Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

[StinkinShip]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

While at work today we had a violent storm that is very rare for our area, as a result a funnel cloud developed and of course it had to go right over my house.



It blew down half my fence, uprooted the neighborhood trees and blew shingles off roofs. The worst of it though is what I saw when I pulled up. The old Chief was off the trailer and slammed into my utility trailer. The tie down straps held for a while as it spun the trailer around nearly 90 degrees. The utility trailer it came up against and a rotten cotton rope on the winch is all that kept the Chief from rolling off across the field and being completely destroyed.





Took a bit of doing but I got the Chief back on the trailer and strapped down again with only a few minor dings and scrapes.

I have been following this thread from the beginning and just wanted to say great work. Sorry to hear about the damage from the storm. Mother Nature is a $#@!% sometimes.
P.S. before someone says welcome to the board. I have been a member for a while. Had to start a new account. My last user name wasn't Iboats friendly. (wifesbitch) For this I appologise. My old name may have been 100% accurate but still shameful.
T.J.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Damn, that just sucks, or blows...hope everyone is OK and the damage to the Chief is absolutely minimal...:facepalm:
Not the most common of occurrences up in your neck of the woods...what's up with that...???

 

[lokonn]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Bummer on the storm, but like you said, it could have been a lot worse.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Glad you & yours (Chief & SN included ) made it relatively unscathed... A ding or 2 are just battle scars & add character.

Not to mention the stories: Yep, that's where the Chief did battle w/ a funnel cloud, & won

Starcraft made 'em tough!

Storm & funnel cloud will get bigger w/ each passing year.

 

[classiccat]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Glad everyone & everything made it through relatively unscathed H2O!!!

I see it didn't strip the bottom paint for you...did it at least remove the remaining wasp nests? :lol:

 

[Watermann]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Yeah, when I'm 80 that storm would have been 10 states wide and made CA fall into the pacific.. LOL

Dang paint is still on the bottom but the bees are gone!

Planned on fishing this weekend but now I'll be repairing my fence so I can keep my dog back there and the critters out.

 

[850Merc]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

We had something similar about 2 weeks ago, I might be getting a new roof out of the deal. When these boats are empty they sure don't weigh much. Glad everything is relatively undamaged!!!

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Wough! Man, glad the big tin wasn't injured too bad!:thumb:

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

I think you narrowly escaped disaster. And I don't mean just the tinny. Glad all of you are safe.

 

[pckeen]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Glad to hear that you escaped any serious harm. You almost had a flip without the work!

 

[Marrken]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Glad the damage was minimal to homestead and boat. On the bright side least the bees are gone!

 

[Watermann]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

I should be out on the water right now... Skimming the waves with the SN... instead leaning on an ice pack after moving 4x4's with 90 Lbs of concrete around the base that were blown over and completely out of the ground, also the fence panels weren't very light either. The fence is almost back to normal before the storm just need to re-hang a gate. Not looking forward to fixing the roof either, maybe tomorrow.

The Chief suffered a bent and puckered rub rail and is so far about the only damage I need to repair. Picked up some gear lube for the donor Alpha LU, I want to make sure there isn't any water in the LU before winter. Not sure it's a good idea to drain out the old lube and leave it empty. I did however want to do a leak test but I think if the oil is clean with no water intrusion and nothing is leaking out, that would be a good sign I don't need to replace the LU seals. If there's any sign of leaking or water then I will leave it empty and pull the LU to store it inside to do the repairs over the winter.

Maybe next weekend it will be nice and I can get some late season time on the water. Also need to finish up the paint stripping on the Chief.

If the ibuprofen doesn't do the trick, I'm on to a couple bloody Marys and a stogie!

 

[jvanhees]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

glad to see everyone made it through the storm! Hope you can make it out fishing once or twice more...chief is lookin good! Good idea on making sure water is out of the LU before winter...adding that to my list.

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Found my way over to this section of Iboats. (actually just clicked you link) Some very impressive work you have accomplished on the ole gal. Shall be interesting to follow and see the progress. I do search out other Cheiftain restos but they do seem to be limited but any info gathered is certainly an asset.. Great find on the donor power plant. It should scoot her right along.

 

[Watermann]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

I'm in need of some ideas on how to try and straighten out this pooched rub rail that hit my steel utility trailer in that storm. In the condition it's in I don't see how I could get the new rubber back in. Take a look.

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Cave-Man fix: Wrench it back up so your insert will have clearance to slide through there. Then, use a combination of sander/jb weld to knock down/build up the area on top until it is smooth again. You may to have to buy some aluminum colored rusto to cover up the jb or marine tex, but its better than buying a completely new rub rail (because I imagine that matching a small cut-out section would be next to impossible). It is a starcraft though, so maybe the rubrail trim is fairly common.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Yah, that doesn't look so bad anyway. A slot screwdriver to peel back the lip so the rubrail can slide in (function part). Then, very gentle like, bend it back up so it looks aok (form part).


Coulda been way worse!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

It's hard to tell from the 1 pix, but how closed is the insert channel?

I'd try to get just enough clearance to get the vinyl insert past the damage & leave the scar along the top edge. Slow gentle pry up w/ a wide bladed chisel? Or tapping the chisel slowly along under it to open the gap? Making several passes either way?

The vinyl insert alone is probably $250+/-, so the aluminum channel is probably $$$

DJ's rubrail thread

 

[Landof9000lakes]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

Depends on what level of "nice" you are going for with the overall boat re-build.

I would bend it enough to get the rail in, and then strategically place something in that spot to cover it. A net mount, grill mount, something that wraps around the outside to cover it.
No matter what you do it won't look as good as factory/as good as new that's why I vote for a cover up.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: Tin addiction 18' Starcraft Chieftain

With an assistant you can probably get it back to almost perfect...
The assistant will hold a metal dolly from above...
You will use both hands to use a curved body hammer...
one like this and available cheap at Harbor Freight...

The flat curved tip you put up inside the bent part of the rail...
Then using another hammer, bang the face of the curved hammer while the assistant keeps solid pressure on the dolly...
Start out easy and progress slowly...


You should be able to work it back into shape without cracking...
Hope this helps...