Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

[GT1000000]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Hi fishingron,

I just came aboard to watch and learn as you tackle this cool looking restoration and bring it back to life...

Very nice looking boat!

GT1M

 

[proshadetree]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Very cool boat. I love the lines on them. Are you going to repower or keep the original mill?

 

[fishingron]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Hi,
Thanks, I like the boat too!!
I do plan on keeping the engine, I will be getting a mechanic to check it and the outdrive out first to see if all is good, if it is, then I will go full steam ahead with the restore, and if they are no good, then look for a used engine suitable for the boat.

 

[fishingron]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Hi I have a new question......for all of you who have restored big boats that are not easy to flip over to sand/paint the bottom of the hulls.......do you have any ideas???? At the present time, I do not have a garage or shelter to put the boat in so I was thinking of getting the boat (22ft) off the trailer and resting on blocks high enough that I could get underneath and do my work. I guess once I am ready to paint, I was just have to move the boat off the original block positions and paint those areas, then I would be done.
Is that how most of you do this?
Just looking for your ideas on this.....I can not see being able to flip this boat even on its side with that big cabin on it, I think blocking it up is the only way to do it.

Thanks,
Ron

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Hey Ron, Sounds like you have a pretty good plan there. If you have a pair of stout trees near by...

 

[Buckeyedude]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

First off......cool rebuild! Its amazing how much style and class those old boats have! Good luck and have fun!
Look up your local tractor supply, and see if you can have some of the extra square blocks of foam from thier trailer deliveries! This might help you keep it off of the ground some. The way jasoutside did his was pretty ingenuitive!

 

[rheagler]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Hi Ron. Jason's tree method is definitely a good one, however if you can possibly lift from above, even from a tree or 2 you could kinda roll it on it's side. I had the luxury of a warehouse with a steel beam above and rolled it on it's side on a few tires. I used a big nylon ratchet strap around the back and another on the bow eye. I pinched the rear strap to shift it to one side where I attached the chain hoist. Did the first side of the bottom then shifted the straps and lifted the other side. If I hadn't had the warehouse available I probably would have put a couple posts up in the yard with some bracing and a beam and lifted from that. Back in the day I used to set up pipe scaffold to pull car engines when trees weren't available. I'm sure you'll come up with something. I hope this was helpful at least to start the thinking process.

 

[fishingron]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

That looks very cool!!
I do have access to some tall utility poles that I could temporarily put in the ground in one part of the yard and most likely strap it up off the air somehow like that too, I appreciate the ideas, it is helping me think on a most appropriate way to do this given my yard and space.
By the way, nice looking boat and great prep work!!! Did you sand the hull or did you use a walnut blaster???

 

[rheagler]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Thanks Ron. I stripped the paint with Zip-Strip. Then used a drill mounted brass coated wire wheel, then sanded with 150, then wet sanded with 220, then 320. Then I polished with "Blue Magic" metal polish with a random orbit polisher, then Sharkhide protector. It was a lot of work, and looks better in the pics than real life. To see some real first class stripping/polishing check out threads by BigHoss and DozerII. There are others as well. They are all here... http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=494143
If you haven't found them yet, forgive me if you have. Lots of great info there.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Yah, the tip method works pretty well...

 

[fishingron]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Well, I have been busy trying to set up some kind of shelter, there was a sale on, I bought another portable garage by Shelter logic....it is 12 ft wide, 10ft high and 24ft long. I am going to build it on top of a small wall to get some more height out of it.
As well, I have a question in prepping the outdrive for new paint..... I was trying to remove the top plate on the out drive so I use my hand grinder with a brass wire wheel to remove the paint on it.....it went well, my question is can I continue to use the wire wheel like that to remove all of the old layers of paint on the aluminum???? Will I hurt the aluminum in any way? I am really taking it easy on it, just was taking my time, the wheel really works well. I know some people have used sandpaper but the paint looks so thick, the wheel would be easier. Here are the photos.....by the way, I posted this under my thread in the mercruiser section....but is there an easy way to get those 4 philips head bolts off, I tried, penetrating oil, no luck, do I need to get an impact gun on those???
Here are the photos....

Thanks,
Ron

 

[GT1000000]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Try one of these... http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/c-174-impact-driver-manual.aspx

Might be able to rent or borrow one from your local auto parts store...

 

[fishingron]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Well, it has been a while, been doing some planning, bought some air tools, air socket set got working on the engine removing the starter, coil etc but decided to start tearing the floor out on the advise of our local Starcraft dealership to look for stress cracked rib ends to see if I want to go any further on this boat restoration.

Look at the grime on the hull.....I wonder if it is 40yrs of dirt or if it is some kind of tar or something from the factory at the time of build because the styrofoam looked sprayed with the same stuff as you can see in the pictures. What do you think?

 

[fishingron]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

I can scrape it off, but there must be a better way.....hot water, power washer etc.

 

[fishingron]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Now, look what I found, I found some rib end cracking, this rib is on the port side only on the one rib. The hull is not cracked at all. You can see the crack where the arrows are marked on the hull. I can see the rib under the floor right next to the cabin wall, it looks cracked too, I do not see any yet on the starboard side. I did some thread searching and saw how someone repaired this with an aluminum plate. Basically, drilling the top 4-5 inches of rivets on all main ribs centre of the boat, making steel bars up and prying the ribs up in order to rivet in a aluminum plate. Under the plate is tons of 5200.
Question: If it is only the rib end that is cracked, could I not just get someone to weld only the rib itself, as in weld up the crack and that is it OR since it is all apart with the floor out go with the plate and really reinforce this thing to prevent any further flexing.

Another picture trying to get closer up....

The Starcraft dealer is telling me I would have to totally remove each affected rib in the whole area, put the plate in and re rivet in the ribs. My biggest worry is messing with the original factory rivets, How would I ever rivet new rivets into the hull and ribs, do I need a special air rivet gun for this adventure??? It is a little depressing here.....I sure do not want to scrap this whole project because of these rib end cracks. I am desperate for any ideas to help me fix this,,,,,PLEASE!!!

 

[fishingron]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

I also have another question, I have been doing some research on different rivets, what kind of rivets are used by the manufacturer and how are they installed? The rivets in the photo do not look like the rivets you use in a usual rivet gun. I am really looking for some help on this,
Thanks,
Ron

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

No an expert but I did replace a few dozen on my smokercraft hull, same rivet style as yours, borrowed the tools from my marine store, got the rivets from them too. Just do all of them at one time on the boat and get a few extra rivets, there are some that you may want to re-do, but they really are easy.

It's a 2 person job, and they are easy as pie to do, don't be concerned about that part of the project. Looking at those cracks, I guess I don't see the concern you do at the end of your ribs. Heck unless you have a leak or something, I wouldn't even bother to fix that, it looks like normal wear and tear on a boat of that age. But I'm sure others will inform you on that and how critical it is.

 

[Grandad]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

I'm no expert either. If you're lucky, you don't get too much experience repairing your hull. It sounds like you've already visited my rebuild site (in my signature). My cracking was more severe than yours, so I wouldn't be alarmed. As greenbush says, the rivets are relatively easy to do with a buddy's help. You've already got some air tools, so you're halfway home there too. I would definitely take the time now to reinforce the hull at the ends of the ribs. Those cracks indicate that the hull has been flexing and the stress has probably work-hardened the aluminum in this area and caused the cracking. If you do nothing, the hull skin itself will begin to crack as it no longer has an intact rib supporting it. Over the years and different models, Starcraft used various methods to strengthen the ends of the ribs, from small tabs at each rib to longer L shaped reinforcing structures across multiple ribs. If your hull is not already cracked, it may not be necessary to remove rivets and patch the hull. I think that if you add structural strength with an L shaped aluminum sheet as I did on the tops of the ribs, you'll substantially reduce the flexing. That's what I'm betting on anyway with mine. - Grandad

 

[fishingron]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

Hi,
Grandad....Thanks for responding to my thread!!!! Yes, it was your thread that I saw and it was so great to see the pictures of how you went about fixing your ribs and hull. At this point I do not see any rips in the hull but I agree while it will be all apart, I would like to strengthen that section of ribs/hull. By the way, on your boat, with the hull splitting, what did you do to seal it on the outside, did you cover that up on the outside with a patch too??
This evening I tore out the whole cuddy cabin and part of the floor in it. The last part is proving to be interesting......Question: How do I remove the cabin's main wall??? It looks like the wood is within an aluminum track at the top of the wall and immediately under the roof (the track is riveted into the roof of the cabin) but at the floor the wall is not attached to anything. The wall will move at the bottom but is solid at the top. Any tricks to take this out would be great because it is preventing me from taking out the last section of decking.
Here in this picture if you look at the top of the cabin wall, you can see the aluminum track that I am talking about. I have looked at some other threads, it appears no one has removed that track to get the wall out. Looking for ideas on this please.

 

[ErikF]

Re: Wow!!! My next restore....1968 or 1967 Starcraft Chieftan aluminum boat

To remove the cuddy wall you need to remove the door first, then remove the trim around the door and the small section of wood above the door opening, with both of these pieces removed you begin to pry the two wall sections towards the center of the boat, once the wall sections are free from the brackets/gunnels you can kick them out at the bottom (towards the stern) and they'll slide out of the top channel.

I hope that makes sense...