1956 woody boat
 

PO says its a 56 starcraft. I haven't seen any wooden 56 starcrafts...
It has a 59 merc 30 horse on the back.
This is my wifes best friends grandfathers boat, he purchased the boat in the early 60s. Her father learned to ski behind this boat and repainted it around 1970 before leaving for college. The boat went mostly ignored since then sitting in a machinery shed for 40+ years, trailer registration expired in 73...

This is how it looked a couple of months ago when I first saw it in the shed.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

This is how the boat was presented to the public at the estate sale. She didn't clean up too bad, most of the wood looks solid, engine seems to be complete, starter rope doesn't rewind so nobody knows if the engine is locked up, and the trailer tires hold air!
1 other person who seemed to be buying the junk nobody else wanted and I bid the 14 footer up to $300.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

I won! I got my first woody! It didn't take too long for the excitement to wear off realizing how much sanding was in my future and not knowing the condition of the engine. She sure does look good behind my 67. Time to get her home and assess the condition/damage.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Got the boat home safely using my carhauler. Removed the engine covers. Engine isn't locked up! Engine has compression! I fixed the recoil starter, the spring was off of its lock pin. Reinstalled starter, no spark. Spent 3 hours trying to figure out how to remove the magneato, it finally comes out the way I tried the first time.... test the mag, it needs a new coil. No longer available from mercury $170! Did a little research, the mag was also used on old tractors, head to parts store got a coil for $80 next day! Put the mag back together and I have a boat that runs on ether and she sounds great.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Engine runs, time to start stripping. Paint stripper, powerwash, scrape, sand. Deck stripper and wire brush then rinse. More sanding. And it looks like all of the wood is going to be able to be varnished instead of being painted white, even the really grey areas on the bow.
These pics are after the first round of stripping and some sanding. The wood is still grey and when wet a lot of white paint was left in the grain of the wood.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

The original windshield polished out great.

After bleaching and deck stripper with a wire brush it looks great.

Did I mention sanding, a lot of sanding. The dust pile with a black spot is my black truck.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Engine removed to prep transom. Engine is getting some polishing between sanding the hull.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Nice work! The boat is going to come out looking really good. We have an old wooden one in the barn I should check out. It has been there since the 1970's when we used it for skiing about every week end.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Very Cool! I am used to seeing Starcrafts being aluminum- so this is early for them.

I worked at a marina in the late 1960's and early 70's and would see this type of wooden boat at the gas dock all the time.

My favorite was (and still is ) the barrel back Chris Crafts with the 6 cyl engines.....I can still hear them with the exhaust bobbing in the water. Those are $$$$ now!

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

It may not be a starcraft. No badging anywhere. No mention of starcraft on the title, 1956 14 "runbout".
Thanks for the compliments guys, I can't wait to cruise this thing on the lake, low and slow not like my real boat. I can't believe that I've only had the boat for 4 weeks and how much better it looks now than when I got it.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Flipped to work the bottom green before, white after. I even used the c10 as an anchor before I could get some more hands to flip the boat. Trailer out to media blasting. Everything progressing smoothly except my search for trailer tail lights, obviously modern off the shelf isn't an option.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Cool little boat. Been fun watching it come along.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

What a cool project! I'm a huge fan of wooden boats and would love to restore one, but it'll have to wait until I finish all of my other projects, which will probably never happen.

You've made great progress so far, can't wait to see what's next!

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Fun stuff like making a rub rail and polishing all of the old brass screws that were burried under paint.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Brad that's a nice project. And fantastic the old motor wasn't seized. Did the water pump actually work too? Good luck finding one of those. The internet is your friend for a lot of old outboard motor parts. ��

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

I didn't even try the water pump, its 20x past its life expectancy at least. Has no problem finding a new one at the local boat parts place (that I used to work for).
Got the trailer back from the sand blaster, $60 lol! No way was I going to prep it myself for less than $60.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

$60? You officially suck. (congrats!)

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Cool old boat. I've got a client with an old restored Chris Craft he took me out on once. Nothing like cruising the lake in an old wooden boat.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

beautiful project i keep my eye on this one
dont even think the boat was ever clearcoated before , think it would look nice though
might want to make some woodplugs to cover up the screws . looks like that was the way they where originally

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

one of my friends has an old wooden boat.
got out in it a few times,nice to cruise in it,stored it at my place a couple of years.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

All of the countersunk screws were full of paint and many of the screws are flush so I don't think it ever had plugs in the screwholes. I think the brass will look good with the wood buried in varnish.

Back on the trailer and sleeping 3 wide!

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Some before and afters. Things are getting interesting. 2 coats of varnish on the exterior 1 on the interior. Now just gotta keep varnishing until its shiny.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

The interior before and after first coat of varnish.

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Nice project! Seems you got some real skills!

Re: 1956 woody boat
 

Wow! Nice project. That engine looks like a piece of art work. It looks cool just sitting there! :metal: