25' chieftain/rotted wood....

[Starchief24]

i have a 25' starcraft chieftain that the floor around the engine is soft and rotted and the wood around the transom is all rotted. the marina says the whole cabin has to come of for them to get to the floor and replace it. is this true?

 

[dozerII]

Re: 25' chieftain/rotted wood....

Welcome Starchief, Iknow there will have to be a lot of disassembly to remove the floor, but I don't think the whole cabin has to come off. I'm sure some of the Islander, Chieftan, guys will be along with a definate answer for you. You could look in the restoration thread above and read up on some that are already done or in the process.
Glen

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 25' chieftain/rotted wood....

No you shouldn't need to remove the whole cabin. The rear cabin walls yes but that's it.

 

[elkhunter338]

Re: 25' chieftain/rotted wood....

I got the floor out of my 21 foot chief ok and did not remove the cabin, just the cabin wall and I left the seats in the cabin because the floor was ok there. I put foam back under the floor and most people do but I am not sure I would do it again. In salt water the salt I believe might get between the foam and alum and start to eat up the alum. I used marine plywood and antiskid coating on the floor.

 

[KellyC]

Re: 25' chieftain/rotted wood....

I have a 67 Islander Starchief24 and my boat is completely gutted at this time and nothing came off of the top of the boat yet. I will have to do something about the transome cap when I get ready to pull the transome out, but even that was not pulled by others. It was just sort of carefully pulled and bent out of the way with out actually creasing the aluminum. So they are feeding you a line to say that the cabin (cap?) needs to come off. It has been done by many on here without removing the cap of the boat.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 25' chieftain/rotted wood....

Yup, what ez said.

Pretty much everything needs to come out, including the cabin walls. But, not the actual cabin.

Shoot up some photos so we can see what you are working on eh!

Cheers!

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 25' chieftain/rotted wood....

Welcome aboard Starchief 24, lots of good info here

While you are at it I'd replace all wooden components of the boat, not that much really other than the deck and transom on these metal boats.

Looking forward to seeing some photos of the big rig

 

[MichaelP]

Re: 25' chieftain/rotted wood....

Cabin can definately stay on. I'm flipping mine soon for paint and it's staying put. Replacing the floor or all the wood isn't much of a big deal.

 

[jetstreakdave]

Re: 25' chieftain/rotted wood....

The back 5 ft of floor can be removed by taking the rear battery locker panel off as well as the gunnel fuel tank cover off as well as the tanks out. That is if it has gunnel tanks. Them drill lots of rivets out and lift the floor. The floor in front of that goes under the cabin walls, so if it doesn't need replaced don't do it. I am doing the floor in my 24 ft right now. I am using 5/8 fir with water proof glue. about $60 bucks a sheet. Use all aluminum rivets or stainless screws. Enjoy, its lots of work.