Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I restored this '68 Starcraft Chieftain in '99-2000 (stripped to bare hull - new wiring, decks, transom, engine/outdrive) and at the time, the factory paint was still fairly decent so I just wet sanded and over coated it. 5 seasons ago, I painted the bottom and topsides with Duraback (sucks). I wax told it was UV stable and Ok for under the waterline (nope). A tip - don't use Duraback

Now that the PC is sold, time to do a second rehab. Stripping down to bare metal with Aircraft Remover, power washer and scraping. And scraping...lol.

Going to add a bimini top, replace the old chrome plated zamac bow rail fittings with stainless and building a stern cushion over the motor, etc.

She's going on 46 years old, held up well being used in salt most of it's life. When I bought the PC new in '06 I was going to sell it and decided not too. Used it strictly for fishing since. Was going to sell it when I buy another 'toon but don't have the heart to. Soooo...lol...


It's been a great boat, not a single mechanical issue other than a carb rebuild 4 seasons ago since I did the restoration.

"Before"




"During"

We have an elderly neighbor with one in his boathouse, but he seldom uses it.

Most of the Starcrafts of this generation on our lake had the cabins on them. We don't see any fiberglass boats of this age left--especially inboard outboards.

They run out just fine, and are very efficient.

That's a nice looking boat. How many feet?
Something about older boats that I love...It makes me miss my 17ft 1970 MFG. Although it was fiberglass, It was pretty basic & easy to clean. It had a 1983 Mercury 75hp. It was very light so it would fly across the water.

It originally had a cabin on it. I removed it to make more fishing room. They are easily removed/replaced just by drilling out rivets. It's a 21 ft 1968 Chieftain. Even the trailer is all aluminum.

Pics arent showing for me.

I am eventually buying a starcraft, ideally one of the 20's with a cabin.

there are just so rare out here.

when they do come up, they are gone quick.

Or they are overpriced and/or have issues.


or you can always give me yours BMR


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pics are showing now
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blackberg wrote:Pics arent showing for me.



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Pics were links from Facebook, here they are rehosted at Flickr:

This is the day I bought it in early '99. $800 for boat, dead motor and trailer.

blackberg wrote:pics are showing now
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Whoops..lol.

blackberg wrote:
I am eventually buying a starcraft, ideally one of the 20's with a cabin.

there are just so rare out here.

when they do come up, they are gone quick.

Or they are overpriced and/or have issues.


or you can always give me yours BMR


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Yep. Mine was sitting for 7 years AFTER I first saw it. It was behind a house a mile from my house. Finally after knocking a couple of times a year, I saw the homeowner out cutting his grass and offered him cash.

I've seen many of them for sale and yeah they go quick. Except for this one in Delaware:

Saw it back in '04, inquired at the marina office. They said I could have it, BUT the owner owed storage to the marina. I offered to pay that and they told me they wouldn't sell it without permission from the owner. BS because if he owed that much the marina owns it. As of last year, it's still there.

badmoonrising wrote:It originally had a cabin on it. I removed it to make more fishing room. They are easily removed/replaced just by drilling out rivets. It's a 21 ft 1968 Chieftain. Even the trailer is all aluminum.

Holy Sh*t. What a difference with the cabin removed

I was thinking of making the cabin removable. Just hoist it off when not needed

badmoonrising wrote:I was thinking of making the cabin removable. Just hoist it off when not needed

I was thinking the same

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Maybe build something more modern looking than the '60s era cabin. Wouldn't be too hard.

More paint stripping, worst part is coming: bottom of the hull

Removed the bow rail to replace all the OEM chrome/zamac fittings with stainless steel.








Worked during tropical storm Andrea, just rain here...and lots of it.
New fittings for the bow rail and new bimini top is coming Monday