My Chieftan project

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Weep'n Willy

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Hello to all on these forums. Long time reader, first time poster. Fell upon this beast a few months ago and after looking it over real good and describing all the faults to the seller I was able to drop his price down over $1500 down to the 3 digit range. It is listed as 24' and will certainly make a good big water boat for Lk Huron and Lk Michigan. Do not know the year it was made so will have to do some more research on that. This will be my 5th boat, started with a 14 Alum Starcraft, then went to 18' Mariner, then a 22' Islander, now own a (please spare me the grief on this one :) ) a 19 Thompson - yep, a glasser. The glass will be going on the sale block with the Chieftan being my big water boat when finished.

Overall the hull is in great condition, a few minor scratches but no big dings or dents. Does not leak water but received the Coat-it and will do the hull with it for self reassurance. The transom was trashed and when I pulled it if flaked apart better than any pop and fresh buns from the oven. Some of the flooring was rotted as the cabin walls. It sports a Mercruiser 140 which is more than adequate for my use as I am a big water troller and can throttle them down and quite economical on fuel. I have ran the engine both in the boat and now out, but now that I have it out I have started to tear it down and do a go thru. As a mechanic by trade this is certainly the easy part.

Some days I get some work done on her, others I will sit or walk around it or sit in it and visualize what I may do to her. That after all is half the fun of these projects isn't it?? I am hoping to have it completed by the spring, my buddy that once owned a body shop will do the hull painting. I can say I love the older boats but the colors of those days just don't quite excite me.

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Will post more pics later, got to get up in the morning and head out to the big water and see if we can catch a few salmon or browns.
 

InMotion

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Nov 3, 2011
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Re: My Chieftan project

Congrat's man!!! Nice biggggg boat! That'll be an interesting project this winter to watch.... enjoy! :)

IM
 

cj8mule

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Apr 7, 2012
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Re: My Chieftan project

That is a great looking boat. Should be alot of fun rebuilding that big girl!
 

jasoutside

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Dec 20, 2009
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Re: My Chieftan project

A good running Merc, 24' Chief hull in great shape and a real nice tandem trailer, for $1500?

Excellent!:D
 

Stevens520

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Jul 26, 2011
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Re: My Chieftan project

Congrats on the new boat and welcome to the madness!:)
 

Deadwood

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Re: My Chieftan project

Congrats W&W! Have fun....you'll find the resources here invaluable.;)
 

shadetree_fish

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Re: My Chieftan project

Some days I get some work done on her, others I will sit or walk around it or sit in it and visualize what I may do to her. That after all is half the fun of these projects isn't it??

I do the same thing, like since last night when it started raining, rain til midday tomaro...

Congrats, Nice boat I like that beast!!! :)
 

Weep'n Willy

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Re: My Chieftan project

A good running Merc, 24' Chief hull in great shape and a real nice tandem trailer, for $1500?

Excellent!:D

Actually I paid less than a grand, got him to drop the price over 1500. Sometimes ya just got to wheel and deal.

No work on the boat today but did get out on Lk Huron and bagged a few steelhead :) :)

PS9-29.jpg
 

jasoutside

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Re: My Chieftan project

Ah sheesh, I just re read, you were into the hundreds range on this boat, awesome!:D

Ah man, nice catch!! Details on the fish hunt please! Where abouts were ya? You had a heck of a beautiful day for it today!:)

I'd like to think I can sneak in a few big water trips before serious cold weather comes our way.
 

Weep'n Willy

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Re: My Chieftan project

Fished out of Pt Sanilac, if you look at your map starting at the tip of the thumb - Pt Austin, follow shoreline south past Harbor Beach...the next Pt is Sanilac. Spoons and body baits in the top 30 fow over 60 to 70' water. We saw several on the surface today chasing shiners and getting their fill. All fish caught today were very acrobatic and did a lot of leaping and tail walking. Still some time left in the season to get out there.
 

jasoutside

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Re: My Chieftan project

Heck WW, you are due east of me by a reasonable drive. Maybe we can get our big tin rigs out on Huron next summer for some walleye/steelhead/salmon eh?:)
 

Weep'n Willy

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Re: My Chieftan project

Yes, we are not too far apart, takes me just over an hour to get to the launch at the mouth of the Saginaw river. I do try to hit the bay up a few time a year for some eyes but mainly hit up the big water every weekend. Plus toss in a couple trips to Frankfort every year.
 

tgp***

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Re: My Chieftan project

Nice! I like good deals. Makes it even more fun. Good luck with the boat.
 

Weep'n Willy

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Re: My Chieftan project

Ok, now back to the tear down. First thing off was the outdrive. Bellows all looked good as I was told they had been replaced last year. Next removed the top plate over the transom area. Unhook the wiring from the motor. PO said he had done some rewiring, wow, what a mess. He said he was going to put dual batteries in but obviously used too small wire for that. Will redo the wiring myself. Pulled the seat boxes and seats out of her. Those ugly things will not return, looked like someone took office chairs and used the pedestal and put boat seats on them.. oh boy. Removing the 2 seat boxes revealed 2 18 gal fuel tanks dated in the 90's. Good deal, newer tanks and in great shape.

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Noticed that some of the fuel hoses were spliced together....no..no...no. They also had left the old lines from tank to engine attached in their original position but cut them off.....why not just remove them. The new lines from the tanks were just laid behind the side wall and had rub and wear spots, not a good thing to get a leak while underway.

b7.jpg


Got my picker in the boat and got the engine lifted of the mounts and sat on the floor. Put the picker on the ground and lifted the engine up and out. Pulled the boat out of the way and dropped her in my lawn tractor garden cart. Off to the garage.

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Now with engine out transom is ready to come out.

c5.jpg


Took out all screws that were in the transom, put a strap in the outdrive hole and up and out comes the transom.

c2.jpg


I have seen some bad wood before but this transom flaked better than any pop and fresh bun.

c3.jpg


Next step was getting the floor out.
 

jasoutside

Supreme Mariner
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Re: My Chieftan project

Excellent tear out progress there WW;) Nice you are able to save some dough with those two nice tanks there:D
 

Weep'n Willy

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Re: My Chieftan project

So got the engine into the garage, checked her over real good, wired it up for sound, hooked up the water and let er rip. A little tweaking on the carb and well you guess it........purred like a kitten.



Now this shot is what I consider very important besides taking a buttload of pictures. Zip lock baggies with bolts, nuts, etc, labeled where they were removed from. This could save a lot of frustrations later down the road, especially if your long term memory is not always up to snuff. :) Honestly after working on equipment all day at work, sometimes one bolt may elude me on where it went so have to observe and debate a few minutes to figure out where I took it out from.

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Ok, now the flooring from the motor area removed.

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More flooring removed..

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Foam removed!

d1.jpg


So.......black crap on the hull mostly hard but some a bit tacky......must have been the reason for newer tanks, I can only assume a leak that ate into some of the Styrofoam and probably mixed with oil in the bilge = black mess. All appears to be original flooring and foam so nobody ever went any further to investigate......
 

matt167

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Re: My Chieftan project

Unless I'm mistaken, that yellow color puts it at about a '73. My dad bought a '73 21' with a 140 Merc in the late 90's. A tree had fallen on it, and squirrls had ravaged the interior, but it was complete. My mom thought my dad was crazy when we went there to get it, but it took about 6 months and we got it back to a fishable condition, which included straightening the cabin roof, new windows, some of the floors were replaced but the transom was ok so it was left in. He later redid some more of the interior, eliminated the sink and rewired it, but in the end he bought another boat, and it sat for 2 years and he ended up selling it cheap
 

dozerII

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Re: My Chieftan project

Great boat WW, your making great progress on the tear down. Motor sound good as well.
 

Weep'n Willy

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Re: My Chieftan project

Thanks for narrowing down the dating Matt, PO said 70 something, I kinda figured early in the 70's.
 
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