New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

I'm a wuss on the water with temps below freezing. I didn't get the heaters installed this year. Or even found. Gonna start looking for someone else to do my top, and need to get the oil taken care of before it freezes. Supposed to be down to 30 next friday, so I guess it's time to make it a dry spot for the winter. If I ever get some time. Everytime I sat down at the computer or in my chair today, the wife hollered. Did get a lot done tho. She's been forgiving of the boat, so I gues I can do a few things she wants.

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

I'm a wuss on the water with temps below freezing. I didn't get the heaters installed this year. Or even found. Gonna start looking for someone else to do my top, and need to get the oil taken care of before it freezes. Supposed to be down to 30 next friday, so I guess it's time to make it a dry spot for the winter. If I ever get some time. Everytime I sat down at the computer or in my chair today, the wife hollered. Did get a lot done tho. She's been forgiving of the boat, so I gues I can do a few things she wants.

Wives, can't live with em, can't live without em. Mine's been fairly understanding of my little boat problem. I hope she's understanding when we start muskie fishing. I hear that can turn into a tackle hoarding, time consuming obsession.

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

They can surprise you sometimes. Mine worked good yesterday, only had to get her out of her blogging 4 or 5 times. We got the base of the waterbed remanufactured, and rebuilt, a wall tore out in front of the hot water tank, (floor at least on the surface dried out, have wood spacers holding it up now), and the new plastic water heater installed. Wished I could get production on the starcraft that way.

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

Well, I guess it's time I do something on here again, even if it's wrong. Finaly got my boat back with the top friday. Now I wished I could find my before shot in the snow right after I bought it. Looks real nice, considering she had it since Oct 7, It was too big to fit into her garage (it measures 32 feet from end of jet drive to hitch on trailer) so she had to work on it outside. And it rained and was cold. The woman who did it lives about 80 miles away and it's always a lot warmer there, than where I'm at in the mountains. I brought it home, and it was freezing when we got here, it got to 23 that night. I knew the bow was too low on her lawn, and checked the hull out pretty good, but as it had not realy gotten below 30, I didn't see any problems. The next morning in one of my patches I had a hole. And yea I know my putty and epoxy wasn't the smoothest, this is just above the keel, right at the bottom of the curve in the bow. In the pic, you can see it's got a wet spot in. I had used gluvit on the inside of the inner hull, and epoxy on the outside of the outer hull. Double hull made it hard to take dents out, so I used putty. I figure I can clean it up good, sand it, and use some JB weld and epoxy and that should fix it. I really don't want to pull the decking again.
I'm also sending a pic of the trailer that came with my parts boat. I've already paid for it + selling the outdrive and trim pump. I don't need either of those with a jet. I need to find time to get some of the other usable stuff off it now. Like the edlebrock 600 carb with the high performance intake. Here is a pic of the trailer last weekend. We had 20 inches of snow then. Actually after I swept it off, it looked like the fifth pic. Rained all week and the temps have got into the 40's daytime. Friday was the first freeze since Last Sunday. This is why I don't boat in the winter here. I still wished I could find the pic in my very first posting to show a before and after together. But you can go back to the beginning and see it.

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

Is that hole through the hull?

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

No,d the hole only goes to the metal. Actually some of the putty is left. I have to take all the loose stuff off to get the putty tight. With the double hull tho, I can't tell where it's coming from inside the boat. When you click on the pic, it's about twice the size it is in real life, so it's not so big. My main concern is where did it come from, as it could have followed the seem in the keel to the weakest spot of putty to break out. I think in the spring, I will flood the boat and see the size of the leak, and maybe just patch that hole. I don't really want to do that with temps in the teens. Guess I'm getting lazy for winter.

 

[Pugetsound]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

H-y If the boat has a double hull is that not a great place to hold water if it gets in some way. Have you drilled a hole thru it to see how much space there may bo or was it obvious when you did the floor. Ed Its only 23 here tonight.

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

The space varies. Back by the stern, they are tight on each other, but up in the bow, I had one spot forward of this hole where I had a 2 inch dent I couldn't find inside, and another spot higher on the boat, close to 1/2 inch dent with a big gouge in the metal. The first pic shows it. The second pic shows where my problem is now, before I fixed it. Where the paint and putty is missing, a quarter could probably touch across it, now, before I strip it back to good adhesion. And yes I know water could be sitting in there (ice now). considering it drained the boat, I figure (hope) it did the cavity too. I tried sealing inside and out when I was doing the restore, to keep water from getting in. I probably should pull the decking again and reseal inside too, but I gotta convince myself it is necessary first, as there is a lot of work involved. When it warms up enough, I'll flood the boat and see how bad it's leaking, before I patch the outer hole. I wished I had your tropical temps, it hit 15 here last night. I understand the midwest makes that look warm.

 

[Pugetsound]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

I think the winter was another reason we seeked a place her on the coast. But it does snow here a bit each year 12-inches at a time some times. Stay warm the boat will wait.

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

It'll have to. I'm swamped with other things right now. Plus, I still want to get some more pulled off that parts boat, and get started on the trailer.

 

[craft042]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

I'm new to this site. I have the same boat as you, with the jet drive. I've rebuilt my Eliminator jet drive and had to custom spec it's 2 bushings. I had them remade in 316 ss. If you dig into yours i can help you in the desighn of them since you will need to over/undersize them in certaian areas to re-obtain the factory clearances once again.

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

I can't find my info on it, but in Lewiston, Idaho there is a Valley Marine (I think) and a Mike ( worked on them when they first came out). He knows of some machine shops there who will reasonably make new parts, plus he has a spare parts stockpiled. They built them in Lewiston, for the Snake, and esp Hell's canyon, between about 70 and 90. Main breakdown is breaking the snoot off. Made loose so sand and small rocks would pass thru and not do damage. No record of mine ever having pieces replaced in the pump, and a different jet mechanic out of Spokane Wa says it feels almost new, as the tolerances are I believe 7 to 13 thousanths, which is quite high. Don't quote me on that. I talked to him last spring, and he was very informative on whats and wheres. I just can't remember what he said, or where I put my notes. But I have them somewhere. Where are you located? I wouldn't mind exchanging info, PM me if you want. I've seen a few other eliminators for sale, and found I know a person that had one. He says best pump made for rivers. He's a kid who never grew up. In his 50's now, just a spring chicken. Been bugging me for a ride.

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

Well, guess I should restart this. I started in March, and got the hole patched, and filled in some more dings and gouges. Sometimes double hulls are a pain. Then I broke my tractor (Starcraft Puller in another thread, if anyone remembers). Had a new set of bucket arms built and got some new hydraulic cylinders, and now have it usable again, but not quite finished. If I finished anything, I think the wife would have a heart attack. I'm out of time for much more beautification on the boat, and it's about half sanded, so I think I'm going to jack it up in the air, finish sanding it, add a couple coats of epoxy to reseal things, and repaint. Thought I was going to get an early start. I'm taking a week off to work on my places around here (Aunt who died last fall at 99, brother's widow, and my own place.), the tractor, and my boat. You can guess which comes last. I think I'm ready to jack and then prop the boat up off the trailer and start. As long as the wife doesn't find out. Been a lazy winter, checked in once in a while, but not as often as I used to. Need to get my priority's straight again. Oh, in arguing with ez on paint in another thread, probably a couple, he was partially right. I found out why I was having such a hard time getting rustoleum to stick to ezpoxy. You need to take ezpoxy all off before you repaint, which would mean re etching and everything. The problem I had with rustoleum was it would come off right at the ezpoxy. So I'm conceding to you EZ. Well, lunch is over, time to sneak off to work on the boat. Hope you all wintered good. The pic of the hole is above.

 

[TundraRocks]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

Glad to see you back at it. I hope you find time to hit the boat despite the laundry list of things to get done.

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

Pulled 3 yellow jacket nests out already. Surprising how fast those little buggers work. I'ts blocked up and sanded, and today I'm so stiff I can hardly move. Must be old age. My epoxy resin started to turn solid, took about 1/2 cup of meth.... alcohol before I could get it all mixed back up, hardener seems ok. Try it this morning. Put on a coat of epoxy, then go sand for my sister in law, then install a tirerim hose reel for my wife, and by then I should know if the epoxy is still ok. We've been having good weather for working on the boat. Your daughter been giving you any more fishing lessons?

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

I remembered why I was going to name the boat Venus. First coat of epoxy and thousands, well hundreds of bugs. Same with the second coat. Went to paint, and my paint gun is not working properly. Thought it was some year old paint that had not frozen, or gotten too hot, and used new, but it wtill wouldn't pick it up. Sprays mineral spirits just fine. New gun gonna be here next week. Had trouble with the epoxy too. The stuff from last year had gelled up. Not the hardener, jut the resin. I thinned it a little, maybe a half cup to a qt of resin, before the hardener went in, mixed it smooth, but it was getting chunks in it in about 5 minutes, and didn't set up what was put on. Luckily I had bought new for this year, and new paint. Rustoleum topside. Hopefully next weekend I'll have the gravity feed gun, and good weather to put on my last 2 coats. Took me most of a day to get one coat the way it was working. strained the paint twice thinking there were some chunks I couldn't see in it. After you mix hardener in, you kind of hate to wait to use it. Well, better luck next weekend I guess.

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

Been awhile, so I guess I should update the thread and add pics. Hole is patched, more dents and dings smoothed out, 2 more coats of epoxy, 3 coats of white, and 2 of blue. Pulling the masking tape off the white paint, it had only been there 2 days, it stuck real well. I got 3 coats of this yrs white, 2 coats of epoxy, 2 coats of last years white, 3 of epoxy, the almond there when I bought it, and the white there before that. All the way to the aluminum. But only in short stretches under the tape. Some places I got everything, other places nothing, and everything in between. That's how I know there was white under the almond. I retaped over the blue, and put 3 coats of white on, and said it's good enough. I've still got tape sticking to the trim that won't come up. It'll wear off, hopefully by the end of the year. I need to get the batterries hooked up and engine checked out, and get it on the water to make sure it runs. We've been planning on going camping and fishing Father's day weekend, but that isn't gonna happen, so now shooting for the 4th. I've got a whole week then. My old camper got trashed a couple years ago, and since my wife likes camping, and I'm too old to get up off the ground, we bought a new different one. Not like Ez's tho. I've been wanting one with a stable lift on for years, and got one this year. Thought I was buying an 8 1/2 ft camper, it was 9 1/2 ft. A bit much for my little 1/2 ton pickup. So we got a 3/4 ton to go under the camper. Now I have to fix it up, and get the stable lift saddles hooked to the pickup. Almost done. And hopefully Ed, I'll be able to tell you how Koocanusa is this year in a couple weeks. Well, that should have it all updated, I think.

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

Looking good. Paint and epoxy is a pain for sure. Well worth it in the end though. I've been thinking of getting a little Starcraft pop-up. We could then strap the Sea Scamp to the top of it. You're set up looks a little nicer though. Good luck!

Don

 

[heyyou325]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

Strap on top? you mean like EZ showed? This is the setup I've wanted for several years. You and Zac been doin much fishin? I'm hoping to get started over the 4th, rewired the pickup I bought (used junk always needs a lot of work, 97 F250 for $2700). Now looks like I got to start on the camper as I have tail lights and charge for the camper, but no brake or turn signals. Air bags should be in Thursday, and if I have no problems with the engine on the boat, it hasn't been started this year, I should be ready by the 29th when I'm supposed to leave. How's your lure making going? Put a guarantee on them and I might have to get a couple.

 

[dozerII]

Re: New owner 21 ft 74 Starcraft aluminum runabout jet

Looking good Hey, hope you get the list all done so you can get out on the holiday.
Glen