Hello all!
Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:03 pm
New member here, just wanted to share my boat:.
Complete picture history of restoration at this link:
http://www.pbase.com/zerotacular/1973_starcraft_sunbird
It is a 1973 Starcraft Sunbird which someone had repowered with a 20" 1986 Force 50 (boat has 15" transom).
Restoration went from start to finish during most of this past summer. It needed everything - you could see through the transom. The original floor was weak/rotten and someone decided to fix that by applying another layer of plywood over top, which created two layers of wet plywood that could not dry out. I fixed this by building a new transom that came out to 20" so I could use the Force motor, which was in excellent running condition. The floor was easy, just strip out and replace with a single layer of ply.
The flotation foam (if it was original, I don't know) was wet and weighed about 200 pounds total - a lot of extra weight to carry around in a 14ft boat. I put in a pour-in foam before the new floor.
The dash panel was rotted through and needed new gauges. I made a new dash panel from oak and installed new cheapo teleflex gauges (at which time I discovered that tachometers for my particular generation of Force are near impossible to get).
The steering system was rope that wound on and off the helm and went through pullies to the back. I replaced all this with a new teleflex single cable system.
The hull had been painted with a couple different latex house paints, some of which was falling off and some was very difficult to strip. I fully stripped/sanded, then used an epoxy primer and Centari paint.
The one thing that didn't need any work whatsoever, was the Force 50. As soon as you hear the starter click, it's already running, every time. I understand that these motors were never rated at the propshaft, so it's probably closer to 35hp but in this application, the boat will do about 34mph so it's good enough to be fun.
-Bonus - I replaced the plastic STARCRAFT emblems on the sides with *Alloy* laser-cut copies. :D
Complete picture history of restoration at this link:
http://www.pbase.com/zerotacular/1973_starcraft_sunbird
It is a 1973 Starcraft Sunbird which someone had repowered with a 20" 1986 Force 50 (boat has 15" transom).
Restoration went from start to finish during most of this past summer. It needed everything - you could see through the transom. The original floor was weak/rotten and someone decided to fix that by applying another layer of plywood over top, which created two layers of wet plywood that could not dry out. I fixed this by building a new transom that came out to 20" so I could use the Force motor, which was in excellent running condition. The floor was easy, just strip out and replace with a single layer of ply.
The flotation foam (if it was original, I don't know) was wet and weighed about 200 pounds total - a lot of extra weight to carry around in a 14ft boat. I put in a pour-in foam before the new floor.
The dash panel was rotted through and needed new gauges. I made a new dash panel from oak and installed new cheapo teleflex gauges (at which time I discovered that tachometers for my particular generation of Force are near impossible to get).
The steering system was rope that wound on and off the helm and went through pullies to the back. I replaced all this with a new teleflex single cable system.
The hull had been painted with a couple different latex house paints, some of which was falling off and some was very difficult to strip. I fully stripped/sanded, then used an epoxy primer and Centari paint.
The one thing that didn't need any work whatsoever, was the Force 50. As soon as you hear the starter click, it's already running, every time. I understand that these motors were never rated at the propshaft, so it's probably closer to 35hp but in this application, the boat will do about 34mph so it's good enough to be fun.
-Bonus - I replaced the plastic STARCRAFT emblems on the sides with *Alloy* laser-cut copies. :D
