barn find (star craft)

howdy, im a new guy from south georgia. i just pulled a star craft out of a relatives barn after sitting in the dust for many years. it belonged to my dad when i was a toddler, then was sold to a relative that never used it. i plan on rebuilding and updating it for frequent use while im in college. i love to tinker so im ready to take on this project and take a break from jeeps.

this is when i tossed on new tires and pulled her out from under the barn



got home and pulled out the pressure washer



i like the way the front was built so i took notes.



i got rid of the interior so i can rebuild from scratch.



the leaf springs and axel were rusted fairly bad so i pulled everything out from under it and i plan on buying new parts tomorrow at the agriculture supply store and i might pick up some more stuff to depending on what i find.



as far as power i plan on adding my troller motor and my evinrude 9.9 that has always been in the corner of the garage. im not sure what year it is maby 80s???? also might be looking for power upgrades if someone wants to post some links to those like carb upgrades or something.



thanks for your comments

GOT ALMOST THE SAME MOTOR AT HOME HARD TO TELL WITH THE PICS BUT MINES A 79, GREAT LIL MOTOR

Welcome aboard.

Nice find, and good luck with the build. Go DAWGS.

Awesome find! Nice that it's back where it belongs too.

And...welcome to TinBoats! Happy to have you aboard.

thanks guys!

Brine.. im a Georgia Tech fan haha but i do pull for the dawgs as long as their not playing the yellow jackets. GSU is my home town though. im more of a football fan than a particular team.

bob350rx these are great motors. its been in the family since new. it was on a john boat originally i think, and then severed for many years as a backup on our off shore hydrosport boat, then sat in storage for years and the only thing we have had to do to it other than routine maintenance was replace the impeller for the pisser a few months ago. it still runs like new

I couldnt find anybody who carried some springs that would work so i took the original ones to a wire wheel and cleaned them up before coating them with black rustoleum paint. I got a new fully boxed axel. when i drilled the holes for the center bolt on the leaf springs i filled the inside of the axel with that foam insulation so it cant hold water. that should keep it from rusting inside out. i then cleaned the axel with lots of acetone before i applied several coats of black rustoleum to prevent rust. i installed new galvanized hubs and bearings with that green waterproof grease. hopefully these actions will prevent anybody from having to replace these parts again lol. Ill be on vacation for a week so ill be planning out the interior.

you got to love the look of new parts

if that prop has never been replaced it may start to spin on you after some use or a lick.

What kind of trailer is that? Do you know? It kinda looks like my highlander trailer style which i have to fix the springs and axle. Do you know what you overall spring length measured? BTW i really like the look of the axle and springs.

I don't know if putting foam in the axle was the best idea. When it gets wet it will hold moisture.
As for the springs if you keep the main leaf and then add new leafs as needed.

I think I have the same boat. Mine is a Star Craft 1542.

thanks for pointing that out. ill check into the prop.

as far as the foam i have used it alot and it dries to a real hard type foam that wont hold/absorb water. (sandable, paintable, ect) if im not mistaken i think water can be used to help cure it. not sure though. anyway its commonly used as insulation and has been designed to not hold water. they do make many different types for different uses so this may not be true about some.

MDFisherman im not sure what trailer it is but the length of the leaf springs from the bolt hole to the very end was 27" and i could only find springs that were 24" or 30" which wouldn't work. The axel i believe was 42.something inches from hub face to hub face and from the center of one leaf spring to the center of the other leaf spring i think was 36'' and a quarter.

TTSam how do you have your interior set up or its it empty? im looking for new ideas for the interior. post a pic of yours if you can. does the color of mine look like yours? im not sure if my paint is real faded or if thats the color they painted it.

thanks

Yea your trailer kinda looks like mine because mine is the same way. Mine was 26" to 27" and like you said i only found 24" 25" and 30". I think i can get away with a 25" though but its crazy that i cant find a 26" spring.

Actually I am redoing mine almost as we speak. I had some issue with the steel flex I originally put down(I think I did not mix a batch correctly) so since I want to fix my steel flex issue I decided to redo the whole boat to the way I really want it. I removed everything and have started over from scratch. I do not want any carpet in the boat so I am going with Durbak nonskid and Hydroturff. Every thing I have ordered has come in and as soon as I am finished water proofing all the wood I will beable to move on to the Hydroturf and nonskid. The bottom of my boat is Black Steelflex up about 10 inches on the sides. The rest of the sides are grey. The interior will be Grey(Durabak) and the HydroTurff is blue marble(there will be more HT than Durabak). I hope to have it all finished maybe this weekend. But it really doesn't matter since I took my motor (25 Yamaha) in to be serviced and told them no need to rush.

TTSam said:

Actually I am redoing mine almost as we speak. I had some issue with the steel flex I originally put down(I think I did not mix a batch correctly) so since I want to fix my steel flex issue I decided to redo the whole boat to the way I really want it. I removed everything and have started over from scratch. I do not want any carpet in the boat so I am going with Durbak nonskid and Hydroturff. Every thing I have ordered has come in and as soon as I am finished water proofing all the wood I will beable to move on to the Hydroturf and nonskid. The bottom of my boat is Black Steelflex up about 10 inches on the sides. The rest of the sides are grey. The interior will be Grey(Durabak) and the HydroTurff is blue marble(there will be more HT than Durabak). I hope to have it all finished maybe this weekend. But it really doesn't matter since I took my motor (25 Yamaha) in to be serviced and told them no need to rush.

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I would enjoy pics as you get done 8)

Nice boat, I didn't know starcraft made jons. I think every one I've seen was a vbottom.

architorture said:

Nice boat, I didn't know starcraft made jons. I think every one I've seen was a vbottom.

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thanks, i had never seen one either that i recognized as a starcraft

i finally got it put together and on the water today. everything did great but the motors pisser cloged and i pulled the boat out and got it back to the house and found a munch of seeds under the engine cover and manipulating the pee hole with an air compressor i got it unclogged and it spit out a pile of blended up seeds almost like sand. it pees real good now and its ready to be put back on the water. the ole 9.9 cranks on the first pull every time. we also replaced the original prop with a new one. good call 200racing!

im so glad i put in the carpet floors and the storage deck. the carpet doesn't get hot like the bare aluminum and its also really quiet when your moving around in the boat or moving tackle boxes ect so it should be excellent for sneaking up on fish.

I have basiclly finished my Starcraft 1542. Let me see if I can post a pic or 2. I'm not that skilled so its not the best job. The durabak was really hard for me to work with. Very messy and not an easy application.


https://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee471/TTSam/P1000634.jpg
https://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee471/TTSam/P1000633.jpg
https://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee471/TTSam/P1000631.jpg