Another Maine Starchief

[Watermann]

Nice area you have there , thanks for showing us your trip. You didn't even need to turn your Chief bow into the wind when docked. :thumb:

 

[laurentide]

Super cool, Ron! I'll be up at Little Brassua in October, hopefully with the Starcraft. My sort-of in-laws have a camp there. I can't wait. Your boat looks great on the water.

 

[oldhaven]

Ya, that storm was a good test for the Chief. It was really bouncing around and the dock was a floating one so there was a lot of movement there. I checked the way the waves came at the stern during that storm and the big splashwell and the bouyancy of the stern kept all the water out of the boat and the full canvas kept the rain out. At the end of a week of that and a couple less windy rain storms not a drop of water came out of the drain when I pulled the plug.

Wow Chem, Brassua in October; but then you fish Champlain at Christmas time. That's an interesting lake due to the water draw downs. I would guess you need to be careful of the dri-ki. I have been by there in a car but never had a boat in and it seems pretty unpopulated. We spend a lot of time at our place in Blanchard near Greenville in October so maybe we will see you in Greenville.

 

[laurentide]

Great info Ron, thanks. I knew that the lake level was managed there, but I'll have to do a bit more research. I'll get in touch before that trip to see if you'll be in the area.

Dry bilge after several days in the water === awesome! Mine definitely takes on a little water. The little 16' Jet Star I used a couple of weeks ago was bone dry. I think it's all about how hard they were ridden by PO's.

 

[oldhaven]

I'm back. Just checking in and everything looks different now. It took me a while to even find Starcraft boats. I'll wander around until I get my bearings, but this doesn't look as user friendly as I remember. We are getting our house ready to put on the market this fall and winter, so little boating activity happened after the Moosehead trip, but we just bought 4 acres on Merrymeeting Bay in North Bath Maine and plan to build, so perhaps I will be able to do more with the Starchief in the coming years. For now it is winterized in the same spot as last year.

 

[laurentide]

I was fortunate enough to spend a few days on dry land (but on the water) in Bath last summer at a friend's camp. His neighbor/landlord has a beautiful Pulsifer there. I'm envious, that's a beautiful piece of land and water.

 

[oldhaven]

Hi again . New user name for you I see. good choice. Ya, it should be fun though being tidal and shallow in front of the place it will be challenging to use a bigger boat, and I may require a mooring. The good part is that we are only a mile or so from the Kennebec where it flows through The Chops on its way to the ocean. I will have to learn a bit about striper fishing. There is a little island about 300 yards off shore that has an eagles nest, and the place is alive with migratory birds in the fall and spring. Hope everyone is having a good winter.

Ron

 

[laurentide]

Hi again . New user name for you I see. good choice.

Thanks. The old one was just something I banged out to ask a question as a new user several years ago...it was a song from an obscure 80's California punk band. The new one's the official VHF name for the boat and is kind of a nod to my interest in local geology.

 

[Watermann]

Took me a minute to figure it out, who's this guy :lol: Oh that's the Rough and Ready Chief Chem guy, I know that guy!

I forgot to add that your Chief was nominated for the SOTY again this year Ron.

 

[laurentide]

Took me a minute to figure it out, who's this guy :lol: Oh that's the Rough and Ready Chief Chem guy, I know that guy!

I forgot to add that your Chief was nominated for the SOTY again this year Ron.

Yeah, I took the opportunity to change the name without having to bug the mods. Ron's got a strong candidate this year!

 

[oldhaven]

I can accept the nomination, but have not been able to open the conditions link. I am not sure what is involved? I really feel this will not be a fair year for those guys that relied on Photo Bucket to document their work since it will be hard to see what the before and after was. Maybe reposting a couple of non-PB photos for each nominee on the SOTY 2017 thread, or at the end of the nominee's threads would be a good idea.

In any case, I guess mine is as done as it is going to get until I get around to finishing the cabin and the rear sliding doors. That may be a while. I was happy enough with the scruffy original bottom finish that I did not strip it off and redo it, but I may eventually. It is fully functional as is and we are enjoying it a lot. Unlike some of you this will probably be my last big Starcraft restore. I have a 1920's Kennebec runabout to do and will be finishing up my second go around on the '57 Fleetcraft Imperial next year. The Grumman Sportboat will be ideal at the new location on the Bay, and then there are the 2 canoes and the kayak. I actually sold two vintage wood and canvas boat projects this last year. How many boats does one 69 year old guy need? (No snide remarks, please).

Ron

 

[Watermann]

On the SC soty it looks to me like the conditions got deleted maybe when the nominees were added at some point. I'm sure jbcurt00 or ssdale can fix that so you can read and agree to them.

 

[jbcurt00]

oldhaven conditions should be viewable. Thanks Watermann for the heads up


if you find any topics w posts that are MIA, flag the post and notify the Mods.

 

[North Beach]

Good job on this one! I'm glad to see another 66 restored.

 

[oldhaven]

Still here, but not very active since we are trying to sell our house so we can build on our new lot. All that declutter of 40 years of living there, and trying to keep the place staged and clean put the boat low on the priorities list. I did buy the boat cover watermann recommended and it mostly fit the entire boat including the enclosure. This protects the clear windows and canvas from sun damage. Time now to put the winter tarps on.

 

[Watermann]

Yeah I'm winterizing my Chief today, sad to see summer gone for several months.

 

[Markoku]

This will look like a time warp, but I took these pictures yesterday. Finally getting the new tank in to replace the leaky one. it took 4 hours to take out the sidewalls and deck, and another two to fit the new tank, which is the same model but slightly longer. I will be refinishing the deck and sidewalls while they are out. I am so glad I did not have everything riveted down, coounterbored, and filled with epoxy plugs. I hope I will never see this part of the boat again. By the way, it is scary what one season on the water and in the back yard does to a clean bilge. The second picture is of the old tank, and the pinhole that caused all this looks like it was done by a screw. It must have been there when I bought it off Craigslist since I have no fasteners in that area. I should have it all back together this weekend. By the way I did not leak test the new tank, but it emitted a satisfying whoosh of escaping air pressure from the warm day when I removed the plastic plug from the vent fitting.

When you added these tanks, did you add an electric fuel pump. I'm toying with the idea of adding a belly tank to my '67 Holiday, and wasn't sure if I should plan on adding a pump. Also did you build in access hatches?

 

[oldhaven]

The Mercury has a good pump so none needed to pump from a belly tank.

Checking in and still here, but I have not used the Chief this year since we sold our house this spring and are in the middle of building another. We should be moved in in November and the boat will see a lot of use on Merrymeeting Bay next year. Until then it looks forlorn stored under its cover, but it's time will come. I don't check the forum as often as I should, but now that it is on my mind I may look in more.

Ron

 

[ShoestringMariner]

I had some weather delays but now have the new tank installed and the deck and side panels back in place. I put on the new enclosure and finally put in the woven vinyl carpet I had planned on using last fall before the tank problem. Maybe a bit too stripy, but it's nice on the feet. Just a few more things, mostly with the trailer, and I will be ready for the summer. I still have to make some sliding doors for the rear storage area and I need to make some sort of boarding ladder or step inside to help with getting in and out.

That looks great!

 

[oldhaven]

We’re in the new house after a long layoff. The boat was under cover and dry docked in the Maine woods for over a year, but made it through a summer, winter, and spring just fine. Changed the fuel filter put in fresh gas and it fired right up. While we are now on the water, our area of the freshwater Bay has a 5-7 foot tide and our shore drains to mud flats at low tide. This means the Chief lives on the trailer until I figure out a mud mooring for the two or three hours a tide when it is not floating. There is a channel about 100 feet out that is useable except for a real drainer tide. I am going to build a long roller shore ramp for the Sportboat, canoe, and kayaks, but we’ll have to see if I can deal with winching the 1100 pound Chief up a steep rocky bank. The nearest boat ramps are 5-6 miles away, so not too bad, but I’d love to be able to just jump in the boat and go. The guy next door put in a floating dock with a long aluminum gangway, but that’s a 10K project, plus dealing with winter removal and storage.