Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

[GA_Boater]

It must feel good to be fine tuning now instead of sanding and scraping and puttin' motors in. From what you've said, the Chief is the perfect cruiser. Enjoy the heck out of her, WM. :thumb:

 

[InMotion]

Water.... just getting caught up here... looks AWESOME MAN!!!!! +100 to what everyone has said! Really nice work!

Congrats and enjoy the heck out it this summer!

Have a great boating season...

Jim

 

[Watermann]

So I got the 5' side bunks on the trailer and it made for easier loading and relieved the fear of running on top of the fenders. I also got a new Mercury Black Diamond prop to try out with a 23" pitch. hoping to get on the water tomorrow to try out the prop.

Still doing some finish work, like AL kick panels in front of all the seats. At the request of the admiral I installed a SS grab bar on the cabin bulkhead in front of the nav seat. I still have some trim work to do as well and picked up some of the sound proofing from HD to add to the motor compartment.

 

[jbcurt00]

Hope the foil stuff dampens the engine noise.

I like the kick panels, great idea.

 

[GA_Boater]

I like the kick panels too. Nice touch. And another Admiral Panic Bar, keepin' her happy ain't bad. :smile: Every time I see her, she looks more impressive. The pic above is simply stunning.

 

[Watermann]

Just got in off the water, another 100% trouble free outing. Got to try out my new 14" x 23"p Merc black diamond prop, she's cupped big time compared to the MI wheel. All I can say is Wow! Think I can go even more pitch up and that motor just keeps slamming you back in the seat on the hole shot and accelerating from the 30 MPH cruising speed is still the same, like a muscle car. So I ran up to 3200 RPMS, trimmed and looked down to see 35 MPH on GPS. (up river against current too) Speedo is about 1 MPH off the GPS. I ran up to 4500 RPMS shortly just to clear out the cob webs, whoa she is fast guys. Scares the admiral so I don't do the speed run for long and besides she's a cruiser not a speed boat.

So I'm down to 9% prop slip now from 15% with the 21"p. http://www.mercuryracing.com/propell...calculator.php

Got to do some beaching and wading in the water today, once again the river was slick and smooth.

Today the launch was a little busy when we came in and boy did the Chief get some attention at the dock. A crowd formed up and people couldn't believe the age of the boat and how she looked now after the resto. One guy asked about the motor so I opened up the hinged sun deck and you should have seen the jaws drop at the sight of the 205 HP Alpha One V6, it was awesome and even the admiral got in on the Chief bragging!

 

[GA_Boater]

it was awesome and even the admiral got in on the Chief bragging!

That's funny! I think the Admiral likes the old gal!

 

[blazin_jason]

Sexy beast!

 

[USMotorHead]

I sold my Islander in the spring and have been looking for another aluminum boat. After looking over your resto...Im looking for a Chieftain! Nice work!

 

[Watermann]

Thanks for taking a look guys and the pats on the back are appreciated immensely!

Yeah Motorhead the Chief's are pretty tough to come by here in WA state, 1 or 2 every few months pop up at a premium usually and you can't be too picky about size, power or condition of the craft. I got lucky and found this one just waiting for me in a lot 5 miles from home and the guy who had her was willing to sell. I wish you luck and look forward to seeing another Chief become seaworthy once again.

 

[pckeen]

Beautiful restoration! Not surprising that you had a crowd!

 

[classiccat]

Today the launch was a little busy when we came in and boy did the Chief get some attention at the dock. A crowd formed up and people couldn't believe the age of the boat and how she looked now after the resto. One guy asked about the motor so I opened up the hinged sun deck and you should have seen the jaws drop at the sight of the 205 HP Alpha One V6, it was awesome and even the admiral got in on the Chief bragging!

^^^That's a great shot of her! :thumb:

Careful Agua! we don't want any more tin price gouging than you already have in the PNW!

 

[1973Chieftain]

Holy mackrel, she's BEAUTIFUL! Just like a new boat! Makes me kinda ashamed to post pics of mine... I'm thinking SOTY candidate here!

 

[Watermann]

Holy mackrel, she's BEAUTIFUL! Just like a new boat! Makes me kinda ashamed to post pics of mine... I'm thinking SOTY candidate here!

Thanks Chief, I had the advantage of having less boat to work on than you with your monster tin.

Yeah I would accept a nomination for the SOTY when it comes around. I had some serious challenges to overcome during the restore with the repower which is the accomplishment I'm most proud of.

Okay, time to go out to the driveway and put the overdue coat of wax on the paint. I also picked up the Aerospace 303 protectant for the vinyl and the 303 fabric guard for the bimini top. Figured I should protect the hard work with some maintenance this weekend. Maybe I'll get out on the water tomorrow.

 

[Watermann]

Deleted post.

 

[budski]

Really awesome job Water Niccccccccccccccccce!!!!!!

 

[SigSaurP229]

I admire your patience Aqua mine isnt even as close to done as yours and I had to go play. 40 ,MPH is a really fun cruise speed have you seen 50 mph out of her yet?

 

[Watermann]

Well I went out on some big water today with the Chief so I never got to open her up, the swells on the lake were huge, some over 4 foot. Wake board boats half sunk playing rap music, massive 30+ footers on about half a plane with 10 people in them, big passenger boats, para sail boats and even sea planes too. Oh yeah there was a bass tournament there today too. The lake I went on Chelan is 50+ miles long and 1500 feet deep at it's deepest and some places a mile wide. It was nice to see the lake again since I grew up there and it's only an easy 50 mile drive. Don't think I've been back in 25 years so it was like a homecoming for us both. The Chief never even got a drop of water on us, totally dry ride at least until the admiral wanted to go swimming that is.

Top speed, I'm thinking the design of the Chief has some serious wind resistance with the double windshields and the big tall bow. Think it's at a wall for top end around 48 but my cruising speed is perfect, 3200 RPMs at 35 MPH and you can get up and move around the boat too without even a wobble.

I've got a few pics of the lake I will try to get uploaded here in a bit. We got the "that's a nice boat" when launching, retrieving and a Starcraft gawker that wanted to see everything inside and out.

 

[Watermann]

A shot of the big lake on the way out at 0800, nice and calm with lake to ourselves for about an hour.

Went up lake several miles to get away from the crowd but there was a ton of big drift wood to avoid from a recent rain storm.

Slow roll up the lake was nice, pics don't really show how rough the water got or maybe I'm used to the glass of the river.

 

[dozerII]

Real nice pictures H2O, good to see you so happy with the Chief. Our little lake gets the same way when you get a bunch of boats out pulling tubes, skiers and wake boarders.