66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

I hear ya NB...But do me a favor, go back to your first post..

Remember this ol beater?

Or when you started bustin out the deck?

Now look what you have achieved in such a short time!!! Dude, hard to believe this is the same boat..

Hang in there, you have come so far brother!

We all do. She's the flagship.

OK. Thanks guys! I'm calm now...............

Tomorrow, I gonna do some more

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

OK, a little more progress. Matt, the wood guy came over today to do some measuring of the boat. Evidently the word is out not to trust my measurements on anything you want to look good. He informed me the motor box was done except the extension with the cup holders and the cubbyhole. The reason for the measuring was the stuff is laid out and ready to be cut for the side panels and the dash/stern pieces.

Here?s the info on the wood. Since true mahogany is pretty much impossible to get due to overharvesting, we went with an African exotic wood called Sapele. It?s also called Sapelewood, Aboudikrou, Sapeli, Gold Coast Cedar, and Penkwa. Here?s a sample pic from the internet. The plywood we?re using on the side boards is identical to the plain sample on the left except the stripes will be horizontal.

I also received two more shipments today-the bench seats with storage compartments. Here?s what the layout will look like. The space between the two benches is 18?. About the same as before with the foldup laydown seats that were original, plus, I pick up additional storage.

And I found a Brand Spankin New early 60?s steering wheel so now the stainless one is out. Man this freakin wheel is awesome and it?s the exact one I?ve been looking for since seeing an old crusty one on eBay a few months ago. 49 bucks plus shipping!

We?re still seeing rain here off and on and I can?t paint the boat till the dash and stern piece are re-installed so we?re on hold with the paint again.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

Is the Sapele plywood exterior grade? I went to our local hardwood shop an they had a 4x8 sheet of African Mahogany, but it was not exterior grade, so he didn't recommend it for the boat. They have 4/4 and 8/4 Mahogany boards as well, but I think it would be much easier if I could find a sheet of plywood.

I like the seating arrangement a lot. I was planning on doing one bench behind the passenger seat as well. It looks like a Wise brand, but what model are they?

The plywood is marine grade with waterproof glue. I'm not sure where he ordered it from but I can find out for you.

On the seats, the helms chairs are Wise Offshore exrta wide with the pedestals and slides. They came from Overton's. The benches are Veada deluxe pontoon benches 46" length with closed storage. I also ordered matching vinyl for the upholsterer so we could keep the original jump seats.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

OMGosh! You folks are gonna be amazed when you see this wood. I just left the woodshop and the side panels, motorbox, and both the dash and stern pieces are done and about to get sealed. The stuff is beautiful and I Cant Wait! to get it in the boat.

Of course, it's still raining here and even if the dash and stern piece were in I STILL CAN'T PAINT

We've had rain for 8 or 9 days now..............

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

Thanks for all the positive comments guys!

Today we got sunshine so I drug the boat out of the shop and started prepping for topside paint. I hit everything again with the orbital sander with 220 grit disks. I didn?t realize how much prep work was still needed. Re-drilling all the old rivet shafts out of the holes and removing remnants of silicone at all the topside hardware locations.

Once that was done it was time to deal with all the old un-needed holes from all the years of folks drilling and mounting various junk-homemade bimini tops, kmart rod holders, etc.
I found these little gizmos on eBay listed under Stainless Steel Chevelle grill bolts. Perfect! I just re-drilled all the old holes to fit and bolted these puppies in.

The admiral came out and helped some also. She must realize we?re close to launch time!

Here she is all masked off and ready for the Zinc Chromate.

Finally!!!! We got the ZC on and it started clouding up. Here?s a shot of the ZC.

Here?s another right before I backed her into the Boatel. Tomorrow I?m shooting primer!!!

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

OK we got sunshine again with a little bit of breeze. Since we're just doing primer I figured the light wind was ok.

Drug the boat out of the Boatel and lightly sanded the Zinc Chromate with 220 grit. I think this made a big difference over the approach we took on the bottom. Prior to shooting the undercoat primer, everything was nice and smooth. Here's a shot of the ZC before I hit it with the air and a damp cloth.

Next step was to rig everything up and get ready to shoot the primer. I used the Pettit 6149 Undercoater Primer. It's good for glass, wood, and previously painted surfaces and is recommended for use with the Easypoxy topside paint we're gonna use here. I followed the directions for spray thinner which was 15 to 20%. I mixed a little less than 2 ounces thinner to 12 ounces of primer. I got one good coat (not to thick) on the areas you see here and used a couple ounces short of a full quart. The second shot is a close up of the area under the bow. We're also gonna cover that area with the Special Green just like the top side.

Tomorrow is Mom's day and I have to work all day Monday, so we may or may not get a coat of the green on Monday evening. I'm trying to get the top and the wood done before I roll out for British Columbia on the 19th.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

OK, got back at around noon today. WOW! 6600 miles in a F350. Lived off of advil for several days!!!!

Thought I might add that I passed an early 70's model Holiday being towed up in the mountains of Wyoming on the way out. Pulled up alongside the two guys and rolled my window down to say nice boat. The poor guy just looked over and said " Yeah, we just burned the motor up about two hours ago." what a bummer!

OK, So just before I left I took the primed boat over to my neighbor the painter and laid a big sob story on him and left the country. This is what was in the boatel when I got back today!

That's three coats of the 50/50 mixture of the Kelly Green and White just like the bottom. Man do it shine!!!!!

Vinyl floor is goin in tomorrow so I can get the wood in!!!!!!

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

Except for the marathon driving to get there, the trip was great. I took a nice cinnamon bear with my longbow and managed to capture the entire stalk on video.

I saw Starcraft aluminum boats in many of the states I traveled thru. Mostly Holidays. Man, that must have been a popular model over the years! I even saw two in the Okanagon region of BC.

So since so many folks are following this thread, I'm gonna ramp it up and get her finished. And thanks for following the build!

BTW, SS, the trialer paint will have to be next year's project, along with Old Blue

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

OK, now the vacation?s over and it?s time to go back to work. The top paint is done so it?s time to get ready for the wood.

Here?s a couple pics of the grey vinyl for the floor all laid up and then cut to fit. Way back when we glassed the floor, I hit it with the orbital sander to rough it up so the glue would bond and to knock down the high spots.

I let the vinyl lay over night to relax. Also I forgot to pick up the roller and to be honest, I?m still drained from the whole bear hunt/driving marathon! I must really be getting old!

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

Now it's time for the glue up. I bought a one gallon bucket of Cabela's marine vinly/carpet adhesive and a new notched trowel. This 22 ft boat used about 2/3 of the gallon.

After letting the vinyl relax overnight, I basically just peeled back the front 2/3rds and started applying the adhesive with the notched trowel. The notches ensure the proper thickness of adhesive and allows for uniform spread.

Here's a shot of the troweled on adhesive.

Once you get the area ready, the directions say to let the glue "flash off" for a minimum 15 minutes and a maximum 30 minutes, so we followed these guidelines.

The next step is to roll the vinyl in and apply pressure with the roller to push out all the air and ensure the glue imbeds in the backing on the vinyl.

Here's shot of the finished product. We'll let this set for a couple of days and give thing's time to properly set up and we should be good to go.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

In an effort to keep things moving, The Admiral showed up just about the time I finished the glue up and we moved all the polishing equipment outside and began working on all the old aluminum. The trim peices for the side panels and the outer rub rail inserts are top priority at this point and to be honest, they are the peices in the worst condition.

We basically took the combination approach of 00 grit steel wool and the 500 grit polishing compound. I also used the small orbital sander on the two large peices of trim that the side panels set on. This is gonna give us the "Brushed Aluminum" look.

These peices really showed the most abuse on a 43 year old boat. Looks like the starcraft folks installed the rubrail inserts BEFORE spraying the paint, and the side panel peices were covered with resin from the homemade glassing my fatherinlaw did on the deck.

We finished about 9 PM, so we grabbed a quick shower (this was really messy work) and headed to TGI Fridays for a late dinner and several frozen mudslides

I get to do some more driving today, so when I return from the city, we'll install the rubrail inserts and some of the hardware. The wood guy says we'll be installing the wood sometime this week!!!!!!!

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

So, after work yesterday I got fired up for the evening shift and with a ton of help from The Admiral, got the outer rubrail and insert installed. The new stuff from Taco is just a hair larger than the old stuff. I don't know if that's due to UV degredation on the old, or if it's just plain bigger. The new stuff does look much better than the old, so with a little help from the handy dandy universal tool (Chraftsman Cotter Key Extractor) we got in in.

We also mounted some of the misc hardware to finish off the evening. This is waaayy beter than watching American Idol!!!!

This thing is really starting to look like a boat again!!!!!!!!

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

Speaking of honey do's- The Admiral decided it's time for me tp pay for my playin and Now I'm about to swap the faucets in the downstairs half bath. Once that's accomplished I'll be out in the garage (left over from my son's racing ventures) installing these;

My digital camera just refuses to shoot a pic of the grain on the whole board but this will give you folks an idea of what we're working with.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

OK, after a very frustrating day tryin to get to the shop I finally managed to install one peice of wood and the trim. This was not an easy task since the old peice was thru bolted and covered with vinyl. So we pre-drilled and mounted it with 10 x 3/4 stainless steel screws. I don't think you could pull it out with a tank. I also replaced the homemade platform under the transom skin for foot traffic from the swim platform.

Here's what we got so far-

I swear I'm gonna get that dash in tomorrow!!!

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

OK, as promised, I got the dash in today!

After several more trips to the hardware store chasing stainless steel fasteners we got it installed. Along with the dash we also were able to mount the gauges, tilt control and got the steering remounted. I?ll edit this post and provide some details a little later tonight but now it?s DINNER TIME!!!

My buddy TS Really wanted to see these pics.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

We're really starting to ramp things up here so I'll breeze thru what's happening. The boat is getting very close to launch time!!!!!

So we drug out all the sanding and polishing gear and went to work on the remaining gunwale rubrail inserts and the windshield.

We used the polisher with some 240 grit polishing compound and it made quick work of cleaning up the rubrail inserts.

Once that was done we finished off the windshield with the orbital sander loaded with 220 grit pads and some 0000 steel wool.

Next we applied some self stick closed cell window seal to the bottom of the windshield.

We flipped it over and installed it to the boat using stainless steel thru bolts with lock washers. Now it?s all installed and ready for trim.

Then we finished off all the gunwale rubrail inserts. These were fastened with aluminum rivets.

The next step was to install the eBay cheapo ?? insert material. Here?s a shot of The Admiral helping!

Here?s a shot of the finished product.

Then we got all excited and started attaching hardware. We got the new electric horn, the hatch lid and the Golight installed and called it a day.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

It doesn't seem like we accomplished much today-I'm not real sure why???

Took a trip to Gander mountain and picked up a new bottom of the line GPS/Fish finder combo. Removed the old transducer and mounted the new one. We also just spent the day working on the stern of the boat. Mounted the swim platform, re-attached the stern cast aluminum trim peices (that wasn't fun), plugged all the holes and mounted a bet petot valve for the old skool speedo and touched up the paint. Also installed a couple of clam shells where the lines ran thru the stern and the two stock lifting handles. A whole lot of sealant and thru-bolting. Note should also be made that you have to heat up the outer rubrail insert with a heat gun to get it really plyable to re-mount the corner castings.

I think the bigest thing that chewed up the day was fabricating and installing the roller guides on the trailer. A lot of folks say they're not needed, but i just feel like the boat is safer with them there. I bought a cheapo set at Cabelas on my trip and we fabbed the posts out of some scrap we had laying around. Wire brushed them on the polisher and shot a coat of rustoleum primer on em. That will do till we re-do the trailer this winter. Thanks to my brother who screwed up and came by with his welder in the truck

It's 11:30 and we tired now!

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

And we're almost there. Did another five hours of attaching hardware and drillin some more holes in the stern tonight.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

My boating friend with the Orlando clipper is really helping with all the questions on hardware and rigging. He's already planning the maiden voyage. Looks like sometime in the next two weeks we're gonna hit water.

Man, all the little cosmetic stuff really burns up the time. We've been at it hard for over a week now!!!!!!

So today I had to make a trip to DC for work. If you folks remember, I passed a couple guys in the mountains of Wyoming on my trip to BC who had just fried the motor in an early 70's Holiday. That scenario has been really working on me. So I dug out my receipts on the outdrive work and couldn't find a thing on them that covered waterpumps. Several phone calls between myself, the repair shop owner and the technician left us all with enough doubt to batten everything down and haul the boat over for an exploratory operation this morning.

Turns out the impellar was in good condition. However, a peice of the water inlet tube and a peice of the waterpump housing had broken off and gotten sucked up into the waterinlet tube and was blocking flow.

They replaced all these and had it back together by the time I returned from town Now we won't have to worry about cooling problems for a while. I guess the tech didn't realize we were looking to have the outdrive split open and checked out since I had just shot all that fresh paint on it.

The wood guy called around 5 and said the wood is going in this Friday. Once that's done, my son and I will spend the weekend re-wiring and we should be ready for water early next week !!!!!!!!

In case anyone's interested, I shot a couple of out in the sun pics to share.

 

[North Beach]

Re: 66 Starcraft Sunchief re-Build

So we?re still trying to keep it moving. I have to work tomorrow so I spent the evening trying to make sure I?m ready when the wood guy gets here Friday morning.

First came gluing up the vinyl on the dash shelf and while I had the glue out I figured I?d hit what us car guys call the dead pedal.

So I glued em up with the outdoor adhesive and followed the recommended flash time, installed the vinyl rolled out the air and set some weight on the dead pedal.

The shelf went directly into the boat. This took a little jockeying around but I finally got it in. Here?s a couple of shots to show what it looks like now. A lot better than that faded vinyl we took out.

I also installed the steering wheel and found a place for the new GPS/fish finder. While I was in there I spent some time separating wires and generally cleaning up/removing all the junk wiring. That?s even starting to make some sense now!!!

We ordered a custom switch panel with lighted rockers, breakers, and one primary power in but it?s gonna be a few weeks out so in the meantime, we?re gonna wire everything into this and attach it to the bottom center of the shelf under the dash.

Progress!!!