1969 Starcraft 18' Open Bow 115hp Merc

[ctswf]

Re: 1969 Starcraft 18' Open Bow 115hp Merc

Great boat! I just bought my first statcraft in march, a 1969 18' offshore v. Yours must be the identical boat? Mine was originally that same yellow too.

Congratulations

 

[Shfftr]

Re: 1969 Starcraft 18' Open Bow 115hp Merc

Commander,thought a lot about what you said. Maybe another engine brand or even newer one somewhere from this century may be a good idea. No sense throwing money at a black hole even if that's what boats have been equated to. If you were looking for newer motor,90-125hp,what would you look at for dependability and ease of maintenance and availability of parts?

 

[Shfftr]

Re: 1969 Starcraft 18' Open Bow 115hp Merc

Yes identical,hoping mine looks even close to as good as yours looks some day. I love what you did with splashwell. I would really like to shorten mine,such a waste of space. I am not sure if I have the skills to cut and bend the aluminum like you did. If I really had skills would raise transom straight across and hang outboard on some kind of bracket like the Sea Drives of some years past. Do you find the 70hp to be sufficient or would you rather have more HP if it was available. I realize you had a outboard already.

 

[ctswf]

Re: 1969 Starcraft 18' Open Bow 115hp Merc

Actually the splashwell was easy, no bending or fine cutting required. All cuts were rough with a jig saw w/ metal blade, and end up with a piece of 1/4 inch trim on them, Lowes sells the identical trim found on the 6 inch "shelf" of the splash well. If I ever modify this one again (I very we'll might do that in March) I will probably make that bumpout style with the 2 seats next to it..or something similar, I still feel like it's too big.

I'd be happy to explain in detail what I did to the splashwell, it's not hard, you will end up with one missing piece though, either have a metal shop make it or use epoxied wood...I used wood it's totally fine.

The 70hp goes 32 mph, I have never felt under powered even with 4 people, but I'm not a gearhead and I usually can't open it up due to chop where I fish. I imagine if your on a flat lake and pulling skis you might want more power... My understanding from these fine gentlemen here is 70s good, 90 is what most have, and 115 is a beast.

 

[barato2]

Re: 1969 Starcraft 18' Open Bow 115hp Merc

If you were looking for newer motor,90-125hp,what would you look at for dependability and ease of maintenance and availability of parts?
OMC (Johnson/Evinrude) or, if you can afford it/find one, most anything Japanese. mercs are fine if they're newer models. generally avoid Chrysler and Force due to parts availability and cost (carb kit for my 5hp Force:$135).

 

[Shfftr]

Re: 1969 Starcraft 18' Open Bow 115hp Merc

If you were looking for newer motor,90-125hp,what would you look at for dependability and ease of maintenance and availability of parts?
OMC (Johnson/Evinrude) or, if you can afford it/find one, most anything Japanese. mercs are fine if they're newer models. generally avoid Chrysler and Force due to parts availability and cost (carb kit for my 5hp Force:$135).

Thank you commander for you input, as usual,just like automobiles it seems we have to go foreign brands to find better dependability.
I used to deliver to OMC/Johnson in Waukegan,IL and that is all gone now. It's a shame,for years bar fights were over OMC or Mercury because Mercury was just over the cheddar curtain from us. Our town,just like others really went down hill after the loss of OMC and other good paying jobs along Lake Michigan by us.

 

[barato2]

Re: 1969 Starcraft 18' Open Bow 115hp Merc

even OMC is now a "foreign brand", to those of us south of the border. Bombardier (Ski doo snowmobiles, Can Am dirtbikes and street trike, Rotax engines, ???) in Canada (actually they're 50% owned by Bain Capital...) bought em out when they went bankrupt (IIRC), now makes Johnson ETECs, which i understand are awesome motors if you can afford one.

ideally, if you can find an EFI 2 stroke, get one of those. Merc Optimax is one of the oldest and while not quite a trick as an ETEC, may be found far more affordably

 

[Shfftr]

Re: 1969 Starcraft 18' Open Bow 115hp Merc

Ctswf,Thank you for the offer of help. I will most definitely take you up on your offer. I have it home but need to get van and motorcycle projects done and out of the way. I really like your idea of the bump out transom. I wanted to leave my back to back seats to possibly put live well or fuel tank under them and then some type of pedestal seat in front of transom to possibly fish from,so your idea of bump out may work perfectly. Again thank you and I will look you up as soon as I get it to that stage.

 

[Shfftr]

Re: 1969 Starcraft 18' Open Bow 115hp Merc

Believe I solved the engine problem,ran across a fellow on Scream and Fly, had a recently rebuilt inline 1400 power head. Approximately 30hours on it. Don't remember the exact details but he was using it till the rest of his engine was being done. He removed it and had it sitting since last year. Just deciding to either ship it or drive the 400 miles to pick it up. I would have liked newer engine but this will keep the total initial price at about $1300 leaving some extra cash for some restoration and maybe some additional fun stuff. Besides,I noticed I am having different boat syndrome already while searching for engine options. This way if I do want something different sooner than expected should be able to sell easily.