1966 starcraft chieftain

[bogee]

I just retired and found a starcraft cheiftain for sale. It was an estate sale, talked to the guy, has a brand new mercruiser engine with 10 hrs on it and new outboard drive, it was his father's, had it done at a local boat shop. Boat seemed in great shape, put it in the water and it leaks like a sieve. Pulled it out, water ran out from where the lower unit comes out of the boat. Looks like the plywood on the rear wall inside the aluminum skin is soft on the bottom not letting it seal. It almost looks like if i took the top rail off the back and unbolted the lower unit the plywood would slide up and out and a new pice could be slid in. Maybe have to slide the engine forward. Anyone here ever do this? I'm sure it needs done every once in awhile. This is the first boat i have owned in 25 or 30 years. Any advice, this will make a great fishing boat for the grandkids and myself!

 

[jbcurt00]

Please decide which sub forum you want to discuss the Islander in: this Starcraft forum or the Restoration forum. Either forum is fine, wholly up to you, just not both....

thanks

good luck w your new Islander

 

[Watermann]

:welcome: aboard,

Transom replacement has been done on every SC restoration listed here, even the IO models. Take a look at the other threads and post some pics of your project Islander.

 

[bogee]

Here is what I'm starting with. I know I need to replace the plywood in the transom, have a good handle on doing that now thanks to the forums here. May do the floors and redo the foam under them as I'm sure it's broken down'

 

[bogee]

Thanks Watermann for the tip on the forums here. Learned a lot! Have a lot more to learn.

 

[Watermann]

Well now you have a really nice Chieftain there! Islanders of that era are very distinct with a low profile cabin.

 

[bogee]

My registration says islander, but either way it has a 3.0 mercruiser engine with 10 hrs on it and a new lower unit or outdrive, whatever they call it on an inboard, this is the first inboard I ever owned. The floor is solid but I may remove it and replace the foam, as I can see it is broken down. I looked all summer for a boat with a lot of room in the back for fishing with the grand kids. I have all winter to get it ready. When we put it in the river the mechanical part went great, all worked well and it ran good, just took on water, when we pulled it out the water ran out between the outdrive and back wall of the boat. I checked the plywood and its soft on the bottom, I think it set in the barn to long after the guy I bought it from father died. He had the reciepts for the engine and outdrive from a local boat shop that is known to do good work, and I doubt they would have done this with bad wood in the back. I still think I did well on the purchase price with the engine that new, $3000

 

[Watermann]

Although a newer model shown here, this is what the old style 191 Islanders look like.

 

[bogee]

Looking at some old photos on google it is a chieftan, wonder if I should get a hold of the fish commission and have the registration changed. As long as the hull ID is right, and i checked it, I should be good for now!

 

[bogee]

Back when this was new they did not title boats here in Pa.

 

[BWR1953]

Looking at some old photos on google it is a chieftan, wonder if I should get a hold of the fish commission and have the registration changed. As long as the hull ID is right, and i checked it, I should be good for now!

Yeahhh... I wouldn't go digging around too much trying to get the title/registration changed. Could open up a big ol' can of nightcrawlers. If it's already officially titled and registered as an Islander, I'd just go with the flow. Smoother sailing that way. Ya know??

 

[MTboatguy]

If you have a good title in hand, I would not even go digging around, because in the end it does not matter one bit at all.

 

[DLNorth]

Agreed, as long as the numbers match that's all that matters.

Dan

 

[Watermann]

Great advice already and you haven't even started tearing into the boat :lol:

Although you may want to ask a moderator to change the title of your thread :mod:
jbcurt00

 

[jbcurt00]

Title updated

 

[bogee]

Here is what I have to work with, that pic is the plywood on right side of engine

 

[bogee]

Here is some more of what I have to work with, formulating a plan right now!

 

[bogee]

Hmmmmm, where to start? Heading out to get some waterproof tags. My first part of the plan is everything I take apart, every wire, cable, everything like that I tag where it came off, and the end of it and number it, take a pic of it together, then going back in I just reverse the order. I will need to do this with the wiring, it will save me some time.

 

[Watermann]

Full stern drive / motor removal to replace that rotten original transom.

 

[bogee]

I think I'm going to redo everything from the cabin wall back over this winter, and everything from there front next winter. We will see how the rear end goes, maybe I can do er all over this winter. The foam underneath is breaking down, want to replace that with the mix and pour stuff. I just want to divide this project up into small projects, less daunting for a newbie that way. I know the guy at the local boat shop wanted $6,000 to replace that plywood, I said no way, he came down to 3,000, I looked at the rebuilds on this site and decided I can do this myself. I think the hardest part will be getting the gimball apart and back in. I've built furniture for a hobby, so the wood work don't scare me, rebuilt or replaced about everything on all my cars, just never an inboard boat motor.