1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Were you able to save the cylinder? It does seem long, but it fit the boat before, so it should be OK. You did deduct the distance from the tilt hinge to the new crossmember, didn't you? Just checking - .

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

CJ I can't really see your welds that good in the pic but to looks to me like you're are missing something important. When you weld a frame that is load bearing, it's strongly suggested that you weld plates over the sides of the welded seam in the frame.

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

I like your idea of eliminating the tilt on the trailer. I have never been a fan of a tilting trailer...I guess that came from an experience in the early 70's. My family was heading to northern Michigan to do some snowmobiling. Us kids were behind our folks when the unexpected happened, the pin came out of the tilt/swivel trailer and all hell let loose. Luckily no serious damage but that image of the trailer and truck swaying all over the road eliminated my desire for any tilt trailers.

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Were you able to save the cylinder? It does seem long, but it fit the boat before, so it should be OK. You did deduct the distance from the tilt hinge to the new crossmember, didn't you? Just checking - .

It was a pain but I was able to save the coupler and cylinder. The tongue was really long before and I made it the same length even though I changed the crossmember. I'm going to do some measuring and possibly cut a foot or so off.

CJ I can't really see your welds that good in the pic but to looks to me like you're are missing something important. When you weld a frame that is load bearing, it's strongly suggested that you weld plates over the sides of the welded seam in the frame.

Thanks Watermann. Is this the area you're talking about?

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I didn't change the saddle that held the old tongue except drilling some holes for plug welds. Please say something if you see anything bad. Thanks

I like your idea of eliminating the tilt on the trailer. I have never been a fan of a tilting trailer...I guess that came from an experience in the early 70's. My family was heading to northern Michigan to do some snowmobiling. Us kids were behind our folks when the unexpected happened, the pin came out of the tilt/swivel trailer and all hell let loose. Luckily no serious damage but that image of the trailer and truck swaying all over the road eliminated my desire for any tilt trailers.

That had to be a scary ride. Glad it worked out OK.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

I thought I saw where 2 pieces of the tube were butted up and welded around the circumference but that section looks like one solid piece to me in that pic. If that were the case it would be best to also weld a plate on each side for strength. Anyway it looks good and I know how unrewarding the necessary evil of trailer work is, I have some to do myself in the future.

 

[hadaveha]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

cj great looking project, I so admire the guts you guys show tearing these old starcrafts down to the smallest parts, never can seem to find the brass rocks to take something that far, so glad to hear about that old chevy strt 6 man those things are bullet proof, Ive got the dreaded 470 in my Crestliner wish I could go strt 6 but it would never fit under my cover. Keep up the good work Ill be watching with my mouth hanging open in amazement

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

cj great looking project, I so admire the guts you guys show tearing these old starcrafts down to the smallest parts, never can seem to find the brass rocks to take something that far, so glad to hear about that old chevy strt 6 man those things are bullet proof, Ive got the dreaded 470 in my Crestliner wish I could go strt 6 but it would never fit under my cover. Keep up the good work Ill be watching with my mouth hanging open in amazement

Thanks for stopping by hadaveha!


I should have built a tin hanger dry dock before tackling this Chief.

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At least it's just a few inches and not what some of you guys are dealing with.

I finally got some warmer weather to work in. The trailer got some paint and a little primer on the boat

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[jasoutside]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Maybe I missed it here cj, did you end up stripping the bottom bare? And then go with self etching primer on the bare alum?

Just wondering, I'd sure hate for your paint to fall off buddy.

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Maybe I missed it here cj, did you end up stripping the bottom bare? And then go with self etching primer on the bare alum?

Just wondering, I'd sure hate for your paint to fall off buddy.

Thanks for watching out for me Jason.

I did strip it bare. I used a phosphoric acid wash, a light coat of spray can self etching, and then applied a latex based aluminium primer made by Rustoleum. I'm not an expert, but I think the most important part is the acid wash.

I'll use a scotch brite pad to rough up the primer before top coating with Rustoleum Gloss White.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Man it must of really warmed up good if you pulled that off outdoors. Last week we had a record breaking January day of 62 degrees here, now it's back to the norms of 20's and 30's.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Yah, sounds all good but...

latex based aluminium primer made by Rustoleum.

....a few guys, including me, haven't had the best results from that Rusto primer. Just a heads up buddy.

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Man it must of really warmed up good if you pulled that off outdoors. Last week we had a record breaking January day of 62 degrees here, now it's back to the norms of 20's and 30's.

It's pretty hard to do around here Watermann. Tomorrow we're having another day that'll hit the low 50's.

I sure would like to get this thing flipped back over and on the trailer.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Yah, sounds all good but...



....a few guys, including me, haven't had the best results from that Rusto primer. Just a heads up buddy.

I hate to say it, CJ, but water and oil don't mix. The Rusto latex is water based. I hope it works for you.

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Yah, sounds all good but...



....a few guys, including me, haven't had the best results from that Rusto primer. Just a heads up buddy.

Thanks Jason. I used it on the other boats and had good results. There was an issue when I used it on the 16' SS, but that was my fault for not scuffing up the primer before the paint went down.

When you guys had issues with this primer, what do you think went wrong? And, which build was that so I can go read up.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

I used it just on a couple of smaller alum pieces and the paint simply didn't stick it it. Or, did it not stick?? I don't recall now.


Was it fishingho that had a big mess? Maybe check his thread. I think I remember him having to take it all off.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

I know on wood that a latex based primer works fine with an oil based paint over it, not sure aluminum would be any different if the primer is formulated for aluminum. I went though the primer debate on my Chief thread a while back and decided not to take a chance since stripping aluminum bare is so much fun.

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

oops . . . double post

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

I know on wood that a latex based primer works fine with an oil based paint over it, not sure aluminum would be any different if the primer is formulated for aluminum. I went though the primer debate on my Chief thread a while back and decided not to take a chance since stripping aluminum bare is so much fun.

I'll go back and read through some of that debate. You're right about the oil based paint over it... it's going the other way that you can have bleeding problems. There are all kinds of discussions about using oil base over latex with different contraction/expansion rates...


I did do an acid wash, light coat of etching primer, then the latex based aluminium primer. I'm still doing a thread search looking to see who had issues with this primer.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Bump

Donor? Free parts boat?

Possibly something to fund the boat building?

V-8 Chieftain? :watermelon:

I posted it in the CL donor boat thread. But ad just went up @CL..............

 

[cj8mule]

Re: 1974 Chieftan 21' 165 Mercruiser I/O

Bump

Donor? Free parts boat?

Possibly something to fund the boat building?

V-8 Chieftain? :watermelon:

I posted it in the CL donor boat thread. But ad just went up @CL..............

V-8 Chieftain??? Hmmmm.... I've been known to overpower a boat before :joyous:

Come on down and give me a hand Curtis, I'll supply the wacky pops :laugh: