18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

And yesterday, I got back to polishing...

I did another acid etch wash to get rid of the previous striping from last year's attempt, looking much better, but man polishing the hull is a serious pain in the butt...

I might just end up with a nice acid wash (makes the hull a pretty silvery white) and then seal over the top... good news is it's easy to get stuff to stick to the aluminum after the acid wash...

I'll try and get some pictures of my current progress, the more I polish the more I keep re-thinking about painting.... but I went this far already... :facepalm:

 

[dozerII]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Good to see you back to working on the Chief Chris. Polishing is not that bad once you get your head wrapped around it. YA RIGHT :laugh:

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Saturday night I had acid washed the port side, then washed and wiped it down getting ready for polishing the next day...

Yesterday I stared at the side for a while and decided I was plenty happy with the way it looked and stuck the stickers on that side, the starboard side I polished earlier aturday... not sure... I think ill call it good enough

Thinking about one more acid wash since it cleans it so nice then stickers!

from there I have a small bench extensions for the cabin cut, one layer of epoxy (i'm all out now), then I primed and painted them for the water proofing, next ill cover with vinyl and install

getting close to splash down time :watermelon:

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Good to see you back to working on the Chief Chris. Polishing is not that bad once you get your head wrapped around it. YA RIGHT :laugh:

yeah... I don't know how you do so well with it...

my theory is a neighbor kid does it for you at $5 an hr :lol:

 

[dozerII]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

yeah... I don't know how you do so well with it...

my theory is a neighbor kid does it for you at $5 an hr :lol:

No kids in my neighborhood, 16 old farts is all and if I asked them to help they would drink more than $5.00 an hour in beer.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

lol

I think I'm still young enough where beer = me keeping working... at least for the first few 6 packs... :watermelon:

And I went back on the sewing machine last night... kept having the walking thing jamming up with the heavy duty marine thread...

I finally took the whole deal apart, noticed how sharp the edges were so I broke out the gun smith file set + stones

Took all of the edges off, got a nice smooth as a baby bottom finish to everything, oiled and put it back together again...

Found the right setting and it ran like a champ from there on :roll:

So now I have the front cabin seat backs wrapped with vinyl, I had planned on coating the wood with epoxy... but I'm out.... they are in pretty good cond, the foam in the seat back was the standard yellow it turns normally, but in great cond considering how old it is (1963)

It went pretty good making the template on the back of the new vinyl, I just marked where the stitches were, and then when I cut it out I gave it some space.

Hard part will be the cushions... but main thing I wanted in there were the backs since they kinda act as a support for the top, the mount under the wales, and mount to the top of the bench with bolts...

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

and here is the one side I'm calling "good enough"
Stickers put on there, later I'll get some nice ones ordered... but these will get me on the water

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Stickers on the hull means splash time, Gibs.

 

[classiccat]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Anyone looking for a cheap saw, this one is decent, but it came running a bit to lean for break-in, and I prefer a but richer running overall... requires a special screw driver I assume due to California emissions.

I bit the bullet on that special screwdriver for my weed wacker...carry that bad boy in my back pocket and use it almost every time I trim the property...ya know...to get my $$$'s worth! :lol:

Thinking about switching from west system epoxy to the us composite gallon jugs.

coming from a fellow WS -> USC convertee...

and here is the one side I'm calling "good enough"
Stickers put on there, later I'll get some nice ones ordered... but these will get me on the water

That looks outstanding Gib! I actually like this look; it's nice and uniform and the black pops off of that texture better than the chrome-look IMO.
:thumb:

 

[Watermann]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Hey stop the teasing and pull her all the way out into the sun and loose the cheap tarp!

Looks like the Chief's ready to get some wet on :thumb:

 

[dozerII]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

You have her looking real good Chris, like Water says take the cover off and let us see her. When you are you planning to splash her? We haven't even see the Dorm Fridge running yet!!

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Stickers on the hull means splash time, Gibs.

Getting close, I still need to wash the other side with the acid to get the polish off, then stickers there too

I bit the bullet on that special screwdriver for my weed wacker...carry that bad boy in my back pocket and use it almost every time I trim the property...ya know...to get my $$$'s worth! :lol:





coming from a fellow WS -> USC convertee...



That looks outstanding Gib! I actually like this look; it's nice and uniform and the black pops off of that texture better than the chrome-look IMO.
:thumb:

I do the same thing while running around with the saw, but I think I finally found the perfect setting.

And after the final wash/cleaning on that side it really brought out the tin can coloring, very obvious that its aluminum now.

I'll do the same on the other side and the back and call it good.

Hey stop the teasing and pull her all the way out into the sun and loose the cheap tarp!

Looks like the Chief's ready to get some wet on :thumb:

Yeah.. I have complex network of rope holding that tarp on the top, I bunched it up so I could wash/polish.
I have not actually take the tarp off yet... and the on and off pouring rain is not helping.
I also have a lil over spray on the windshield I'll try and polish off.

You have her looking real good Chris, like Water says take the cover off and let us see her. When you are you planning to splash her? We haven't even see the Dorm Fridge running yet!!

I have not fired it up this year yet, hard part is that giant foot and the issues I had with muffs... :lol:

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

List of things still needing to be done before splash.

Finish top windshield

Front windshield cleanup and maybe some trim (gots to look good at the dock ya know!)

Finish boat sides

run fuel lines

Trailer winch needs strap or cable

Finish bolting down railing

toss a kicker on the back... (I'm not rowing that big thing back to the dock if I have an issue :lol

clean floor on boat, its dirty

tow boat to lake

(I think that's the main points...)

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

List of things still needing to be done before splash.



tow boat to lake

(I think that's the main points...)

It all made perfect sense until I saw this. Unless you have another way. Are you tight with Scotty and does he have fresh dilithium crystals? :lol:

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Hey stop the teasing and pull her all the way out into the sun and loose the cheap tarp!

Looks like the Chief's ready to get some wet on :thumb:

Hey hey.....easy H20........ I have the same tarp covering mine and at 50 clams I don't consider that too cheap (or should I say the wife didn't appreciate shelling out the quid for it)

But I do agree, lets get that thing off and show us some boat!!!!! Stickers = splash.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Ok... I got a little further this weekend, I'm shooting for a splash this weekend.... unless it rains.

Headed out on work, and incase I die in the 3rd world country, I would really like to die having splashed the end result of my abuse of all things rum :lol:

I went out to the garage to look at what I used to clean the hull in hopes to give an alt choice for a pontoon boat build, so incase I did not post what I used here...

My cleaner was DX533, bottle is marked "PPG chemfil aluminum cleaner"

If I were to gulvit the hull again, this stuff is 1,000,000 x better than vinegar

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Get her wet, Gibs. It's been a long time coming!

 

[Watermann]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Hey don't forget the camera this weekend!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Yeah, pending splash!

 

[Gibbles]

Re: 18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

Ok got the boat mostly ready for a splash yesterday, but today is windy, and a storm will hit sometime after noon.

I have a work thing, won't be able to touch the boat for two weeks.

I still need to repack the trailer bearings and replace the seals, but I figured as long as I just went to the local lake about 10miles away, and just drive up the city roads all would be ok :lol:

I need to get some pictures taken, but I found some 1in aluminum from the local hardware store was a perfect fit for the trim on the side of the boat.

Anyone trying this, use oil :lol:

One side got pretty stuck, ended up staking the trim piece in an attempt to remove :facepalm:

so I cut the piece, then with a fresh piece I cut to fit, and used lots of oil after running some 400grit through the channel one last time.

other side went smooth as silk using that method. :watermelon:

would be nice to find a lower profile trim cap now that I cut a good 1/2in off of the height, but it turned out pretty good for under $30 invested.