# My first Boat - 12' 1963 Starcraft Pram



## SuDZ (Jun 4, 2013)

This is my first boat. My family has had boats for years, but this is my first. It's a left out in the yard for 10 years hand me down, a 12' 1962 Starcraft Pram. I went over it with it's first coat of primer. Tonight I'm hoping to sand it a little bit and then roll out another coat of primer. I need to figure out that 3" unpainted area under the rails. Mainly, I'm looking to either cut around the registration sticker for this year and then patch it in the winter, or see if I can remove and replace that sticker somehow after it's painted.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Jun 6, 2013)

I finished my priming the couple days and made my way onto the color for the exterior. Using a can of spray paint primer on those tough to get to areas was a major time saver, glad I saw someone post that on here before trying to get at it all with a brush. Things like handles, rolled edges, etc. I'm going to do the same with the red now when the time coes.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Jun 13, 2013)

Due to the high humidity, I haven't been able to get a second coat on the sides, but did get a chance to double coat the bottom, flip it back over, and prime the seats.

Shaun


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## riverrat174 (Jun 14, 2013)

Moving along quickly!!! Looking good. Any mods planned?


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## SuDZ (Jun 14, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=318747#p318747 said:


> riverrat174 » Today, 09:25[/url]"]Moving along quickly!!! Looking good. Any mods planned?



I was hoping to be a lot further along this week, but it's been raining for 5 days straight. :| 

I'm probably going electric with this one, and the only person on it primarily will be me alone.

I want to:

Finish painting and priming the interior.
Finish painting the exterior.
Wrap new plywood with carpet and mount to the seats.
Mount a sliding rail and seat on the back bench.
Mount a 7" or 9" pedestal, swivel and seat on the middle bench.
Install a small casting deck up front, not for actual standing/casting, but more to mount the electronics and TM
Install a battery up front for electronics
Bow mounted trolling motor
Install carpeted floors
Maybe interior LED's
Storage options
Wiring everything

I think that's a good list for now, but you know how that goes.

Shaun


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## SuDZ (Jun 20, 2013)

After two weeks of rain, I was finally able to get the final coats of red on the sides, and on the rails.

Tonight, hopefully I can prime the inside floors and walls.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Jun 21, 2013)

Well, I have my second coat of body color on there now. I've removed the tape as well and got the top of the rails, and the metal piece in the front painted. I went ahead and used up what I had left of the primer on the floors and walls. I'm going to probably cover the floors in time with carpet, but for now I'll prime and paint them. At least then I know it's done underneath. I'm going to go ahead and prime the inside in a white primer for the next coat though.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Jul 1, 2013)

I was able to finished off the topcoat of red after peeling off tape and finding lots of paint coming off with it. It's most likely my own fault since it has been nothing but high humidity and rain the last few weeks, but I wanted to get some progress done. Minor setback.

One side I added my stripe. The stripe came out pretty good but needs a little touching up where the tape puled it a bit. Again, probably my fault.

I finished priming the floors and seats. I'll go over the next coat with white primer. I'm going with white on the walls and gray carpet on the floor. Getting the white on will really give me an idea of what the finished colors will look like.

One nice thing with the floors is the way the benches are mounted. They are screwed down to a plate that is riveted to the side of the boat, so I should be able to remove the screws/bolts that hold it down easy enough so that when I want to drop a floor in, I can do it in one long piece instead of multiple 4x3 pieces under the seats etc.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Jul 27, 2013)

I'll take some pictures tomorrow of the exterior, but today I went ahead and got onto the seats. I poly'd some plywood, and then wrapped it in carpet. I think it look pretty good and goes with my seat pretty well. Recently I finished getting the inside pretty well, maybe a few touch-ups etc, but those I figure will be an ongoing project anyhow. I just wanted to get a quick update on here, I haven't deserted the project hehe. I figure after I get my seat installed fully, I'll be ready to take it out on a test drive.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Sep 4, 2013)

It's been a while since I made an update, and there haven't been a ton, but a few things buttoned up. originally, the idea was to do this stuff over the winter anyhow, so even if it's slow paced now, it's way ahead of schedule in a sense.

I installed the carpeted base for the seat, installed the pedestal, swivel, and seat. I have a trolling motor now on the back, finished the paint for the most part (little touch up on the stripe needed on one side.) I am going to install another carpeted base on the back seat, probably with a matching seat, but not sure if I'll go with the pedestal on the back.

After the rear seat base at least, my next project will be to get a sheet of plywood water protected and carpeted so that I can make a deck up front. I don't plan on standing on it, but rather using it as a platform to give me a little covered storage area, a place to mount my front trolling motor, a spot to mount a fish finder, etc. I'm figuring out how I want to go about installing the deck. I'm thinking about putting it on top of the rails, and then screw it through the wood directly into the rails. Any thoughts? 

I was given a free trolling motor with a foot control for the front. My only concern is that the cabling between the trolling motor and the foot control seems really short. Is there a way to lengthen that, or replace it with a longer length of cabling?

Thanks for looking,

Shaun


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## SuDZ (Sep 5, 2013)

Did some mockups last night to figure out the deck/storage section I want to work on next. I have sort of a rough draft of how I can use the space now on my pegboard. The pegboard worked awesome for this, it was like having graph paper, but to actual size.

I also wanted to see how the trolling motor I was given for the bow would work out. I wish the lead was a foot longer or so, but it will work out. I might just put a block or something under the foot pedal anyhow to make up for that extra inch or two I need.

I'm wondering about installing those wall mount style rod holders to the seats, but not sure if they will be in the way too much. I might hold off on that for now.

The last picture was with the cooler and extra rod holders in there to give me an idea of how space would be if i wanted the livewell in there. I can take it in and out as needed, so it's not going to live there full time.


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## SuDZ (Sep 9, 2013)

Mounted my carpeted piece on the back bench last night. I think I'm ready to either do the floor of the front deck next, just have to pickup some wood.

SuDZ


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## Kismet (Sep 9, 2013)

Suggestion?

Do the floor, then take the boat out and play with it. You may find that the deck steals too much space from a 12' craft. Also, consider modifying jumper cable or the like to extend the distance between the stern and the battery location. Weight balance is important.

Looks nice.


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## SuDZ (Sep 9, 2013)

I think I am going to go with the floor first. That way I can get a feel for it and also the wayI have a small deck in mind would go on top of that anyhow. 

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Sep 10, 2013)

Any suggestion on how thick the floor needs to be? Will 3/4" be needed, or is 1/2" fine?

SuDZ


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## Kismet (Sep 10, 2013)

I used 1/2" exterior grade plywood, with pool noodles affixed for support between boat ribs.
Very light, no issues in a year of use. See...er...page 2 of my build link. If you do the same, slice a flat spot on the noodles before you glue them; they hold better.

Have fun, be safe.


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## SuDZ (Sep 11, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=328918#p328918 said:


> Kismet » Yesterday, 14:46[/url]"]I used 1/2" exterior grade plywood, with pool noodles affixed for support between boat ribs.
> Very light, no issues in a year of use. See...er...page 2 of my build link. If you do the same, slice a flat spot on the noodles before you glue them; they hold better.
> 
> Have fun, be safe.




Last night on my way home from work, I stopped at the Home Depot to look into ideas for the floor. I didn't see your post before this, but wound up doing this last night. I used some insulation panels, 1 inch thick, and cut them to fit between the ribs. I was shy just enough for the back, but in the next picture I'll post, I just used 3/4" plywood. The 8' piece of plywood is going to fall a little short going from front to back anyhow, so I figured I would have them mate under the rear bench seat out of view anyhow. I can either stick a 1/4" piece of plywood under this to make the heights match, or just say close enough, :wink: out of sight out of mind.


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## SuDZ (Sep 11, 2013)

Oh, the pegboard is just there because I was seeing how level it looked with a "floor" on it. That's not a permanent solution.


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## Ictalurus (Sep 11, 2013)

If the pink board insulation is level w/ the ribs, I'd use 1/4" ply to cut down on weight.


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## SuDZ (Sep 12, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=329068#p329068 said:


> Ictalurus » Yesterday, 18:16[/url]"]If the pink board insulation is level w/ the ribs, I'd use 1/4" ply to cut down on weight.



It is, and 1/4" is what I think I decided on last night after playing around with some wood to test it out. I think it will be fine.

I got around to carpeting my battery area as well last night.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Sep 20, 2013)

Moved the boat inside to my shop area. It was getting to be chilly out there, plus a pain working on it at night now that it is dark so early. Other than that, I got the rest of the insulation cut for the floors, removed the middle seat, and did a little interior painting. 

With the middle seat out I can get a stencil of the floor. I am going to grab some thick poster paper from work tomorrow. It's 3' wide by however long I need it, so I can lay it down, trace a good stencil out of the floor and then transfer it to my plywood for the floor.

It looks bigger in the garage than it did outside.


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## SuDZ (Sep 21, 2013)

Does anyone think I could safely remove the middle seat? As seen in the pucturess, there are ribs every 12", and there are ribs underneath the seats as well. Is the seat structural at that point?

SuDZ


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## nctlspider (Sep 22, 2013)

I'd say its definitely structural. There are lots of guys who take them out, you just have to build something to replace them...
Do a search and you'll get a better idea of what you can get away with. 

Its looking good! Have you been able to fish it yet?


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## SuDZ (Sep 22, 2013)

I haven't yet. This was actually supposed to be a winter project, but one thing lead to another and I kept moving along. I dug out a trailer from the woods the other day that's going to be the part 2 of this. I'll have to put up a picture of that shortly.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Sep 22, 2013)

I was given this little "gem" after dragging it out of the woods.


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## nctlspider (Sep 22, 2013)

Nice score. Check it good for cracks, like around the leaves and u-bolts. I got one from a buddy for free too. Needed bearings and wheels. Its actually too big for my 12 footer, but I've used it for a 17' canoe for a couple years now. If you need some help thinking of ideas how to reinforce, let me know and I can input some links.


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## SuDZ (Sep 22, 2013)

I'm all ears when it comes to ideas. I'm pretty green at all of this and learning as I go 

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Sep 23, 2013)

Got my floor cut out.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Oct 2, 2013)

I got my floor cut out and installed. I need to screw it down into the ribs still, but I have the ribs locations marked, so that will be easy enough. I'll get around to it the next night or two.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Oct 8, 2013)

I was given this trailer recently and it needs some work. One of my main concerns is the tongue. It was once overloaded on a trip when the previous boat on it was used as a landscaping trailer one day to transport flowers. 

It has a twist in the tongue that makes me a littler nervous. I wasn't sure if this is a big deal, or not. Is it something that would need to be replaced outright, or do you think it's a deal breaker as far as trying to get this trailer back up to snuff. It's not a sideways bend in it, just just sort of like someone grabbed it, and turned it a bit.

I tried to get a good picture this morning, but the shadows were making it a bit tough. If better ones would help, I'll be more than happy to take some.

Also, when I turn one of the wheels, it gives me a loud clicking. it's pretty synched up with wheel speed, getting closer together as the wheel turns faster. Think it could be a bearing?

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Oct 13, 2013)

I got the front piece carpeted and installed the bow mounted motor.

SuDZ


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## SuDZ (Aug 4, 2014)

Got out on the water for the first time. This was actually a bit after we started unloading, but my father and I were able to catch a few smallmouth and have a good time.


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