1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

[ezmobee]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

makes me unsure whether the Islander is really my favorite or not.

If you step inside the cabin of a 21' Chief......you'll know for sure

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

It wont tip its pretty secure.

I wont be stepping inside the boat while on these. I think thats to much stress on the hull while the stringers are out. I just put it on these to get the paint stripped. Ill put it back on the trailer when I start needing to get inside...

 

[j_k_bisson]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Looks to be coming along great. Anychance you check the rivets for leaks? When I did mine I had to replace 400+ of them. all the bottom ribs where loose. I do love these boats though. Any thoughts as to how you are going to paint her?

Here is how I did mine.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I am really glad you posted that up here Jeff, man you did a heck of a great job on that Chief! Great inspiration for Bruce's rig for sure!

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Looks to be coming along great. Anychance you check the rivets for leaks? When I did mine I had to replace 400+ of them. all the bottom ribs where loose. I do love these boats though. Any thoughts as to how you are going to paint her?

Here is how I did mine.

I have to get the paint off before I check for leaks. Its very thick and I would never be able to pinpoint a leak if there was one.

I was thinking of using long pedestals with footrests instead of building boxes for the front seats.

Anyone see any problems with that idea? The deck would be heavily reinforced where the pedestal mounts...

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I was thinking of using long pedestals with footrests instead of building boxes for the front seats.

Anyone see any problems with that idea? The deck would be heavily reinforced where the pedestal mounts...

I'm thinking that I might be able to swing that in my rig (barely) but I'd say your cabin would be way too tall. I think you'd be sitting on a telephone pole!

Edit: I just went over to Brett's Starchief, his is a smaller boat but it looks as though he has pedestals. Dunno, maybe you'd be ok???

 

[j_k_bisson]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I have to get the paint off before I check for leaks. Its very thick and I would never be able to pinpoint a leak if there was one.

I was thinking of using long pedestals with footrests instead of building boxes for the front seats.

Anyone see any problems with that idea? The deck would be heavily reinforced where the pedestal mounts...

I used paint stripper from home depot to strip mine. It took almost 5 gallons of the stuff to do the job. I counted 6 layers of paint on mine. I used the stripper and a hand held wire bursh to get it off clean. Anything left I used a flat razor blade to chip it off. Actually only took 3-4 days after work.

As to the fuel tanks Where would you put them then? The floor is too shallow for a standard tank. Only custom would fit. On mine the only tanks I could fit where in the boxes. Also The forces from that extra long pedisatal would exert on the floor would a ton when hitting waves and stuff. The other thing. I didn't put any seats in mine.

I normally drive standing up anyways. So didn't need them. For fishing I would just sit on the boxes. The pedisatals would be too tall for comfortable sitting without the boxes. Leggs dangling whn not on the foot rest. JMHO.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I like the boxes. Could add a lot of storage also. The seat setups in the new ones is PIMP

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I used paint stripper from home depot to strip mine. It took almost 5 gallons of the stuff to do the job. I counted 6 layers of paint on mine. I used the stripper and a hand held wire bursh to get it off clean. Anything left I used a flat razor blade to chip it off. Actually only took 3-4 days after work.

As to the fuel tanks Where would you put them then? The floor is too shallow for a standard tank. Only custom would fit. On mine the only tanks I could fit where in the boxes. Also The forces from that extra long pedisatal would exert on the floor would a ton when hitting waves and stuff. The other thing. I didn't put any seats in mine.

I normally drive standing up anyways. So didn't need them. For fishing I would just sit on the boxes. The pedisatals would be too tall for comfortable sitting without the boxes. Leggs dangling whn not on the foot rest. JMHO.

I have the best paint stripper that money can buy. You gotta go back and read what I have been dealing with as far as the paint on this boat. Its very,very thick. I almost have 9 full coats of stripper on the transom and its still not all off...

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I like the boxes. Could add a lot of storage also. The seat setups in the new ones is PIMP

Wow, that is super nice!

 

[Deadwood]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Mine came with these (believe it or not) old barstools. They spin 360 but don't move fore/aft so I bought one of these to experiment with: http://www.boatdepot.com/productdetails.aspx?part=20-1011
(I hinged the cabin door so it would pass the passenger seat easily..was a pain originally.)

Bruce, you're a big guy so this shouldn't be an issue for you but the stock footrest isn't tall enough for me (5'11") when sitting so I use a small foldable foot stool so my feet don't dangle...tackle boxes work too. When mooring or hauling arse somewhere I prefer to stand so being able to move the seat back should make standing behind the wheel easier/comfortable.

My boys have gunboats for feet so when they're along footroom becomes an issue. The cabin becomes gear storage headquarters on those trips.

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

That is what Im looking to do right there, except I want to use adjustable height and for and aft adjustment. I really like the round portal window...

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Well my phone went off today with the Craigslist Notifier App and I jumped. I bought this 1992 Bayliner Classic for 300 bucks. It has a locked up 3.0 engine with a new manifold and an outdrive in pretty good shape. The thing I am most impressed with is the trailer. This guy put all new components up front and brand new wheel bearings. He said He just bought this boat in October and was told that the engine was fine and that it just needed a new manifold. The guy bought a new manifold and rebuilt the trailer, then found out that the engine was cracked. He got mad and sold it to me. This is the first boat I have bought with a solid deck. (rock Solid)

I am not going to use any of the outdrive parts on my Chieftain but the money I make parting this out will add more money to the restoration fund. Ill have this baby totally stripped and the hull hauled to the dump tomorrow...

 

[Triton II]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Nice score on the "donor" boat Alpheus.

TII

 

[proshadetree]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

No dot junk the Baylinner no I cant stand to watch

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

No dont junk the Bayliner no I cant stand to watch.

Well She is stripped. It took me about 4 hours to get it done. I got the whole wiring harness out without cutting one wire along with the fuse block. That will come in handy in the Chieftain as the original is pretty old.

The engine turns over and has good spark I cant find any cracks and the head looks perfect. I ran a compression test and 3 out of 4 had above 140 psi but #2 had only 60 psi. I cleaned everything up and I am getting it ready to sell.

I have torn apart lots of Bayliners and I have never seen one that was so meticulously wired as this one. The wires were laid out perfect with lots of clamps and strain reliefs. Someone did this one right. Many of the ones I seen the wires are twisted and kind of just thrown in there.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I might be interested in those low profile bow rails if you don't want 'em.

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I wasn't planning on taking them off but if you want them you can have them...

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

I wasn't planning on taking them off but if you want them you can have them...

Thanks Bruce! I think they might look cool on my hull and I really don't like my current ones.

 

[Alpheus]

Re: 1969 Starcraft Chieftain Restoration

Thanks Bruce! I think they might look cool on my hull and I really don't like my current ones.

PM me your shipping info. I will ship the via Fedex. I get a 75% discount with them but only if I ship them 2 day air. So you will get hem pretty quick...