Future Brown Water Cruiser: 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit

[q240z]

OK, now it's for sure...winter's pretty much done for 2015. We had an 8" dump of snow on Thursday, with temps down to 10 overnight. Then...60 over the weekend and no more nights below freezing. yeeehaw!

In spite of the harsh winter, I got another wall in. YEEHAW!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Aft Stateroom Walls II

Cheers,
Q

[zeehag]

gorgeous wood. beautiful stinkpot, amigo

[q240z]

Thx, hag! I hadn't heard from you in ages...figured you'd been booted from your mooring or something!

Yeah, that load of 8/4 mahogany I picked up for $2/bd.ft ended up being really pretty once it was machined and clear coated.

[zeehag]

dayummm q i thunk w knowed each other long enough for first name basis by now....lol
i been making my engine brand new and usable. and more.
loving my nayborehud....good folks here
no snow.
love your progress...

[q240z]

ack
Please don't mention snow. We just got done (crossing fingers here) with the last of it for the year. I'm still kinda shell shocked.

[q240z]

Good news! Winter is over and the tent didn't collapse! Oh, and I got another wall installed.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Aft Stateroom Walls III

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

Got the aft stateroom center-line wall installed. After all of the prep work getting the walls ready to install, it's great to see the plan come together. It's also good that the plywood stack is getting smaller, since it's been in the way for a couple of years. On the downside, the more walls that go up, the harder it is getting around and moving stuff from one place to another. Gotta be careful not to damage the installed panels...

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Aft Stateroom Walls IV

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

60 degrees last weekend, then it snowed on Friday...old man winter's got a serious G.I. Joe kung ** grip on this year. But it was warm in the boat once I fired up the kero bazooka heater, and I got the African mahogany molding made that I'll use on the butt joint between panels for one of the aft stateroom walls. This is the kind of progress I like!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making Molding

Cheers
Q

[q240z]

More wall installation.

I know...this is getting tedious.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Aft Stateroom Walls V

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

Got another wall in.

It feels very good to see the plan come together. Fall's coming...got to keep up the momentum if we're going to splash this year.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Aft Stateroom Walls VI

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

I got the last of the walls finally installed, and almost had a major disaster along the way. What's the point in having the best laid plans if you forget about 'em on game day???

Ah well...it all worked out fine in the end.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing The Last Aft Stateroom Walls

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

I wrote a follow-up article about the insulation I'll be using. That might sound like another random topic jump, but there's actually a method to the madness.

The short-term plan is to keep working toward splashing the boat this fall and bringing it to my home port. I could get a lot of things done in the two hours I waste every time I commute to and from the Roamer. It was too cold over the winter to even think about handling the engines and finishing up their install. Instead, I've been focusing on getting major structural work done, like installing the aft stateroom walls. I'm also working on sealing up the exterior, which will include installing the bow hatch and windlass on the foredeck. I also need to install the portholes in the V-berth and aft stateroom. But before I can install the windows, I have to install the interior wall panels around all of the porthole openings. And before I install those interior panels, I need to get spray foam insulation on the hull and underside of the decks, and then I'm putting polyester nonwoven fabric insulation on the back-side of every wooden interior panel. So...

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Insulation follow-up

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

From the aft stateroom to the foredeck...

I need to get the boat weatherproof ASAP if I'm going to launch later this year. The bow hatch needs to be installed to close up a big hole forward. But you know how these things turn out. It's never easy.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Bow Hatch…or not

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

I made the new plywood pieces for the hatch opening and installed them using a different fastening system than Chris Craft did. Hopefully, I'll never have to redo that again.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the Bow Hatch Installation

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

Some unexpected complications have come up, so I shifted gears knocked off another item on the honey-do list.


1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Galley Bulkhead

Cheers,
Q