1995 Starcraft Islander 221V

[Anode1]

Old grill


Recarpeting (wood was also replaced) of steps

Before:


After:




2nd (light) anchor been regalvanized

 

[Anode1]

I found that 3 cleats is not sufficient, so 2 more cleats were installed. Here is their reenforcement (view from cuddy)

 

[Anode1]

Cleaned 4.3L V6 Mercruiser. I had to learn how to adjust gear shift (on youtube there are couple of videos how to do that but I also consulted with manual)

 

[Anode1]

The old carpet glue has deteriorated, I found a lot of sand and debris and also unsealed holes into the electrical panel in cuddy. Recarpeting.

 

[Anode1]

An order has been made in transom compartments: buses installed to avoid 'star' connections, I also was able to fit into the left compartment a 2-battery charger. There were two group 24 acid batteries in this boat.

 

[Anode1]

To make camping and traveling easier, I installed inverter, two 120V receptacles with GFCI protection, relay and shorepower - to make it much easier to use electronics on board and to charge both batteries in ports.













Inverter's remote control from the cuddy. The inverter is installed deep in the compartment under the helm, and a lot of stuff in the compartment usually prevents easy access, so I decided to spend additional $50 (at that time) - for the remote

 

[Anode1]

I didn't find a standard circuit breaker box for just one unit, so had to make custom one from weather resistant box bought in Canadian Tire for $10.





In the cuddy

 

[Anode1]

I found that $10 (on sale) 2-step stool from CT works perfectly for elder (and not) passengers and no need to buy expensive marine-grade steps which cost hundred bucks. If this breaks - I just buy another one. And it is actually much better (imho): you can store fenders and other stuff under it!



Installed LED illuminating the deck for night camping


I found that the original captain chair was too low, bolted on a wrong distance (for me) from the steering wheel. The solution was found by inserting of a seat slide (which raised the chair a bit) and when needed - I put the foam kayak seat right on top of the cushion and it raises me


Here you also can see the radio (previous one was broken). For installing modern radio with a different form factor (size of the hole) I had to make aluminum plate from 3mm aluminum. Thanks metalsupermarkets.com for the piece of marine-grade aluminum which costed just $5!

 

[Anode1]

I have a good piece of carpet left - from the windshield dashboard repair, so this season I'm planning to recarpet hatches and dark helm carpet.
(I'm not publishing here the standard stuff - like trailer bearings replacement or bunk boards replacement - only not so standard for Starcraft Islander upgrades and repairs)

To be continued...

 

[Anode1]

Here is my way of winter (tarp) wrapping. The budget - $200 once, $40 in subsequent years, yearly, reusing the lumber and screws (I store the lumber in the garage under the ceiling). The photos were taken in the 1st year, now I'm putting more ropes, reusing lines zigzagging - to prevent tarp wearing due to flapping. And this year I found that even tarp could be reused (no holes at all after the winter), but $30-40 is not a big deal, and I already bought new tarp for the next winter on sale for just $30) ))

 

[Watermann]

Great work Anode, that was no easy task you accomplished with some really cool touches to the rebuild. I know how tough that was as I'm on another rebuild of a Starcraft right now. The amount of work that goes into these boats is huge.

There's a bunch of us over in the SC forum right now at various stages of tearing into our awesome old SCs. Take a look when you get a chance, http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owners-groups-by-manufacturer/s/starcraft-boats

 

[Anode1]

Great work Anode, that was no easy task you accomplished with some really cool touches to the rebuild. I know how tough that was as I'm on another rebuild of a Starcraft right now. The amount of work that goes into these boats is huge.

There's a bunch of us over in the SC forum right now at various stages of tearing into our awesome old SCs. Take a look when you get a chance, http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owners-groups-by-manufacturer/s/starcraft-boats

Thanks, Watermann!
And thanks again for the info!

 

[will w.]

You really spruced up that Islander, Anode! The new decals and paint scheme really gave it an up to date look. Where did you find the decals? Did you sand between coats and did you just lay epoxy paint over the old?

 

[Anode1]

Thank you will w.!
As for decals - I just googled and found a couple of places which, I guess, happened to be Marine stores who had such decals at the time.
I used Starcraft 1461250 White/Pacific/Blue as well as Larson 05729714 2008 and Larson 8639-0981 OEM Silver/Clear/Pewter 3/4'' decals, which we (with my wife) found to be the closest to the original modern Starcraft decals. The store who had the decals was 'GreatLakesSkipper', so I ordered from them.
Letters for the ship name and the fancy font letters for 'Islander 221V' (to preserve the style and to have the closest match to the original font) - I ordered custom letters from signspecialist.com. There you can shoose font, size, from huge variety of different fonts.

The total cost for all the decals was around $300.
I just had to reapply the strip decal on one side (it falled after the first serious trip: probably I hadn't cleaned properly), but after I reapplied it after good cleaning - it survived the summer. And now, after more than year and a lot of miles - they still there.

As for sanding, yes, I was sanding every layer, as required - both gluvit and epoxy. Any epoxy must be sanded - for the proper adhesion of the next layer or the paint.

 

[Anode1]

Forgot to add, that after a season, the tip of vinyl strip decal fell off (it is narrow, while the rivets are on the way, so there is always a bubble at the end), and I glued it by3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive. Also, heat gun was very useful - to melt that strip a bit (should be done very carefuly - on a distance) - to take a form of a rivet.