1981 16’ Starcraft Seafarer Finished (New pics 6/5/12)

devilmutt · Post by **devilmutt** » 07 May 2010, 15:11

I stumbled upon this site awhile back and was instantly bitten by the mod bug. I’ve been collecting some ideas from all of the great modification threads and decided to purchase my own project. This may be a slow process for me due to the fact that I have two little girls that dominate my time, plus I’m already over budget with the boat purchase.

I picked up a 1981 16’ Starcraft Seafarer powered by a 1985 35hp electric start Evinrude. The boat sits on a 1969 Spartan trailer and came with a Minn Kota bow mount trolling motor, two fuel tanks, and two depth finders.

The boat appears to be in decent shape with quite a few holes above the water line.

The goal is to get me and my girls on the water, and to set it up for bass fishing for me. Let me know what you think of my purchase.

Thanks.

Jim-Iowa · Post by **Jim-Iowa** » 07 May 2010, 18:14

Nice Boat will make a great Fishing platform for you! I think you pictures just caused me to have a FLASHBACK?
About 10 yrs ago I met a guy(Jerry O'Connor) from Minnesota on another website(that site closed and we lost track of each other), who's wife had family in Knoxville(about 30 mile South) and she wanted to visit and he wanted to fish. We got together and fished for a week out of his boat and had a great time.
Great fishing platform and I've wanted one set up simular since(maybe on a 14 or 15'. If that's not the same boat it's a dead ringer?

flintcreek · Post by **flintcreek** » 07 May 2010, 18:36

Nice rig....looks like you and your girls are going to have a good time....fish on!

Flintcreek

devilmutt · Post by **devilmutt** » 08 May 2010, 04:16

Jim-Iowa - That's not the name of the guy I purchased the boat from, but I didn't ask him how long he had owned it. I guess it could be the same boat, I purchased it in St Paul. I was down in Iowa 3 weeks ago, I fished Little River, Three Mile, Sugema, Morman Trail, Meadow, Beaver, Brushy Creek, and Little Wall. I grew up in Ottumwa, and moved to MN in '88.

Thanks flintcreek.

I've manged to tear out all of the old wood over the past few days without finding any major flaws.

My next order of business is cleaning up the outboard. Any advice on how I can remove a bunch of grease and grime from the outboard? Can I take it to the car wash and spray it without doing any damage? Sorry if that is a dumb question, this is my first boat and I don't want to destroy it before I can get it on the water.

devilmutt · Post by **devilmutt** » 09 May 2010, 02:06

I spent the day plugging holes and removing the factory paint, got one side done. All of the wood has been removed, but I haven't cleaned the inside yet. The previous owner had cut into one of the seats to create some storage room.

wasilvers · Post by **wasilvers** » 09 May 2010, 03:19

Looks good! Should be a fun project.

Be sure to ask the girls what color they should paint it. I heard a lot of pink from my kids

devilmutt · Post by **devilmutt** » 10 May 2010, 13:22

My two year old says to paint it brown, the five year old says black. I was expecting maybe pink or purple.

devilmutt · Post by **devilmutt** » 10 May 2010, 13:31

I just ordered a gallon of Steelflex with the gray pigment, now I need warmer weather. It snowed on Saturday night, high of 54 today, but it should warm up next week. I guess that will give me time to finish removing the paint from the other side.

Jim-Iowa · Post by **Jim-Iowa** » 10 May 2010, 13:34

devilmutt wrote:My two year old says to paint it brown, the five year old says black. I was expecting maybe pink or purple.

When the bosses speak, it pays to listen! I bet you could come up with a combination of Black & Brown that would please everybody.

Even if they had come up with purple, the new Chargers have a purple that would not go bad with white.
I think back in the 70's they called it Plumb Crazy on the Chargers.

danmyersmn · Post by **danmyersmn** » 10 May 2010, 19:33

Great boat. You have tons of room and options to build it. Opener is next weekend though so you better get on it.

devilmutt · Post by **devilmutt** » 10 May 2010, 23:22

I've been kicking around the idea of taking out the bench that was cut open, but I may be getting in over my head. If I were to do this I would need to run supports from the sides to the ribs, is this correct? That's what I've gathered from reading some of the other threads, am I reading these correctly?

devilmutt · Post by **devilmutt** » 10 May 2010, 23:23

danmyersmn wrote:Great boat. You have tons of room and options to build it. Opener is next weekend though so you better get on it.

Not a chance that it will be ready for the opener.

devilmutt · Post by **devilmutt** » 12 May 2010, 04:32

The factory paint has now been removed from both sides. Now I need to get the motor cleaned up and removed so I can remove the paint from the transom and get the boat off the trailer.

devilmutt · Post by **devilmutt** » 12 May 2010, 04:36

Well, this is what I'm thinking at this point.

Froggy · Post by **Froggy** » 12 May 2010, 10:03

Sounds like a plan, good luck