'74 Chieftain 21' I/O is home, the rebuild begins !

[Watermann]

Good to hear the admiral is on the mend. Yeah that switch if for changing over fuel tanks.

 

[FrankenCub]

Good to hear the admiral is on the mend. Yeah that switch if for changing over fuel tanks.

Thanks, Watermann I thought it might be for that but I haven't seen a switch for it. All switches are accounted for with their functions. I'll trace it out with a meter and see if it's one of the jumbled messes that are bolted together, or maybe it's missing. But then again there isn't any holes that are empty except for one but it's for the ignition switch.

 

[jbcurt00]

Good news on the getting the Admiral back to her home port.

Has to be a fuel pump of some sort. Travel Accessories, Orlando, Calif definitely suggests PO modification/add on. Probably had a manual tank switch and that pump/switch made it a toggle flip at the helm instead..

 

[dozerII]

Hey FC, here's your Chiefs twin sister http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owner...11-ohoh/page11 starting in post 163

 

[FrankenCub]

Good news on the getting the Admiral back to her home port.

Has to be a fuel pump of some sort. Travel Accessories, Orlando, Calif definitely suggests PO modification/add on. Probably had a manual tank switch and that pump/switch made it a toggle flip at the helm instead..

Thanks, jb. She overdid it today thought and is pretty sore. Wanted to get some running around done instead of relaxing like the surgeon told her.
Did they come with a manual tank selector ? Or just draw from both at the same time ? I'm curious because both tanks having fuel level senders, you'd think one would interfere with the other unless they had two gages. The electric tank selector must be rigged to sense from one tank or the other some how. Will be something else for me to dig into. I figured boats of this vintage would be more of a simple draw from both tanks set-up. Seeing two senders makes me wonder.

Hey FC, here's your Chiefs twin sister http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owner...11-ohoh/page11 starting in post 163

Nice Those pics show me some of what I'm missing too, like a table in the cabin. Seeing what looks like brackets under the stern seats, I'm thinking maybe those wellnuts I found in the floor are supposed to be there. Do those seats tip forward, kinda hinging on the floor ?

 

[dozerII]

If I remember right, (it's been a while) the rear seats are an aluminum four legged chair that fits nicely in each corner. They can be lifted out for access behind them.

 

[FrankenCub]

If I remember right, (it's been a while) the rear seats are an aluminum four legged chair that fits nicely in each corner. They can be lifted out for access behind them.

The front aren't really legs, more of a loop that goes down from the seat, across the floor, then back up. In your pictures it looked as if one seat had 2 brackets but I can't really tell what they are. My floor has 2 wellnuts in what looks like the same spot as that loop for the seat on both sides of the engine bay. I will get one of the seats out again and see where it falls in relationship to the wellnuts, once it stops raining and snowing.

 

[dozerII]

You are correct the front aluminum leg has what looks like conduit straps screwed over the tube to hold them secure and act like a hinge.

 

[FrankenCub]

It's too bad there isn't any build manuals or parts manuals floating around like there is for vintage cars and trucks. I have copies of all the original GM manuals for my truck, all the stuff GMC and the dealers would use. They would be super useful for restoring these old tubs. The boat industry may not have even had them however, such low production runs compared to passenger vehicles.
Hmmm...dealer microfiche slides would be sweet though. I'd buy a viewer if I could find the slides

 

[Watermann]

I don't think Starcraft imagined their old tin boats would become such a magnet for so many decades down the road. It's probably not something they're very happy about either since we're not buying their new models rather opting to spend thousands restoring their oldies.

 

[jbcurt00]

Just a different business philosophy, theres another tin boat company that is still an excellent resource for info about their boats going back before 1950. Even kept great records about serial #s and model #s.

I dont own one, but eventually I'll get an Alumacraft too go w the 4 other tin boat brands.

 

[laurentide]

It's weird that SC doesn't support the vintage/classic crowd. It's pretty safe to say that none of us were going to walk into a showroom if we couldn't fix our antiques. And one would think that they'd be proud that their hulls still float 40+ years down the line.:noidea:
Edit: could be that the company has changed hands at least once.

 

[jbcurt00]

Changed hands quite a few times actually, and SC is typical, Alumacraft isnt.

Best of my knowledge, few if any.glass only boat builders are as helpful as Alumacraft either..

 

[FrankenCub]

There's a Starcraft dealer not too far from me that's been in business for a long time, I am going to give them a call and see if they happen to have any old literature of microfiche slides pertaining to these old Chieftains. The they're anything like the Yamaha snowmobile dealer I used to work with they just may have something on an old dusty shelf. I had some work done on an OB by them in the past, really good guys there.

Decided I had to do something today despite the cold and started pulling the headliner down from the cabin and remove the cabinet from the port side. All was going well having a great time till my shop light shorted out and tripped a breaker in the house. Maybe after I fix our Blazer I can get back to the Chief tomorrow.

 

[FrankenCub]

A bit more progress today. Have the inside cabin mostly apart, one piece of floor yet to go but all the rivets are drilled out. All the wood under the bow is really good except one piece so that will be replaced. Was thinking of removing the whole cabin top to make it easier but it's probably not necessary. There doesn't appear to be any leaks in the cabin other than the front window that is broken and dislodged, and the flybridge windshield. I would probably end up making more work for myself by removing everything.
The rats or mice had a pretty expansive hotel under the floor, much of the foam is actually still good, and dry. The only wet foam is water logged with rat pee. Was all well and fine till I pulled the floor and got floored by the stench....ewwww
Ran to my tool box for my respirator lol


Getting there


On one side when the floor was replaced at a previous time they cut the rivets and used steel machine screws to bolt the seat/bed bunk back to the hull, on the other side they cut the bunk vertically so they didn't have to cut the rivets. When they remounted that cut bunk, the stern end was moved towards the center of the hull for some reason, which in turn made them need to make a new hatch cover. I have no idea what was going through their mind so I will be putting it back together the way it's supposed to be and riveting a plate on the inside of that bunk to join it back together. I should have gotten a before picture but I think you know where I'm going with the description.

 

[jbcurt00]

Just pitch all the styro foam, IMO, not worth trying to save it. Risks loose styro beads in the bilge leaving it.

Not a big cost savings to reuse it...

W the respirator, you look sorta like a glasser rehab'r...

Nice.work on the clean up/out

 

[FrankenCub]

I planned on trashing the old styro anyway, not just the risk of loosing those beads all over but the chance of the stink from all the years of those friggin rats not going outside to do their business. That smell was terrible. Glad I had the respirator ! I'm sure some of that dust had dried rat urine in it, that crap will make ya sick. The cartridges aren't new though but still functional, and have a slight smell of auto paint so I didn't have to smell the rats
I will also be giving the hull a good scrubbing with vinegar to get rid of any remaining urine. I hate those filthy little pests, we live by an old farm and have quite a few running around. As many as I shoot with my P99 or .22 you can just never gain ground on them.

Supposed to be pretty decent tomorrow too so after I take my wife for her check up with the surgeon I'm going to try to get the rest of the floor and cabin bulkhead out. Gotten pretty lucky so far, the floor sections are in pretty good condition and will make great patterns.

 

[jbcurt00]

Sounds good

Good luck w the doc too

 

[Watermann]

Wholly hanta virus that's a nasty looking mess, good idea with the respirator. One of the many pitfalls we encounter when tearing down these oldies but that virus can really make you sick.

 

[FrankenCub]

Ahhh that's the name I was thinking about! Can never remember those things. I should have taken a picture before I shoveled a lot of it up into bags, it was much worse. Still have a lot of foam that I need to get bagged that is soaked in urine. Going to stop at the dollar store for some cheap 55g yard bags later this week then make a run to the landfill to get rid of it asap.


Have the rest of the floor pulled and the cabin bulkhead now, what a bear the cabin wall was! She feels a bit wobbly without it lol. Once I get the foam bagged I will start cleaning the floor, if the weather holds. Here's a shot of the stiffeners that were questioned in the other thread, this time full detail with no floor in the way. Although I don't have much tin boat experience, it sure looks like a factory refit to me, I definitely don't see a DIY'er doing it this way.


Thanks for hangin out here Watermann, I spend a lot of time reading and rereading your rebuild