Another Maine Starchief

[oldhaven]

Progress being made on the canvas top. It's not done yet, and these pictures are of it not yet fastened down, so it looks loose, but I like it so far. There will be a back panel with a window that closes it in from the splash well header header forward, and all the panels have zippers so I can run it all enclosed or just as a bimini top. These were taken in the shop of the canvas lady and her husband. He is a boatbuilder and worked for several years with **** Pulsifer building Pulsifer Hamptons. He now maintains them. I wish I had the shop.

 

[Watermann]

Super nice right there! :thumb:

 

[laurentide]

That's really nice! I love mine...it's like having a convertible pilothouse. The only downside is peripheral visibility, but if yours is tight it won't be an issue. The upsides are protection from weather and sun, you can moor it without worrying about your pump battery, and you don't have to mess with tarps during the boating season. The 303 products are great to keep it looking good. Just don't get the canvas sealer on the vinyl...it will streak and distort it. Ask me how I know :doh:

 

[oldhaven]

Thanks Andy and WM,

I went to the canvas place armed with a picture of Chem's boat and top, so basically it is his design. It looks good and seems to work right for a Chief. I am hoping it helps protect the brightwork and varnish I used, though all the clear vinyl might let more sun in and make things a bit warm mid summer on the trailer. If we lived in the South, I expect this type of top might not be a good idea, but I am sure I will appreciate it in April and October here and it will prolong the boating season. I'll watch out for the 303 on the clear stuff. I was also advised to take the top off the frame in the winter and not roll it up but to unzip all the panels and hang it straight so it stays in the right shape and the vinyl does not crease or craze in the folds. I remember this from having a convertible with a vinyl rear window. Additionally, mice love to crawl into a rolled top, make nests, and chew holes and urinate all over the fabric and vinyl, something I discovered with the original ill fitting top last winter when I stored it rolled on the frame in a shed.

Ron

 

[laurentide]

Ron, I hang dowels in my shed and lay the panels over them when I put the winter tarp on. Mice will definitely wreck it if there's any cavity. In the summer, if I want to take the vinyl off, it's no problem to roll it up in the cabin for the day. I keep a couple of bedsheets on the boat to roll them in so they don't get scratched.

I checked out images of those Pulsifer boats. They're gorgeous, and must handle really well with the full keel. I love spotting the occasional downeast boat here on Champlain. Some are big workboats with hauling gear, but most are picnic boats. There's not a more beautiful hull on the water anywhere. One of my fishing acquaintances here runs a Sisu 22 outboard, and he loves it.

 

[oldhaven]

I started out thinking about used Pulsifer's a couple of years ago, but after finding this site and remembering my experience with Lunds I realized that an aluminum hull would be better for what I want to do. And those boats are not inexpensive even used. If you found an $800 Pulsifer or similar wooden boat it would probably not be worth restoring, but there are lots of quite good and distinctive vintage aluminum hulls for that or a lot less. John has about six or seven Pulsifers lined up in his yard in the winter and he does the yearly upkeep and storage on them for the owners. While they can require less care than a lot of wooden boats if finished with a workboat system, they still are more than I want to take on. Sam, (Samantha), his wife, does the canvas and cushion work for a lot of Pulsifer's, though most only use a simple dodger or spray shield.

Ron

 

[oldhaven]

Just an update so the project thread is still alive. Nothing much to report boat wise, as the enclosure is still getting tuned and adjusted so it fits correctly. As I mentioned elsewhere I will likely have to plow a place in the yard to store it.

My wife and I have been up north on the mountain most of November. I did some deer hunting and we both were enjoying the last wheels down days before the drive gets snowed in and we have to snowshoe in. I got a nice 9 point that dressed at 197 pounds and after that saw bigger animals including another huge 9. I used a Winchester high wall in 50-90 Sharps black powder cartridge, and the deer dropped right in its tracks.

Here he is eating apples in the orchard a week before he walked into my tree stand.


And here is the one for next year. I saw him again after the season ended.

 

[Watermann]

Nice buck for sure and it's all about the hunt and the meat. Cool using a black powder cartridge rifle, I've hunted black powder since I was 12.

 

[oldhaven]

These guys eat our apples for a couple of months before and during the season, so the meat is very good and doesn't taste like most venison. Though it may seem like overkill, I use the 50-90 buffalo gun caliber, a single shot rifle and only a sure standing shot so I don't wound the animal and have to follow a blood trail or drag it too far.

 

[StarTed]

Nice Whitetail. As a youth I liked eating our local whitetails better than the mule deer or elk. Of course I grew up eating the wild game and seldom if ever ate beef. Our local whitetails lived near grain fields so that probably made a lot of difference.

Out west here your buck would be a 4 X 5 or just a 5 point. I guess we just don't like counting so high.

There should be lots of good eating from that nice buck. Enjoy it.

 

[laurentide]

Congrats on the buck, Ron! A lot of folks here in VT have limited out this season despite a lack of snow. Enjoy!

 

[oldhaven]

No Title

Slight weather delay. Just checking in so this project stays alive.

Ron

 

[Decker83]

Slight weather delay. Just checking in so this project stays alive.

Ron

That pic made my screen freeze.. :faint2:

 

[laurentide]

Ha! Yeah, you guys got pounded last week. Spring is ever so close...

 

[Watermann]

Yeah I feel your pain, our spring is going to be unusually late this year.

 

[oldhaven]

Another placeholder. Nothing to report but I do note that a year ago on this date I had pulled the boat out from under its cover and had started work on it for the summer. This year we are preparing for another 18" of snow on Wednesday. Believe it or not I am looking forward to unscrewing and lifting out the (new) deck so I can replace the leaky fuel tank and get that over with before serious boating season. We have reserved a rental cabin on an island in Moosehead Lake for this August; a fine way to use the Chief. I did get out the Danforth Constellation compass and will be starting work on a cabin top console for it, something I can do inside.

 

[Watermann]

18" of snow in mid March is not right

 

[laurentide]

Stella should be the last gasp of this winter. I'll take our 18" over last weekend's high of 5?. Bring on the mud.

 

[oldhaven]

This will look like a time warp, but I took these pictures yesterday. Finally getting the new tank in to replace the leaky one. it took 4 hours to take out the sidewalls and deck, and another two to fit the new tank, which is the same model but slightly longer. I will be refinishing the deck and sidewalls while they are out. I am so glad I did not have everything riveted down, coounterbored, and filled with epoxy plugs. I hope I will never see this part of the boat again. By the way, it is scary what one season on the water and in the back yard does to a clean bilge. The second picture is of the old tank, and the pinhole that caused all this looks like it was done by a screw. It must have been there when I bought it off Craigslist since I have no fasteners in that area. I should have it all back together this weekend. By the way I did not leak test the new tank, but it emitted a satisfying whoosh of escaping air pressure from the warm day when I removed the plastic plug from the vent fitting.

 

[pckeen]

Amazing what one misplaced screw can do.