# 1961 Starcraft 15' Jet Star conversion



## kmercury (Apr 9, 2012)

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!!!!


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## Derrekfishman (Apr 10, 2012)

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.


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## Derrekfishman (Apr 10, 2012)

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


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## 1munford (Apr 10, 2012)

awesome, I love those deep v's


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## kmercury (Apr 11, 2012)

Derrekfishman said:


> 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.


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## kmercury (Apr 16, 2012)

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....


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## kmercury (Apr 17, 2012)

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

Not too shabby!


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## hsiftac (Apr 17, 2012)

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


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## kmercury (Apr 18, 2012)

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.


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## kmercury (Apr 20, 2012)

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


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## kmercury (Jun 9, 2012)

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.


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## kmercury (Jun 10, 2012)

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.


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## kmercury (Jun 10, 2012)

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.


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## Ringo Steele (Jun 10, 2012)

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: )


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## kmercury (Jun 16, 2012)

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.


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## kmercury (Jun 19, 2012)

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


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## fool4fish1226 (Jun 19, 2012)

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


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## kmercury (Jun 20, 2012)

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.


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## kmercury (Jun 22, 2012)

Deck fully painted today. Now on to the seats.


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## hsiftac (Jun 23, 2012)

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


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## kmercury (Jun 23, 2012)

Thanks for the compliment. I had thought about that and will probably buy a rubber backed 4'x6' entry rug from Lowes or HD and lay that in. I like a carpeted boat but carpet can hold water. With this, I can pull the rug out for drying and cleaning if needed and also let the deck fully dry out. Also, I can always just pop 1 or 2 board up if something of importance falls below. But it does make me think about my full bench in the back... that would prevent me from pulling deck boards up... I will have to think about that...

Thanks


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## kmercury (Jun 24, 2012)

Got 2 seat boxes done. I am trying to use lumber I have on hand. I ripped a 2x4 in half to get some 2x2. Used those as corner bracing and cut some 1/4 ply to 11" by 11" square panel. Nailed them up with my brad nailer, painted them then added some leftover vinyl angle to the corners as trim... not to shabby. They will be filled with foam and will have 1/2 ply tops added. 

Moved on to the console. I nailed some scraps together to get an idea of where I wanted the wheel. With that I measured out my side pieces, cut them from 3/8 ply and nailed and glued nailers around the perimeter to hold the back, top and front. Cut those pieces, glued and nailed them with brads then secured with screws. 

Couple coats of painted I will install it along with the controls.


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## kmercury (Jun 24, 2012)

Got the console painted and installed. Steering now works. On to completing the seats and the rear bench.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jun 25, 2012)

Man thats turning out real nice - you got some mad skills


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## kfa4303 (Jun 25, 2012)

Looks great kmercury. Can't wait to see her on the water.....


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## kmercury (Jun 26, 2012)

Thanks for the comments.

Got the seat boxes mounted, filled them with some left over foam and secured/painted 1/2 ply tops onto them. On to the rear bench now.


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## kmercury (Jun 26, 2012)

Side wall blocks installed for the rear bench. They are 1/2 ply with 2x2 and 2x4 glued and screwed to them for cross member framing. I secured them to the bottom of the gunnels and the floor decking. I needed a way to help reduce the flex in the gunnels when you pushed down on them from the top. I am planning on having a collapsible ladder off the side to get out of the water with and the support will be needed. In addition, these will tie the two sides of the boat together when the cross framing is installed.


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## kmercury (Jun 29, 2012)

I got the rear bench fully framed in and the side pannels on. I left the lower part of the center section open so I can remove the middle 3 deck boards if needed. I also made the center section of the side pannels removeable.


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## kmercury (Jun 30, 2012)

Rear bench completed today. Just got done with the first coat of paint. I am now going to look for 4 fold down seats at a fair price.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jul 2, 2012)

=D> You are doing a really nice job - it looks great, thanks for sharing.


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## kmercury (Jul 2, 2012)

I was able to find some seats at a local sporting goods store. They just got a shipment in and had these marked down at $20/piece. That is a good price!! I was hoping for gray but you take what you can get sometimes. I am planning to paint the exterior of the boat white so these will match just fine. Seats installed, last bit of trim installed to cover my cut line along the bow and the trolling motor mounted. I hope to have it in the water Wednesday for a test run to see how it does with all this extra weight.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jul 2, 2012)

Great deal on the seats and they look good to - good luck on the 4th with putting it in the water.


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## kmercury (Jul 2, 2012)

Thanks. Picked up a battery for the trolling motor today and all of the necessary wiring. Should be able to hook that up tonight. I plan to just do a test run Wednesday and see how the tolling motor works as well. I may buy a boat ladder tomorrow so the kids can jump in a few times if they would like. Sure wish I had the hull painted since it looks pretty beat up. That will come later over the summer but the nice thing is, I can now go fishing on the weekends. Still need to hook up the lights, fish finder, GPS and so on. That will come down the road as well. Also need a bildge pump fairly soon.


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## kmercury (Jul 3, 2012)

All set to go. Fresh fuel, batteries secured and charges, life jackets stowed, purchased ladder and stowed, reinstalled rope tie-downs on bow... hopefully it will go well tomorrow. Ill try and take a few picks.


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## tcampbell011 (Mar 10, 2013)

How did it go? I think I have the same exact boat, and I'm looking to do something similar.


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