Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

[laurentide]

Watermann, sometimes my plug is bone dry, other times I get a stream for a couple of seconds. It's so little water that I've stopped worrying about. It's never been enough to switch the auto pump on.

 

[GA_Boater]

guess 5 or 6 ounces of water in 2 hours isn't so bad for a riveted tin boat made when Apollo 11 took off for the moon.

And they made it back! So will you. Less than a cup of water isn't bad, but I know what you mean. You want it bone dry.

 

[dozerII]

I have the same problem with the Holiday, I have looked every where for a leak with no results, but after 4 or 5 hours on the water I get about half a gallon out the plug, which means the level would still have to come up about 2.5 inches for the B pump to even get wet. But it does tend to P a guy off after all we went through to seal them up.

 

[Watermann]

Got some more brown truck stuff coming this week, will it ever end? Naw... :lol:

New prop, decided on the Michigan Wheel Vortex 3 blade 14.25 x 21. I decided not to mess with the pitch as to not create more trouble and the need to spend more. The old prop has seen better days, it seems to have an area of vibration sort of like a car with a tire out of balance that goes away when speed increases or decreases. At least I hope that's what it is. Even so it should be good enough for a spare.

Guide bunks! I can't believe I forgot to equip my trailer with guides since I boat in the big river, the launches just about all have a current flow and some wind it seems. I got 5 footers coming.

Motor cover insulation for sound mostly, have any of you guys making dog houses put in any sort of insulation? I picked up some thin heat shield reflective type to try out. Not sure if it will make a difference or not. Old style fan belts make noise no matter what, I know why they went to serpentine.

 

[jbcurt00]

Bud used roofing foil backed bituthane on the inside of his SeaHawk doghouse. Said it made a HUGE improvement. Not expensive & available @Lowes. I think his user name is CC254. Yes he's a glasser. He's posted a bunch in Jas Islander Topic, but not on recently, pushing 16mo I'd bet....

 

[Tnstratofam]

This is what happens when work keeps me from my two favorite pass times. Being on the water, and looking at rebuilds here on iboats. Congratulations on one sharp looking Chieftain Waterman. That is so nice. I want one, and I think I'll show yours off to the Admiral tonight to see if I can persuade her we need one.. Again great job..

 

[Watermann]

Thanks for the input John and Dave I appreciate the kind words.

I almost forgot to post up about the windshield T Bolt work around I found. I know what the channel looks like on the Chief I would have to guess the rest of the SC's are similar. No grinding or fabricating to create your simple and effective "T bolt".

Size 8 square nuts.


1" of threaded rod stock in size 8 for the nut.

Screw the nut onto the threaded rod, slide it into the channel and move it to about where it needs to be and then turn the rod until it bottoms out in the channel. They will stay there in place until your ready to set the windshield and then you can loosen and move it into place, then re-tighten.

Once in place and through the holes in the bow cover or console you can use nylocs to secure the new "T" bolts and they won't just spin. Some channels may be larger I don't know but I took a piece of the frame in with me to the ACE hardware to match it up and make sure everything screwed together. It may be tough to find square nuts and rod in SS but the zinc plated should last a very long time before rusting out like the old T bolts did.

Hope this helps someone down the road!

Edit: Thread doesn't seem to be updating new posts on the main SC owners screen.

 

[jbcurt00]

Bud used roofing foil backed bituthane on the inside of his SeaHawk doghouse. Said it made a HUGE improvement. Not expensive & available @Lowes. I think his user name is CC254. Yes he's a glasser. He's posted a bunch in Jas Islander Topic, but not on recently, pushing 16mo I'd bet....

chriscraft254:

So here is what I have gotten done tonight. Bought 2 rolls of the Quickroof product from Home depot at about $16 bucks a roll. I will need one more roll to cover the rest. This stuff sticks really well and conforms well. I can tell a difference already in how hollow the engine cover sounded before compared to now when knocked on. Think this stuff will definately deaden some sound/vibrations.

I used a laminate roller and a good tile grout float with a nice firm edge to press the stuff in tight to the corners.

Just wanted to add, this stuff is all over youtube also where people have used it in the cars, the entire chassis basically. I would be more worried about extreme cold, but if this can be used for roof patch/water proofing, i don't forsee much problems. It has no smell at all. Plus it just looks cool,lol

 

[Watermann]

Oh I like that stuff!

 

[GT1000000]

I used the same stuff on the inside of my ToP's cowling cover...can't speak to how well it works, but it definitely looks pretty cool...

 

[Watermann]

Hey GA can you tell why my thread isn't updating posts out on the main SC page? It's stuck on John's post yesterday morning at like 947.

Edit: Looks like it got sorted out after the blackout this morning.

 

[Lanie J]

Wow, what an awesome restore. You have a new boat. Thanks for the ride!

 

[Watermann]

Hey thanks for stopping by my Chief thread Lanie.

The water was calling the Chief out again today, this time an extended 40+ miles trip on the Columbia behind Chief Joseph Dam again. It was smooth sailing like a marble rolling on a mirror.

Believe it or not I was running 3200 RPMs just cruising up stream in this pic.

The admiral got to see what the Chief is like on this cruise, the last time she had to work and couldn't make the trip.

I got a big smile out of her for the sun deck feature.

 

[Watermann]

Oh I wanted to show you what Chief Joseph Dam is like which makes the wonderful fishing and boating reservoir behind it.

 

[laurentide]

Great pics!

 

[GA_Boater]

The Admiral is enjoying her sun deck on her tinny. :smile: You really have some smooth water!

WM - I didn't see the posts not updating. Why? Because they weren't updating! :facepalm:

 

[jbcurt00]

Looks like a great day for a cruise. Glass smooth water

 

[dozerII]

Awesome pictures H2O, a big smile on the Admirals face is always good.

 

[classiccat]

Happy Wife - Happy Life!

The chief is getting a good look at herself cruisin' in that big mirror!

 

[Watermann]

Thanks for the comments guys!

So the 40+ mile cruise less water showed up in the bilge than before, maybe 2 or 3 ounces. Had a scare after checking the engine oil level after the first cruise, it was over full. Then I looked around and saw I had used 5 Qts, there was no part full oil quart. Max oil cap on this 4.3L is 4.5 Qts. I drained some off before the 2nd cruise and it was perfectly normal after the 2nd... whew. I knew it didn't take on water in the engine since it was just nice clear new oil I drained off.

I'm trying to get some lower RPMs out of the cruiser and plan on increasing the prop pitch from 21 to 23 since she has so much power. The 21" pitch used on the previous set up was the rotten glasser that weighed in probably 1000 pounds more than the Chief. With the 21" pitch, she jumps up on a plane in less than 3 sec and if the throttle is stabbed it will set you back in the seat big time like a muscle car. Even when cruising at 30 MPH (3200 RPMs), opening her up it has incredible acceleration so I'm not worried too much about making her a dog with a 2" pitch increase. Hoping it will cruise at lower RPMs, get better fuel economy and of course increase the top end as well.