1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Watermann

Starmada Splash of the Year 2014
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Jan 12, 2013
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Great design on the build CJ, looks super sturdy with all the contact points.
 

astor

2018's Starmada Splash Of The Year.
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Jul 31, 2011
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wow, that really looks great! You really got the canvas stretched nice with no wrinkles.
 

dozerII

Admiral
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Oct 25, 2009
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Really great job cj, should do a fine job of keeping the snow off your head;)
 

cj8mule

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Apr 7, 2012
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Thanks for the compliments guys. So far I have less than $300 in material.... well I did buy a new welder, but I needed that anyway.

It only weighs around 35 pounds, but is strong enough for me to do pull ups on. A fellow's gotta stay fit to be able to reel in bubba, right? :D
 

Weep'n Willy

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Jun 12, 2012
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Looks like she will fit the bill well. Nice work. Now lets end this winter thing and get back to spring and some fishing.
 

GA_Boater

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May 24, 2011
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CJ - Your top is every bit as good, if not better than one costing a heck of a lot more for a custom job. It completes the Chieftain like a cherry on a sundae. :D
 

cj8mule

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Apr 7, 2012
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I've been able to work on the Chief in between clipper storms :eek: .... It's a blowin' out there again....


I got the cabin roof done.

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And added a couple of led cabin lights.

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I found some used Todd captain chairs to clean up. It'll be nice to get rid of all that blue on deck.

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I also started building a cabinet for the inside cabin wall. It still needs to be painted and the door hung. There's about 6 shelves that will hold small plastic trays for tackle and what not.

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Watermann

Starmada Splash of the Year 2014
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Nice job on furnishing the cabin CJ, I sort of over looked mine since it's so small up there. So are you going to just use the captain seats on top of the boxes or redesign and use the pedestals too?
 

cj8mule

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Apr 7, 2012
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A sand down and revarnish of that wood should make it look like new.

That's what I'm hoping. I started wet sanding down the aluminum bases last night

Nice job on furnishing the cabin CJ, I sort of over looked mine since it's so small up there. So are you going to just use the captain seats on top of the boxes or redesign and use the pedestals too?

It is small up there H2O. I'm re-doing the seat bases and using the pedestals in order to gain a little more deck space. I'm also re-doing the dash.
 

GA_Boater

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CJ - If you keep working on her, you may have a 2015 SOTY entry because she's gonna be a brand new boat. :smile:

Nice work BTW. We never finish after we're done. :doh:
 

astor

2018's Starmada Splash Of The Year.
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Jul 31, 2011
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425
very nice, how did you finish the cabin roof? spar? I like the tackle cabinet, may have to do something similar.
 

cj8mule

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Apr 7, 2012
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CJ - If you keep working on her, you may have a 2015 SOTY entry because she's gonna be a brand new boat. :smile:

Nice work BTW. We never finish after we're done. :doh:

Yep, you got that right GA.... we are never finished. Now after a season of fishing, I know what I want and what's gonna function good for me.


very nice, how did you finish the cabin roof? spar? I like the tackle cabinet, may have to do something similar.

I just used 1/4" floor underlayment with some spar. I had to sand down the edges a little because I re-used the ceiling tmold. I believe that stock molding is only for 3/16" material.

That tackle cabinet is turning out real nice. I got the door mounted yesterday and the first coat of paint.
 

ShowMeGuy

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Jan 31, 2012
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The tubing for the rod isn't welded yet and just clamped. I think I need to make the rod holder more vertical.... what do you think? I also only planned on putting 5 rod holders on there, but I'm thinking 7 would be better.

So are these for transport and holding the rods while moving? Do you troll with the rods up there? I've seen these but never really understood their role...
 

cj8mule

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Apr 7, 2012
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So are these for transport and holding the rods while moving? Do you troll with the rods up there? I've seen these but never really understood their role...

Hey ShowMeGuy.... not seen you on the forum lately. Glad to see you back!

You can store the rods up there if you want to, but I mainly built it for trolling. There will be wood planer boards about 75 feet off the side of the boat. You set a trolling rod out and use a clip to attach the fishing line to the wood planer board. Then set it up in the rocket launcher to get it out of the way.

You could do a youtube search on 'chesapeake spring rockfish' and get a good idea what it's about.
 

Weep'n Willy

Master Chief Petty Officer
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Jun 12, 2012
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Cj, you should check out the Big Jon Otter Boats. I used to run the wooden double planer boards but they were a bear to retrieve and occasionally would dive into a wave. I went with the Otters and love them. Easy to retrieve and they ride the waves just like a boat, a lot smoother to troll with.
 

LastDollar

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Nov 5, 2010
Messages
117
Just caught your condensed version of the 1974 Chieftain restore. Wow you did a fantastic job. Love that hull design and a lot of models built on it. I have a 1963 Sunchief same look hull but flat bottom.

Again WOW!!
 
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cj8mule

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 7, 2012
Messages
660
Cj, you should check out the Big Jon Otter Boats. I used to run the wooden double planer boards but they were a bear to retrieve and occasionally would dive into a wave. I went with the Otters and love them. Easy to retrieve and they ride the waves just like a boat, a lot smoother to troll with.

Thanks WnW. What kind of baits are you pulling with the Otters? The Otters have been talked about on the local fishing forums and I'll have to go back and read about them. Here's what I intend to build:

planerBoards_zps1e4bad1c.jpeg
(borrowed from a tidalfish.com member)

These seem to work real good, but I have no first hand experience since I'm a newbie troller.



Just caught your condensed version of the 1974 Chieftain restore. Wow you did a fantastic job. Love that hull design and a lot of models built on it. I have a 1963 Sunchief same look hull but flat bottom.

Again WOW!!

Thanks LastDollar! I just looked at your Old Owner, old Boat thread. You write very well!! I'm heading over to read through it.
 
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