Just picked up a 1986 Blue Hole Starburst for $100. Originally thought it was an OCA but quickly figured out its a Starburst. Pretty neat hull with raked stems and a little midships tumblehome. Shallow arch bottom and 16.5ft long. I gutted out all the aluminum,… seats, thwarts, decks, and gunwales and about 200 rivets and nuts and bolts. It is now a piece of royalex ready for an all wood retrofit rebiuld. At this time I am seriously thinking about cutting down the hull about 2 inches on the stems and gradually to about one inch around the centerline. The end depth at bow and stern is 25 inches and 15 in the middle. Maybe great for serious tandem whitewater in big waves and holes but my useage is for a little less demanding waters. Might save a couple pounds and also on help minimize wind resistance, get seats a little lower too.
Sounds like a plan. Let us know if
you encounter any complications with the gunwales after you cut the hull down.
Starburst
The Blue Hole Starburst is considered by many to be one of the best whitewater tripping canoes ever made, in a class shared by the Dagger Dimension and perhaps the Old Town tripper. It is a little more efficient on the flats than the other two as well.
Nova Craft reincarnated this hull as the Moisie a few years ago, but now with the demise of Royalex, that is gone as well.
Those intending to use it for wilderness or whitewater tripping would want to preserve its depth, but if you don't plan to use it on whitewater and plan to keep it, sure go ahead and modify it to better suit your needs.
Cut is complete
Took down 1.5 inches from bow to stern. Filed down to a nice smooth top edge. Will lay down a couple coats of varnish on the fresh cut edge before beginning the new wood gunwales. This is a really fun project on a truly nice shaped hull design.
Pics?
I’d love to see befores, durings and afters if it’s not too much trouble.
Would Love to see Pics…
…of how it turns out. What did you cut it with?
Pictures coming
I did take before and after pictures and will post them as a link as soon as my daughter teaches me how. Ha Ha. The cut was done very carefully and methodically with a slow speed jigsaw. Fast speed tends to heat up and melt the foam/vinyl core causing it to re-fuse back together right after the cut. I really love the lines on this hull and after the cut, I used a large rasp file to smooth the top edge and make a nice fresh exposed surface that I am going to seal up with three light coats of varnish today. BTW I was very happy and somewhat surprised to feel how flexible the 28 year old royalex was when flexing the little 1.5 inch strips that were cut off the canoe. They did eventually break of course but not after significant bending.
Looking Forward to It
I have a boat I was thinking of cutting down and was hesitant and afraid it would go awry?