Inherited a Chieftain with hull problems

[brewforyou]

I am new to the Starcraft boat land. This is because my grandfather informed me that heis giving me a starcraft chieftan, just because he wants it gone. I believe that it is a 1974-75 22ft with an I/O. I went and looked it over to see what it will take to get it back on the trailer. he took it off to get the the trailer refinished (which never happened). I noticed that where the boat sat on the bunks there is some corrosion and electrolosis that has occured and caused some hole. It is only where the bunks where and they range in size from 3/8" to over one inch. About the only thing i can see doing is having a strip of aluminum welded to cover all of this up on the outside of the boat. I know that the boat spent the majority of it's life in the salt water, since it originally belonged to my great grandmother. i will be using it on fresh water however. This is just the prilimanary check over the boat and am just looking for all of my possibilitieswith this problem. I still need to do a full evaluation of the motor and outdrive and everything else. I know its been sitting for at least 10 years maybe longer, but it has been inside. Thanks for all your help and will post pictures as soon as i can.

 

[elkhunter338]

Re: Inherited a Chieftain with hull problems

If it was my boat I would pull the whole floor up so you can see the holes from the inside and the out. And see how much corrosion is in the rest of the boat. May not be sound enough to fix. I bet the transmon alum is also thin.
If it looks like localized stops are bad I would take it to a good alum welding shop and have them weld patches on the hull, fill up with some water and check for leaky rivits and such.
Probably your floor and transome are all rotted anyway and need replaced.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Inherited a Chieftain with hull problems

Hey brew, welcome to iboats!

Yah, some photos would be helpful to check out the corrosion. Having inside and outside access would be key here.

Cheers!

 

[Gnarly]

Re: Inherited a Chieftain with hull problems

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=350280

Here's my thread on how I repaired my hull damage due to corrosion, I fish in the salt exclusively with it these days and its been a bullet proof repair. You might want to consider a similar technique ??

 

[KellyC]

Re: Inherited a Chieftain with hull problems

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=350280

Here's my thread on how I repaired my hull damage due to corrosion, I fish in the salt exclusively with it these days and its been a bullet proof repair. You might want to consider a similar technique ??

Are those pop rivets that you used on your hull Gnarly? I checked your thread and did not see that you removed your transom and was wondering how in the world you got solid rivets to compress as they should if you did not.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Inherited a Chieftain with hull problems

....and if it has an OMC drive I may not bother fixing it.

 

[Gnarly]

Re: Inherited a Chieftain with hull problems

two rows of structural pull rivets, similar to a cherry, and the remainder self sealing pull rivets, all 5052 aluminum. Transom wood is like the day it left the factory so didnt bother to remove it.