1976 Starcraft Chieftain 18' OB - restomod

[BWR1953]

This project will be a full blown restoration and modification of our 1976 Starcraft Chieftain outboard version. Estimated timeline to completion is approximately 2 years. There will be a number of Phases along the way which may include making the boat temporarily operational before completion.

Plans are to have twin 70HP Mercury engines from the 1982-83 time frame mounted on the transom. Those engines were chosen due to their light weight for the horsepower provided. And the use of twins is because the boat will be used in the Gulf of Mexico once completed. I don't care for small kicker motors, so will be going for the twins to provide redundancy.

Cosmetically, the entire hull will be completely stripped and repainted inside and out. Since there are no cabin walls, the new ones will be built to accommodate a sliding pocket door instead of the current side opening aluminum door. That will give more room and allow the door to be open while under way for ventilation. The color scheme will match my 1995 Ford F-150 pickup.

The boat trailer is in good shape other than a dented fender which will be repaired and the trailer will be painted to match the accent color on the boat.

The project got started this morning by removing the nasty duct tape and padding that had been used for transport. :lol:

Then the front of the trailer was raised in order to drain water from inside the bow of the boat.

So the project has started and there will be plenty more to come!


The corner end caps are included, stored in a box inside.












Bow raised to facilitate better draining.


Draining in progress!

 

[jbcurt00]

My spies have found the Cheiftain's diary, they were only able to grab a quick look and return it to the boats bilge:

Day 93 of my captivity
The stripping of my parts and pieces has begun in earnest

I look forward to the changes the BWR family makes to my form and function

I'm optimistic about being put to sea in the vast gulf waters

They were lucky to jump back over the fence before the perimeter breach was detected.**


Nice looking rig. Look forward to seeing it come together. Congrats again..

**all of the above is not to be taken seriously. Everybody knows Starcraft's cant spell worth a darn. Interpretive work only :becky:

 

[BWR1953]

Hahaha! Evidence of the breach was found after the fact! :laugh:

 

[jbcurt00]

I know Nothing!

 

[Watermann]

So here we have it, this is going to be the home of the newest Chief thread I'm guessing. Now we just need you to up the size a bit on the pics so us guys who need to see more can help.

Welcome aboard. :encouragement:

 

[BWR1953]

Sorry WM. My tired old eyeballs can't see as well as they used to so I keep my browser at 150% (sometimes 175 :facepalm and the pix always look big to me. :lol:

Next time I post some up, I'll be sure to make them bigger overall.

 

[BWR1953]

This morning I moved the Chief to an uphill position in the backyard with the bow high in preparation for moving other stuff around the yard. Although I'd raised the bow last week and drained the bilge, a lot more came out this morning with the bow high and uphill. Brown, nasty, mulchy looking stuff!

Am looking forward to getting in there, pulling the deck and getting whatever is under there out!

 

[Watermann]

Good old fashioned rotten plywood tea, steeped for years... hwell:

 

[BWR1953]

As long as it's not a dead possum!! ound:

 

[smevil]

That is a really good looking boat, I'm happy for you. Plenty of work to do so I will be looking forward to your progress.

 

[BWR1953]

That is a really good looking boat, I'm happy for you. Plenty of work to do so I will be looking forward to your progress.

Thanks! I really enjoy looking at the Chief and visualizing the restomod while I'm outside working on my other boat. And having it sitting there while I'm working on my Kingfisher project really motivates me to get things done on the little boat so that I can begin work on the big boat. Nice. :smile-new:

 

[BWR1953]

http://valdosta.craigslist.org/bpo/5484316853.html
Saw this ad and realized it was time for a...

ROAD TRIP!!!

We're sitting in a motel in Georgia now. Checked out the motor this evening. It has 120PSI in all 3 cylinders and runs great! Will pick it up in the morning and head back home.
















Boo yah!!



Time to head to the motel for the night. More excitement in the morning!


​

 

[g0nef1sshn]

You beat me to it lol. Life is way too busy here at the moment to be chasing the hp. Nice find!

 

[Watermann]

Nice score on the power, that's a pretty tall OB stand the guy has there not sure I would put my 140 TOP on it.

So you have some pics besides the 7 broken link boxes? :lol:

 

[Watermann]

Oh I keep forgetting to remind you about the twin motor set up and steering. You'll want to add a dual cable rotary helm to your wish list and 2 steering cables as well. http://www.iboats.com/Rotary-Steeri...729333--session_id.182133609--view_id.1185470

 

[dozerII]

Great find on the Merc, that is one motor you want to be very careful you don't overheat. OleBlue the 16SS we bought to flip had one that the impeller was shot in and the P/O overheated it pretty bad. We fired it up to see if it ran and it actually ran well so we put a water pump kit in it then fired it up again it was like a lawn sprinkler shooting water out around the plugs where the head was cracked. On those models the heat is cast with the block so it was crapage.:grumpy:

 

[coostv]

Looks like a great runner! I am a bit jealous on the price!

 

[BWR1953]

We're back home! Rolled in here about 4pm after a nice drive. All in all it was a great trip even though it was very quick and short. Even the boy had fun this time. :lol:

We put the truck down low into a ditch. Made it easy to roll the motor on the stand over to the bed for loading. Worked well!



My wife securing the motor.



Back at the motel. Motor is well secured and ready for the trip home.


On the road!


Home safe! Just waiting for a couple big, strong neighbors to help me get it out of the truck! :lol:

 

[BWR1953]

You beat me to it lol. Life is way too busy here at the moment to be chasing the hp. Nice find!

Being retired does have some advantages! :lol:

Nice score on the power, that's a pretty tall OB stand the guy has there not sure I would put my 140 TOP on it.

So you have some pics besides the 7 broken link boxes? :lol:

Oh I keep forgetting to remind you about the twin motor set up and steering. You'll want to add a dual cable rotary helm to your wish list and 2 steering cables as well. http://www.iboats.com/Rotary-Steeri...729333--**********.182133609--view_id.1185470

Yep, the seller, a TSgt who works at Moody AFB servicing the mighty A-10s, made the stand tall so that he could easily drop the lower unit for servicing. Worked fine. Did make it interesting for us as we were loading it in the truck though.
Broken pic links? I uploaded the pix to the iboats server so it should be okay. Working for you now?

Thanks for the link to the dual rotary setup! It's now on my wish list for future reference. :encouragement:

 

[Watermann]

Yeah the pics all loaded up now. Nice weather you had for the road trip, that makes it a joy to travel. My trip last week to Montana was good until halfway through the trip home.