18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Lookin' good man! I like the summer setup you have there... keeps you dry and shaded!

Just the Blazer to fix --- and you'll be back to boat buildin'???

J.

Thanks!
I'm liking the setup so far.

The tent was a hand me down, but it's been nice.
My plan is to build one on the pad permanently one day, but that might be a year or three.
Right now the rag top is starting to fall apart, we had a good wind a few days ago and I now have a tear at the back.
And while doing a test fit of the windshield, a corner went through the top like it was nothing...

I'll get some tarps and see if I can extend the life a little....

Also I have been building a structure in my garage that will be used to lift it up and off of the trailer, I'm almost done with it

and yup, this weekend will have to be the blazer, then see about getting the Chief into the garage before snow starts falling.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Funny thing...

We had a cold front come through yesterday and brought winds and rain...

Came home last night and saw the top of my boat tent totally ripped off and in ribbons.

My local Costco has a deal on a 2 pack of tarps, so I bought two packs (4 tarps) and i tied everything up...
took two tarps to wrap the top, and I should have enough left to make sides later on.

Good news is the desk of my boat is totally washed off :facepalm:, and the tarps I bought are tougher than the top ever was.
wrapped everything up really good and it should last the winter.

Soon I'll have my Jet parked under the tent, and the Chief in the garage

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Finally got my boat floating up in the air today!

And a few shots of my overbuilt framework lol

I had some issues getting the trailer out of the garage as the front rope kinda blocks the garage door, but it's free!

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Used a chainfall from HF (2 ton for $30 with cupon)
I really like this thing

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Nice work!

Is all that bare aluminum sticking around? Or just very thorough paint prep?

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

I love my HF Chainfall! (I've never loved anything from HF by the way)

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Nice work!

Is all that bare aluminum sticking around? Or just very thorough paint prep?

It's mostly neked.

I still have a few thin patches here and there, but the bottom of the boat goes first, then trailer.

and I'm thinking about keeping the transom and the sides neked, and painting the bottom and topside.

I think it's to late in the year for a paint job though, I kinda don't like the idea of painting in the garage with an open flame heater...

I love my HF Chainfall! (I've never loved anything from HF by the way)

Yeah most of their stuff just get's the job done, and if your lucky, the next job too.

but only if your lucky lol.

And now that you mention it... the tools I really love, did not come from HF...
(usually sears, lowes, and homedepot)

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

I got a little more done over the weekend
Steering wheel test fit

And on the seat mounting, I wanted to mount it as close to the sides as possible and still be able to rotate, but one issue I thought of, where am I going to mount the control box... :facepalm:

So I might need to move the seat a few inches to the middle...


and I took some toilet bolts and ground them down just a little until they fit in the window channel and got crazy with the drill.

Mostly I wanted to see if it would clamp down flat like my Jet did, and so far so good!

Light makes the metal look funny, that and everything is still coated in soda

I took the center window apart, it should be easy enough to modify till it fits that space perfectly, then cut the glass to fit the frame.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Another angle

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Looks great!

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

shot of the floor mount, I'm happy with it

Now I just need to figure out what to cover the floor with.

After doing carpet in the Jet, I don't want carpet in this boat, hard to clean and it holds water against the wood, I'm leaning towards a vinyl.
Suggestions?

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Looks great!

Thanks!

Hopefully I'll be ready to rock by march, but I have a feeling that painting may cause me some delay...

Another shot of the windshield, more of a center view.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

And I have been slowly collecting those joans fabrics cupons in the mail
I wait for the 50% & 60% off a single item ones, and go clean them out of their marine vinyl stock

trick here is a single cut = one item, so if I take the whole roll I get 60% off of the full price

Can't see if here, but I have one full roll of grey, one full roll of black, and then a half roll of black.
then I have like 6 yards of dark blue...

I have not fully decided on the colors, but I was thinking about playing with the white as well, but fish blood is hard on white seats...

I figure black is a safe color, once this boat is done I have more stuff in mind...

And my Wife got a nice sewing machine for christmas last year, if this year I can get her to take it ouf of the box I'll break it in for her, we got the heavy sewing kit, I just hope it's heavy enough for my task.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

And I was also looking to get a second transducer, mount, and power wire for my fishfinder, that all came up to almost 90$...

I decided I would really like to mount the transducer and wire it up before I put the splash well and side pannels in.

I have the echo 200 (love it), but the echo 150 uses the same transducer and power connections, the base for the mount is also the same, so I started thinking heck I might as well spend $100 and get the 150, so I won't have to swap around...

I lucked out on ebay, I found a new seller that nobody wanted to risk more than $55 on lol
So $60 later I got a NIB Echo 150 for the price of the transducer alone

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

There's a tin boat shortage in Michigan, now it appears there's a marine vinyl shortage in Utah :facepalm: Or at least once every 4-6wks at Joan's fabrics

Nice selection of vinyl ya got there. Let us know how the dusting off the still 'new in the box' sewing machine conversation goes with the Admiral....

It's often the corners & the welting that best the sewing machines, and break needles. Be sure to spec UV resistant thread

 

[dozerII]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Looking real good Gib, good deal on the vinyl. I am using Nautalex vinyl on the floor of the 201 and would recommend it all day.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

There's a tin boat shortage in Michigan, now it appears there's a marine vinyl shortage in Utah :facepalm: Or at least once every 4-6wks at Joan's fabrics

Nice selection of vinyl ya got there. Let us know how the dusting off the still 'new in the box' sewing machine conversation goes with the Admiral....

It's often the corners & the welting that best the sewing machines, and break needles. Be sure to spec UV resistant thread

Yeah, just doing my part lol

And thanks for the sewing tip, hopefully joans has UV rated thread...

Looking real good Gib, good deal on the vinyl. I am using Nautalex vinyl on the floor of the 201 and would recommend it all day.

Thanks!
I found it on west marine site, I think I like the shark pattern best, a little pricy but it looks like I might not need more than two yards (72in wide).

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

going through the images, I like this before and after shot

 

[InMotion]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

going through the images, I like this before and after shot

Looks great Gibbs! Nice before and after shot --- things are coming together now!

J.