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Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

roamer46

That's pretty much what I've concluded, ERLover. There are some up-sides to staying in the yard for one more winter.

While I'm away for my FIL's funeral stuff, I figured I'd catch the blog up on a few things. I've got a raging case of jet lag, so don't be surprised if it reads like gibberish. :D

1969 Chris Craft Roamer Refit: Trim Tabs & Gauges

Cheers,

Q

skou

Q, in the computer "bidness," we call that,

Magic Smoke. When the CPU maker, makes that

expensive little piece, they install the Magic Smoke.

Magic smoke is what makes the CPU (or any other

component) work. Once you let the Magic Smoke

escape, the CPU doesn't work anymore.

Yes, I'm having fun tonight. It's what I do best.

(At least, when it is 114 outside.)

steve

reible

skou wroteQ, in the computer "bidness," we call that,

Magic Smoke. When the CPU maker, makes that

expensive little piece, they install the Magic Smoke.

Magic smoke is what makes the CPU (or any other

component) work. Once you let the Magic Smoke

escape, the CPU doesn't work anymore.

Yes, I'm having fun tonight. It's what I do best.

(At least, when it is 114 outside.)

steve

We use to call it "electrical incense". But who knows that was a lot of years ago......

Ed

roamer46

The heat of summer has made the deck level in the tent intolerable once again. So I've been getting things done in the engine room, where a couple tons worth of Cummins engines keep the space relatively cool. I got all of the 4" stainless mandrel bent tubing cut and tacked together, so the dry section of the exhaust risers are ready for welding. My Harbor Freight 4x6 metalcutting bandsaw is cutting much truer since I ignored the instruction manual that came with the machine and followed a yahoo user group How-To that's much more detailed. My Shopsmith disk sander has also been very helpful getting the cut ends of the 4" mandrel bent stainless tubing for the exhaust square and smooth. Now, I'm just waiting for another argon regulator and diffuser for purging to arrive, then I'll finish welding them. Oh, and I also need to find somebody with a CNC machine that can cut 12ga 316 stainless into a showerhead radial spray nozzle for the exhaust.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: New Exhaust Risers II

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

I finally got the starboard side cut and tacked. It was more challenging than the port side but turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

I'm just waiting on my argon diffuser to show up, and I've got to find somebody who can waterjet some stainless nozzle plates for the showerhead. Then I'll weld 'em up.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: New Exhaust Risers III

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

New formed hoses, very flexible silicon hose, and some constant torque hose clamps arrived, so I finished up the cooling systems on my Cummins engines. I also tested the coolant to make sure it's up to spec. Cummins 6CTA engines have sleeved blocks, so it's crucial to have the coolant additives right -- not too high or too low -- or crevice corrosion can cause all sorts of expensive problems.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: New Coolant Hoses, Clamps, and Coolant Test

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

I got back from the FIL funeral tour just in time for the nastiest heat and humidity we've had this summer. Even though I've vented it, the heat is so bad in the tent that I probably won't bother making a trip to the boatyard this weekend with the forecast anticipating near 100°F and dripping humidity. But I need to keep moving on this or I'll run out of steam, so I got busy making a better dust and paint overspray extraction system that will help as we move forward and wrap up the V-berth head.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Building a Fume Extractor & Paint Filter Box

Cheers,

Q

Don't laugh...this fume extractor really works!

New filter box doesn't leak and makes it easy to swap out filters.

roamer46

I got back to work in the V-berth head and made a fiberglassed hole in the floor for a shower drain. Unfortunately, we're ramping up for a week of nasty heat and humidity, so I'm not even going to bother making the trip to the boatyard. There's some stuff I can do at home, though, so progress will continue.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Back to the V-berth Head (AKA the Throne Room)

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

Man....the heat and humidity is killin' me. But the V-berth head panel work is finally done. Surprisingly, given that I'm a woodworking noob who's just kind of guessing with all of this, it turned out pretty good!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Throne Room Door Opening

Cheers,

Q

roopurt5

Lookin' good! I've really been enjoying following this project, and can't wait to see it finished!!

roamer46

Thanks, roopurt5!

But man...this is the most miserable summer I can remember. The heat's bad but the humidity makes it much, much worse. And we don't seem to be having the daily thunderstorms that knock some of the humidity out of the air in other years. But we got a brief break from the heat wave and got busy doing the fiberglass work in the v-berth head. I never, ever want to do that again, but the hard part's done.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fiberglassing the “Throne Room”

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

Crikey it's hot! We've got three days of 100° heat and humidity coming this weekend, so we're going out to play on our non-project boat, a 1968 Chris Craft Commander 42. But when there was a lull between heat waves recently, we got the fairing work done in the V-berth head. It's turning out pretty nice.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fairing the “Throne Room.”

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

Had an excellent day out on our 1968 Chris Craft Commander over the weekend...didn't even think about the Roamer. But the v-berth head (AKA the Throne Room) walls are faired, sanded, filleted, and primed. Boo-ya.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: “Throne Room” Fillets & Primer

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

This has been the most miserably hot and humid summer ever. Even when there's a breeze that helps cut down on the misery outside, inside the tent it's awful. So I've only made a couple trips to the boatyard for the last few weeks instead of the usual 2~3x week. I did manage to pick up a new-to-me Craftsman contractor's table saw for a scorchin' CL deal of $40. It was very lightly used and even came with an owner's manual. For all of the molding work I've got to do, the convenience of a dedicated table saw with a 30" fence, a big table, relatively lots of power, and a blade that moves up and down instead of the table made it worth it. Then I made in-feed and out-feed extensions for the new saw and for my Shopsmith. I need long in- and out-feed extensions so I can make long moldings, but since this all goes in the tent in the limited space around the boat, it took some time to figure out an approach that works. It's not elegant, but it's good enough for what I need to do. Now if only the heat and humidity would cut me some slack, I'd be in good shape.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Expanding the Woodworking Shop

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

It's finally cooling off a bit, so I got the moldings made for the V-berth head. It sure goes a lot faster making moldings with a semi-dedicated shaper and a separate table saw.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making V-berth Head Moldings

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

I got the mahogany moldings sanded, then sent them to the paint shop for finishing with ICA clearcoat. They turned out great! But when I went to install them, I found a couple of spots where the fiberglass didn't stay put until the epoxy cured. Fixing those spots throws another week or two into the process of getting the V-berth head painted, but at this point it's not stressing me out. Every bit of progress gets me closer to being done.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Sanding and Finishing the V-berth Head Moldings

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

It looks like the long, hot summer is finally over, so I can finally get back into the rhythm with weekend trips to the tent. While it was scorching hot through the last month, I made a couple of trips to chrome shops in the area and finally decided to drop off my precious hardware with Hanlon Plating in Richmond, VA. The results are pretty good! Eye protection may be helpful while viewing the pix in the linked article. :p

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: More Chrome!

Cheers,

Q

skou

Q, (bro, what is your real name?) in 85 or so,

I helped "de-commission" a real plating shop.

The guys helping me, pilfered a BUNCH of

stuff, but I asked the owner, and scored 20

pounds of lead, and about 75 feet of 2-0

(two aught) welding wire. Used the lead

to make a mallet, and used the wire for

quite a few things. Battery cables for my

(at the time) 240-Z. (Engine cranked over

twice as fast!) And, a set of jumper cables,

long enough to jump a car, behind my 15

passenger Dodge van.

Now, I'm sorry to see that old Chrome shop

gone.

steve

ERLover

skou wroteQ, (bro, what is your real name?) in 85 or so,

I helped "de-commission" a real plating shop.

The guys helping me, pilfered a BUNCH of

stuff, but I asked the owner, and scored 20

pounds of lead, and about 75 feet of 2-0

(two aught) welding wire. Used the lead

to make a mallet, and used the wire for

quite a few things. Battery cables for my

(at the time) 240-Z. (Engine cranked over

twice as fast!) And, a set of jumper cables,

long enough to jump a car, behind my 15

passenger Dodge van.

Now, I'm sorry to see that old Chrome shop

Nice to see you show up a bit, lots of ER activity.

HS buddy dad had a plating company, did gold for the Arch Diaosity here for all there Chalices and Bronze for the Priest/alter boys rods.

I just Googled them he must have sold it and retired , in the late 60s a Harley ride I rode with, a what abee, Perfect Denis, a mommas boy, had a show car, a 59 or 60 Chevy, the Perfect Angel,Pearl White Gold Plated wheels and bumpers ect plated by my HS buddys place, I will and try and Google it.

No, it was pearl white with all gold exterior, his garage had 1/2" plate steel walls and a multi overhead door system

gone.

steve

roamer46

Hey Steve, my name's Quentin but my friends call me Q.

Believe it or not, I've got a 240z. I've had it since 1985. I owned a body shop back then. When I sold it to my partner, part of the sale was that I'd chop the top and the shop would finish the bodywork and paint it. I've still got the car. It's sitting on a rotisserie I made in my garage with a rebuilt 3.1 liter old school hotrod engine, 12:1 compression, big valves, big cam, triple Mikunis... If it wasn't for this big boat project, I'd have had that thing back on the road a long time ago!

Cheers,

Q

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