1976 Starcraft Chieftain 18' OB - restomod

BWR1953 · Feb 7, 2022

Man, I sure hope that I can get back to work on this thing soon.

My wife got Covid-19 three days ago and is isolating in the spare room here at home. I'm high risk and when I started developing symptoms too, we were all gravely concerned. But, I've tested negative a couple times and it's allergy season here, so the symptoms are from that. I bought some allergy meds today and I'm starting to feel better.

I actually do have a plan for next steps. I just need life's other issues to get out of our way so that we can proceed.

After a final cleanup...
Get paint job estimate
Water leak test

Locate and mark leaks
Repair leaks
Buck and seal

Fabricate and install transom
Fabricate and install extra knee braces
That should keep us busy for awhile. Then I can move on to the deck and engines.

BWR1953 · Feb 7, 2022

After one of my more recent health scares, my wife was giving me lots of pressure to just sell the Chief (and the KF!) rather that "trying to do too much."

But, when I was photo-editing these pix, I asked her which one she liked best and her reply was "I don't care... I just want to ride in the thing!" So, progress there too!

Watermann · Feb 9, 2022

After doing stripes on a couple boats and a swoosh, I prefer not to do the swoosh ever again, very difficult and time consuming. Those double hockey sticks look even more imposing to my meager painting talent.

Moserkr · Feb 9, 2022

I like the modernized logo w/swoosh but that is just me. Matches the chieftain logo kinda. Hope your wife feels better and you steer clear of the covid. Admiral and I just got over it too so been set back on boat work myself.

BWR1953 · Feb 10, 2022

Just can't catch a break here.

The boy tested covid positive 2 days ago. Feels kinda like I'm surrounded by the enemy!

So now I have both of them in isolation. But that means I have to do all the cooking and cleaning and whatnot. My beat up old bones are not happy about that!

My wife was "supposed" to come out of isolation yesterday but was still coughing sometimes. NOPE! Stay in prison!

And as I was sitting here typing, I heard her cough again. Gonna be a long day!

Man, I sure wish I could just go outside and work on a boat or something!

Moserkr · Feb 10, 2022

Admiral and I are still coughing 3 weeks later, less and less though. Its a weird illness and will linger. Keep your head above water. Outside sounds safer than in too!!

BWR1953 · Feb 10, 2022

Moserkr said:
Admiral and I are still coughing 3 weeks later, less and less though. Its a weird illness and will linger. Keep your head above water. Outside sounds safer than in too!!

My wife and the boy were both double vaccinated, so they have breakthrough cases. I'm triple vaccinated and keeping them in strict isolation. Gotta stay safe!

Working by myself outside alone isn't recommended. But, it may come to that eventually.

BWR1953 · Feb 12, 2022

Watermann said:
After doing stripes on a couple boats and a swoosh, I prefer not to do the swoosh ever again, very difficult and time consuming. Those double hockey sticks look even more imposing to my meager painting talent.

I'm very lucky that my wife can not only paint the stripes and whatnot, but that she actually enjoys doing so. She's an artist and loves that stuff.

That being said, going super simple is a lot easier and faster. Just paint it white and slap on the registration stickers. Painting the trim later is always an option if desired.

I'm also thinking in terms of resale nowadays. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to boat/fish, so leaving the boat a neutral color should make it easier to move if necessary.

The weather is spectacular here today. One of those "Chamber of Commerce" kinds of days. Maybe I'll get up some gumption and go out to the garage in awhile.

BWR1953 · Feb 12, 2022

I photo-edited the "super simple" scheme. No added trim or logos and I left the spray rail white this time. Leaving it "blank" like this would probably save me a couple of month's time.

BWR1953 · Feb 14, 2022

My wife tested negative yesterday morning and came out of isolation.

The boy is still "locked up" but we're hoping that he'll be able to come out tomorrow afternoon. He's banned from school until Feb 22nd, but is doing his school work remotely. Once he's out, I'm hoping that we can get back to work on the Chief. I still have a couple small things to do on the KF before I can move the Chief into the garage, so that'll be first and I'll post the work in the KF thread.

My wife painted a few pictures while she was isolating. Here are a couple that she did. Her artistic "bent" helped with the KF. Might be used on the Chief as well.

BWR1953 · Apr 10, 2022

I have been very busy, but things are sorta/kinda starting to settle down. Maybe.

So the boy and I got a little Chief work done today, with a little more to follow this week.

The guy who was supposed to come over to give me a paint estimate a couple weeks ago never showed. Again. So, he's out of the picture and I'll find someone else.

Meanwhile, we got a bit more removal done.

Got the Chief into the garage.

Found lots of rivets with steel mandrels and broke 2 drill bits removing some of them. And plenty more to come.

Got the hatches and bow plywood out. We were able to keep the wood and vinyl for templates.

That big hunk o' machinery is the center section with power trim from a 90HP Merc blue stripe. I was told that the trim unit should fit my 70HP okay. We're gonna have to figure a way to get it back out of the hull, now that the deck is removed.

We still have more cleanup to do, but the plan is to get an estimate this week to have the hull dustless blasted. Just a cost estimate, not the actual blasting. That'll have to wait until I get "stuff" off the boat. I'm not sure how much stuff I'll have to remove in order to get it done. And I'm not sure if I can mask anything (like windows) or if I have to remove that kind of stuff as well.

But at least we're moving forward.

BWR1953 · Apr 11, 2022

A bit more done today and the Chief is now hooked up to the Trucklet and ready to take to the dust blaster guy. Tomorrow morning I'll give him a call and set an appointment.

The windshield will definitely need to be replaced. Fortunately, I found a YouTube video that shows how it's done.

I actually got myself up into the boat and removed the locker bottoms from both sides. I didn't want the boy to drill the rivets out. Just too much risk that he'd go right on down through the hull.

The circled area is a large dent in the bottom of the hull. I knew it was there when I bought the Chief over 6 years ago. But at the time I also knew that I'd get some great help from the Starmada! So, I made the bold move.

There are two "wrinkles" forward of the main dent, likely caused by the impact of whatever a PO hit that caused the big dent.

The light from the sun reflecting off the garage floor really shows the dents well.

The Chief all hitched up and ready to go.

BWR1953 · Apr 11, 2022

I was just going through my old original pix of the Chief.

Found this. Should be interesting to see what's going on behind that silicone sealant.

BWR1953 · Apr 12, 2022

Got some good news today. Finally.

Hooked the Chief up in the morning.

Took the Chief over to the blaster guy this evening and we reached agreement on the dustless blast job price. Yay!

I learned a fair bit about what prep work needs to be done. Not as much as I'd thought. I won't have to remove the glass/plastic windows. Those will be masked with 20 mil plastic sheeting. Sorta like super Saran Wrap. But, we'll remove all the hardware. Makes it easier for blasting.

We'll strip the hardware this week and take the hull over for blasting sometime next week.

And! The owner also told me that he can paint the Chief for me! He uses a marine acrylic with a dusting of zinc primer for aluminum. He's pretty booked up right now, so we agreed to paint the boat next month. Yes! (That'll give us time to get the sod project and garage project done before prepping the Chief for painting.)

They were actually working on an aluminum boat when we arrived, so we got a chance to see the process in action. Cool stuff! I really like the look of the finished surface.

On a lesser note, I really do not like the trailer that came with the Chief! I don't know if it can be modded or if I'll have to replace the thing, but either way, it's gotta get done. More work and cost. Ugh.

BWR1953 · Apr 13, 2022

Got the Chief ready for dustless blasting today. I started in the morning and did the stuff I could, then we finished after the boy got home from school.

The blaster guy told me that they can get accuracy down to 1/4" and that I could leave the eyebrows and guard rails in place. Agreed! My wife definitely wants to keep them and I don't really have any argument against that. He also said that the rub rail can stay because the media will just bounce right off.

New step pads will need to be fabricated and I'll have to figure out how to clean up the fuel filler cap.

The cleats and other Zamak pieces were dumped in the trash.

The rod holders are stainless and in good shape, so they will be kept and remounted.

This old spotlight was garbage and trashed.

The Shakespeare 5240-R VHF antenna was unbolted but I'll have to desolder the connector tomorrow so that the coax can be pulled. I don't know if the antenna is still functional, but a replacement is $85 and up, so I'll keep it for testing instead of just trashing it.

So, I was just sitting here congratulating myself on a job well done when I looked at this last pic of the day and realized that we forgot to remove the bow nav light!

I'd hoped to drop the Chief off for blasting tomorrow, but maybe not.

I wonder if I could mask the lenses and have the piece blasted?

ShoestringMariner · Apr 13, 2022

Looking forward to seeing how it comes out. I’m sure you/he could mask the nav light. It’s just soda blasting, right?

BWR1953 · Apr 13, 2022

ShoestringMariner said:
Looking forward to seeing how it comes out. I’m sure you/he could mask the nav light. It’s just soda blasting, right?

You and me both! After all, it's been nearly 7 years since I picked up the Chief!

I've actually chosen dustless blasting, a combination of pressurized air, water and blast media. It's great on aluminum boats because it gives the cutting power of sandblasting but without overheating because the water cools the surface as it's being blasted.

Soda blasting was another option but I went the dustless route. Since the interior of the Chief will be blasted, I didn't want Soda residue left inside the little nooks and crannies inside the hull.

A PO used non-stainless hardware on the nav light and it's rusted a fair bit. I'll need the boy underneath the bow while I try removing the screws. But, he has school tomorrow, so I'll either have to wait until he gets home to see if we can get it out or just go with masking.

I really don't want to damage that antique nav light and then have to deal with that issue.

renns · Apr 14, 2022

Sounds familiar - the rusted steel fastener bit. The old feller that owned my boat previous used lots of non-stainless fasteners as well, and many were corroded to the point that they just broke apart on removal.
Yeah, save that antique nav light if you can. The one on my boat was heavily pitted, so I've replaced it with a nice shiny chinese led chrome ebay version. I don't have high hopes for the longevity of the replacement though. If it's anything like the led bulbs we've used in the house, 25 years life is more like 25 months...

BWR1953 · Apr 14, 2022

We got the old nav light off this afternoon. It's pretty rough. I'll see if it can be blasted along with the other Chief parts. Hopefully it'll clean up enough to be reused.

If the chrome plating can be removed, I'll paint the Zamak that's underneath.