Starchief 1965 restoration

[Jeffjessing]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration


More pics from today. Note to self: don't use my phone to upload pictures. This post and previous didn't work so well!:grumpy:

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

Nice find on the older cabin boat. They definitely have an unique appearance that catch your eye. Good luck on the rebuild and yes, plenty of pics is required. I used the Coat-It on my Chieftain....seems to be pretty good stuff. I slathered it along all the seams and than over the individual rivets in the hull. Just be sure to use a sturdy brush to apply it with and not a cheapo plastic handle one as it will break!

 

[Jeffjessing]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

I have been making good progress on this boat. Although I have ran into a concern with the angled transom supports.
The very top of each of my angled supports for my transom are fractured. There are 6 bolts on each of the three supports and the top two bolts on all are in a fractured section. The other four bolts on each are nice and secure to the transom. See the photos. Otherwise I think the transom looks ok and I was not going to replace it. What is your expert opinion on these fractures and if I should incur the cost and time to pull the transom and fix these? Is there an easy but proper fix for this problem? Is this a common issue on old (1965 starcraft starchief) aluminum boats? Any help would be of value. Thanks.
View attachment 210448View attachment 210449

 

[Yeonik]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

Those angled pieces are called knee braces, and they broke for a reason. I would double check that transom again ;/

As for a fix I bet you could get away with a couple pieces of aluminum - bolt them in on the six bolts and rivet them into the knee braces? Hopefully I explained myself well enough =D

 

[barato2]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

yes, good plan on your hull prep. no need to cover areas between rivets and seams unless you have pinholes in the Al.

yes, that's a common problem on all old tinnies. wood transom begins to bow, usually due to rot, from weight of motor and then knee braces crack. before you decide your transom is usable "as is", pull corner caps and check for rot, poke sharp tool in near bottom of trans wood, and lay straightedge against trans top edge to check for bowing. you prolly need to replace transom altho i agree it does look decent in pix. once trans is replaced, or if you decide to use it as is, you can add reinf to the knee braces by riveting in some extruded Al angle.

 

[Jeffjessing]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

Thank you for the confirmation on the hull prep. After hearing peoples thoughts on the transom and knee braces I will pull the motor and replace the transom. While I have the transom out, I will have the knee braces welded and beefed-up with extra aluminum plates. A local boat shop uses a welder that they claim has lots of experience with welding aluminum boats.

I do have one question about the removal of the motor (johnson 112 hp). I will built a moveable motor mount (as seen online) and use a automobile floor jack (secured to a 2x4) to lift the motor off the transom (with a couple of people balancing the motor on the bowl of the jack). I also saw a youtube video of this technique. My question is....using a jack to lift from the bottom of the motor (the vertical fin behind the prop) will this damage this fin? The whole weight the motor will be placed on the fin using this technique. Is there a better way to remove the motor?

 

[barato2]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

yes, there are IMHO a heck of a lot better ways to remove a motor. the issue is not so much the fin (it should hold up if it doesn't get any impact stresses in course of the operation); the issue is stability of a very top heavy 3-400# mass. that plan sounds like an invite for Murphy to show up and injure someone, and i know Murphy well. i'd borrow or rent a cherry picker, or if you have a beam or tree limb, a chain fall hoist or come-along, and use that to hoist the motor with chain attached to the three threaded holes in top of flywheel.

one of our members, who is a disgusting troglodyte not fit to associate with decent humans, even pulled his motor using a 10' stepladder on either side of boat as gantries and a pair of 10 foot 2x12s laid flat across top of em to support the come-along...lift motor, then pull boat out from underneath. i heard the guy even returned one of the ladders to the bigbox for a refund afterward. pretty slimy, eh?

 

[rheagler]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

I wish I had thought of that ladder trick.

 

[Jeffjessing]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

Well, I guess I am a disgusting troglodyte too. Thanks for the low-down and dirty approach. It worked perfectly and was very safe and stable. This week I plan to yank the transom and start the build of the new one. Also, I have a welder coming to fix and beef up the knee braces. Fun fun.
View attachment 211017View attachment 211018View attachment 211019

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

Pix didn't post.

 

[Jeffjessing]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

I haven't figured out this photo posting process for this site. Here are the pics that were supposed to be posted on my last update. Sorry.

 

[InMotion]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

I like the ladder trick as well... it got the job don and now you will have a nice unobstructed way of getting to the transom board and knee braces... and two nice ladders to use at the end of the job as well!

J.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

I haven't figured out this photo posting process for this site. Here are the pics that were supposed to be posted on my last update. Sorry.

Are you using photobucket for pix? It's a free acct, gives you a great place to keep an easily accessed (from anywhere, or to share w/ others) record of your rebuild, and makes posting pix easy for you & for us to see.

Under or beside every pix in your photobucket acct, there's an IMG

.  Depending on your acct, either highlight  & copy that code, or click the code & it will auto-copy it for  you.

Once copied, paste the IMG [code] in your post

The IMG [code] looks something like this:
IMG]http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg618/00a0a_16fY4s537RF_600x450_zpsc593b88e.jpg[/IMG

and puts the pix IN your post, rather then as attachments that have to be opened:
[IMG]http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg618/jbcurt00/00a0a_16fY4s537RF_600x450_zpsc593b88e.jpg[/IMG]



Makes following the text/questions & seeing the pix all at once much easier.  It also makes looking at multiple images & referring back & forth easier.  They're already [I]opened[/I] and can be viewed at the same time....

 

[barato2]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

and two nice ladders to use

two? i notice the cardboard packaging was left in place on the rungs....... further, deponent sayeth not.

JB, do you have contact info for the guy in the pic? i think several of our members would like to buy the windshield off his boat....

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

JB, do you have contact info for the guy in the pic? i think several of our members would like to buy the windshield off his boat....

All I have is his email address:

HurricaneSandyBuriedMyBoatUpToTheGunwalesInSand at BeachedBoat_com

It's a pix that was in a CL sale ad posted in the Funny CL ad thread, that I ripped to my PB acct....

Upon closer inspection, the pix seems to suggest that boat may have been deliberately 'lost at sea' it's missing too much stuff that wouldn't be missing after sinking.

Unless the islanders considered it a donor boat provided by the sea gods

An OG -style donor boat....

 

[Jeffjessing]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

Are you using photobucket for pix? It's a free acct, gives you a great place to keep an easily accessed (from anywhere, or to share w/ others) record of your rebuild, and makes posting pix easy for you & for us to see.

Under or beside every pix in your photobucket acct, there's an IMG

.  Depending on your acct, either highlight  & copy that code, or click the code & it will auto-copy it for  you.


Once copied, paste the IMG [code] in your post

The IMG [code] looks something like this:
IMG]http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg618/00a0a_16fY4s537RF_600x450_zpsc593b88e.jpg[/IMG

and puts the pix IN your post, rather then as attachments that have to be opened:
[IMG]http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg618/jbcurt00/00a0a_16fY4s537RF_600x450_zpsc593b88e.jpg[/IMG]



Makes following the text/questions & seeing the pix all at once much easier.  It also makes looking at multiple images & referring back & forth easier.  They're already [I]opened[/I] and can be viewed at the same time....[/QUOTE]

Thank you for the photo info.  I just uploaded my starcraft photos to photobucket and will continue to use this acct for this forum.  Cheers!

 

[Jeffjessing]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

I pulled the motor, the transom, and the solid wood spacer board that was glued to the outside stern (what is this board called?). The transom came out in one piece and will serve as a great template. The spacer board on the other hand was basically destroyed in the process of prying it off the stern. In hindsight, perhaps I should of left that board on the boat and just refinished it as it was securely attached to the stern. It was actually in good shape but not now. I need to determine what is the best type of wood to use for the external spacer?

I have the welder coming this evening to look at fixing and beefing up the knee braces. Before I do the work on the new transom and spacer board, I will finish prepping the rivets and seams so I can epoxy (Coat-It product) the interior of the hull. I am going to work on the epoxy this weekend before it starts to get too cold here in the mountains. After I epoxy the hull, I plan to add flotation and install the deck. After the deck I will tackle the transom. Thats the plan at this point.

 

[odyssey350kc]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

Moving quick, I like it. Its always gratifying to get the whole thing stripped down.

 

[barato2]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

yeah, great progress. but i think you'll find it easier to do the trans BEFORE the floors go back in

the best type of wood to replace that external piece with is called 6061 (aluminum). or maybe Starboard if you're flush with ca$h. this hunk tends to get compressed over time and invariably rots if it's wood.

here's what i did

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[Jeffjessing]

Re: Starchief 1965 restoration

Thanks barato. Hey what is this boat part officially called?