Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

[laurentide]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

EDIT - forgot about the rib ends. Looks like they got butchered to help drop the floor in those places, Mine are all flattened for the floor to rest on.

OK, that's great info. Thanks very much.

 

[Teamster]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

Is there enough room for a under floor fuel tank???

That would free up some space at the back of the boat,.................

 

[laurentide]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

Is there enough room for a under floor fuel tank???

That would free up some space at the back of the boat,.................

Teamster, there is enough room, but, mostly in the interest of simplicity, I'm going to put it back where it was (splashwell area). That's a little more room for foam, too. Thanks.

 

[laurentide]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

I got all the demo work done today, and it's really nice to have a clean slate...well, it's still dirty, as I didn't have enough time today to pressure wash. Hopefully that'll happen Tuesday.

Managed to get all the hardware off...had to bust out the grinder on a couple of corroded screws.

I'm not messin' with the cabin setup this year:

 

[laurentide]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

I've got to say, I love the clean look with the rails removed...but they're pretty cool, too. They also help keep the driver and passenger inside the boat.

I'm kind of wondering what's going on here...inside shot:

Outside:

Anyway, I really didn't think I'd be considering it at this point, but is it time to prep for paint? She's off the trailer and will never be lighter than she is right now. I have to wait for the magic 60F to do any paint or epoxy work, but it seems like now is the time to get everything ready. I wasn't originally going to do anything to the topside, but I got carried away with hardware stripping and I'm just going to go for it. And now I have to face my color scheme indecision. Suggestions are welcome.

Thanks guys!

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

Well that looks much more better! A good blasting from the pressure washer and you'll be ready to go to work.

You can prep for paint any time, and now is as good a time as any... prep for the Gluvit while you're at it.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

Judging by the "kilroy" factory writing in the cabin, she's an 18' Chieftain for sure. That looks like a factory patch in the bow. A matching one on the other side?

Now is a great time to think paint. All the hardware off now and once you get her back together, paint will kinda slip to the side. Cuz you will be on the water.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

Doesn't look like a factory patch, it's only on the 1 side:

And don't look like factory rivets:

Is that 2 discolorations of a possible repair just above the chine along the stern end of the patch?

 

[laurentide]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

Well that looks much more better! A good blasting from the pressure washer and you'll be ready to go to work.

You can prep for paint any time, and now is as good a time as any... prep for the Gluvit while you're at it.

jig, anything beyond a scrub and PW to prep for gluvit?

Judging by the "kilroy" factory writing in the cabin, she's an 18' Chieftain for sure. That looks like a factory patch in the bow. A matching one on the other side?

Now is a great time to think paint. All the hardware off now and once you get her back together, paint will kinda slip to the side. Cuz you will be on the water.

GB, just that one patch on the port side, and, yeah, it does look factory. Maybe Kilroy had a boo-boo.

And yes, if I don't do it now the topside paint will never get done, 'cause it doesn't have to get done at all.

I'm thinkin' white below the top chine, navy above, and all white on top. I should probably take the WS off, too. Would you guys put vinyl on the area within the windshield? Not sure myself, but it would be more "finished" if I did that.

Having her all opened up made me have crazy thoughts about the cuddy door. I have one of the aluminum ones with glass sliders and a screen, and it's totally useable, but I can't think of a scenario in which it wouldn't be in the way. Soooooo, I'm thinking about having a very narrow bulkhead on the port side (the cabin needs lateral support), and at some point having someone make a snap-in canvas flap. If theft isn't a concern, is there a reason that this would be a bad idea? Muchas gracias amigos.

 

[laurentide]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

Doesn't look like a factory patch, it's only on the 1 side:

And don't look like factory rivets:

Is that 2 discolorations of a possible repair just above the chine along the stern end of the patch?

JB, I'll try to get some more shots of this in better light. I checked the interior area and everything looks solid, so I'm hoping this is just a good patch job by some PO.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

It looks like a GREAT patch, so no worries there, I wouldn't think.
Nice think about a tin boat, easy to patch well w/ fairly simple tools/materials & no ainkiller:

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

The patch rivets seem to match the factory rivets and it looks like the patch is tied in with the bottom to side rivets, as well as matching the hull perfectly too. If it's not from the assembly line, someone did a darn good job. Going by the pic, of course.

On your door, I've always wondered why SC didn't use a slider. Would have been a neater install and no need for all the swing room of a hinged door. In lieu of a door, a cloth hatch cover should work, unless as you said, theft isn't a concern.

EDIT - paint scheme sounds simple and good.

 

[laurentide]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

GB, I've been racking my brain for any way to install a slider, but, because of the drop between the main deck and the cabin deck, and the aluminum frame of the berths being right against the bulkhead, it just doesn't work. I think for me, having it simply be open all the time would be preferable to a nuisance that I don't really need.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

I may be wrong but don't the rivets in the upper left corner of the patch look like open ended rivets that have been filled? The 1 rivet in the center of the top row & the 1 at the top right corner too...

Go up to where CW 1st posted the exterior patch shot, right click on the pix & copy it. Then right click & paste it in a reply window. Although it gets posted in your reply the same size as his pix, its HUGE until you post the reply. Makes it much easier to see the 2 slight imperfections on the right side of the patch & the weird looking heads on a few rivets that make me think not factiory.

Same w/ the shot of the patch on the inside, which does have the square shouldered head similar to a factory rivet, so I could be wrong. The discoloration on the right side of the exterior was really what made me think it was damage repaired by a PO or shop.

It does look like a very well done repair, so no worries really..

 

[laurentide]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

Although it gets posted in your reply the same size as his pix, its HUGE until you post the reply.

I think that's an imgur thing...they support high res images but re-size for forum post copy/paste.

 

[laurentide]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

You guys must have these days: I was out working on the boat a little after the sun came up this morning, and all of a sudden it was 5 pm and I'm still wrestling with the carburetor on my pressure washer. I did manage to get all the glass and frames out of the boat, and as good a power wash as possible in fading daylight. The limber holes are all clear, and the boat is much less dingy, but I'm going to need something a little more powerful than water to cut some of the bilge residue. Any suggestions on a good cleaner for this?

Just some baby step pics...not nearly as much moss growing on her now:

I haven't really hit the hull exterior with the PW yet. Maybe tomorrow after my leak test.

An amusing anecdote: I took the lower WS (the cracked plexi one) to a local glass place to see what they could do (not much, it turns out...they'll cut it but won't bend it...hope I can figure that out). So I was talking to the sales guy, and he asked what boat it was from. Turns out he has an 18' Holiday...

...which is for sale, and this is one of the ads I posted over on the Starcraft on CL/ebay thread: 18' starcraft holiday

That's the weird stuff that happens in a tiny state.

Any tips on removing the old epoxy from the bilge seams? Not sure if that's a factory thing or a previous deck rebuild, or if I should worry about it. Thanks guys.

EDIT: You'll have to excuse my glass hull dumpster (as will my neighbors ). I'm just waiting 'till I know what I need to keep/trash from the SC.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

You need a turbo tip to go in that pressure washer wand, it'll cut that crud out of there.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

+1 on the turbo tip... Works GREAT.. or at least it does on the 3750psi pressure washer at work

 

[ben2go]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

Go slow and heat the plex with a cheapo HF heat gun on low and about 10 inches away from it.Keep it moving.Don't blow heat right on one spot or it'll get wavy.As the plex heats up it will start to sag.Gently coax it into place,gently.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Rough and ready '74 Starcraft Chieftan 18' rebuild

You need a turbo tip to go in that pressure washer wand, it'll cut that crud out of there.

And whatever this doesn't get, don't worry about.