1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

[badkins50]

Well my wife finally was able to pull me away from it for the night:facepalm:. I just picked this baby up today. I have been looking for an outboard driven, starcraft tin that I could enjoy with the family on lake erie after doing a restore. Well Friday I found it and today I brought it home.

As I always do, the trailer will be a restore including lights, tires, rims, brake system, sanding and painting.

The boat came pretty much stripped out down to the wood decking which is a good thing because I want to rip that out and start fresh anyway. The outboard has been removed and sold but that is ok. I might want to go bigger anyway.?.?.? Plus this helps me because it needs the transom restored too. The Aluminum is in mint condition, no gouges, dents, scrapes, cracks or missing rivets. It has been painted recently, not so good, so that will be another decision to make. What kind of sceme do we want to with here??????

Well I just figured I'd say hi to all the other tin guys, show you my new score and let you know I'll be seeing you all in the restore area real soon. Let me know what you think.

PS i case you haven't seen in my other post THIS BABY WAS FREE!!!!!!

 

[rheagler]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Looks good, and the price can't be beat. Have fun and post lots of pics!

 

[badkins50]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Will do. I can't wait to start tearing into this project, more yet seeing her sitting at the dock during the her initial splash.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Welcome and congrats!

Lots of great possibilities. Outstanding!

 

[dozerII]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Great looking boat and a super price, good thing there isn't any of those deals around here!!

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Yee ha. A free aluminum cuddy. Start a resto thread and give us lots of pictures.

Stripping a boat is by far the funnest part. You going to take her down to the bare aluminum and paint?

 

[barato2]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Stripping a boat is by far the funnest part.
that Don, he a comedian, he make funny joke sometimes.....
altho chemical burns DO build character, i guess

nice score on the boat. more complex resto than an open boat but more rewarding, esp if you have family. love all the pix you can post.

is it possible this boat was originally an I/O? transom cutout looks weird, and there's a patch in floor that would be the exact area that's cut out for motor bay on I/O boats.

 

[Captmills]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

about all I could handle right now would be a free boat, with free repairs. great find and good luck

 

[badkins50]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Thanks everyone. I have been doing a ton of research in the restore threads from other tin iboaters lately.

Don - I do plan on stripping the entire boat down to bare aluminum and working from there. I'll have to polish off the old spray gun and practice on a few small items first but I'm sure it will all come back.

Barato2 - when I first started doing my research I thought the same thing but I don't think so. Doing some scratch tests the original paints matches the rest of the boat, the rating plate info, and construction leads me to believe the original motor was an OB. Either way that is what is going back (at least a nice 125hp). The PO tried to re-deck the boat and ended up loosing interest. That's why it looks patched together. Looking for a Chieffain OB documents has been hard to find though.

Captmills - I look at it this way, it can only cost me what and when I want to throw at it. I'm not in any hurry to get on the water, that's what the Sea Ray is for, although I do look at her and daydream about that first launch.

 

[barato2]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

it can only cost me what and when I want to throw at it. I'm not in any hurry to get on the water
yeah, yeah.....i said that too............

 

[North Beach]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Well you've got a nice boat to start with so keep those pictures coming and we'll all tag along...

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

1969 Chieftain brochure.

Looks like she was originally white. What a dorky add, I gotta laugh at the get up. Dude looks like Ringo Star dressed up in a king costume. The boat is really sweet though.

So what color you thinking? Rusto makes a very glossy and classy looking white. Rust Stop by Ace Hardware has some very nice colors. They tint you know.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Badk - I've seen other free boats look a heck of a lot worse than yours. Sounds like you have plans for a long time resto so you can stretch the fun out. LOL She looks a winner.

Looks like she was originally white. What a dorky add, I gotta laugh at the get up. Dude looks like Ringo Star dressed up in a king costume.

Don - Didn't you know that the Burger King honed his skills in Starcaft ads before he hit the big time with BK?

Looking at the specs in the brochure the '69 Chieftains were I/O. So maybe it is a conversion. Do you have a Serial No. plate, Badk?

 

[North Beach]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

They offered the big 4 in both I/O and OB models every year..... But most years they only show one picture in the brochure.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

They offered the big 4 in both I/O and OB models every year..... But most years they only show one picture in the brochure.

NB - This where more confusion arises. The 67-70 specs in the brochures only show and discuss I/O Chieftains or Chieftain blanks (designed for I/O power but no stern drive cutout or steering, etc.). The other large cruisers are listed as I/O or O/B.

Signed Confused in Georgia.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

NB - This where more confusion arises. The 67-70 specs in the brochures only show and discuss I/O Chieftains or Chieftain blanks (designed for I/O power but no stern drive cutout or steering, etc.). The other large cruisers are listed as I/O or O/B.

Signed Confused in Georgia.

OK GA you guys caught me snoozing again..... The 65 and 66 brochures show the 22 footers available in both I/O and OB. In 67 they were not listed as available. We don't have a 68 and the 69 and up doesn't show the 22 footers with OB available either.

HOWEVER, I guarentee you that if a customer asked a dealer to set them up a blank with an OB in it then it happened (probably from the factory but if not then from the dealership). Especially when we know that the parts were available and you could assume they would be for several years just from a service standpoint.

I know that hull on the 69 is exactly the same hull as the 66 Sunchief and it was available in OB as was the 66 Chieftain.

I guess we try with what info we can find but I'm sure there were some dealers out there stirrin up trouble along the way. Just like the automoble dealers of the 60's and early 70's offering dealer aftermarket supercars that in some cases irritated the heck out of the manufacturer's.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Free Chieftain?

Yaaaahhhhhhh baby!

 

[North Beach]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

Free Chieftain?

Yaaaahhhhhhh baby!

He's back.....

 

[badkins50]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

I do have a serial number off the rating plate. Is there a way to find out for sure from that. I looked everywhere and can't find a hull number anywhere. The rating plate says outboard 170 hp and the serial number is 1027080. Any help would be great.

I was thinking like a Carolina blue over white? I don't know though. To many options and choices. I'm going to need some help.

I tell you one thing is for sure, this will not be my last Starcraft. I still find myself looking in back yards and on Craigslist.

 

[barato2]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain V21

is it just me or are we seeing a more virulent, likely antibiotic-resistant strain of the MBS bug......?? first poor Zach and now you.....