1978 Chieftain

[spegtoast]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Since we are all picture lovers I thought I would add a few images of my last visit to the Cheif.
My work area... clean and dry but you can see the barn siding isnt keeping much wind and cold out.

Front hull design...

Not sure what the PO was doing painting the over the rivets?? Notice alll the little blue paint patches..

Patch over rivets close-up... any concernse?

Transom decay... From what I hear from here this is a definate concern

Engine:

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Hey toast! Yah, I'd bet you have a leaker there and your previous owner was trying to seal it up from the outside. A good clean hull, rivet re-buck/fix, and Gluvit or CoatIt on the inside should do the trick for ya.

And yup, yur due for a transom rebuild too:snowman:

 

[spegtoast]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Correct me if I'm wrong.. re-buck is to remove and replace the rivets? If so are the rivets and rivet tool available to the general public? I've never seen this big of rivet at the hardware store.

I was afraid you would say something about the transom. lol I really dont want to have to go down this road but the rewards will be plenty.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Nah, re-buck is when, well, here's the jist of it...

RivetGunDemo.mov - YouTube

No fancyschmancy rivet set gun? Replace with a heavy hammer.

Now rivet gun...

Shop Arrow Professional Rivet Tool at Lowes.com

Or...

3/16" Air Hydraulic Riveter

Yah, that transom is ready for retirement

 

[spegtoast]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Gotcha

 

[spegtoast]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Any good ideas on what material would be a good pruchase to fab up a new accesory panel

Tell me what I've got myself into

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Doesn't looks all that bad, the wiring that is. The previous owner of my Chief had attempted to do some creative wiring and there is spaghetti running all over the place. He had also attempted to install a second battery with no isolation switch......used too small wire from where the second battery was to be located, and had stuff spliced in everywhere. So I have a good project in wiring alone to get it back to somewhat normalcy. As my dash was fairly rotted too I am still tossing around ideas for a new console/instrument panel. I do know that when I start on the wiring project I will put in a blade style fuse box instead of the old glass fuse style. I found this wiring diagram somewhere so this may be of some use for you.

Have a very happy holiday!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Any good ideas on what material would be a good pruchase to fab up a new accessory panel

Exterior plywood, Aurauco, MDO encased in epoxy, and covered by Spar, Wood grain formica laminate, paint...Or covered by real wood veneer, encased in epoxy & protected w/ spar...

Fabbed & left exposed 1/4" aluminum

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Re Dash/accessory panel:

Mahogany! 2 coats of epoxy and 3 coats of spar, and it will look awesome.

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Another option for rivets is closed end pop rivets. Use the ones with the steel core, they are pretty strong. Seal the rivet after use so the steel rod isn't exposed. The advantage of the closed end pop rivet is that you don't have to remove the floor to replace a rivet, same side access, no helper needed.

 

[spegtoast]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Why epoxy and spar? Wouldnt you trust the epoxy alone or just the spar?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Epoxy for the strength & longevity, but it isn't UV stable, so covered w/ the spar.

Spar alone won't have the strength, longevity or as thorough a waterproof barrier, so epoxy 1st.

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

^^^^Right on JB. Epoxy does the dirty work (moisture proof barrier) and the Varnish is the pretty boy. The two together is a winning combination. Epoxy lacks the UV charectors of varnish. This two stage system is best.

WEST SYSTEM | Application Techniques - Varnish over epoxy

 

[spegtoast]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Any ideas on a material to restore the black ball on the throttle assembly?

 

[64osby]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

A little hard to see it in the pic. What is it made of?

First guess would be JB Weld. Fill sand paint.

 

[spegtoast]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

A little hard to see it in the pic. What is it made of?

First guess would be JB Weld. Fill sand paint.

Thats what I was looking for! How do you say it? "You put the rivet on the head"? Its made of two products I think. One being a white hard material for the core and then a hard black plastic on the outside.

More Ideas are always welcome but I think the JB weld would work as long as it sticks to plastic..

Thanks,
Ken

 

[tgp***]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

I agree JB weld and paint. I restored my steering wheel w/ JB weld for the cracks and Rustoleum plastic primer and plastic paint. Still looking new..........

 

[dozerII]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

Hey Speg, hard to tell from the photo, is the knob moled onto the shifter or threaded? If it's threaded Auto parts places have a tone of different ones. Pilot Automotive/Black with white embedded 8 ball manual shift knob (PM-2272) | Shift Knobs | AutoZone.com

 

[spegtoast]

Re: 1978 Chieftain

I like your idea Dozer. I would even go with a black 8 ball just to stick with the times hehe. Those things were cool back in the day! I will check to see if it screws on next time I'm out at the boat.

Next question on the agenda is favorite boat gauges, best place to buy, and what if any thing I should look out for before purchase. I dont want to wire the whole boat to the gauge instead of the other way around.

 

[spegtoast]

Re: 1978 Chieftain



What am I missing from these two pictures? It looks like the top gunnel was cut on an angle?

No dissrespect for Stevens, he is doing all the work. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and finally get my hands into it! Instead of over thinking and researching. Dunno