1981 16' Starcraft Seafarer Restore (PIC Heavy)

BTW great job on the boat resto.

Presently building a drift boat myself. No build thread, at least on this site, yet.

 

That was before it was restored. Those were 30+ year old hubs. There were no nuts on that original hub design.

 

Thank you for the compliments. I am lucky to have nice things.

 

Your pictures show the old hubs with lug bolt and then showing the replacement hubs with lug studs and nuts. If you have not turned the lug nuts around so the round part is facing in, they are on the wrong way.

The post I quoted shows the original hubs. You have to open the whole post to see the new hubs and nuts.

 

Nevermind I got you

 

I'm here, Captain.

 

That is one sweet restoration thread. I bought a 1982 Mirrocraft Deep Fisherman back in May with a 1972 Dilly trailer. Im looking at restoring it but I just don't have the time right now. This is really encouraging.

 

Great write up, I miss having property where I can undertake projects.

 

Great job. I’m not a boat guy but it was a great read. Very pretty boat.
I like the Goat too.

 

Beautiful restoration work! Mine 10ft for small lakes. About 50 offroad remote fishing trips per year.

 

Excellent restoration!

Have read-through and very much appreciate all of the details! Your hard work on this will save me (and I suspect a lot of others) a ton of time!

I have four (hopefully) quick questions. I'm restoring a similar boat - a 1975 seafarer - it has original paint and is in better shape than the boat you started with.

The first question is the transom .. is that topside paint that you applied? I'm thinking of leaving mine as shiny aluminum as it will be spending most of its time in the water, albeit in a very clean, cold lake with very 'soft' water. Folks are telling me that topside paint won't stand up to being immersed. Not sure what you've learned on the topic and how you came to your decision to paint your transom.

Second question is etching primer. I don't recall which one that you used, if any. Folks say that it's definitely needed on bare metal. As is 80 grit sand paper.

Third question is weepy seams. My boat doesn't substantially leak but I am noticing a bit of weeping along the transom bottom seam - over eight hours a couple thimble-fulls of water. Nothing seems loose .. I'm not familiar with how these boats were put together but I suspect some freeze-thaw over the years may have created pathways for moisture along that seam. Someone suggested 'gluvit' which I will try I think. It looks like messy stuff. Any experience with that?

Finally, last question. Citristrip. I'm hoping to get the back of my transom back to bare, shiny aluminum. What is the easiest way to do that? Thinking that scraping or using something on a rotary tool (or drill) would lead to marks that would be absolutely miserable to polish-out. And that that old paint is probably high in zinc chromate and who-knows-what-else. Would like to avoid chemical burns and ending up in a cancer ward in a dozen years if at all possible. Thank goodness it's a small boat!

 

Gluvit was a piece of cake. Super easy to apply.

Used an eco-stripper similar to citristrip on the transom. Took about an hour and a half. Also easy. Wore nitrile gloves and avoided touching anything. No sanding. A bit of puddling of stripper on the shop floor.

Occurred to me that in 1975 starcraft paint might still contain lead. Will assume that and test that today. No dust yet but will contain the puddles and all of the rags.

Had hoped to strip the bottom part of the hull back to bare metal but depending on lead result may leave as is.

 

No lead. That’s good news.

Almost certainly zinc chromate primer - aluminum under the paint looks showroom-new, so still warrants care/caution and no sanding. Found a moeller zinc phosphate primer spay bomb - going to use that to cover spots where the paint has worn.

So far have gone through about a quart of stripper - I’m thinking one more quart will finish the job.

 

Nice job! I just picked up an old 10' aluminum starcraft boat from the early 60's from an estate sale...i'm in the process of having to do the same job as far as replacing the seats, and transom......no trailer though.