out Tuesday night so spent most of the night laying on the floor.. unfortunately it was not the floor of the boat. Also its about -4 here today and garage is not really heated so its little chilly out there. Have a heater, but definitely only takes the chill off.

Did manage to get the starboard panel off and rip out some more carpet. Going to try and get all the carpet and floor out this weekend. Pretty happy so far on the amount of rot I am not finding. But, I am sure there is going to be some laying underneath.





Picture of the live well..




Inside of fish box

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Okay, need some help here. Trying to figure out what the best plan of attack will be for pulling all the cables from the side of the boat. steering and throttles especially! This is my first boat restore and I would love some advice on what people think. I have read that I shouldn't mess with the gear box and just unhook the throttle/shift cables from the motor instead. I was thinking about changing the throttle control so not sure. I thought I had taken another picture of the throttle control but this is all I had. I will take some more tomorrow night.



Thoughts?

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Unhook the throttle shift cables from the motor is correct. Leave the gear box intact there should be two or three bolts that hold it into place.

Unbolt the steering arm from the motor, and unbolt the motor from the transom. You will actually have to lift the motor before you can slide the steering tube out of the motor.


The fun part happens when you remount the motor 5200 all of the bolts then forget that you had to reinstall the steering before you remount the motor.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Oops - Looks like you have change the thread title. !986 SFM. :lol: Where are the other 25 live wells? :joyous: I think the Super Fisherman is basically an SS with live well/fish boxes and the raised deck in the bow.

Sig got you on the cable/motor pull. If you are going to remove the side panels and want to take the control off, I think you have to remove the trim wires at the switch.

You are making good tear down progress.

 

[barato2]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

cool. not many SFMs around here. and your progress looks great, even w/o taking bad back into acct. at this rate, you'll have a usable boat by the time soft water comes.

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Thanks for the confidence Bar! Have a musky trip to Eagle plan for 4th of July. Don't want to miss it and really getting nervous about having her done. I know there is a lot of work to do before then. Hoping to build a motor stand this weekend, finish the deck removal and then check the foam. Fingers crossed we will be good!

Glen, just looked up your thread on how you fixed the height of the consoles. I don't see much water damage on the side or floor there, but I will definitely be looking into doing something like that. I wanted to use 3/4" decking but was worried about not having the consoles line up. You suggestion has me thinking I don't need to worry anymore??

Hopefully going to get some work in tonight.

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Again didn't really get to work on the boat much but did get some pictures taken. Think I found some bad news unfortunately with the knee brace. Going to need some suggestions on how to remedy this. Transom looks to be in decent shape, but still don't know for sure. Also would really like some suggestions on how to go about disconnecting the engine so I can get it off the boat. So this is going to take a couple posts. Lets start with the good news first. Here are some shots of the engine. Looks good, a little oil in the bottom of the block so will have to find the source of that. I located the throttle cables but I just want to know where to disconnect it from. I am a total newbie when it comes to this. So all the help you guys can throw at me would be great.

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Now for the knee brace. It is not good news unfortunately. Again any suggestions would be great. Was really not excited to see this at all....:grumpy:

 

[classiccat]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

You sir, have a bad transom. This is a common problem and fairly easy fix.

I used solid rivets but others have used blind-rivets & PL

^^^ I already had my knee-brace off so solid rivets were simple to install.

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Bluefin- that looks like some great work there! So its hard for me to see on your photo, and your new pieces look flush to transom, but do you have a ledge?

On my knee brace, there is a definite ledge that the knee brace bends underneath. I would not be able to do the same as you I do not think.

Are you saying the transom is bad since the knee brace busted???

Thanks again for the help

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

I can't help with details on pulling the motor, a Merc guy here. But basically remove the electrical connections, throttle/shift cables and the steering cable. Most likely the motor has to be moved to port to get the steering cable out of the tilt tube. Some of the E-Rude guys will know.

It's possible that the transom wood has been replaced and the attempted repair was tried on the brace. Your brace may have been half-heartedly repaired in the past, Capt. The metal behind the brace and wood is not usual, I haven't seen that before. My braces are notched to clear the ledge and the brace is right against the transom wood. Maybe newer SS's are different, I don't know.

What happens when the transom wood mulches and use continues, all the stress/forces normally absorbed by the transom are applied to the knee brace and splashwell. Do you have any cracks in the splashwell, especially in the inside bends? Cracked S/Ws and braces seem to go hand and hand when the wood rots badly.

The brace can be strengthened the way BlueFin used. He had the advantage of having the brace removed to fix corrosion :facepalm: and was able to use solid rivets. You can use some heavy angle and blind rivets as he mentioned.

I can't tell from your pics if the transom needs replaced but if it does, it's not difficult to replace.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Bluefin- that looks like some great work there! So its hard for me to see on your photo, and your new pieces look flush to transom, but do you have a ledge?

On my knee brace, there is a definite ledge that the knee brace bends underneath. I would not be able to do the same as you I do not think.

Are you saying the transom is bad since the knee brace busted???

Thanks again for the help

BF's pix doesn't have the transom wood installed yet, but yes it should have a 'shelf' that the transom wood sits on (in?) and the knee is notched around it so as to bare against aluminum skin below the 'shelf' & against the transom wood above.

If the knee's cracked, more then likely the transom was (or is) bad...................

Does the transom wood look to be original?
Based on this pix, I'd bet the wood's been replaced, and the aluminum patch panel installed behind the knee brace to compensate for the cracked knee:

 

[CaptainRev]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

After looking at a few threads, I have yet to see any with that extra piece of metal that is on mine. I am guessing that this was a bad patch hub.

I will check to see if the splash well is cracked anywhere. I have noticed that there seems to be some caulk cracking in the edges but that's all.

The wood definitely looks newer than the floor. Got to get the motor off to check!!

Thanks again guys. Keep the help and ideas coming! I really appreciate it!

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

On the motor issue of oil in the lower motor cover. Not sure by looking at the pix if it's a VRO that is still working or disconnected. The premix will run out of the carb throats and pool there when the motor it tilted leaving that oily mess. Replace the gasket on the air boxes and be sure to check the drain tube on the bottom of the air boxes is in place and for damage. The tube fits on a nipple that goes into the side of the crankcase.

It's very straight forward to pull the motor, disconnect everything, pull the steering rod out of the tilt tube, unbolt, hoist off and put it on the stand.

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

The knee brace is nbd, can have a shop fab one up in an hour if you don't have a metal brake. Your transom has been wet it needs to be replaced I can see the water staining in the pic above the livewell or bilge pump, it may not be rotten now but its a matter of time you have the boat apart, do the transom too.

To pull the motor.

Start by unbolting the following.




First off Unbolt the cable from the

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

This is the best I could do and extremely close to your motor.



Unplug the red plug then follow the white or red cable and unbolt it from the top of the starter solenoid. Follow the black cable to the block and unbolt it.

 

[classiccat]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

you can tell if the transom was replaced by looking at the bolts...if they still have factory paint on them, then its original. the bolt heads on the knee-brace shouldn't have factory paint on them regardless.

I'm guessin' the kneebrace cracked and a PO blamed the z-bracket offset, so added a shim to "fix" it. Its not a horrible idea...thinking of shimming mine rather than notching-out the aluminum.

 

[barato2]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

definitely IPO work. Blue, your idea (and no doubt your execution) would look nothing like that pic....any similarity is purely conceptual.

agree 100% with Sig, go ahead and pull the transom wood. it really is very straightforward job and could be done in 4-5 evenings after work if you kept at it (subject to varinsh/epoxy/whatever drying times). this is THE MOST IMPORTANT STRUCTURAL PIECE ON YOUR BOAT and given the work you're already going to, worth it for the peace of mind. esp when there's already evidence of damage and a half arzed approach.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1986 18' Starcraft SS restore

Another way to tell if the transom wood has been replaced to pull off the corner caps. The top of the gunnel will be trimmed for sliding clearance or there will be evidence of bending the gunnel for clearance.