My first Boat - 12' 1963 Starcraft Pram

[SuDZ]

This is my first boat. My family has had boats for years, but this is my first. It's a left out in the yard for 10 years hand me down, a 12' 1962 Starcraft Pram. I went over it with it's first coat of primer. Tonight I'm hoping to sand it a little bit and then roll out another coat of primer. I need to figure out that 3" unpainted area under the rails. Mainly, I'm looking to either cut around the registration sticker for this year and then patch it in the winter, or see if I can remove and replace that sticker somehow after it's painted.

SuDZ

 

[SuDZ]

I finished my priming the couple days and made my way onto the color for the exterior. Using a can of spray paint primer on those tough to get to areas was a major time saver, glad I saw someone post that on here before trying to get at it all with a brush. Things like handles, rolled edges, etc. I'm going to do the same with the red now when the time coes.

SuDZ

 

[SuDZ]

Due to the high humidity, I haven't been able to get a second coat on the sides, but did get a chance to double coat the bottom, flip it back over, and prime the seats.

Shaun

 

[riverrat174]

Moving along quickly!!! Looking good. Any mods planned?

 

[SuDZ]

riverrat174 » Today, 09:25[/url]"]Moving along quickly!!! Looking good. Any mods planned?

I was hoping to be a lot further along this week, but it's been raining for 5 days straight. :|

I'm probably going electric with this one, and the only person on it primarily will be me alone.

I want to:

Finish painting and priming the interior.
Finish painting the exterior.
Wrap new plywood with carpet and mount to the seats.
Mount a sliding rail and seat on the back bench.
Mount a 7" or 9" pedestal, swivel and seat on the middle bench.
Install a small casting deck up front, not for actual standing/casting, but more to mount the electronics and TM
Install a battery up front for electronics
Bow mounted trolling motor
Install carpeted floors
Maybe interior LED's
Storage options
Wiring everything

I think that's a good list for now, but you know how that goes.

Shaun

 

[SuDZ]

After two weeks of rain, I was finally able to get the final coats of red on the sides, and on the rails.

Tonight, hopefully I can prime the inside floors and walls.

SuDZ

 

[SuDZ]

Well, I have my second coat of body color on there now. I've removed the tape as well and got the top of the rails, and the metal piece in the front painted. I went ahead and used up what I had left of the primer on the floors and walls. I'm going to probably cover the floors in time with carpet, but for now I'll prime and paint them. At least then I know it's done underneath. I'm going to go ahead and prime the inside in a white primer for the next coat though.

SuDZ

 

[SuDZ]

I was able to finished off the topcoat of red after peeling off tape and finding lots of paint coming off with it. It's most likely my own fault since it has been nothing but high humidity and rain the last few weeks, but I wanted to get some progress done. Minor setback.

One side I added my stripe. The stripe came out pretty good but needs a little touching up where the tape puled it a bit. Again, probably my fault.

I finished priming the floors and seats. I'll go over the next coat with white primer. I'm going with white on the walls and gray carpet on the floor. Getting the white on will really give me an idea of what the finished colors will look like.

One nice thing with the floors is the way the benches are mounted. They are screwed down to a plate that is riveted to the side of the boat, so I should be able to remove the screws/bolts that hold it down easy enough so that when I want to drop a floor in, I can do it in one long piece instead of multiple 4x3 pieces under the seats etc.

SuDZ

 

[SuDZ]

I'll take some pictures tomorrow of the exterior, but today I went ahead and got onto the seats. I poly'd some plywood, and then wrapped it in carpet. I think it look pretty good and goes with my seat pretty well. Recently I finished getting the inside pretty well, maybe a few touch-ups etc, but those I figure will be an ongoing project anyhow. I just wanted to get a quick update on here, I haven't deserted the project hehe. I figure after I get my seat installed fully, I'll be ready to take it out on a test drive.

SuDZ

 

[SuDZ]

It's been a while since I made an update, and there haven't been a ton, but a few things buttoned up. originally, the idea was to do this stuff over the winter anyhow, so even if it's slow paced now, it's way ahead of schedule in a sense.

I installed the carpeted base for the seat, installed the pedestal, swivel, and seat. I have a trolling motor now on the back, finished the paint for the most part (little touch up on the stripe needed on one side.) I am going to install another carpeted base on the back seat, probably with a matching seat, but not sure if I'll go with the pedestal on the back.

After the rear seat base at least, my next project will be to get a sheet of plywood water protected and carpeted so that I can make a deck up front. I don't plan on standing on it, but rather using it as a platform to give me a little covered storage area, a place to mount my front trolling motor, a spot to mount a fish finder, etc. I'm figuring out how I want to go about installing the deck. I'm thinking about putting it on top of the rails, and then screw it through the wood directly into the rails. Any thoughts?

I was given a free trolling motor with a foot control for the front. My only concern is that the cabling between the trolling motor and the foot control seems really short. Is there a way to lengthen that, or replace it with a longer length of cabling?

Thanks for looking,

Shaun

 

[SuDZ]

Did some mockups last night to figure out the deck/storage section I want to work on next. I have sort of a rough draft of how I can use the space now on my pegboard. The pegboard worked awesome for this, it was like having graph paper, but to actual size.

I also wanted to see how the trolling motor I was given for the bow would work out. I wish the lead was a foot longer or so, but it will work out. I might just put a block or something under the foot pedal anyhow to make up for that extra inch or two I need.

I'm wondering about installing those wall mount style rod holders to the seats, but not sure if they will be in the way too much. I might hold off on that for now.

The last picture was with the cooler and extra rod holders in there to give me an idea of how space would be if i wanted the livewell in there. I can take it in and out as needed, so it's not going to live there full time.

 

[SuDZ]

Mounted my carpeted piece on the back bench last night. I think I'm ready to either do the floor of the front deck next, just have to pickup some wood.

SuDZ

 

[Kismet]

Suggestion?

Do the floor, then take the boat out and play with it. You may find that the deck steals too much space from a 12' craft. Also, consider modifying jumper cable or the like to extend the distance between the stern and the battery location. Weight balance is important.

Looks nice.

 

[SuDZ]

I think I am going to go with the floor first. That way I can get a feel for it and also the wayI have a small deck in mind would go on top of that anyhow.

SuDZ

 

[SuDZ]

Any suggestion on how thick the floor needs to be? Will 3/4" be needed, or is 1/2" fine?

SuDZ

 

[Kismet]

I used 1/2" exterior grade plywood, with pool noodles affixed for support between boat ribs.
Very light, no issues in a year of use. See...er...page 2 of my build link. If you do the same, slice a flat spot on the noodles before you glue them; they hold better.

Have fun, be safe.

 

[SuDZ]

Kismet » Yesterday, 14:46[/url]"]I used 1/2" exterior grade plywood, with pool noodles affixed for support between boat ribs.
Very light, no issues in a year of use. See...er...page 2 of my build link. If you do the same, slice a flat spot on the noodles before you glue them; they hold better.

Have fun, be safe.

Last night on my way home from work, I stopped at the Home Depot to look into ideas for the floor. I didn't see your post before this, but wound up doing this last night. I used some insulation panels, 1 inch thick, and cut them to fit between the ribs. I was shy just enough for the back, but in the next picture I'll post, I just used 3/4" plywood. The 8' piece of plywood is going to fall a little short going from front to back anyhow, so I figured I would have them mate under the rear bench seat out of view anyhow. I can either stick a 1/4" piece of plywood under this to make the heights match, or just say close enough, :wink: out of sight out of mind.

 

[SuDZ]

Oh, the pegboard is just there because I was seeing how level it looked with a "floor" on it. That's not a permanent solution.

 

[Ictalurus]

If the pink board insulation is level w/ the ribs, I'd use 1/4" ply to cut down on weight.

 

[SuDZ]

Ictalurus » Yesterday, 18:16[/url]"]If the pink board insulation is level w/ the ribs, I'd use 1/4" ply to cut down on weight.

It is, and 1/4" is what I think I decided on last night after playing around with some wood to test it out. I think it will be fine.

I got around to carpeting my battery area as well last night.

SuDZ