My next boat project...An old 1959 Starcraft Constellation

[DanOStarcraft]

Hello all. Well, just added another project to the driveway. My wife loves it when I do that... I've been tinkering around with boats, both sail and power for 40 years. I've renovated and rebuilt and built from scratch a few. Hobby stuff. Just came across an old '59 Starcraft in pretty good restorable shape, so that's my upcoming project. I'm sure I'll have questions. Fiberglass and wood I'm comfortable with; aluminum not so much. The first order of business will be to remove the paint.

 

[Stand Up]

Welcome to the Tinboats forum @DanOStarcraft . That's a lovely boat worth restoring. Don't listen to your wife. It's beautiful. Fix it up and keep us posted. We like boat restorations.

 

[LDUBS]

Terrific to find those old boats with intact windshields. Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing.

 

[DanOStarcraft]

Hi guys. Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I think this will be a fun one. Rare to find one this old that isn't trashed and that has titles. Inside the boat, under the leaves and gunk were the old mahogany seat frames. So, I have some templates to use and some aluminum trim pieces that just need some clean up and paint.

I was surprised too that the windshield was in such good shape. There is one little crack down low that I might be able to fill and patch but overall it's in very good shape for a 65 year old boat. The guy I bought it from bought it from the estate of a gentleman that passed a few years ago. He said he took it out and to his shock it didn't leak at all. Wow.

A little more research and from what I can find this was the 1959 Starcraft Super Constellation. I think the "super" part was that it was 16' instead of 14'. Seems to be a lot more rare as I can't find any pictures of this model. Even with it being the 2' longer one it's still pretty light at around 300 pounds. So much easier to move around than the '67 Glastron in the last photo.

Anyhow, looking forward to the project and refit. My additional plans are to have it be electric. I rebuilt the Glastron to be electric and have had fun working with that. The electric motor builds I have are a 6kw and a 10kw. The 6kw would push the heavy Glastron to almost 8mph and that's with a deep V hull and around 700+ pounds of just boat, so this one should move out a bit quicker. We'll see.

Always appreciate comments.

 

[Billy H]

Hi guys. Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I think this will be a fun one. Rare to find one this old that isn't trashed and that has titles. Inside the boat, under the leaves and gunk were the old mahogany seat frames. So, I have some templates to use and some aluminum trim pieces that just need some clean up and paint.

I was surprised too that the windshield was in such good shape. There is one little crack down low that I might be able to fill and patch but overall it's in very good shape for a 65 year old boat. The guy I bought it from bought it from the estate of a gentleman that passed a few years ago. He said he took it out and to his shock it didn't leak at all. Wow.

A little more research and from what I can find this was the 1959 Starcraft Super Constellation. I think the "super" part was that it was 16' instead of 14'. Seems to be a lot more rare as I can't find any pictures of this model. Even with it being the 2' longer one it's still pretty light at around 300 pounds. So much easier to move around than the '67 Glastron in the last photo.

Anyhow, looking forward to the project and refit. My additional plans are to have it be electric. I rebuilt the Glastron to be electric and have had fun working with that. The electric motor builds I have are a 6kw and a 10kw. The 6kw would push the heavy Glastron to almost 8mph and that's with a deep V hull and around 700+ pounds of just boat, so this one should move out a bit quicker. We'll see.

Always appreciate comments.

Please tell more about these motors you build and what you use to power them.

 

[DanOStarcraft]

Please tell more about these motors you build and what you use to power them.

Hi Billy. Well, I like to tinker and a friend on our little 100 acre electric only lake renovated/refurbished a 1960 Glastron. He's an engineer, very interesting guy and built a 10kw electric motor a decade ago. He used the leg of a 1950s Johnson and mounted the electric motor up top. Then he built a bigger motor that can push his Glastron close to 30mph. I have to say it's pretty cool to go that fast with pretty much the only sounds being the wind and the wooshing of the water going by. When he built the bigger motor he loaned me his 10kw motor to play with. His bigger motor is a 96v system. The 10kw motor ran on 48v. I ran it on a couple LifePo4 batteries I bought from Amazon.

I put the 10kw on my '67 Glastron and we had some fun with it. The '67 is heavy, v hulled, and would max out at around 7 mph with it. Big wake. Ha. Still fun to goof around with. Then I wanted to build some of my own. I found an old 60s era 45hp motor with a dead block for $30 on FB Marketplace. I pulled the head and mounted a 2,000 watt ebike motor I bought on Amazon for around $150. That build would top out around 5 or 6mph. I built it just for practice and because it was cheap. It was also a 48v system.

I picked up an ePropulsion little Spirit 1.0 motor a year ago to use on a couple boats we have. I was impressed with it and modified it to use old control throttles. There are several videos on my channel with these motors. And then...I wanted to up my game and bought an ePropulsion Navy 6 which is, they say, the equivalent to a 9.9hp outboard. The video clips I attached in the prior post are of that Navy 6 pushing the heavy Glastron. And that motor, the Navy 6, is what I'm looking forward to putting on the '59 Starcraft. I've seen other vids of people using the Navy 6 on boats of similar weight to the Starcraft and going 12 to 15 mph. So we'll see.

The battery bank I use is made up of three 50v, 50 Ah batteries in parallel.

Some of the coolest things with these electrics is no noise. You can have a normal conversation with friends. And....no smoke, no vibration, no going to the gas station, no impellers or fuel pumps, or spark plugs, or carbs, or points, or winterizing, or.... Just connect it and go. There are trade offs though and it's not for everyone. They are slower than gas. They're not cheap. But they're fun.

I know this is an aluminum boat forum but here is a video I did of the Navy 6 on the '67 Glastron.

 

[Billy H]

Thanks, the reason I asked is the lake right where I live is electric only. I’ve been using conventional trolling motors for more than 20 years there. I’ve seen the E-propulsion motors at a marina on display. Very pricey. If I didn’t have other gas powered boats I might consider going that route, but the cash outlay for a boat I use occasionally just doesn’t make sense for me. I thought maybe I could see what you were doing on the motor builds. I think I misunderstood you as saying you home built those motors.

 

[DanOStarcraft]

I've also used trolling motors for many years as well as plenty of 2 stroke gas motors. Just started getting into the electric stuff in the last couple of years. They are pricey for off the shelf stuff.

I did build this one:

 

[jdreed]

Hey @DanOStarcraft, I've love to hear how your project is going. I have a 1957 Super Constellation with the original configuration if you need pics or measurements. My biggest problem has been finding those windshield clips which are very unusual. I'm trying to have some fabricated. Also if your boat is like mine, that light is purely decorative and has never been hooked up. I had to drill through the deck and front floation to run a wire and sealed it up with silicone, and a vintage-y pull switch for the lights.

 

[DanOStarcraft]

Hello,
We're dealing with the remnants of tropical storm Debby so the internet is wonky. Some posts are doubling or dropping. Don't know if this will get through.

Anyhow, the project is moving along in between work and life and other responsibilities. Appreciate the information and for reaching out.

I've removed/stripped the paint from the sides and deck, a massive job after 65 years of multiple coats by who knows how many owners. The bottom I'll probably keep black as I really don't want to be under it to strip it or to find a way to flip the boat and support it. And the black looks fine, for now at least.

Last weekend my friend that built the 10kw electric motor (about a 10hp equivalent) was over and we sorted a few things with it. It's running strong now. My next steps are to make some seats/ benches, rig up some steering cables, and get some on the water testing. Over the winter I'll make it pretty and try to follow more of the original layout. Very much appreciate the information and possible measurements.

Yeah, I thought about trying to take off the windshield to get at the paint removal but my clips are pretty well stuck. The bolts are rusted and to remove it would require drilling out the bolts. I may get to that but for now I want to see how it behaves in the water and then over the winter I'll make it pretty. I'm guessing/estimating a speed of 12 to 15mph but we'll see.

 

[DanOStarcraft]

Hello,
We're dealing with the remnants of tropical storm Debby so the internet is wonky. Some posts are doubling or dropping. Don't know if this will get through.

Anyhow, the project is moving along in between work and life and other responsibilities. Appreciate the information and for reaching out.

I've removed/stripped the paint from the sides and deck, a massive job after 65 years of multiple coats by who knows how many owners. The bottom I'll probably keep black as I really don't want to be under it to strip it or to find a way to flip the boat and support it. And the black looks fine, for now at least.

Last weekend my friend that built the 10kw electric motor (about a 10hp equivalent) was over and we sorted a few things with it. It's running strong now. My next steps are to make some seats/ benches, rig up some steering cables, and get some on the water testing. Over the winter I'll make it pretty and try to follow more of the original layout. Very much appreciate the information and possible measurements.

Yeah, I thought about trying to take off the windshield to get at the paint removal but my clips are pretty well stuck. The bolts are rusted and to remove it would require drilling out the bolts. I may get to that but for now I want to see how it behaves in the water and then over the winter I'll make it pretty. I'm guessing/estimating a speed of 12 to 15mph but we'll see.

Ha, also...that battery in the boat is for the tilt and trim. To run the motor I'll be using several 48v 50ah batteries. She's a bit thirsty.

 

[Altidude]

Ha, also...that battery in the boat is for the tilt and trim. To run the motor I'll be using several 48v 50ah batteries. She's a bit thirsty.

Curious to see how the tin boat does versus the heavy fiberglass boat with the E motors.

 

[DanOStarcraft]

Curious to see how the tin boat does versus the heavy fiberglass boat with the E motors.

Me too!

Here’s today’s progress. Working on seats. Not to original spec but just setting things up for use this late summer and fall. I’ll probably redesign the seats over the winter.

 

[DanOStarcraft]

Setting up steering and organizing the throttle and gages.

 

[LDUBS]

That cable & pulling steering brings back some memories.

 

[mbullen]

Hey @DanOStarcraft, I've love to hear how your project is going. I have a 1957 Super Constellation with the original configuration if you need pics or measurements. My biggest problem has been finding those windshield clips which are very unusual. I'm trying to have some fabricated. Also if your boat is like mine, that light is purely decorative and has never been hooked up. I had to drill through the deck and front floation to run a wire and sealed it up with silicone, and a vintage-y pull switch for the lights.

hey jdreed,
The windshield brackets shown on DanOStarcraft's boat are a Taylor Made product. ...as are a majority of the windshields in this era.
Two styles of brackets were available: a through-bolt and an external mount as pictured.
Both are frequent ebay items. They move pretty quickly, so one has to stay vigilant. I find an email search reminder helpful.

 

[jdreed]

@mbullen Thank you! I've seen the ones on the left, and they are still made today under part number 1607, but it's the ones on the right that I need. But thank you for the picture, now I at least know the real name of them ("deck angles") and the part number. I'll keep an eye on ebay listings.

 

[DanOStarcraft]

That cable & pulling steering brings back some memories.

Simplicity has its benefits!

 

[DanOStarcraft]

hey jdreed,
The windshield brackets shown on DanOStarcraft's boat are a Taylor Made product. ...as are a majority of the windshields in this era.
Two styles of brackets were available: a through-bolt and an external mount as pictured.
Both are frequent ebay items. They move pretty quickly, so one has to stay vigilant. I find an email search reminder helpful.

Awesome. Great to know. I'll keep an eye out as well for future repairs and modifications.