mainejack
Cadet
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2016
- Messages
- 23
Here I am a couple of months away from retirement and I just bought my first boat. I'm already very appreciative of this forum and the enthusiasm you guys have for Starcraft. Every time I've had a ride in a boat I temporarily caught the bug, but I let it fade. Life went on, and I already had a couple of expensive hobbies, cars and guns, my first loves. But after vacationing the last couple of years at a lake with my family and more cruising and fishing in my son-in-law's 19 ft. aluminum Crestliner this summer, I didn't let my interest in boats fade this time.
I started looking online and saw a 1973 Chieftain 120 I/O. It was cheap, a project boat with a double axle trailer. I started doing some reading about it online and discovered this forum. It didn't take long get hooked on Starcraft, and a big part of that was your restoration thread, what a resource! And then there was the enthusiasm. But I wanted an open bow, long story, but it's the most practical for us. Maybe next time. Yeah, next time, you guys have made me crazy already and I haven't even got this one going yet.
And I already know what some of you are thinking, I'm 3 paragraphs into this and I haven't even posted pics yet. Well, they're already taken. This is my first post, so as soon as I come up with a couple more I'll post them.
The engine isn't original, a 120 was. It has a 160 HP now, and it's stuck, how bad I don't know. I have a special light coming that will help me see the interior of the cylinders. The PO had already oiled the cylinders, and I added some PB Blaster to that. Leveraging against the flywheel teeth as hard as I dared, it didn't budge. If I see that the cylinder walls are like a mirror, and it's just the rings that are stuck, I probably would have a hard time resisting the temptation to turn it over once freed up. Who knows, it could be freeze cracked, although the PO, who also bought it as a project, checked it when he first got it and it was dry. The dipstick shows no evidence of water. If the engine is gonzo I'll be a little disappointed, but oh well, I got the whole deal for what the trailer was probably worth. The light should be here tomorrow.
Two more to go....
I started looking online and saw a 1973 Chieftain 120 I/O. It was cheap, a project boat with a double axle trailer. I started doing some reading about it online and discovered this forum. It didn't take long get hooked on Starcraft, and a big part of that was your restoration thread, what a resource! And then there was the enthusiasm. But I wanted an open bow, long story, but it's the most practical for us. Maybe next time. Yeah, next time, you guys have made me crazy already and I haven't even got this one going yet.
And I already know what some of you are thinking, I'm 3 paragraphs into this and I haven't even posted pics yet. Well, they're already taken. This is my first post, so as soon as I come up with a couple more I'll post them.
The engine isn't original, a 120 was. It has a 160 HP now, and it's stuck, how bad I don't know. I have a special light coming that will help me see the interior of the cylinders. The PO had already oiled the cylinders, and I added some PB Blaster to that. Leveraging against the flywheel teeth as hard as I dared, it didn't budge. If I see that the cylinder walls are like a mirror, and it's just the rings that are stuck, I probably would have a hard time resisting the temptation to turn it over once freed up. Who knows, it could be freeze cracked, although the PO, who also bought it as a project, checked it when he first got it and it was dry. The dipstick shows no evidence of water. If the engine is gonzo I'll be a little disappointed, but oh well, I got the whole deal for what the trailer was probably worth. The light should be here tomorrow.
Two more to go....