Another Maine Starchief

[oldhaven]

I'd use the Coosa if it was sold near me but I'm not driving 500 miles to pick it up in Seattle, I hate driving over there.

I think you'll need more than 2 sheets to do the decking and cabin as it has to be installed cross way 4' rather than 8' length way.

It's a 35 mile drive to Portland for me, the same as if I was buying marine ply. That helps a lot. I don't like driving in Seattle either. Us flatlanders are not used to the hills. When I drove there once upon a time I had my nephew's car with a clutch, and I darned near ruined it.

Without crawling back under my tarp cover I think I recall the distance from cabin bulkhead to the transom is a little over 9 feet. I figured to use two sheets cut into 64 inch lengths 4 feet wide and that will get me under the well. For the remaining deck under the splash well I plan to tie the deck into the transom z bracket with some .094 aluminum sheet I have around. No one will be walking back there and I won't be putting the batteries or fuel tanks under the well, just light storage like life jackets. I may do some type of seats or cots that pull out from under there, but have not yet decided. I think the 2' 8" cutoffs from the two sheets should do the cabin bulkheads, though I am thinking about that pocket door idea that was discussed recently. I still plan to have some wood in the boat, possibly the side panels and cabin furniture, since for all its advantages, Coosa is pretty ugly.

Ron

 

[oldhaven]

After two whole days of work I finally have the upper windscreen back in one piece. I managed to find some vinyl glazing channel that worked, but it was just slightly too thick for the 1/4 Lexan and the channel widths. I was able to use it, but really struggled getting the cut windows into the tight recess, so I thought about what might work in a situation like that... aha...Astro Glide. Don't laugh. Between that and the judicious use of a hide mallet, all went well. That Lexan is tough stuff. If I had abused the tempered glass original panes by beating on them like that, they would have broken. I wish they had been in better shape to begin with because this has been the most difficult job so far, by far. For others in the future, another help was using a deburring tool on the cut edges of the Lexan to round them so they slid in more easily. I'll be leaving the masking on until installation, though I had to curl back the edges for fitting. I used Sharkhide on the aluminum. A few more rivets in the frame, fabricate some t-bolts, and this job goes on the done pile.

Ron

 

[laurentide]

Great progress. Polycarbonate should give you modest weight savings, too. I love your use of modern materials and power on the old boat. Keep on keepin' on!

 

[Decker83]

Great job on the windscreen.. Thanks for the tips..

 

[oldhaven]

Thanks guys, It's nice to see some progress, and I am hoping this winter work will get me on the water by late spring. I have decided that while I am doing things like stripping, staining, and varnishing parts of the Fleetcraft right now, the Chief will get priority for the rest of the winter and when the weather breaks. I need to get the motor rigging done and get it in the water, even if it is not totally finished. I can make a list of "necessary before launch" jobs and do those first.

Ron

 

[laurentide]

Ron, I used my boat for about a season before it had seats or a top or a whole bunch of other stuff. CG safety gear, nav lights and a working engine is all you really need after the structural work. Then you can take the next 5 years and find ways to spend time and money "finishing" it. Fishing and cruising is more fun than sanding, painting, and tinkering...but just barely.

 

[oldhaven]

Leaks found and fixed, a deck to stand on, a place to put a steering wheel and some gauges, fuel tanks, a transom and splash well to mount the OB and enough structure for a stiff hull will do me for first splash. Not that that isn't a lot of work ahead.

BTW Andy, are you still thinking about being a Mainer?

Ron

 

[laurentide]

Ron, that's on hold for me right now. I won't get into specifics, but things are working out a bit differently than I expected, which is actually a good thing. Water wise, I'm happy with either Champlain or the coast, but it's looking like a few more years on the pond here. I may try to get my wife to think about it in a couple/few years, as we got very lucky with real estate here and there are actually parts of the south coast where we can buy a house with mostly cash. Vermont's housing market is insane. But for now we're just going to work on this house. [Hint: if I were moving to ME this year it would have been just me. So this is obviously the more desirable outcome.]

However, I'll be in Kennebunk several times every year. I'll hit you up after you get the Chief in the water.

Edit: and if you find yourself near Champlain please do the same.

 

[oldhaven]

Every time we drive through Vermont, we wonder if we should move there. It's a bit more pastoral and refined than Maine, but they both have their charms and it's all New England anyway. You are welcome to stop by anytime.

Ron

 

[laurentide]

Every time we drive through Vermont, we wonder if we should move there. It's a bit more pastoral and refined than Maine, but they both have their charms and it's all New England anyway. You are welcome to stop by anytime.

Ron

I agree with your assessment and comparison. I'm not a native so hopefully I can say this without coming off like a xenophobe, but VT's pastoral beauty is what brings in a lot of out of state real estate money and really throws off the market for us working stiffs. Combine that with high state/city/town taxes and a not spectacular job market and you've got a kind of tough place to live for a lot of people.

But, despite what many detractors will say, the state's legislative bodies have done an incredible job of keeping VT beautiful through intensive restrictions on development. I know of only two towns (I'm sure there are a few more) with no zoning other than the state boilerplate.

And we've got a 125 mile long lake in our backyard :joyous:.

 

[dpotter]

Ron, Do you have a plan for how you will mount your fuel tanks. I'm looking for some rubber to use on the ribs and a piece of aluminum flatstrap with rubber backing to secure.

 

[Decker83]

You should use neoprene rubber for the tank..

 

[oldhaven]

I'll probably be using some neoprene I have around underneath the tank. Watermann used 5200 to bond it to the ribs and that seems like a great solution. My tanks have recesses for hold downs and they will have to be fabricated to suit the stringer locations, but all will have to be decided when spring comes and I can get in the bilge, lean against the newly cleaned hull and scratch my head about it.

Ron

 

[oldhaven]

I have the instrument panel out and will be working on a plan for a new one. The old design is pretty simple but I was thinking of something more like the one in the second picture. My apologies to whoever owns this beautiful boat as I did not note the source of the image, but I really like the way the panel comes out against the coaming. The bottom is closed in and that seems like a good idea too.

Another nice find arrived today. A very good deal on a used Danforth Constellation Hi-Speed compass with a red night light. Bigger than I really need but should be easy to read. I have to fabricate some kind of binnacle mount so I don't have to put a big hole in the cabin top for a future owner to curse me for. There goes the weight I saved on using Lexan for the top windshield.....

Ron














Ron

 

[laurentide]

I'll be interested to see how the flush mount console works out. You'll definitely have more room for steering and wiring that way. That boat, rebuilt by user Gibbles, also has an access panel on the bulkhead behind the console. I wish I'd done that, as it's pretty handy for adding/removing electronics. The boat in the photo has the older style round edge cabin, but it shouldn't make any difference.

 

[dpotter]

Nice find Ron. I look forward to seeing the new console. I haven't figured out mine yet. It's also very simple. I may only add a fuel gauge.

 

[laurentide]

Nice find Ron. I look forward to seeing the new console. I haven't figured out mine yet. It's also very simple. I may only add a fuel gauge.

I only have a fuel gauge and tach. It's all you really need, assuming that your engine alarms work.

 

[oldhaven]

I should have everything I really want to know available on the mercmonitor but sometimes its nice to just look and see what's up without pushing buttons. especially a tach. One extra 4 function multi gauge might do it. (And I think a non GPS compass is necessary on any boat)

 

[oldhaven]

HI all,

I am working on plans for the side panels in the Starchief. Some of the builds I have seen use full or partial panels that go all the way from the deck to the gunwales, and I think this was even standard in later model SC's. My '67 has panels that only go up to just above the mid way brace/package shelf for the complete deck length. I would like to use a complete panel up the the inner gunwale with access holes since I feel this might reinforce the hull sides by providing more stiff support than the half panels. The problem is that the alignment of the existing half panels, determined by the 1/2 inch channel in the forward cabin bulkhead support brackets and the rear splash well brackets, is off from meeting the gunwales by about an inch gap. My question for those of you who have done this is how did you make it work? I can probably bend the 1/2 inch ply to meet the bottom of the inner gunwale, but that seems kind of slapdash and would probably show. Are later panels and support brackets different from the mid to late 60's boats? You can see the forward brackets against the bulkhead in the picture below. Between them and the depth of the package tray they put an extended panel away from the inner bulkhead if it is kept straight. I don't want to modify the brackets or the package shelf.

Thanks,

Ron

 

[Watermann]

Easy you just have to add another 1/2" piece of ply in the top of the side panel that's the same depth as the gunnel face and it shims it out perfectly to that 1" needed. You can see in the pic below how wide mine side panel is at the top.

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