Finally, the Admiral approved another ship for the fleet. 1976 Starcraft 16' SS

[scottmm73]

Since my impulse purchase of a 1989 Maxum four years ago and subsequent repairs and frustration, I have been on the lookout for a cheap aluminum hull runabout. My intent was to purchase a run-about for the kids to enjoy and something larger for the wife and I to use on larger lakes in the area for fishing. We already have a 1959 Wolverine, with a 61 Evinrude 18 hp, although I have a 59 Johnson 35 hp Super Seahorse in the process of refurbishment at the moment that has been great for fishing the nearby lakes. We often vacation in Canada in the Depot Lakes region and a few years ago one of the tenants brought his refurbished mid 70's Starcraft 16' SS that he was using with his family. I fell in love with the lines and the retroness of it and was on the lookout,from then on, for a cheap Starcraft that was eligible for restoration.

A few weeks ago, I found her on Craigslist a couple hours away from me, went to have a look and was immediately happy with what we found. The boat was a single family boat that was passed down from Father to son to son-in-law. The last few years were hard on her but true to the Starcraft build she held up in the weather. The price was right, unfortunately the trailer, I felt would not make the trip back. I told the PO that I was extremely happy with the boat but I needed new tires and lights on the trailer before I would purchase for the price he was asking. He was happy to make the deal and a week later I was able to make the trip back with the boat trailing behind.



I'm not new to the restoration process but sometimes my eagerness to complete the project forces me to take shortcuts. This will be a complete restoration from keel to motor, so I need to remind myself to take my time, enjoy the process, and make decisions I will be happy with.

Demo is the order of the day.

I will be asking many questions and hopefully the experts will provide me with answers. My first question is, what were the trailers that came with these boats? The trailer that came with it is for a much larger boat and it is solid steel. The PO tried as he might to make it look pretty but this thing is solid and heavy, has springs and shock absorbers and just does not give the boat justice.

More pics posted below.

































The motor is a 76 Johnson Seahorse, the compression was good at 110 psi off my gauge on all three cylinders. The ignition coils were bad for the #1 and #2 cylinders but that shouldn't be a problem. My only concern is the wiring harness is dry rotted. I hope I can find a replacement.

 

[dozerII]

:welcome:to the Starmada, that is a great looking 16SS, the hull looks to be very straight and the paint even looks nice. Trailers depended on the dealer selling her, but a bunk trailer is best for an aluminum boat in my opinion. If you are towing lots on rough roads, I have seen too many aluminum hulls with roller dents to ever use one again.

 

[hayko1971]

Nice, looks like a great base to start custom building to your tastes!

 

[GA_Boater]

No. 1 - A Starcraft. No. 2 - Admiral approved. Oops, got them in the wrong order, didn't I?

She doesn't look bad at all. Pretty good shape from the pics.

Like Dozer said - No standard trailer. Whatever the dealer sold.

Welcome to the Starmada, Scott.

 

[jbcurt00]

Great grab, Admiral approved only makes it better ;l

Best of luck however you proceed.

 

[classiccat]

Welcome to the Starmada! :welcome:

Dues paid in the 1st post! hoto:

She is a beauty!!! Great candidate for restoration with all of the original components & lack of P.O. hackage &/or neglect!

My advice to you would be to avoid setting a splash date...pressure-free resto baby!

 

[Watermann]

:welcome: to the Starmada Scott!

You have some really active 16SS guys here right now that know all the ins and outs of that fine craft. She looks pretty seaworthy right now other than the transom wood looking a bit too dark. That 3cyl 70's looper is a darn good motor for that size of boat too. :thumb:

 

[scottmm73]

Slow goings on the demo.









All wood has been saved for templates, a lot of detritus behind the panels, so she did spend some time outside. Suprisingly the floor still feels solid but everything is getting pulled to include the transom. I've been discussing with the Admiral the color scheme. I think she is going to settle on a metallic blue with heather grey carpeting. No vinyl in this SS unless its decals.

Next week, the motor will be moved to a stand and the deck, transom and vinyl will come out.

Anyone know what will dissolve the adhesive used to glue the vinyl in place?

Oh a few weeks too late. My wife and I were at some family friends just down the road who had neighbors that were selling their Starcraft Islander, solid shape, 175 hp I/O for $3500. I surely defecated in my pants when I saw it out in their lawn. We have been going to these friends house for about 4 yours and never knew their neighbor had a boat, it was always garaged. He didn't have it for sale long, someone is one lucky owner.

 

[Candutch]

I used a product call "super remover" to get all me adhesive off. I think it's basically the same as paint stripper.

 

[laurentide]

Hey Scott, that's a really nice score on a stock SS with a great motor.

About that trailer: I have the tandem version under my 18'. It's the best riding trailer I've ever pulled. You can move the winch tower back so that the transom is sitting over the bunk ends and see if the balance is correct...which will give you the added bonus of a longer tongue when launching/retrieving.

You can get new shocks from Rock Auto, Monroe # 555002.

I'd see how you like it before replacing it. My tilt hinge broke, so I had it welded solid. Yours should still be a tilt?

It does look pretty long for the boat, but it should only take 20 minutes to move the tower back and see what the tongue weight is. You can use a bathroom scale under the jack.

Dozer is right about roller damage, but these have bunk rollers that are very close together to distribute the load. My bottom is still straight after 41 years (minus three years when I had an undersized bunk trailer under it...I'm glad I kept the Holsclaw).

 

[scottmm73]

Hey Scott, that's a really nice score on a stock SS with a great motor.

About that trailer: I have the tandem version under my 18'. It's the best riding trailer I've ever pulled. You can move the winch tower back so that the transom is sitting over the bunk ends and see if the balance is correct...which will give you the added bonus of a longer tongue when launching/retrieving.

You can get new shocks from Rock Auto, Monroe # 555002.

I'd see how you like it before replacing it. My tilt hinge broke, so I had it welded solid. Yours should still be a tilt?

It does look pretty long for the boat, but it should only take 20 minutes to move the tower back and see what the tongue weight is. You can use a bathroom scale under the jack.

Dozer is right about roller damage, but these have bunk rollers that are very close together to distribute the load. My bottom is still straight after 41 years (minus three years when I had an undersized bunk trailer under it...I'm glad I kept the Holsclaw).

Chemicals, I will look into it. Thanks for the information.

 

[Watermann]

There sure is lots of ugly before the pretty starts going in. After clean up is the hull repair stage that always takes a fair amount of time in the rebuild process.

Paint stripper does seem to work best on the adhesive where carpet or vinyl was glued on.

 

[scottmm73]

Sorry for the long absence I've been dealing with the prolonged sickness and recent death of my father. He passed peacefully on 28 July and we buried him one week later.

Tonight I was able to remove the motor and place it on a stand. I still have some shopping to do for parts. Next week I hope to pull all the vinyl, pull the deck and remove the adhesive from the hull.

 

[classiccat]

I'm very sorry for your loss scottmm73. That SS will be there for you when you're good and ready to dive-in.

 

[littlerayray]

Nice looking boat I'm gonna have to follow this rebuild it's gonna look nice

 

[Watermann]

Prayers are with you Scott. I've been there too, with my mom a few years back.

We'll be around here looking to see your SS updates.

 

[Decker83]

My thoughts and prayers are with you Scott.. I lost my father in 1984 and my mother last year.. I truly believe they are together and in a better place..

I used the klean strip adhesive remover.. It took about 15 minutes setting time and then I scraped off with a putty knife.. Worked good for me..

Great looking SS..

 

[scottmm73]

The last few days I was able to make some progress. Just spending a couple of hours a night getting into the demolition. Made some progress, got the motor removed to a stand as stated the other day. Also removed the jackplate and noticed galvanic corrosion caused by two dissimilar metals.





As you can see there is some pretty bad corrosion, I guess I will take a wire brush and see what kind of damage is done. If pitting is involved, I think I will just replace the whole back piece. I suppose I could just cut it out the bad spots and replace with a scab patchs. As a retired Army helicopter mechanic I do have some sheet metal experience but I don't have the tools to bend the metal. I just may go to my local highschool and use their brake to make the appropriate bends.

So, removing the outboard and jack plate allowed me to tear into the transom, I could tell it was rotted and definitely needed replaced. Looking into other Starcraft restos it looked like an easy repair, though I was discouraged to see some have damaged their gunwales in order to remove the transom. Since I intended on replacing rivets I decided to remove the rub-rail, removing some of the rivets off the rub-rail bracket and off the inboard gunwale trim using a 3/16" drill bit. This allowed me to get to the gunwale mounting rivets and remove them. After removing the rivets it allowed the gunwale sheetmetal to flex and allow for the transom to be removed without damaging the gunwale.







However, transom removal was still difficult because of the rot and the epoxy/corrosion keeping the transom in place. I tried using a crowbar from the bottom of the transom but the rot was too bad. Topside the wood was still good so eventually, I drilled two half inch holes two inches off center of the inboard transom to the left and right in which I inserted two of the motor mount bolts and used my tractor bucket and a chain to apply upward pressure (lifted the boat off the trailer) whilst I crawled inside the boat and using the bottom of my foot applied a shock (kicked) to the transom wood and it slowly creeped out of the U-channel and eventually removed it from the boat. I do not have any pictures of this, though the procedure worked great.

Next was the removal of the aft decking, I could see a lot of debris at the stern so I expected some debris, but I did not expect this.





This is chewed up open cell styrofoam and pine cones. Apparently a family of squirrels lived in the boat.

Somewhere down there is the keel.



The good news is the knee brace is intact and no cracks involved.





Tomorrow, I need to take some trash to the dump including the deck vinyl. This will allow me to work out of my cargo trailer. I've got templates, consoles, dashboards, sheetmetal framing, and windshields lying all over the place including the basement and the cargo trailer. I intend to put all the keepsakes in the cargo trailer. This is why I need a garage.

Hopefully, I will see you in a couple of days with a new update.

 

[Watermann]

Nice progress on the tear down. :thumb:

That corrosion where the jack plate was can easily be cleaned and filled with JB or MT and sanded smooth. You could also fashion up an AL motor pad to back butter with 5200 and cover the pitted area for added protection.

You did the transom wood removal without taking the splashwell out first, that's a feat in and of itself. The clean up on the indie of the transom skin will go way easier with the well out as will replacing the new wood.

 

[STARCRAFT16SS]

No Title

Great boat you picked out.............