Starbuck 16ft with Mercury 115hp *PICS*

[Nickster914]

Hello, new to the forum.
Just picked up a Starbuck with the ol' merc tower of power. The serial number on the motor shows its a 1979... Runs awesome! Not sure what year the boat is. Does anyone have any info on these boats/model/years? Apparently they were in a lawsuit with Sidewinder so i think they went out of business pretty quick.

I have some questions...
-The hull has a pretty decent size separation. I'm wondering if this is all the way through the boat or if its a piece on top of another piece, if that makes sense. Either way i'll fix it, but i'm wondering if i can still drive it a time or two.
-Recomendations on fiberglass repair kit?

I'd appreciate all comments, tips, ideas, things to look for/do etc!

Thanks!

 

[matt167]

being a small go fast boat with a lot of hp, I suspect the fiberglass is ripping itself apart from rotten stringers and the hull pounding the water

 

[GA_Boater]

Welcome aboard, Nick.

I think you have a lot of work ahead of you to make her safe before using her. The fuel tank needs to be secured and the trim pump looks like it's not attached.

That crack needs repaired. I don't like the rust stains leeching out of the crack. It's a fiberglass boat, what is inside the hull? Probably a lot of rotted wood is my guess.

Did you get any paperwork with the year?

 

[Nickster914]

Definitely a lot of work. I was thinking the same thing about the rust colors coming out... The floor inside the boat is fiberglass. I'll have to rip out the carpet to see if there's a panels to see what's underneath or maybe have to cut out a section?

Securing the trim pump and gas tank will be easy. I'm very mechanically inclined but have never done fiberglass so i'm using this as a learning experience.

I'd like to reinforce the transom as well, you can see stress cracks in one of the pictures.

I also need to weld up a stand or something to flip the boat upside down to work on it...

 

[GA_Boater]

The transom wood probably needs replaced. No amount of reinforcement can make up for rotted wood because it needs something to hold on to.

The Tower Of Power is not a light motor and smacking a wake at WOT could make for a submerged TOP.

I think we have a resto thread on a very similar boat buried in here somewhere, but you can prowl through the Resto section for other fiberglass projects to see what it takes.

I know we're being critical, but we want you to have a safe boat to enjoy for years and years. She's kinda cool and speedy lookin'!

 

[Nickster914]

I love constructive criticism, I also want a safe boat that will last. I love this timeless look and its locally built so that's pretty neat. I'll try to find that other thread.

 

[Redtruck12]

Cool looking little boat

 

[Tassie 1]

Has a very similiar look to a boat here in Australia,
Swiftcraft Stilleto SR
My son has one, with a 115 yammie on it,
goes like a cut cat in a river or lake,
mid 50's ( mph )

unfortunately, not much use where we live on the coast,


but l agree with the others, you have some work to do

 

[clyroden]

Nice looking boat you got there.

 

[Nickster914]

where would you guys recommend I start? I feel like I need to see what's under the floor to get at that crack in the bottom?

or just repair the separation from the bottom and leave the floor alone? What gets me is the floor is fiberglass so id have to cut the whole thing out... how do you know where to cut?

 

[archbuilder]

Nice looking boat. I would say it has some rot issues. Most likely the deck is plywood with fiberglass on top of it. You need to pull up the carpet, I suspect the area where you have fiberglass over plywood will become fairly visible unless there is a lot of glue on it. The plywood area is usually the flat part in the middle. Where the hull starts to slope up is usually where it transitions from plywood to the fiberglass hull. The plywood deck area will most likely have foam under it which I would guess is completely water lodged. That is unless someone has already been in there and "fixed it". The deck for sure needs to come out on this one. You might look at my Miss Morgan thread, she is very similar to your hull and has a 115 (see link in my signature below). As for fixing it, its totally doable, look at my hull, It was in similar shape. Takes a lot of work but it is worth it every time I take her out! Pull some of the carpet and interior out, and see what you find. Also some better pictures of the inside of the transom would be helpful.

 

[Nickster914]

Can this thread be deleted? Thanks

 

[GA_Boater]

Can this thread be deleted? Thanks

Why?

 

[Nickster914]

Why?

because I would like to make a new one in the near future that's less cluttered. I don't want to have two up here...

 

[GA_Boater]

Just stop posting in this thread and it will sink to Davy Jones Locker like all the rest of the inactive threads. Also if the thread is deleted, so are your posts and those of any other poster in the thread. Many of our members are proud of their post count and we have to be fair to them.

You also asked to delete the broken spring thread you flagged. Since all your posts are in the two threads you asked for us to delete, your post count would be zero.

Ignore new posts to either thread and start your new thread.

In reality what you should do is just continue with this thread. It only has 14 posts, so how is it cluttered? You can't control who posts in your threads.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Cool boat, even if it is in a short lived thread. Easy come easy go.......