California Chieftain Repair and Resto 1974 18'

[Fat Helen]

Good evening folks. Ive been a long time lurker and reader of this forum and finally have something of my own to share. I picked up this beauty back in early July and have at last decided to delve into getting her seaworthy again! Must admit she had her first test run in August after I rebuilt the outboard (1989 yamaha 90 etlf). Everything was pretty smooth except the amount of water she took on over the course of an hour of speed runs. Probably only a few gallons but enough to spur my interest in redoing the boat completely for peace of mind during the longer, potentially overnight trips. And besides it's 70 degrees in January and I am in need of a project.

I've done a lot of the internal removal already and will begin to start stripping the bottom shortly. In the pictures hopefully you are able to see some of the areas I'm concerned about. The previous owner did a little bouncing and banging on the hull, front starboard side and it's got some nice dents and deformation. Does anybody have experience getting some of these larger dents out?
Any help is appreciated.

For now the boat is affectionately referred to as Fat Helen by my wife. We will see if that sticks in the long run.

Best Regards,

-Dylan

 

[Decker83]

:welcome: to the madness..
Looks like you have a good start on the tear down..
I'm no expert about the dings and dents, but most of the gentlemen here say to leave them alone..
That's what I did with mine. Gives the boat some character..
If you were to try and remove some of the dents, I would use a rubber mallet and some kind of backer.
Some of the other gents here with more experience should chime in and tell you why not to go banging on the hull.

 

[GA_Boater]

Welcome aboard, Fat Helen. An ex-girlfriend?

She looks pretty good except for the dings. From what I've read here, bumping them out can cause more problems. I have a couple on the bottom and they will stay as long as I have her.

 

[baldwibr]

Glad to have us with you, Fat Helen! :lol: I'm looking forward to following your progress....

 

[jbcurt00]

Watermann did a grest job on his 18ft Chief.

nice to have another Chief rehab running

welcome to the Tin-sanity

 

[Watermann]

:welcome: to the Starmada and the pics of your old beauty as well. :joyous:

A 90 OB is a good motor for an 18'r if you're not asking for a more than cruising with a couple on board. I'm kinda the odd man out with the 18' IO Chief.

So what's up with the lower windshield? Is that a cover or is it missing, can't tell.

 

[Fat Helen]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. I was able to carefully remove some of the easier to reach dents but some dents are beneath the ribs so I won't address them until I do some re-riveting. I may heed the advice given and leave those well enough alone as they did not seem to affect performance when I tested the boat this last summer.

The windshield is in place upfront but does have a 10 inch crescent shaped crack in the center so It's on the list for replacement It's plexiglass which makes me believe it's been replaced before. The custom blue cover snaps on around the frame which is kind've a neat deal.

For now it's more paint stripping on the inside. Pressure washer has given me a good head start in some places but more aggressive means are in the near future.

What techniques have you all found success with in the paint removal process?

Thanks a ton,

-Dylan

 

[jbcurt00]

Aircraft stripper and plenty of PPE

 

[BWR1953]

Aircraft stripper and plenty of PPE

^^^^This^^^^

I struggled mightily with my Kingfisher but when I recently made the switch to aircraft stripper, it made all the difference.

 

[Watermann]

The lower windshields are Plexiglas from the factory. Mine was cracked and covered in crazing, replaced it with Lexan.

 

[MD28]

Welcome! I like the name, fat girls are pretty too right? At least this one will be soon enough I hope. Warm temps help with the aircraft stripper too, it doesn’t look like you have to worry though.

 

[mbroughton02]

I had good luck stripping paint with Jasco premium paint and epoxy remover. I found it in gallon jugs at home depot and probably went through almost 5 gallons by the time I did all the interior odds and ends. Temperature is key. Too hot and it evaporates before it chews through the paint. Too cold and it just doesn't work. I had great results working outside on overcast days in the 60s or low 70s. Or indoors in the same temps.

 

[Fat Helen]

Thanks for the advice on the paint removal. Didn't quite get to that this weekend but had plenty of things to keep me busy.

Got the splashwell and transom wood removed along with most of the fixings on the gunwales. Spent a lot of time on my back in the bottom of the boat and boy was I glad I found a body pillow to lay on. It was downright comfy in there, could've taken a nap. Removing the transom was a task. Got every last screw and bolt out of there and it still wouldn't budge. Finally ran some long i-bolts in the top and winched it up by twisting some ropes between the i-bolts and a beam (shown in pictures). Tons of salt build up between the wood and transom skin that was keeping it stuck.

In other good news I put in an order for rivets from jay-cees. Watermann's post on the forum list about rivets was a great resource in determining which ones I needed. Also got some riveting tools from Harbor Feight. $10 for the air hammer, and $39 for the blind riveting tool. From what I've seen those prices can't really be beat.

Looks like I will be replacing the outside rub rails at least on one side but I can't find close matches to the originals. Anyone have success finding similar rub rails for their rigs? Taco Marine seems to have plenty of styles and some would potentially work but they sure are pricey.

Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend and again thanks for all the help!

-Dylan

 

[mbroughton02]

Not sure if the Chief has the same rub rails as my super sport, but I got the rubber insert from Wefco rubber. Profile 0101G.

 

[BWR1953]

I started out with the Jasco stripper and struggled with it mightily. :grumpy:

But recently I switched to Kleen Strip Aircraft Paint Remover and that made all the difference in getting the hull stripped. The aircraft stripper was much more effective and far more tolerant of temperature variations. After I started using the AS, the paint just slid right off the boat.

VERY cool pic of your lighted Chief!! :encouragement:

 

[Decker83]

I have both the air rivet gun and the air hammer for HF. Need to turn the air way down to use the air hammer for solid rivets. The rivet gun works great..
Have a great week..

 

[Watermann]

Nice progress, your really tearing into her. So yeah that's not salt, that's corrosion and it has to be cleaned off the inner AL skin, the pitting filled and prime/paint to prevent future corrosion.

 

[Fat Helen]

Yeeeup it is for sure corrosion. After cleaning up the transom skin I did notice areas that had some pretty deep pitting. Only one spot where it seemed to wear through slightly.

What's everybody's favorite filler for aluminum pitting?

 

[nrf414]

As I understand it most guys use marine tex or JB weld on transoms. Easy to use and sands well.

As for paint stripper, I tried quite a few FWIW and Rustoleum Aircraft remover worked best for me. Temp is also important as previously stated. Citristrip worked well. 3m Safest Stripper did not work. Maybe as a paper weight. Klean Strip did not work well either but I did not try their aircraft formula. 3 gallons is about right. Let the stripper do the work. And brushes work well around rivet heads and to clean up primer haze.

NICE start so far looking forward to following your progress through this OB chief.

 

[Watermann]

Marine Tex is what I used on my Chief, had some really ugly pitting with some clear through.