"A Diamond in the Rough" 1963 StarCraft StarChief 18'

After my 4th of July trip to Toledo Bend, I realized a need for a bigger cruising boat for the family. At first I was looking for a larger boat to put my Yamaha 25hp 4-Stroke on, you know maybe a 16 or 18 footer. The idea of having two boat rebuilds was something I was trying to avoid for the sake of time(ie..family,work,..etc).

But then I found this boat on craigslist, its out of my local area, but I made the drive anyway.

It needs allot of work, the transom and windshield, are the two major areas that are in dying need of my attention.

The motor was said to have carb issues and would not run. I will post the details on that later. But, note I got it running and out on the lake, took 4 hours of special TLC.

Subscribed. Looking forward to this one.

.
I'd just like to say, oh baby!

If you haven't found it yet, there's a huge thread on a starchief rebuild over on iboats, I hate to link to a different forum, but there's like 50 pages detailing this guy's build that might help you out a lot. https://forums.iboats.com/forum/own...2816-18-starcraft-starchief-ob-rebuild/page21

Hi Marty,

No worries about posting from iforms. I did see that many larger tins are on that forum. But I am going to post mine here, I think it meets this forum's criteria and my Lone Star is here as well. Just going to keep it altogether, easier to manage for me. I am just now starting to meet other tin boaters on here, and don't want to start that process all over again.

Just came in from outside took about a dozen pics of the StarChief. Going to start uploading them.

Cheers,

Avery

Here are the pics of the current condition of the StarChief.

Areas of major Repair:
1. Transom- wood and port lower section is dented
2. Windshield - Major crack - $400-500- to have a new one made- not an option. Thinking to repair frame, tint.
3. Propeller - blades bent and missing pieces. Does have some vibration at WOT, nothing major but long term is NG.
4. Decking - from Cuddy to transom is water logged.
5. Motor - Rectifier blown and caused wiring damage. (Suspect former boat owner connected battery wrong)

.
I feel the need to say: oh baby! again! This is the coolest thing around.

BTW, my current project came from OK. Mine is reasonably cool, though nothing like yours. Maybe there's something in (on) the water. Can't wait to see your progress.

BayouSerpent,

WOW!!!! = WHY am I never THAT lucky?
(Looks like a real treasure to me.)

Keep us updated on your progress.

yours, satx

I love it when a plan comes together! (a-team)
Ordering one part and it fixes the problem! Motor electronics are now 100%

BayouSerpent, I really like your StarChief. It really brings back memories. Yours looks to be in better shape than mine was. I bought my 63 StarChief in 1988 and like yours the inside was completely dry rotted. Looking at your "to do" list it looks pretty much like mine. I never thought of restoring it. I wanted a fishing boat so I modified it to fit my needs and still use it to this day on Lake Michigan for salmon fishing. First I had to gut it. Like yours the consoles, deck, and the cabin bow and seat decking were all dry rot. I'll see if I still have some pictures of my progress. The hull had yellowed and the cabin was repainted navy blue. So, after I tighten or replaced the loose rivets I wet sanded it and had the trailer sandblasted then masked it off and sprayed both with aluminum primer and finished with Imron. The previous owner cut big holes in the gunnels so I decided to cover them with Mahogany. Then made new consoles, sides and sliders with Mahogany as well. I cut the wash back a foot so I would have more room to fish and put in a 20 gallon bow gas tank and a 20 gallon belly tank with spouts and vents. I also made a stern light base out of Mahogany so I could rake the 3 ft stern light back to light up the deck for fishing in the dark. I'll try to send some pictures. I too had to replace the cabin windshield after a friend sat down too hard when a 3 ft wave hit and cracked it. Of course, in the early 90's it was only about $275 to have a new one made at a plexiglass shop. I also made and replaced the old transom elongating the starboard side to accommodate the 15hp kicker. This is how she looks today without her electronics.

Is the windshield glass or plexiglass?

It's plexiglass. After I removed it, they took my cracked windshield and glued the two halves together by glueing a couple small pieces of plexiglass on the inside which they used for a mold. Then they heated up a sheet of plexiglass, put it over mold (the two halves of the windshield) in a large vacuum form machine. After it cooled they cut off the excess. The side windows of the cabin are tempered glass.

Speaking of windshields. Mine came with an upper windshield with snaps that my bimini top attaches to with a curved mirror (not pictured) that screws in a socket in the top middle of it and a dash where my compass sits. This is a picture of the StarChief and Chieftain made in 1963 from the StarCraft archives. If you look close you can just make out the upper windshield on the StarChief. Where I fish I have seen one other 63 StarChief. She's completely restored and painted all white rather than the baby blue. She's a 22 footer and is beautiful. The owner said he bought from a guy that told him it was always kept covered in his pole barn. He was also told it was a StarChief not a Chieftain even though it was 22 feet. It was an OB rather than an IO like other Chieftains I've seen.

What an awesome boat!!! I can't wait to see this one come along. It reminds me alot of my Glasspar del mar that I need to get back to work on...

Very nice.

d

WOW! Retro is right. I've seen some old fiberglass Starcrafts but nothing like that. She's a beauty and her lines are so sleek. She looks more like a 50's Buick with those windshields. Please, show us some more pictures of her, especially after you buff her out. She will definitely turn heads. Congrats!