1961 Starcraft 15' Jet Star conversion

[kmercury]

Well, I sold my modified 14' Sea Nymph (https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=15825&p=164107&hilit=kmercury#p164107) last fall after a good season of fishing in the hopes of finding a little larger boat. My requirements were something to house a nice casting deck, remote controls and large enough motor to pull a tube. I came accross this boat sitting in a yard about 3 months ago. It came with a 1973 long shaft 40hp Johnson even though it has a 15" transom.

I purchased it a month later for less than $400. Since, I have been working to just get it operational:

[*]Replaced cut tire
[*]Replace both trailer axle bearings (they were rusted solid)
[*]Cut down trailer tongue due to it being bent and replaced the hitch coupler and safety chains
[*]Rewired trailer lights
[*]Converted the 1973 Johnson from a long shaft to a short shaft, tune up and new impeller
[*]Converted the cable and pulley system from running down both gunnels to right side only.
[*]Fish, fish, fish (nice 10 1/2" Perch last weekend

Now its time for boat overhaul. Plans:

I plan to follow this modification to a point (https://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=455193&s=5ea8f3c4f1ad9c18974dca4017712af8) with some differneces.

[*]Pop the bow cover off
[*]Deck entire boat with upper casting deck
[*]Possibly move fuel tank to front
[*]Pedestal seats all around
[*]Possible livewell depending on $$
[*]Etc.

I have the boat pretty much gutted and ready to cut the bow cover off.....
I plan to use this boat during modification so work may be slow....
I think its a great boat for modification... hopefully those years of wood and metal shop will pay off!!!!

 

[Derrekfishman]

I'm not sure but i might have the same boat. The registration for my boat says 0000 Starcraft and thats it! I have my boat gutted and flipped over right now so i'll be very interested in seeing what you do to your boat. If i get more time I'll start a tread of my own, maybe we can help each other.

I'll try to post a pic later.

 

[Derrekfishman]

Here's my boat. Do you think it's the same boat?

 

[1munford]

awesome, I love those deep v's

 

[kmercury]

Here's my boat. Do you think it's the same boat?

Yep, that looks like a Jet Star. In the left back corner of the boat near the transom well there should be a plate that has the serial number and model of boat. From that, you should be able to get the exact year.

I will be watching yours as well. I cut my bow cover off and now have to deal with those sharp edges. I have a couple ideas and should be able to post my solution with pics this weekend.

Good luck.

 

[kmercury]

Well, got about 30min in on the boat today. As you can see in pic b5 above, when I cut the bow cap off I left about 3/4" extra extending into the boat from the stock curve. Today I cut slits in that extra and bent it down 90 degrees with some hand seamers so I have something to rivet a piece of aluminum fascia to. I also found some great vinyl angle at HD that is used as external house trim. I will use as my trim to cover the sharp edges.. It is a lot cheeper that aluminum angle....



More to come....

 

[kmercury]

Here is the left side finished. Included is a pic of the right side... kind of a before and after.

Not too shabby!

 

[hsiftac]

Looking good, are you keeping the same motor/setup?

 

[kmercury]

I would love to change but no cash for that right now. The boat is rated to 50hp so some day a nice 4 stroke with tilt/trim will be hanging off the back. For now the old 40hp will have to do.

 

[kmercury]

Got the right side done. Now that those sharp edges are taken care of, I can get to work on the decking frame...

 

[kmercury]

Well, I was finally able to get back to work on the boat. The next step was to get the main portion of the deck installed. I started with a 2x6x8 as my main beam to hold my cross members. I cut it leingth-wise at an angle to get the deck level compaired to the angle of the hull. Next, I cut my cross members. I stapled pieces of rubber innertube on all of the parts that touch the boat hull. I am hoping this will cut down on any vibration.

From here I got stuck. I comtemplated deck material for about a week. I initially was going to use 1/2" treated ply but it is heavy and I knew I would have to cover it with carpet to protect bare feet right away. Since this boat is going in stages based on $$ and I want to use it asap, I needed a material that I could install without the need of covering right away. I thought of 5/4 decking boards but those suckers are very heavy as well. I finally found some 1x4x8 furring strips at Lowes that fit the bill. They were cheep (less than $2 per board) they seemed to have a sanded finish and the corners were milled off, perfect!

I soaked them all with a multisurface water sealer with my lawn sprayer and installed them. I think they look nice and will allow water to drain beneith the deck and keep it dry. I may paint them for now and carpet them in the future.

So, on to the casting deck framing now.

Pics comming soon.

 

[kmercury]

Here is the front deck framing. I need to add some floatation foam and a storage compartment to it, then install. Then its on to the seats and console.

 

[kmercury]

I framed in the small storage area under the casting deck and then moved to the foam. This large block was installed under the bow cover originally on the boat. I did some trimming and bungy corrded it onto the deck frame. All installed and ready to go.

 

[Ringo Steele]

Neat interpretation of the phrase "deck boat"! :mrgreen: It will be interesting to watch your progress. Are you going to add some more foam under the flooring? (had to ask! :wink: )

 

[kmercury]

Yes, the Lund shown is what I am going for but mine will have seats instead of pads at some point and a full rear bench. The seat boxes will be filled and the bench lined with foam.

 

[kmercury]

Casting deck is now on. I am going to paint the deck then get to work on the seat boxes.

 

[fool4fish1226]

That looks great - How much weight do you think you added.

 

[kmercury]

I am not too sure, I should estimatethat out... maybe 50-60lbs so far. Those 1x4 boards are quite light. In thinking about this, if I had gone with treated ply, carpet and etc, it probably would double that amount. I pushed the boat around last night and it did not seem too much heaver.

I got about half the desk painted. The side walls are a slate gray and the deck a light gray. I am going for 3 coats and will see how that does. Then, on to the seats.

 

[kmercury]

Deck fully painted today. Now on to the seats.

 

[hsiftac]

That looks great, are you putting anything else down, if not, are you worried about stuff falling through the cracks?