1972 Starcraft Chieftain restoration

[boatnut74]

I went out and bought a 22' Starcraft Chieftain with the 165hp mercruiser inline six. Originally I was going to use it over the summer and then fix up over winter but decided to do a complete restore.

here are some pic of the boat when I picked it up.

I started tearing the floor out. While i was drilling rivets out i was poking about the transom and its alot softer then I originally thought

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[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

I did a little more tear down today. I removed some wiring, drilled some more rivets and unscrewed some more screws. I have to admit, this is a big project and is a little intimidating but I have full faith I will have it done by retirement (I'm 23 ) I dont get much time to work on it as I have been working 12 hour days but hopefully I can have it ready for paint by the end of the year. I'm thinking blue and white. Still looking to score a 4.3, alpha one for a good price, time will tell.

Could I get one of the mods to help me move this to the resto section? Thanks!

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

I guess if im going this far I will just do a full restore.

All or nothin man! I think you made a great choice.

Still looking to score a 4.3, alpha one

You'll want to keep a very close eye on this project then...

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=450122

as you'll have some fancy footwork to rig motor mounts.

Nice work man!

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Yep, been following that one for awhile now. Wish I had all those resources at my disposal.

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Well today I got half the cabin wall out, hopefully I can get the other half tomorrow. I feel I had a productive day anyway. I got my Gluvit and Epoxy ordered, and i got some aluminum angle ordered as well. I even went and bought some new power tools to make the rebuild a little easier . I picked up some Auruca ply about a week ago so i should be ready to start rebuilding if I ever get it tore apart :facepalm:.

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Well I got the other half of the cabin wall pulled out today along with another piece of floor. Slow progress but I'm in no hurry.

This is if you are laying in the cabin looking up. Not sure what they had going on here but it will get repaired properly.

This is port side seat box inside the cabin. I have no idea why they would of cut it like this. At this point im thinking take them out (3 rivets that go through outside of hull) I will have to tig weld these holes up. I would then rebuild with wood. Any thoughts on this? Good idea, bad idea or am i just plain nuts?

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

This is port side seat box inside the cabin. I have no idea why they would of cut it like this. At this point im thinking take them out (3 rivets that go through outside of hull) I will have to tig weld these holes up. I would then rebuild with wood. Any thoughts on this? Good idea, bad idea or am i just plain nuts?

Great progress! Yah, couple of weird things going on there.

One thing for sure I'd be doing is thinking about ripping that wood grained tape stuff, yikes!

For that hatch there, I wouldn't take it off and weld. I'd just grab a piece of flat stock aluminum, pull the two sides together, and rivet the whole works together. I hope that makes sense. It would be plenty strong.

Keep on it!

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

By the way, taking a close look at your photos tells me that our hulls are basically identical. I'd say the difference is very straight forward with the Chief having (what looks to be) roughly an extra 2' of cabin space and the Islander having an extra 2' of deck space.

Rock on buddy!

 

[MichaelP]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Nice to see things are happening Boatnut.
I started a resto on a 18' Starchief and sold to a friend last year. Before I sold it I pulled all the remaining wood out of it. In order to get the 1/4 plywood (on floor) out in one piece I had to remove the cross brace the hinge is mounted to. I would remove everything except the the long pieces that run parallel the long axis of the boat. In other words; The formed L rivited to the hull that the bench tops land on. Rivit the rest back on later. I can't see why that cut piece can't be fixed as jas stated. Doubt that cut is a factory faux pas. Might be one of those deals where PO had a wild idea and gave up.

Second thought..Keep that vertical piece as is and attach your new wood to it. Repeat on starbord side. Make a new clean cut starting at the horizontal the hinge mounts to.

That wood grain reminds me of my dad's old station wagon. No more pics of that please

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

The only thing that concerns me about leaving those seat boxes in is that Im putting in 3/4 floor compared to factory 1/2. I don't think i could slip the thicker ply under those. Ill see if i get a wild hair this weekend and take them out. Sometimes i surprise myself!

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Yesterday I got the motor and drive pulled out. I was concerned the hoist wouldn't go high enough but I had plety of room. Also got some of the rails and ssuch pulled out. I then spent the rest of the day insulating the garage. Itchy all over, makes me glad I got a tin boat!

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[heyyou325]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

When you sit that engine back down, you may want something other than wood under it. 2X4 aluminum tubing isn't too expensive, and won't rot near as fast. Looks as tho you've got your work cut out for you for awhile.

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

When you sit that engine back down, you may want something other than wood under it. 2X4 aluminum tubing isn't too expensive, and won't rot near as fast. Looks as tho you've got your work cut out for you for awhile.

The aluminum tubing is a good idea, never thought of that. Im going to try to eliminate all of the wood i can when i rebuild. Im thinking about 2 years start to finish but we all know how that goes!!

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

I started stripping some of the paint today. Originally I was just going to sand to break the glaze on the old paint and then prime and paint but decided to go this route. Im using Kleenstrip aircraft stripper and it works pretty well. The only thing I noticed is that it doesnt bubble up like it did when i used it while restoring an old truck. I have to scrape it all off but it comes off pretty good anyway as long as you dont let it dry.

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

I worked on stripping some more paint today. It was quite a bit cooler today so i had more time to let the stripper work. It was about 85 yesterday compared to 60 today . Its supposed to be cooler on sunday so i'm going to try to get as much done as possible. As you can see in the picture I also found a great place to store that 9.9 Johnson kicer that originally came on the Chieftain .

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

You have more guts than me BN! I was singing "this is the hull that never ends, it goes on and on and on" when I was sanding the Islander. Stripping would have taken me to loonie land

Good progress buddy

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

I think the stripping goes alot faster than sanding would. I have about an hour in what I have done so far. Most of my sanding will occur after the boats been primered to fill in the low spots, scratches, etc.

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

I pretty much finished the starboard side today. I just have a few spots to go back over.For most of the paint it takes to coats of the stripper. What I found that works best is apply the first coat amd use a putty knife to scrape it off. The second coat I do a small section at a time. I let it sit about about 15 min then I use a scrub brush and scrub the paint/stripper off using soapy water then rinse well. It looks very shiny . I kind of like it. Going to do the port side tomorrow.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

That looks awesome! Excellent job BN!

 

[heyyou325]

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

Re: 1972 starcraft chieftain

That looks great that way. Never really cared for bare aluminum, but that has potential.