First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Question?

[shagdrrotten]

Hi all, I'm really happy to have found this site with the great rebuilds and info.

I'm on night shift so gotta hit the hay soon but wanted to ask about replacing my floor. I have 4 sheets of 4 X 8 marine plywood, epoxy ready to go and marine carpet.

I guess I have to remove the side panels with the aluminum flashing for proper floor placement ? First section I removed wasn't able to stay together so no template and previous carpet glue made edges stick to flashing.

I will post some pictures on Monday. My goal is just a more sturdy fishing boat, pedestal seats only, future questions about that.

Please respond with a hello so I know people actually read these.

BTW , I'm in Orono, Ontario , Canada . Saw a member from Omemee which is a hop, skip and a jump away. I fish Lake Simcoe, Scugog , Rice and Lake Ontario for the Great Ontario Salmon Derby.

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

Yes you need to remove the side bolsters

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

Welcome to the Tin Drydock, Shag.

Yeah - The side panels have to come out since the Z brackets sit on top of the flooring. Depending on the year of your Holiday, a few other things may have to come out also.

After you get your beauty sleep (I hated working nights too) snap a few pics. One, so we can see what you're working with and two, it pays your Starmada dues.

A lot of help here to get the tinny back on the water. Have fun!

 

[shagdrrotten]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

Responded to previous poster but not the thread , here we go again with some pics.My goal is to be a fisherman with the odd pleasure ride and tubing session. Pedestal seats are the goal to install and get all the green gone. All comments welcomed, number 1 how do I remove the left side, can't see any more rivets or screws ?? Thanks in advance !!

 

[shagdrrotten]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

Some more pics and questions, first , my daughter found a nest with little guests. Sorry , couldn't find mommy so they continued the circle of life by being offered and accepted by a seagull. Missed his arrival or I would have gotten a pic of that too.





Sides off first and then get this console and dash removed. All suggestions welcomed,thanks !!





I think this will be easy to remove after console / dash but I could be wrong.



This is what I would like to have on the back eventually, kicker is my buddies, I have an old 15 hp johnson short shaft his is long. Electric 9.9 would be preferable. Anybody have pictures of kicker setups on their Starcraft outboards ??

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

Don't pry there. You took out the three screws, I see one of the open holes to the left of the pry bar. The rear of the panel toward the stern also has screws at the top.

At the bottom of that panel is a Z bracket which has screws or rivets into the floor - They come out. [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT] The seat bottoms on either side of the splashwell will have to be moved out of the way to get to the rearmost screws/rivets.

The final attachments are through the panel into a flange on the side tray. They might be under the trim strip to the left of the pry bar.

After all the screws/rivets are out and the seat bottom is out of the way, pull the bottom of the side panel toward the center of the boat. When the panel is far enough toward the center, the top will clear the attaching angles on top.

Got it it? Piece of cake after you do it the first time. .

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

More pics and questions. :smile:

The step/glovebox come right out, no tricks. The right side of the dash with the steering - remove the steering and the few screws, done. The dash cap behind the windshield may have to come off. Next:

Ah - The Starcraft dashboard. I haven't done a Holiday, but if the dash goes full width from side to side, you're about to learn a Starcraft secret. The factory hands hang that 60 some inch piece of wood from the assembly line ceiling and build the boat around it. It is impossible to take it out easily. It is installed at the factory before the AL bow cap is put on. It can't move to the rear or front. It can only be lifted straight up after taking off the that bow cap.

Some others will pop in and share their ideas. One of the members covered the dash in place, other do the total destruction.

 

[ctswf]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

nice splashwell config, they must have used that marine duct tape I was thinking of redoing mine in that style to save space.

sorry I have nothing helpful to add at the moment, but really nice boat!!!


edit: actually, next time you're taking pics to you mind showing a few more angles of the splashwell before you pull it out? Also its worth mentioning that by the time the floor rots out the transom sometimes needs to go too, id check on that. If so, its no big deal to replace it.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

If you are considering a remodel to an open bow, then destruction of the dash wood is no big deal. If you want to keep the closed bow, it can be very tough to remove or reinstall if the bow cover skin is still in place. Taking that bow skin off is not a small job either...........

 

[dozerII]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

Welcome to the Starmada. Looks to be a 74 or 75 Holiday, GA is 100% right on the dash they are a bear to remove, once you take the aluminum off the tops of the gunwales and bow it just lifts out.:facepalm:

 

[shagdrrotten]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

I'm overwhelmed to say the least as I don't have mad skills but a couple of bum knees. Can I get the floor out and back in without taking out the dash, console etc ?? Will be outside shortly trying to get sides off and will take some pics. Wish me luck !!

 

[dozerII]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

No problem Shag, just remove the center step parts of the console, it will have two aluminum angles joining it to the floor, one joining it to the bottom side of the dash tray and one joining it to the helm dash. It might be easiest to pull the 4 SS screws that hold the helm dash on and let it hang down to get the step out. Hope that helps.

 

[shagdrrotten]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

Got the sides off today with difficulty, photobucket is giving me a hard time so will post pics tomorrow. I'm working outside so rain is in the forecast so probably won't be doing anything until Friday as 3 more 12 hour night shifts start tomorrow.

Thanks for all the comments guys!! I'm going to start another thread ( or two ) looking for pictures of guys that have made their starcrafts into fishing machines...... specifically installing pedestal seats, storage of tackle, rods etc, maybe livewell installation and how they mounted their kicker motors ( HP, 2 stroke, 4 stroke, steering attachments.

If you have info on this please show it here or find the other thread ( s ). PS my body has already decided that the front console is staying, looking for suggestions to pimp it up in the future for this very busy fisherman.

 

[barato2]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

hey, welcome to the mob. not much intelligent to add, except to compliment your fine taste in boats. not like one of those nasty SSs, those are so COMMON.

 

[shagdrrotten]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

Thanks for the specifics on side removal GA_Boater, wouldn't have figured it out by myself. Got the console side off as well other than one screw at the very back that we missed. My son thought it was a rivet and tried to drill it out but didn't work. Rain was on the horizon so we ended for the day. Probably gonna redo a lot of wiring after seeing it exposed, more good times.

 

[shagdrrotten]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

Here is one side out - I want to paint this white,grey or blue - haven't made up my mind. Please hit me with paint suggestions

Remember I'm over budget already LOL !!! Rustoleum ?? Other suggestions welcomed.



What about cleaning up this green stuff under the console ?? Soap , water, degreaser ?? I want to paint it as well as I doubt I'm going to get all up in there.

 

[shagdrrotten]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

I plan to remove front ladder and get the floor out to the bracket that lies behind it. Going to leave the gas tank alone. All floor should be out to the rear of boat by Sunday afternoon. Rain in forecast again.

 

[Lindsey Carney]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

I plan to remove front ladder and get the floor out to the bracket that lies behind it. Going to leave the gas tank alone. All floor should be out to the rear of boat by Sunday afternoon. Rain in forecast again.

There are rivets behind fake wood trim,wood is strip of metal,it slides out and bends easily.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

Once you get the steps out of the way, it won't take much to get the tank out, Shag. And you can yank the mold colored green stuff the sides. BTW - the green stuff looks like it might be vinyl just what was used on the floor.

One reason to remove the tank is so you can check the condition of hat front decking. It's hard to tell what it really looks like in the last pic.

On a tight budget - Rusto is your friend. You won't find anything as inexpensive that works as well. Can you get Rusto in Ontario? I know some of our Way North friends can't, but they say Tremclad, CA Rusto equivalent, is not as good as Rusto.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: First time poster - 18 ft Starcraft Holiday owner with stuff to do to it - Questi

If you plan on keeping the green covering under the dash, Simple Green or a good de-greasing cleaner and a stiff brush might clean it up.