Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

[csmith1975]

Very nice! You are a true craftsman.

 

[GA_Boater]

Happy Birthday celebration with cake and ice cream is in order, WM. arty:

A big change from then to now. And a lot of dead wasps, too. :rip: Splash should be getting close!

 

[Weep'n Willy]

She is coming along nicely. Before long she will be upon the waters.

 

[Watermann]

Thanks for cruising by my dry dock fellas and as always the kind words are much appreciated!

I've got 3 or 4 jobs on the Chief lined up to get knocked out this weekend and she should start to take shape real quick here in the near future.

 

[classiccat]

Congratulations Agua! I can't believe that it's been a year already!! Time flies when you're having fun!

 

[dozerII]

It's amazing how fast a year can go by when your rebuilding one of these boats. She has come a long way and looks great.

 

[Watermann]

Thanks Glen, it means a whole bunch to hear you say "looks great".

Mock up of my seat boxes and seating layout, sort of a break away from the other builds I've seen but she should work good for us since the Chief is meant to be a good times cruiser and not so much a fishing boat. The small folding seat is mounted on the hatch for the box storage.



Thanks for swinging by my dock!

 

[GA_Boater]

Shotgun!! Nice layout. Might not be the "norm" whatever that is, but if it works for you and the crew, it's perfect. :thumb: I want so much to see her on the water.

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Ah, very nice. I see you seats and pedestals showed up in a timely manner. Look good and should be very comfortable for ya.

 

[Watermann]

So I finally broke my home made metal brake and after seeing this rather heavy duty looking one at the Big R farm store I decided to drop the coin and get one. Thing weighs like 100 Lbs on the stand and look very well made although it was proudly stamped "Made in China".


So I start in bending a few small 4" long pieces of 080 AL into 90's and by the fourth piece this brake was so bent out of shape that it wouldn't bend a piece of tin foil. Now I have to load the POS up and haul it back to the store. There's a fatal design flaw that I could see and fix but this thing cost me $180 and there's no way I'm keeping it around.

 

[dozerII]

Some of the carp that is coming out of China is terrible. You would think that to save there reputation a store like Big R would make sure the product meets there expectations.

 

[Weep'n Willy]

That is why I avoid tools from HF and other such places. Too much junk out there and I can't afford to have my tools fail on the job.

 

[csmith1975]

That seating layout looks awesome. I was considering something like that after seeing the newer models. Now I think I am convinced that is the way to go. Do your rear facing seats swivel? I think I will want mine to swivel 90 degrees to the center of the boat. Seems like a great place for the grand kids.

 

[Watermann]

Morning Smitty, yeah I thought about the swivel too but without a pedestal that has a lock/stop I decided against it due to the seat being close enough to the side panels to cause damage to the vinyl.

 

[classiccat]

Seating looks awesome man! If you find yourself cruisin' by the east-coast...give me a holla!

Bummer on the brake!!

 

[csmith1975]

Morning Smitty, yeah I thought about the swivel too but without a pedestal that has a lock/stop I decided against it due to the seat being close enough to the side panels to cause damage to the vinyl.

After I posted that, I looked at the pics again....

Looks like the back of the seat would hit the side. That got me thinking, I got nothing.

 

[Watermann]

Tore into the wiring after securing the the seat boxes and seating in the port side. Daisy chained gauge cluster, I think my resto buddy was enjoying the job. Dash panel crafted out of 1/8" AL and all of the gauges are stainless, white face Faria chronos.

 

[csmith1975]

Holy shiny metal batman!:hypnotysed:

That is first class!!

 

[Watermann]

Some obstacles.

The dash board on the Chief's are a challenge being so small and awkward to place correctly so I cut the first one wrong. Steering cable from donor boat is about a foot too long so I have to order a new one now. I thought I marked all of the signal sending wires well but I didn't. Shifter cable is mounted up really high so I have to take it off, drill a hole through my transom cap support arch and thread it through. Mounted my controls a few inches to the stern too much... that's not getting moved.

Moving forward though.

 

[classiccat]

That dash is lookin' really sharp man!! A trip or 2 from the big brown truck, and you'll be on your way to the launch ramp baby!!! :thumb: