14' Starcraft Seafarer Restoration (Charlie Tuna)

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 9, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Hello Everyone,
I am new to the forums but have been on and off lurking since 2016. I wanted to share a little, kinda restoration project of a boat I got from my neighbor next door. I am not a big fisherman, but have been fishing. My wife likes fishing but I have never been fishing with her. I also never had a desire to own a boat, mostly because I hear how expensive they are. Interestingly enough, my neighbor was a huge fisherman. I got really close with him over the last 16 years of living next to him. He always shared stories with me. He used to go offshore during the week and all weekend and lived for boating and fishing. He was retied and in his mid 70’s s when I moved next door in 2001. Ever since he had his heart attack about 13 years ago I have been mowing his lawn. And mowed around a small aluminum boat that was upside down on concrete blocks acquiring mold and mildew on the bottom. He had buoys on top of it he found from the ocean. I never paid it any mind, just trimmed around it.
A few years ago he told me the story about the boat. It was his sons and he got it when he got out of Vietnam. He used to fish in it from time to time with him. He said there was two motors in the basement for it that ran when they were put there when it was last used in 1981. That was it. Since my wife was interested in fishing I was thinking maybe he would want to get rid of it, but I never did ask since he told me the story. So I forgot about it and never bothered to ask if he would sell it or get rid of it. But continued to mow around it.
My neighbor Charlie passed away last December 2015. I was working building a teardrop trailer in my garage one afternoon in April 2016 when his wife calls me and says I can have the motors in the basement. I was confused for a bit, but remembered the boat motors. Charlie told me the story of the boat 6 or so years ago. So the motors were not fresh in my head. I told her I did not have a boat. She said to take the aluminum one I had been mowing around. So I talked to my wife and we both went over and brought the boat home. A 14’ boat sitting crooked in an 8’ utility trailer to move it from one yard to the next. I moved the motors out of the basement and all were now in my backyard. The decision was easy. If it was not worth fixing scrap it and move on with life. Well, let’s say that things were better than expected and that is how this journey of restoration began. I am not a fisherman by any means, but I like to tinker, take things apart and make things better and watch old things that don’t work, work again. So that is how this project starts.
Things we learned in the first five minutes after it was in the yard
1) It was dirty
2) The aluminum label was partially chewed on by squirrels but readable. ’67 Starcraft Seafarer 14’
3) Seats were solid and nice old mahogany
4) Motors were in great shape and turned over
5) Boat needed to be washed so I did not have this moldy, mildewed boat sitting in my yard for years like it did before.

The pictures below show it how it came over. The one below that shows it pressure washed an hour later. More to follow.
920495d4b7e2af815bd773f37c732cfb.jpg


49fd82da611e6fadb4b8366018f6492d.jpg


ab14b2c2060477f828ac1ac7f57c7e95.jpg


d9aa9781bf8811ed7c426ef8f2ec9165.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Since taking the boat home it spent most of last summer sitting upside down under my deck on 6x6’s. Every so often when I had the hose out I would hose the bottom off to help keep it clean. I didn’t have any time to work on it but didn’t want to start going backwards after pressure washing. Sometime in December after one of the snowstorms I decided to put it on a trailer so I could move from the ground level and have it up and rolling around in case I decided to work on it over the winter. I looked all over Craigsist and most of the used trailers by the time you fixed them up would be almost as much as new. So I purchased a new venture trailer for boat and a cover from Cabela’s to put it to sleep for the winter.
A few days after putting the boat to sleep on it warmed a bit so I decided to get the Evinrude Fisherman 5.5 HP up in the garage and see if it would run. I hooked up an old go cart gas tank and sure enough after a few pulls it started. It ran rough but started. So that was a good sign. The motor then went to the basement to been completely disassembled and gone thru. All the typical stuff a motor from 1960 would need. New Ignition, Impeller, gear oil, lower unit reseal, fresh lubrication on everything. This was my first boat motor I ever took apart. Similar to some motors but different. So I learned a lot taking it apart. I slowly picked away at the motor most of the winter and finally buttoned it all back up around Labor Day of this year. Around that Time I finished a few other projects and decided it was time to pull the boat in the garage so I can start to work on it after our Labor Day picnic. It’s easier to work on a project when you are prepped and ready to go than have to pull the boat up when you are ready. So about 2 weeks after Labor Day the work started.
The boat was leak checked and found to have many rivets leaking. My wife and I bucked the rivets and we got rid of 90% of the leaks. The remainder would get taken care of with some gluvit.
Here is a picture of the boat during partial disassembly
I
408ebe73864d1bb4792ed6471b7de271.jpg


4d47818b9c27882bb8b714e5f40c230d.jpg


d8d40cf8f312574bda45fb2f697e60a7.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
In the meantime while all that was Started I got talking to my boss about taking it on the CT river after I take it on the lakes a few times to work out any bugs. He has had boats for awhile and also a big fisherman. He recommended a little bigger motor so going up river wouldn't be too slow and I have a little extra if I need it. The boats max hp is 40 based off the capacity plate. After awhile searching I found this 1959 18hp Evinrude for $200. New coils. Had seized clamp screws. The son picked it up for the father for his 14' boat but the recoil was a bit too much for him to start. So they got a different newer motor that was electric start. This one can be electric but the starter motor kit was never installed. Picked it up anyway to see how it goes.

27b07cee7a396b5339f558ff1d04328d.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Latest posts

Top