TOPIC: Starliner or Starliter, Early Boat Memories

Some of my earliest boat memories are from the 1960's and a cottage our family had at a small lake not far from home. As a youngster, I would always ride with Dad to the lake to do lawn work. I was fascinated with all the colorful boats and motors. The right side neighbor had a boathouse which held a light blue & white fiberglass runabout with either a Johnson or Gale bigtwin, and a large wooden boat with a green painted hull. The left side neighbor had an old wooden inboard (without an engine) and a red & white F-G runabout, a 'Starliner or 'Starliter' I think, with a 35hp Merc. Our boat was a lowly 14' Alumacraft with a 3hp Evinrude. Oh how I dreamed of a F-G runabout, but Dad wasn't interested in anything but the fishing boat. As it happened the neighbor's 'Starliner' was stolen from the dock one night by drunken youths, who proceeded to have a demo derby with it and another stolen boat. Well, insurance bought him another boat and he kept the same motor. The old red Starliner sat in the gingweeds for years. One day (when I was about 14) the old guy pulled the registration for 'old red' out of his wallet and gave it to me, with the stipulation that I move it off his property. I was estatic but even if I could afford to rebuild it, I certainly couldn't afford a used engine. As the years went by, I got interested in other things, and the family lost interest in paying taxes and upkeep, and sold the place to one of the nieghbors, who demolished it. I guess the point here is, I miss that old boat, does anyone have any pics, stories or info on 'Starliner' or 'Starliter' boats? Thanks!

Have you looked at the Glassic library here? That's a good place to start. Here is a link to a "Starliner" boat line:

www.fiberglassics.com/library/Starliner

Starcraft comes to mind, of course. There was a Sea Star Boat Company in Independence, KS that started in 1959.

Andreas

When I was about 10 Dad bought a 10 foot Jon Boat and a 3 1/2 hp Eska thrashing machine outboard. We too it out on the river and it scared Dad because when the boat was going as fast as it would go the back of the boat was actually below the river surface. We took it out once and he refused to get back in it. He kept the Eska and sold the boat and I was saddened and sick. I had enough to wet an apatite. Years went by and work was hard and days long. Fishing was restricted to the bank with the boys. They were losing interest in being seen with the old man and quit fishing with me. I was working one day and a guy had a 12 foot 1960 Century aluminum boat for sale cheap. I scrapped up the cash and brought it home. I bolted a new wooden transom into it and made an anchor. I pulled that old Eska off the wall in the basement. It had hung there for about 20 years not touched. I cleaned it up and mixed some gas and put it in a barrel of water. I kid you not that thing fired and ran as smooth as those thing do on the second pull. Of course first day off I threw the whole mess in the back of the truck and went to the Roston ramp. I only brought one pole and a minnie bucket full of creek chubs. We had a trout stream with'in 100 yards of my place and it was full of them. I used to keep the big ones and cook them. They were good. Anyway I started that old Eska and went up and down the river most of the day with that thing running flawlessly. I don't remember fishing but I do remember dumping out the chubs. So a thirst was beginning to be satisfied.

Thanks for the replies, as I recall the boat was 13'-14', and fairly plain, shallow 'V' with sort of a flat bottom, with padded bench style seats. I still have the speedometer from the boat, it says 'Sears' on it. So the boat could've come from Sears or it may have been a speedo kit. Years later after returning home from the service, I bought a very similar boat except it was dark blue deck w/white hull. It had a '59 Evinrude 35hp 'Golden Jubilee'. I don't recall what the make was, but it was a fast little boat and did pull me on skies at (200lbs). We had a lot of fun with it. I sold that to a buddy when I bought a 16' MFG 'Edinboro Custom' with a V-4 65hp Evinrude. We wore out the water, skiing with that MFG. That's one I wish I still had, of course I sold that when I bought a 22' Silverline cuddy I/O, wich I used for years, then it sat for years until I sold it this year. Now I'm 'back in the saddle' with my old outboards...all 20 of them. Yep it's a sickness!

Other memories from that old cottage include an old Evinrude that hung in the garage forever. It was a silver & green 4 cylinder 9hp that belonged to my cousin. (Who also had an old wooden hydroplane). I now believe it to be a 9.7hp Zephyr. I never saw it run, but once I carried it the 400 or so feet down to the Alumacraft at the dock, I swear that thing weighed more than I did. I thought it must be cast iron. I tried in vain to start it, to no avail. Also, an uncle who lived out of state, would visit every couple years with his Shell Lake Rocket, runabout with a '59 Evinrude 'Fat Fifty', coral & white, that was the first boat I ever skied behind...

Maybe no so long ago but I remember towing a guys bass buggy in when he could not get his outboard started again and didn't have plugs in the boat. I had to tell them to climb on the bow of it to keep the stern from going under. His bait was swimming around in the boat. And I just used my trolling motor. You just can't leave greenhorns take a boat out who have no idea what to do with it. They had to beach it on a shoal. It dunked the outboard awful low and I think water came in over the stern before I got there. All survived but their dignity. I think I heard my dog chuckling.

The Zephyr was 5.4 hp. The 9.7 was called the LightFour.

55bigtwin wrote:

Other memories from that old cottage include an old Evinrude that hung in the garage forever. It was a silver & green 4 cylinder 9hp that belonged to my cousin. (Who also had an old wooden hydroplane). I now believe it to be a 9.7hp Zephyr. I never saw it run, but once I carried it the 400 or so feet down to the Alumacraft at the dock, I swear that thing weighed more than I did. I thought it must be cast iron. I tried in vain to start it, to no avail. Also, an uncle who lived out of state, would visit every couple years with his Shell Lake Rocket, runabout with a '59 Evinrude 'Fat Fifty', coral & white, that was the first boat I ever skied behind...

Well, I was just guessing on the 'Zephyr' moniker, it actually was a 9 point something-or-other hp. It might be called a 'Light 4' but it was heavy for a 14 year old kid...anyway thanks for the correct info.

Wow, I recently came accross an old registration for that old blue/white runabout...It was a 1962, 13' Elgin, with a '59 Lark Golden Jubilee, that was back in the late 1980's.