Future Brown Water Cruiser: 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit

[q240z]

I jumped back into the aft stateroom to deal with a problem caused by a 'Mr. Good But Slow' years ago that I just discovered when getting ready to do the final veneer panel work so the headliner can be installed. Basically, the bulkhead wall at the aft stateroom door has a bit off a curve in it. Since the door won't have a curve in it, I need to make a door jamb that's straight to match the door, but curved on the other side to match the bulkhead. It was challenging, but the mahogany door jamb turned out pretty good. It looks lots better than the original one!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Entryway Door Jamb

Cheers,
Q

OEM door jamb piece


New door jamb piece

[q240z]

Before the guy can install the headliner tracks at the aft stateroom door, I have to do something about the ugly bulkhead there. I had one last sheet of 1/8" mahogany plywood in the stack, so I pulled it out to finish this off. I haven't glued all of the panels in place yet, but it's looking a lot better.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Entryway Mahogany Panels

Cheers,
Q

Before


After

[q240z]

I got the big veneer panel to the left of the aft stateroom door installed and put a small panel across the top. So there was pretty mahogany all around the door. But there was still part of an ugly beam that runs across the top of the bulkhead and supports the aft deck above that I had to do something about. I had some mahogany veneer scraps that were just the right size. The grain's not the same as the rest of the aft cabin (quartersawn ribbon stripe vs flat cut), and picky people will note that the grain isn't oriented properly for a structural piece, but I think it's just fine. Once the whole thing's done, if anybody comes onboard and points that out, I'll kick 'em off the boat! I don't need nitpickers in my life! lol

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Entryway Mahogany Panels II

Cheers,
Q

The beam before


The beam after


Ready for varnish!

[q240z]

I've got a lot of finished mahogany that's awaiting ICA base coat varnish. The last bit I needed to finish was the bottom edge on the sliding door box in the aft stateroom. That's the part that covers the sliding door track and roller at the ceiling. I thought about just shaving off a bit of mahogany solid stock to cover the ugly plywood edge but instead went with veneer.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping up the Aft Stateroom Sliding Door Box

Cheers,
Q

Before


After

[q240z]

I got wrapped up with some stuff going into the Independence Day holiday and forgot to hit the Publish button on my last blog article until the weekend! I got ICA polyurethane varnish laid down on that aft stateroom bulkhead and a bunch of mahogany pieces. It didn't turn out too bad!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Varnishing the Aft Stateroom Entryway

Cheers,
Q

Don't forget...this was the "before" not too long ago


And the midway shot


This is the "after" shot, but remember--this is just the ICA base coat, which will be sanded flat before two coats of matte top coat get sprayed on.

[q240z]

We got most of the aft stateroom Whisper Wall headliner installed. I have to say, this stuff is much, much nicer than the thin, perforated headliner that's commonly used on boats. Once the headliner installer was out of the way, I went and installed some more Kai LEDs and one of the OEM light fixtures. But instead of using the 12v 40w incandescent heaters they used back in the day, I went with 12v 10w corn LED bulbs from ebay. They put out ~75w equivalent light but at a fraction of the amp consumption.

Progress.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Headliner Installation II

Cheers,
Q

Looking aft


Looking forward

[q240z]

Drumroll please....

The aft stateroom headliner is a wrap. Turned out sweet, too. I had a bit of a hiccup with the OEM sliding screen, but the solution worked out well and looks nice, too.

Progress. Booya.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the Aft Stateroom Headliner Installation

Cheers,
Q

The last headliner panel


Done


The hatch sliding screen

[q240z]

It's been a while since we started the V-berth headliner installation. With the aft stateroom done, the installer headed forward and wrapped up the front end of the boat. Once he was done, I installed the Kai LEDs. It turned out great!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the V-berth Headliner Installation

Cheers,
Q

[zeehag]

Q--is almost looking like a boat!!!!! you have gorgeous mahogany work.

[q240z]

Thanks ZH!

Unfortunately, next I had to take a couple steps back to fix a problem that popped up way back in December 2013, about a week after we finished the exterior paint. Long cracks showed up on the inside of the window openings in the galley. I'd asked the paint crew to fix cracks that were there before we painted, but they didn't do a very good job and the cracks came back. Before we can put the salon headliner tracks in, I have to pull the windows and have the painter fix the cracks. We decided a layer of fiberglass would help the filler stay together, so this turned out to be a messy job.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Galley Crack Repair

Cheers,
Q

"Veeing" out the cracks


Fiberglass over new filler

[q240z]

It's been a hot week. In the tent, it's beyond Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kind of heat. So I stayed home and worked on turning a spare bedroom into a sewing room for the missus. Such a tiny, tiny little project...

But before it got scorching, the Boatamalan painter came in and sprayed the galley window openings where he did the crack repair. He also fixed a crack that appeared at the salon entryway to the aft deck. That crack was holding up me installing the facia boards at the entryway, which was holding up the headliner installer putting in the Whisper Wall tracks. So getting that painted will finally let us move forward on the salon headliner installation.

Progress.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Painting the Galley Window Openings

Cheers,
Q

No more crack at the salon entryway!


No more cracks in the galley window openings!

[q240z]

The stainless safety rails and chromed bronze bases for them need to be installed before I can put in the salon headliner. I bought a 20' stick of 7/8" marine stainless rail tubing and got to work drilling up through the original mounting bolt holes in the salon ceiling frames until it broke clear of my new cabin top paint. When I went to put the OEM machine screws up through the holes, I realized they were going to be too short.

Because these machine screws hold hardware on the outside, I'll use caulk to seal out rain, and the caulk will eventually have to be replaced. Using an OEM-style headliner, the chromed bronze oval head machine screws go through the headliner, which is attached directly to the overhead frames, and there's an attractive beveled washer that they seat up against. But since I'm using Whisper Wall headliner, which uses a 1/2" tall track, and we added thickness to the outside with the kevlar and additional fiberglass layer when preparing the cabin top for paint. So the machine screws are all 1/2" or more too short.

I go through the options in the article, but one option would involve taking my collection of spare chromed bronze screws and bolts, cutting off lengths I need, and welding that to the OEM machine screws to make them the necessary length.

But before I do that, does anybody know a source for 5/16-18 x 5-1/2" or longer stainless oval head Phillips machine screws?

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Safety Rails

Cheers,
Q

The problem screws

[q240z]

One of my blog readers found the big machine screws I needed!

With the screws on the way, I installed the 1/2" plywood spacers on the under-side of the salon ceiling frames. Then I filled the holes with slow-cure epoxy, which soaks into the mahogany frames and plywood structure of the salon roof. Once it cured, I drilled out the holes again. With the wood completely plasticized, if the safety rail mounts ever leak, it won't cause rot in precious wood.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Spacers for the Safety Rail Bolts in the Salon

Cheers,
Q

Spacer


Filling a hole with epoxy

[q240z]

While I'm waiting for the safety rail screws, I refurbished the 50-year old sliding screens for the salon entryway.

It's not glamorous, but it's progress and an essential step to getting the headliner installed.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Refurbishing 50-year Old Screens

Cheers,
Q

The sliding screen frame on the left is cleaned, waxed, and polished...ready for new screen and spline.

[q240z]

Big news! I got the salon entryway panels and slider screens installed! It looks great!


1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Salon Entryway Panels and Screens

Cheers,
Q