Cowhune's 1979 16SS Resto

[Watermann]

Nice work on the decking, I'm not a huge fan of carpet in boats but to each his own and it sure looks nice in there!

A couple thoughts on the rear deck, your fuel tank and batteries are back there so you can't enclose it like you have in the pic, it's against regs not to have ventilation. On my SN I took some angle AL and riveted the pieces together into I-beams of sorts and used SS screws to secure them to the top and bottom in areas where there was flexing. I'm thinking in your case you could divide the space in half and make the divider into an I-beam. To keep the new carpet clean an idea that I had and used on my SN was to get a garage drip tray secure it to the deck with a nylon strap underneath it and a buckle to secure the tank. I've since replaced that leaky POS attwood tank with a 5 Oceans tank that has a gauge and new OMC connectors that round brass connector is a source of leaks too.

Under the hatch this is what it looks like.

 

[Cowhune]

Thanks waterman. I was leaning towards vinyl for the main floor but I got a good deal on the carpet so it's what i went with. I do mostly fish in bare feet so carpet is a little nicer I find. No big deal to me...saved some dollars and I'm happy with it.

As for the gas/battery ventilation I agree and appreciate the suggestions. It's hard to see in the pictures but there is actually a 3/4" x 2' gap I left at the floor. I'm not sure if this qualifies as enough airflow for the area or not though on it's own? I was also thinking that I could do some ventilation through the storage under the gunwale since I need to run stuff through those into those compartments anyways. As it sits without any foam in there, I'd say there is lots of ventilation.

Question: Does anyone have any experience removing the rub rail and trim that holds the rub rail? I'm considering removing it to carpet the gunwales as well but I don't want to create a whole mess trying to get that sucker back on.

 

[GA_Boater]

The rub rail slides right out (usually) after removing the bow cap and stern corner caps. The might be some screws on both ends of the RR. The channel is held on with stainless machine screws and nuts on the inside. Tedious, but not impossible or that hard to do, CH.

 

[Watermann]

The portable tank will vent into the compartment and it will always smell like gas fumes and be a risk if it's not open more to the air. You could do cut outs and put some type of mesh or screen type material on the inside. Not sure if your SS had the sliding doors in the back still when you got the boat. Another option is to put in a mounted vented tank and filler.

On the RR most guys don't like to take theirs off but it's not a big deal really. Drill out the stern end blind rivets remove the bow cap because it's all one piece of vinyl. On my Chief all the rivets holding the gunnels on were either loose or broken and the machine screws holding the metal on were loose too so it was nice to fix that. If you haven't removed the bow cap yet there's a trick to it.

 

[GA_Boater]

I forgot to mention that my RR is one piece from the port stern corner around the bow back to the starboard stern corner. Or was it the other way? I've seen one and two piecers in the forum.

The bow cap removal trick saves it from breaking. It's held captive by the RR channels. Ask if you need the trick.

 

[dozerII]

If I remember right from the Naked Lady, she had carpeted gunwale tops and we removed it, the rub rail channel has a bigger opening if it was designed to have the layer of carpet, you may have trouble getting the getting it back on.

 

[Cowhune]

The portable tank will vent into the compartment and it will always smell like gas fumes and be a risk if it's not open more to the air. You could do cut outs and put some type of mesh or screen type material on the inside. Not sure if your SS had the sliding doors in the back still when you got the boat. Another option is to put in a mounted vented tank and filler.

On the RR most guys don't like to take theirs off but it's not a big deal really. Drill out the stern end blind rivets remove the bow cap because it's all one piece of vinyl. On my Chief all the rivets holding the gunnels on were either loose or broken and the machine screws holding the metal on were loose too so it was nice to fix that. If you haven't removed the bow cap yet there's a trick to it.

I like that idea. I did a quick search on the internet and I think a coulpe "louvered vent covers" in front access hatch would look nice and function properly too. My boat had the fabric piece with the rod that draped across the back.


I'm leaning more towards doing the carpet on the gunwales now. It didn't look to bad to me but I wanted to ask incase I was missing something. I was able to wiggle the RR in most places so I doubt that will be too hard to remove/instal. If you guys could explain this bow cap trick to me that would be great......I feel like I'm walking into some kind of joke here....:happy:

 

[dozerII]

No joke here, but it is easy to break the bow cap if your not careful. There will be 2 or 4 rivets on the underside , drill them out, then look real close on the top rear side of the bow cap and you will see a cast tab that sticks down about 3/16 inch inboard of the RR. You have to carefully pry that over the RR to remove it, going back on is easy a light tap with a rubber mallet and it's on. Once you have the cap off you will see there should be a rivet through the rubber drill them out. On some they also peen the edge of the rubrail channel to help hole the rubber in. Inspect the channel all the way down the side of the hull if there are any dented spots straighten them as they will pinch the rubber, once they are all good, put a Phillips screw driver in the rivet hole at the back that was under the corner cap and is it as a handle to pull the rubber out.

 

[GA_Boater]

The bow cap is cast, so it's sorta brittle. The tab that Dozer mentioned is thin and breaks easily if you don't do it right.

I used a stiff. wide (2-2/1") putty knife and gently worked it under the tab. Then I used a wood wedge tapped under the putty knife to raise the tab until it cleared the RR channel. Next, I gently tapped the bow cap forward and caught the cap before it hit the ground.

The key word is gentle. This isn't the thing to use brute force on. Easy does it.

 

[Watermann]

GA's advice in my thread July 2013...

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owne...tion-18-starcraft-chieftain/page4#post6530606

 

[Cowhune]

Haha great, thanks fellas. I'm going to tackle this on Saturday. These tips are a huge help because I no doubt would have cracked it.

 

[GA_Boater]

GA's advice in my thread July 2013...

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owner...e4#post6530606

I didn't look yet - Did it change in 2 year? A little, I added the wood wedge step.

Still the Zen of Starcraft. But you wrote the chapter on Wasp Eradication, WM. :joyous:

 

[Cowhune]

Dash pieces coming together nicely!

 

[jbcurt00]

Is the boat going to be painted w about that same blue color as the vinyl? On my cell, its a really nice, not too dark navy. I like it.

Vinyl work looks good, nice work

 

[Cowhune]

Is the boat going to be painted w about that same blue color as the vinyl? On my cell, its a really nice, not too dark navy. I like it.

Vinyl work looks good, nice work

Thanks jb! When I ordered that carbon vinyl I had planned on keeping the gunnels blue and leaving the old blue vinyl on the inside of the hull. Since then I have replaced that old vinyl on the inside and I plan to carpet the gunnels this weekend so I'm going to have to tie in the blue somehow. I'm leaving the exterior paint job until next winter. Maybe I'll do black with blue "swoop" or something like that.

I am working on a deal right now for a 1979 Johnson 70hp

 

[hayko1971]

Dashes look great! I planned on doing the same to mine LOL!

 

[Tnstratofam]

I too like the dash pieces. What color carpet are you using, or did I miss the color choice somewhere?

 

[dozerII]

Nice choice on the carbon fiber.

 

[Cowhune]

Thanks guys!

I too like the dash pieces. What color carpet are you using, or did I miss the color choice somewhere?

There are some pics on page 3 showing some of the carpet I'm using.


Question: Whats the prefered seat pedestal for these boats? I'm not looking to spend a fortune but I want something that looks decent. Previously I was using a 7" economy pedestal but I can't seem to find any affordable and nice looking ones in that height.

 

[jbcurt00]

Look for helm rated pedestals, they are not all rated for use at the helm. On my cell, dont have the ratings on hand.