New guy with a new (old) tin boat

Great site with tons of info, thanks in advance to all. I've already learned quite a bit.

So I borrowed a friends 12 foot Grumman with a 4 hp tiller Merc and went on a remote island camping trip this past summer in northern Maine with my son and some buddies. Have never owned a boat before and had such a great time, I was hooked.

One thing led to another and I picked up a 16 foot 1988 Starcraft from a guy on Craigslist who needed the cash and this boat out of his parents driveway about 6 hours before the first snowfall. Timing is everything I suppose.

I was hoping someone could tell me exactly what model this is and whether the design is considered as strong as the bench model versions. What's left of the yellow placard says SF 16-L but web searching seems to result in bench model pictures for that. Could this be a seafarer dlx? Not much info out there from that era. It has the side console and remnants of a live well. With the boxes riveted to the hull and screwed to the 3/4 floor, does this match the traditional layout for strength? The bigger northern lakes can get a little dicey on short notice so I'm hoping to hear if this hull is up to the task. Was it well liked in its day?

I'll try including pictures. Needs a ton of work, budget is limited and many questions to come.....

Thanks, Bostonstarcraft

Welcome Aboard Boston !!
very nice open hull to work with !! small bites at a time = less frustrations.

The bigger northern lakes can get a little dicey on short notice

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indicates double the safety gear. two bilge pumps, lights, flares, etc etc etc !!!!






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Welcome aboard, Boston.
Looks like a nice project with great potential.
She cleaned-up nice.
How's the motor?

Don't forget to update your location and
keep the pics coming. Enjoy!

jasper

That sounds like good advice on both fronts donor, appreciate it.

Jasper, the motor is a huge question mark. I basically paid for the hull and tilt trailer - the motor came with since we couldn't really verify much. It's an '88 Evinrude 28spl. The guy I bought this from was a younger guy after the same thing as me. He just couldn't find the time to work on it. I'd like to think I'm more determined (stubborn). Sooo, he never had it running. My understanding is that it hasn't run in over ten years and has seen salt water use. Neither of us really knew what we were doing but attempted a compression test while hooked to his truck battery. Compression was in the 60's dry. I then added a bit of 2 cyl oil, and got readings in the 90's wet. My understanding from here and other sites is that should have been in the 120's at least - not great news. There is an older Evinrude tinkerer locally who I might get it in front of to help level with me if it's just best to move on. I've been sniffing around Craigslist already for something else in the 30 - 40 hp range.

Sorry Johnny, called you donor. Rookie mistake!

Bostonstarcraft said:

That sounds like good advice on both fronts donor, appreciate it.

Jasper, the motor is a huge question mark. I basically paid for the hull and tilt trailer - the motor came with since we couldn't really verify much. It's an '88 Evinrude 28spl. The guy I bought this from was a younger guy after the same thing as me. He just couldn't find the time to work on it. I'd like to think I'm more determined (stubborn). Sooo, he never had it running. My understanding is that it hasn't run in over ten years and has seen salt water use. Neither of us really knew what we were doing but attempted a compression test while hooked to his truck battery. Compression was in the 60's dry. I then added a bit of 2 cyl oil, and got readings in the 90's wet. My understanding from here and other sites is that should have been in the 120's at least - not great news. There is an older Evinrude tinkerer locally who I might get it in front of to help level with me if it's just best to move on. I've been sniffing around Craigslist already for something else in the 30 - 40 hp range.

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Boston, the good news is it wasn't frozen. Maybe it was put away well.
You can try a different compression tester for comparison. Auto Zone or Oreillys loan them for free.
You may also want to check the lower unit lube.
Worse case, you may have some good parts there to sell.
There's always someone looking for an electric start setup.
Thanks for sharing and keep us posted.

jasper

Thanks Jasper, I see you have familiarity with that motor. How have those been for you? Not much experience on my end so it's hard for me to figure at which point I'm throwing good money after bad. I know it will need a new starter assembly since it's corroded and not really popping up with consistency. Wires were also chewed a bit likely by a mouse and the housing had acorns in it.

Dumb question here but is there any trick to a successful compression test? First try, the fuel pump was not attached and I heard air escaping.. So that went back on but had no fuel hose attached - would that matter with pressure?

Thanks for taking the time.

Bostonstarcraft said:

Thanks Jasper, I see you have familiarity with that motor. How have those been for you? Not much experience on my end so it's hard for me to figure at which point I'm throwing good money after bad. I know it will need a new starter assembly since it's corroded and not really popping up with consistency. Wires were also chewed a bit likely by a mouse and the housing had acorns in it.

Dumb question here but is there any trick to a successful compression test? First try, the fuel pump was not attached and I heard air escaping.. So that went back on but had no fuel hose attached - would that matter with pressure?

Thanks for taking the time.

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Yea Boston, I have a few motors from that era, but only one runner at the moment.
The others serve as reminders of bad decisions.
Its always a gamble with old motors. From your description, sounds like this one may be too costly, IMO.
I'm far from any sorta expert though.

The fuel pump does not affect compression. If you heard air escaping, it could be coming from
the compression tester adapter?
There are youtube videos on compression testing. Make sure you ground your spark plug leads...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSmNMWTDtZE
Good luck.

jasper

You might want to try spraying some SeaFoam Deep Creep into each cylinder. Tip the engine so it all runs down onto the top of the piston. This may wet and loosen the rings. Do it every day for about a week. Then do your compression test. You will need to spin the motor about 300 rpm to get an accurate compression reading. So charge your battery while you wait.

Good Luck

FishinLite said:

You might want to try spraying some SeaFoam Deep Creep into each cylinder. Tip the engine so it all runs down onto the top of the piston. This may wet and loosen the rings. Do it every day for about a week. Then do your compression test. You will need to spin the motor about 300 rpm to get an accurate compression reading. So charge your battery while you wait.

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Adding to this ... make sure ignition kill is off or slowly pull start through to move the Seafoam around in there too.

Boston - I'm just 10-mins north of you and had one of those OBs and just rebuilt a 16' Starcraft as you can see from my posts linked to from my signature. So I am local to you. Give a yell if I can give you other advise!

A 40hp on my heavier 16-footer gave me 30mph so I added a 60hp that gets me to 40mph, but note my wheel (prop) is now set for carrying a heavy cruising load (5 people & gear). I can peg the rev limiter if I am alone. In essence, I am intentionally running almost a water skiing props vs a 'speed' props, but my experience with OBs has proven to me that running too steep a prop on an OB motors - called 'lugging' - KILLS them and/or severely reduces their longevity.

Welcome aboard!

Jasper, thanks for the video. Seems pretty straightforward. I was hoping I did something wrong to get the 90 reading!

Fishinlite - good tip on the deep creep, didn't even know that existed... so much to learn. I'll give it a shot, thanks. Interesting mention on the battery - at the time of purchase since we used a running truck battery, we had to rev the engine to get the necessary juice. It may not have been enough crank at that. Wishful thinking probably. I had also put one of those amazon bought USB LED lighted cable cameras in the spark plug openings and didnt see noticeable scoring. The view was limited though.

DaleH, wow you've been busy on builds. Nice work, I lurked for a while on here and read through a few of your projects. Impressive, where do you find the time? Thanks for the tips and offer, you may hear from me! I work in the city but live about halfway between Boston and Portsmouth. The Starcraft has a bit of galvanic corrosion probably from the Merrimack River. The pitting isn't too bad on the inside of the stern. Since I'm seriously considering an epoxy coat before paint on the outside of the hull, would it be advisable to also clean and epoxy the inside of the stern before reinstalling a new transom?

Bostonstarcraft said:

Thanks for the tips and offer, you may hear from me! I work in the city but live about halfway between Boston and Portsmouth.

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Well I'm maybe 1/4 of the way out on that same route, so we're close by. Plus I'd have any tool or can point you to the best local places to buy from, like Boats&Motors over in Wakefield.

The Starcraft has a bit of galvanic corrosion probably from the Merrimack River. The pitting isn't too bad on the inside of the stern. Since I'm seriously considering an epoxy coat before paint on the outside of the hull, would it be advisable to also clean and epoxy the inside of the stern before reinstalling a new transom?

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I would ... you have but one chance to get it right. Also, if keeping it in the water, I've been using one of the newer, albeit expen$ive ablative 'copper free' bottom paints that's ideal for tin boats. It ain't cheap, but it works the BEST of any antifouling paint I've seen that can be safely used on aluminum boats.

Good tip on Wakefield, I would rather keep the business local than with a national company, thank you for that.

I don't see a situation where this tin would be in the ocean overnight by choice so I'll save the anti foul (and cash) for my next project! I came across Goop epoxy, does anyone have good or bad things to say about this coating? I see steelflex in many builds - is that the better way to go?