1975 Starcraft repowering

Little history to start:

I bought a mid-70’s boat from my neighbor. Motor not running but a good, solid boat and perfect for my needs. I wanted a bigger (> 16 foot) aluminum boat that I could use both for tubing and fishing. In particular, I want a boat to go after salmon in the Fraser and Harrison rivers (Vancouver area) and, possibly, go after Sturgeon before they are made off-limits.

Of course, the boat wasn’t running. It came with an OMC Stringer drive with a 120hp motor and 140hp leg. Had the leg re-done and the motor re-built (I forget how much and will continue to forget) and used the boat for two seasons. But it never ran right. For an 18’ aluminum, with a 120hp Stern drive, I expected 40 mph+ and barely saw 30. New prop only slowed me down. Revs never got where they should be, it backfired, and just never seemed to breath right. So I replaced the carb with a reman. Now I could barely do 25. Then the alternator went and the replacement would not bolt on so I gave up, packed it up, winterized it (but really only half-assed as I was pissed at the boat) and let it sit. Got to –40 (unusual for Kelowna) that January. Went to start work on it in the spring and something had cracked. Water poured out from under the exhaust manifold.

That was the last straw. Packed it up and didn’t touch it (except to move it around the yard) for that year and the next. Finally decided I hated the motor enough that I was replacing it.

Now the choice. Do I go with a different I/O or try to rebuild it for an outboard. Being an OMC Stringer, once the drive is removed, there is a huge hole in the back of the boat. So either way, I hade some repairs to do. An outboard would be cheaper, lighter and give me more room in the boat for fishing etc. so that was they way I decided.

Found an 115hp for $1,800. Talked to the guy and went out to see it. Motorcycle wrecking yard just filled with motorcycles, atv’s and a few outboards. Motor was on a big (>25ft) wooden boat just rotted to crap. Be surprised if it would still float. After some playing around, the guy got the motor running and it sounded fine. Explained what I was trying to do and why to find out he has a similar boat to mine. Same make but a bowrider and he also has a 120hp motor and 140hp leg and it’s also a Stringer. But he gets 45mph out of his and it works. He offers me $500 for my setup bringing the cost of the outboard down to $1,300. I’m happy. I think what really interested him was that I had electric trim on my unit and his was manual (set it and never touch it type of trim).

Now to get the outboard. Actually went pretty easily. Got everything except the throttle, shift and steering cables. They would be way too long for my boat so I didn’t try to fish them out. Trim/tilt works. Motor runs. Hardest part was taking out a couple dozen bolts so I could take a big piece of stainless as well. But he lent me a cordless impact gun that worked wonders (guess which tool I want next).

Tools / Materials:

Go to the Boating Store


Motor	Then the motor.

This is what I'm removing.	Motor to come out

Leg off	So my wife and I start pulling. I do the wrenching, she takes the pictures but is okay with helping. Leg off first.

All under the watchful eyes of the supervisors.	Supervisors

Donor boat	I didn’t take pictures of the setup until after everything was removed.Note where the stainless had been. Now the easy part was over. Next came removing my motor. Here I took pictures.

Oops. Exhaust has to come off.	Exhaust

Leg	Oh, the tilt isn’t working as well ;)

Coming out	Day 2

Next layer	The next layer inside is a thicker peice of aluminum to add strength.

I dropped the motor and leg onto my snowmobile trailer to take back to the guy whol sold me the outboard.	Going away

There's a hole in my boat!	Now I need to fill in the dumb hole.

From the outside, I've added a thin sheet of Aluminum and sealed it with PL3000 contruction adhesive. Bonds to anything and is fully waterproof.	Outside

What to replace	I have to replace the rear structure, accomidating the splash well. This is what was there but I'm going to replace it with plywood across the top for some added strength.

Then a sheet of 5/8 plywood (no void Birch) to go across the transom from side to side.	Next layer

Other Boat	This is the boat I'm using as a refernece. No idea who owns it as I spotted it one day. But it's the same hull and the Evinrude 140 is the same size as my 115. Took all kinds of measurments off it

I used wood that I cut out for the splash well to fill the hole.	Filled

Transom built	Transom built ans covered in Hippo Liner. I need to update the pages as the motor is on and ready to be really tested. I've had the boat in the water and it didn't sink, but the TNT unit leaked so I couldn't trim the motor so I idled around for a bit and pulled it out of the lake. TNT is fixed, tach is going in tonight and boat will be on the water for real testing tomorrow.

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