18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

[GA_Boater]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Could have been an old upright horn or spotlight.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Heck if 1 is good, 3 MUST be better:

Everytime I think of a boat horn, I can't help but remember this:

^^^ It'd fit real nice on that Deuce.5

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

hahaha

and I thought train horns were cool

 

[barato2]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

that thing sounds more like the Jolly Green Giant with flatulence than a horn

 

[rheagler]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

I want that horn. Making some nice progress there Gib!

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

thanks guys, I'm hoping to hit the water soon.

And I keep picturing a train horn mounted to the top of the boat... and me choosing the right time to test it out... neighbor focused on something... you know, the same way one gets a funny surprise/high jump reaction out of a cat... :lol:

I gotta say, that ship horn is a sound one would never expect :faint2:

but I know that would get way to loud... ticket loud... :laugh:

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Wait 'til a foggy night in Utah. Give it a few blasts to warn the neighbor about the fog. Just doing your civic duty, ya know. :lol:

 

[dozerII]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Coming along real good Chris, when is the expected splash?

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Wait 'til a foggy night in Utah. Give it a few blasts to warn the neighbor about the fog. Just doing your civic duty, ya know. :lol:

:lol:

Coming along real good Chris, when is the expected splash?

I'm hoping by the end of this month... but I had hoped for May... :lol:

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

And for the control box, the chrysler box fits perfectly in the storage area on the side, so I cut and riveted some brackets onto the control box and I'm going to stuff in there... pictures once I get it mounted, but I needed to order some new cables before I do.

Once connected and the extra cable looped under the splashwell in 2.5ft loops I found the control box was very hard to move... :lol:

By next weekend I should have the new cables + some splashwell boots to keep eveything looking perdy.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Over the weekend I picked up that mapp oxy torch, and man it did the trick!

I got it a touch to hot in some places where it just started drooping :lol:

but I tell ya, once you get it to the point of near melting, then slowly let it cool off... stuff is like lead, I can shape it with my hands.

I had some spots to hard, hit it with a torch to soften, went to light on some areas and they went stiff again...

Anyways... if I try and mold on the boat I'm going to screw the paint up, and I really need to smack it with a rubber hammer to get it all smooth.. so I need to make a wood mold in the rough shape of the windshield area.

 

[dozerII]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Hey Chris, looking forward to seeing here on the water. When I was making the storage locker in the deck in the bow of the 201 I had to bend aluminum angle for the trim, I made a wood template then screwed one end of the angle to the center starting point and used a heat gun on high with a rubber hammer to form it.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

I was amazed how soft the aluminum got after heating it up that hot.

And I was following instructions from here: Boat builder news letter #43
Has some very good info.

Also a year or two ago iboats was having a close out on replacment tops, dirt cheap.

For the heck of it I bought one on a whim, no frame just a nice quality top...

So I'm thinking I need to make a frame to fit it, the tubing HD and lowes has is to big to fit the top fittings, and I'm not quite sure where I could pick up the frame parts with out paying out the nose for it...

Unless someone knows something, my only other options would be

1: Make my own fittings

2: heat the tube up, and try to reduce the diameter of the tube where the fittings need to go using a vice, leather to keep it from scratching up, and roll and tighten the tube till I get it...

 

[Grandad]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Also a year or two ago iboats was having a close out on replacment tops, dirt cheap. For the heck of it I bought one on a whim, no frame just a nice quality top...
So I'm thinking I need to make a frame to fit it, the tubing HD and lowes has is to big to fit the top fittings, and I'm not quite sure where I could pick up the frame parts with out paying out the nose for it...
Unless someone knows something, my only other options would be
1: Make my own fittings
2: heat the tube up, and try to reduce the diameter of the tube where the fittings need to go using a vice, leather to keep it from scratching up, and roll and tighten the tube till I get it...

Hey Gib, making your own anything can be a big job. Making your own and being disappointed in how it turned out because you used inferior materials can be a real downer. Been there, done that. If you asked a top builder to make a top out of HD tubing (eg EMT), they would charge a fortune because of the difficulty in mating stuff, making custom parts, etc. Because I have access to machines and know well enough how to use them, I think I could do what you're proposing, but I wouldn't even start.

My advice to you is to give yourself every chance of success by using materials that even the pros would insist upon. Having made my own top, I'm glad I used stainless steel vs aluminum tubing. I would be disappointed in the entire project had I used aluminum and had I used EMT, I probably wouldn't want anybody to see it. That doesn't mean it can't be done. I admire your pluck, but these projects have so many pitfalls that you don't need another. If you estimate what your time is worth, the incremental cost of using the right materials is pittance. - Grandad

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Thanks for the input,

My biggest issue is trying to find a source for the tubing, I would perfer to use the correct stuff, also since I need to replace some short railing pieces (the rails to keep the driver and pass in the boat).

I have a bunch of sand in the backyard I recovered from sandblasting, my plan is to run it through a screen again and reuse (play sand I ran through the HF sand blaster to strip the trailer), I figure heat the tubes up like I did with the trim, cap one end of the tube off, fill full of sand, cap the other end off, then bend using my trusty conduit bender.

I had seen where muffler shops can reduce an end of a pipe with their special tool, I went to the plumbing department hoping they had something like that for copper (some of that tube is roughly the same size), so far no hits.

The tool is pretty much just a bearing that rolls around the tube, and you slowly tighten it...

in the end I may just be better off getting a full top... would be nice to save a few $.

Heck the top I have would cover the whole back, and I only have about $15 invested, the material alone would of cost me more.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Spoke to soon,

I went down to the local hardware store for some screws, and I found the correct tubing sizes.

got two 12ft tubes for $12 each, and a little one that's the correct size to fit inside incase I need to make one a 2 piece

 

[Grandad]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

I paid about $4 a foot for 7/8" stainless that I picked up locally (about 30 miles away) at JT's Top Shop. Georgian Bay Ontario Canada - Sunbrella Boat Tops, Canvas Covers, Custom Biminis, Marine Upholstery, Boat Fabrics & Carpeting - JT's Top Shop
I don't know what's in your neighborhood. Shipping 10'-14' lengths of tubing can be problematic and expensive. If you settle for anodized aluminum over stainless, I think you should still buy stainless fittings instead of plastic or chromed die-cast that will pit before long. I found that the 7/8" diameter (outside measure) bent well with a 3/4" (inside measure) EMT bender without using sand or heat. Heat can cause aluminum to melt and stainless to dis-color (goes blue, I think). If you're experienced at bending EMT, this should be no problem for you as long as you keep the foot pressure on it and make your bend in one shot. I tried to adjust one of my first bends and kinked it slightly, but for $50, it wasn't worth buying and bending a new piece. - Grandad

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Yeah, and I'll need like 4 more tubes or more to finish the top... pictures in a sec...

first; my control box mounting location...
I decided in order to save space and not be in the way... mounted low in the storage area... it's not to hard to work... :laugh:

Top layed out on the lawn... and I lied... the tubes are 8ft long, this is two of them....

I will need two for each main leg, and I might get away with a single for each inside leg (needs 2 inside legs, and 2 main legs).

note the penguin :lol:

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

testing the horn...

I forgot to get a front picture there... :facepalm:

lights!

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

And 1 28 gallon fuel tank!

It actually fits under the splashwell... but... is it to much? :lol:

and the white stuff = baking soda ... I have baking soda everywhere... (soda blaster)