18' Starcraft Starchief OB Rebuild

[Gibbles]

Platform mounted, lio looks like i have plenty of space for a cmc. That 140 is pretty wide.

 

[Watermann]

Oh yeah, that's a nice fit and the eyes, did I hear someone say they wobbled the drill bit? :lol:

OK, is it just me that wonders about those grab handles on the back of an 18' boat?

 

[Gibbles]

Awesome job Gibbles. I've been watching here and there. You should be very proud.

Thanks man, not as nice as some of the other restores, but I'm happy with it. However it looks a like a totally different boat.

 

[Gibbles]

Oh yeah, that's a nice fit and the eyes, did I hear someone say they wobbled the drill bit? :lol: OK, is it just me that wonders about those grab handles on the back of an 18' boat?

Yeah, those grab handles seemed odd for a boat this size... :lol: The platform is nice, much easier getting in and out. I also knotched the bottom of the platform for the trim tabs... While i doubt an issue it was touching the top of the shock slightly. That wood is interesting, grinding into it very soft luke an oily plastic feeling.

 

[Gibbles]

Looking forward to a long weekend, talking the wife into another outing, much better being able to get her out in the boat again.
(I told her she would like this boat! :lol

And my idea of dealing with that front windshield it, gives a little privacy and maybe faster than working the buffer over the windshield for now...
Held on with snaps, pretty much installing the snaps one by one, folding it over as I install, planning on running through the sewing machine when done.

 

[Gibbles]

And I still have to finish trimming up that Bimini top frame, right side sits a little tall, low on the priority list since it works fine...

 

[Gibbles]

I'm out of vinyl for now as well, I started working on a trailering cover, realized I don't have enough left unless I wanted to two tone it... and decided to move onto a windshield cover...

I had started with the remaining grey vinyl I have left for the trailering cover, but I dunno... :lol:

the black vinyl looks pretty good against the white, and matches up with the console and bottom nicely
I had it on staring at the windshield, then took it off again, and quickly put it back on, looks much better IMO :lol:

Shall see how it works out though... my skills need practice...

 

[GA_Boater]

It's always somethin', Gibs. You're knocking off the little things now. That's if a trailering cover is a little thing.

Good lookin' platform, too. I have the same grab handles on the Nassau. And about as useful, even on a smaller, lighter boat. I use them for the tie-downs.

 

[Gibbles]

The front thing over the windshield is more of a privacy type deal. With the trailering window cover idea.. Will it work out? Maybe...

 

[Gibbles]

Spent my long weekend cleaning up the yard, and then planning on a nice boating trip Monday, I decided to swap out the pitman arm on my tow rig Sunday...

And an entire day later... I found that the pitman arm was press fitted by GM, and I ended up pulling the entire steering gear out, tossed into a vice and used an impact wrench on my puller, that got a good 350foot pounds on the puller, and then I used a long breaker bar putting my weight into it, still nogo...

So I sat there staring at it while drinking a beer, and walked over to it and smacked it with hammer "ping" free!

Got it mostly together by night time, and finished it up by Monday, while I had it apart I cracked open the steering gear and flushed it out as it felt a bit gritty to me, now it's super smooth.

Planning on another outing this weekend, looking forward to it.
apparently friends of my wife are going to the lake and she was thinking "oh we will just hang out on the beach with them, we won't need the boat".

My reply was something like this "Hun, you want to hang out on the beach with other people when we have a boat... why not just get everyone in our boat, and we can find a nice private beach to hang out on?"

Yup life is good

 

[GA_Boater]

Gibber - Need a little more detail, please. What brew loosened the pitman arm? Just in case the rest of us have a stubborn part. :joyous:

Have fun at the beach party.

 

[Gibbles]

Wasatch brewery "devastator" did the trick :lol: It's a local "black" lager with a creamy taste and about 8%

 

[Watermann]

Wasatch brewery "devastator" did the trick :lol: It's a local "black" lager with a creamy taste and about 8%

:very_drunk: mmm beeeeer :congratulatory:

 

[GA_Boater]

Good beer fixes a lotta things. Great beer fixes everything.

 

[Gibbles]

Had a good outing, went to bear lake up north a bit,

I have not been there since I was a kid, pretty large lake, waters are very clear and blue like one would see down in Florida or the Caribbean.

My fish finder suggested a lot of plant life, possible the reason why it's not green like a lot of other lakes, feeding on the algae ect. pretty neat lake,

It was pretty windy, swells were a good 2+ft at times, I had a full load of people, and the boat handled the water like I had hoped.

I noticed I do need to seal up some things on the gunnels, like the step pads, and the rub rails are allowing small amount of water in when the water hits them.

I connected the tach to the engine, and it works, however it get's stuck when it hits 3k :lol: so I'll need to take it apart for some cleaning and a dab of oil.

and the prop is slipping still, possible I damaged the hub running it loose, so I'll switch to the other prop for the next outing...

Also the passenger side pedestal, someone while trying to move around the deck pushed against it quite hard and ripped it out of the deck,,.

Looking over the holes I might of either missed the 5200 or did not use enough...Possible water intrusion is my best guess.

so after I patch the screw holes up with some epoxy and clamps, I'll see if it's possible to use bolts with large washers on the backside to prevent it from happening again, doing the same on the driver side as well.

 

[Watermann]

Sounds like a nice lake so where's the pics at Gibbs?

The 50MPH rated pedestals should be bolted down alright, not sure how long wood screws would last in plywood having that constant torque placed on them. I plan on keeping an eye on mine for the ply shrinking / break in over the next year and going through re-tightening everything. I had to do that on my SN too this spring after a hard year of fishing.

 

[Gibbles]

Yeah, the wife has some pictures of random things, her phone is water resistant unlike mine...
With the wind and swells I did not want to worry about the phone while running the boat...

I'll see what good pictures she got, however I'll get some picture of the repair.

Right now I have some epoxy drying in the holes, however I was unable to get any clamps over the holes like I wanted due to the small size of the deck hole, and the distance of the screw holes...

I can tell the screws did their best due to the overall damage and splintering of the wood as the screws ripped out... :violin:

Waterman; I have not touched the screw since I installed the flooring, and I over estimated the ability of the screws to hold into wooden decking. :redface:

When I installed the seat pedestals I noticed some "deck rings" available, pretty much you thread your screws through into this backing ring, however since I had no idea where to mount the seats until I got the bulkhead wall and consoles installed I did not want to pull the deck out to install them.

So I had hoped the 3/4in deck would hold them in solid :frusty:

Pretty embarrassing as the seat ripped right out as we were pulling into a high class type dock filled with 80k boats, and fancy sail boats with names like "yesterdays champagne".
And my wife's friend feeling fat since she broke the seat.... :doh: I had to do damage control noting that the seat pedestal mount should of broke the plastic insert before ripping out of the deck (designed that way), meaning I did not mount them in right (women right? ), and reminded this is still a work in progress, the 4th time out, and still working out bugs in a project.

So I'm glad it broke at the dock vs in the middle of a storm, or running at high speed!

And the stainless wood screws I used went down almost through, I had them mounted in there pretty solid, like pre drill a tiny hole, then worked the screw in with a tighten until it gets tight, back out a full turn, and continue with that method until it's in

So down at the hardware store they have these fancy stainless steel backing nuts, that when tightened down they insert them selves into the wood.

I'm thinking if I can actually get my hand around the backside, they will work pretty good, my thought being it might be hard to get a washer in + a nut to tighten down due to the small deck hole and limited space.

And if I can't get the backing into the holes, I'll just widen the access hole a bit... :facepalm:

Glad I bought another batch of epoxy... :lol:

 

[Gibbles]

While watching the epoxy dry... I have been wanting to refinish the engine cowl on that Chrysler, however I have been hesitant due to the ability of finding replacement Chrysler stickers, I have been thinking about Force stickers that come close, however they have the wrong color scheme in general.

Anyone know a source of replacement decals?

 

[Watermann]

Tough nut to crack finding Chrysler motor decals, take a look at another iboats member has going on his fridge.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...-find-replacement-decals-for-1986-mercury-9-9

 

[Watermann]

Tough nut to crack finding Chrysler motor decals, take a look at what another iboats member has going on his fridge.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...-find-replacement-decals-for-1986-mercury-9-9