1974 24' Chieftan Express project

[1973Chieftain]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

GA, I didn't leak test because it was leaking fairly well from the makeshift keyhole cover and all the other bolt holes. But I am planning to Gulvit all the rivets inside anyways as I replace the decking.

Waterman, I heard how you did yours and it sure sounds slick. My old trailer had a bunch of junk that would have had to be removed and it still would have had a couple protrusions. I figured it wasn't worth the risk in this case due to my trailer. I thought about lifting it, until I read how that SS fell when the strap broke... Kinda made me hesitate!

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

If you got a launch close enough then that's the ticket. And it gave you a good photo op too!

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

Watching spar dry is slow, but the transom has 3 coats on each side and the deck boards have 2. And today I Gulvited the rivets so hopefully there will be no large leaks!

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

Time for some suds Chief! At least after a few you don't care how long it takes, just stay away from that gluvit and let it run, pool and sag. The temptation is to keep fooling with the gluvit and "fix it".

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

That spar stuff is a small pain and am glad it's over for you. I got lazy when I spared my seat boxes and got the sprayer out. It sure went quick, but wasted some spar.

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project


Deck is back in! Once the weather clears up I'm going to coat the entire floor with a coat of spar, especially the forward and aft most pieces that I didn't replace.

 

[64osby]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

It's going to be 80 tomorrow. What a great day to spar.

Nice small steps Chief.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

Better to spar in 80? than be in a plastic suit grinding glass.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

Yeah I do so enjoy the aroma of beer when spar is drying... :heh:

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project


It's been a busy week off from work with honey do lists and the boat. But I got a good bit of work done on the boat. I found that my two pieces of 3/4" ply ended up being just shy of 1.75" after gluing together, the spar and the paint. I had to sand groves on the sides in the area the bolts go through to slide it in. If I ever do another transom, I'm thinking a piece of 3/4 and a piece of 5/8" might do the job better. That gorilla glue must take up a good bit of space between the sheets, although it sure didn't look like it.

Then I went down to my local steel shop where they cut and the bent a piece of aluminum to act as a cap for the transom and replacing the aluminum that I had to cut out in order to remove the wood. $27 but it seemed to fit very nicely.

We also have been getting a ton of rain during the past week, and I found that the rear deck board started to bubble up in 5 different places. Even with the 3 coats of spar, somehow a good bit of water made its way in between the first and second plys. I think the moisture made it bubble. The wood was HD's B/C grade, so for the replacement I ordered 2 sheets of 1/2" marine grade ply. Pricey at $70 a sheet, but hopefully it will be more water resistant after spar. Or I might use my remaining West System epoxy to really seal it.

And today I dropped the boat and drive train off at my favorite Midland marine shop to have them install the drive train and go over them to insure they are in good shape. I felt I know just enough about I/O set ups to screw it up... so better let the pros do it. (Jason, they say hi, and the Mariner is still not for sale)
Hopefully in about 2 weeks I will have her back and running!!

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

Looking good Chief! :thumb: That's some thick AL they bent up for you.

I would bet that the ply already had the moisture in it to begin with.

Oh your gonna feel some pain when you get the bill for that work. The marina here charges about 200 an hour.

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

Wow, that was a bit of a haul to take your gal to Midland but I assume it is worth it. No doubt we have had enough rain I think I could do a splash in my yard.

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: 1974 24' Chieftan Express project

Pro marine here said they didn't want the job Willy, and I have used Pangborn before and found them reasonable. They ball parked a figure of $800 depending on if it needs any parts. So I'm guessing $1500 out the door. Expensive sure, but worth it to me to know it's much less likely to strand me out in the lake because I installed something wrong. Up to now I have a whopping $655 invested in the boat, trailer, and drive train

Waterman, it's 1/8" aluminum, 3" wide with another 1/2" lip. I went thicker to give it more strength since I expect it to get a lot of foot traffic since the ladder is right there.

 

[1973Chieftain]

Duplicate posting...

 

[1973Chieftain]

Well, got some bad news from the marina today. Not the worst though! Since my engine came out of a mid engine boat there's a lot of missing/different parts to make it work in the Starcraft. About $2400 of new parts. Thankfully the marine has all the parts used so it will be $1800-$2000 with parts and instalation. So FYI guys, a mid engine donor boat needs a lot to convert to a normal set up!!el,

 

[Watermann]

I can imagine the big parts list needed for a inboard to stern drive conversion. Nice they had the donor boat parts there to make it happen for you.

 

[1973Chieftain]

I knew there would be some, just didn't realize it would be this much. It has exhaust manifolds and risers but it sounds like at least the risers are different, as well as the bell housing and several other things. Oh well, live and learn! Plus I don't have much into that engine, so even with the parts it would be far cheaper then going out and buying one.

 

[Watermann]

We all do things a bit differently but end up the same. I bought a donor boat with a near new motor for 2300.

 

[64osby]

Hopefully they don't take 2 or 3 months to get er done.

 

[1973Chieftain]

Hope not! Got more bad news yesterday from them. My engine runs, but 3 cylinders are filling with water. So now I have a junk engine. And supposedly the gimbal is different from mid engine drives to the normal ones so I have to replace that as well. Basically, sounds like only the outdrive was usable for this set up. But they had a mid 1980's Merc 305 Cid engine that they are selling me for a grand with trade in of my old one. So now I'll be out about $3000.... word of advice, don't buy mid engine donors!!!! On a positive note, if I had tried to install it myself I would have spent all summer bashing my head against a wall trying to figure it all out! So now to double down on overtime...