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

BuckeyeDennis

roamer46 wrote BuckeyeDennis, that list perfectly captures almost every one of the low points of my journey. But you forgot the two year-long paperwork SNAFU, where I thought I'd have to give up because the US Coast Guard wouldn't transfer title to me. And there are other tribulations I haven't shared yet, one of which was truly awful. I'll leave that as a tease since I plan to write about the other...stumbles?... before long.

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement. If your calendar is clear in late October and Deale Md is within range, put it tentatively on your calendar!

Thanks, Q! You're on the extreme end of reasonable driving range, but I'll check with the Missus and PM you if it looks like a realistic possibility.

roamer46

With the Fischer Panda generator on the starboard side, I got busy making new vibration-isolated mounts. Once again, my ShopSmith came in very handy on this part of the project. I'd made a set of mounts when I first craned the genset into the boat, but they were too short for what I had in mind now. Instead of being centered over the engine stringers, the new mounts offset the genset so it's further outboard. That creates space for exhaust hose routing, it moves 420 pounds even further starboard (which will help avoid the boat leaning to port), and it'll make the vented loop hose routing cleaner and out of the way. This is good progress toward splashing in October.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: New Mounts for the Panda Genset

Cheers,

Q

Before

After

roamer46

Things are looking very good regarding de-tenting and splashing the boat in October.

I got the waterlift muffler and siphon break installed on the Panda genset. Both items should make the surveyor happy, and a happy surveyor's report will make my insurance company happy, so hopefully they'll authorize splashing the boat in October. There's a lot more going on right now, but by all signs I'm on track to get the bottom wet again within 50 days.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Panda Genset Waterlift Muffler and Siphon Break

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

My boat has cable-drive tachometers that I had restored and converted from gas to diesel RPM range (5,000 max recalibrated to 4,000). The Cummins 6CTA engines I bought also came with tach drives running off the injector pump gear. But when I went to connect the cables to the tach drives, I discovered there was a critical missing part AND the end of the cable core was incompatible with the drive output shaft. I swear, I spent more time trying to find the parts to make it all come together than I did eventually installing them. But I finally got 'em done.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making the Chris Craft Cable Drive Tachometers Work with Cummins 6-CTAs

Cheers,

Q

Testing the tach drive with a power drill running in the engine room.

roamer46

Things are jumping along very well toward splashing the boat in October.

I figured I should hook up the throttle cables, which is easy enough: couple of clips, a few dozen screws holding P-clamps in place, and they're done. But I was cleaning out the garage and found a brand new Accusync twin engine sychronizer sitting on the shelf. I bought it for a 1967 Chris Craft Constellation 52 we used to own, but I never installed it. The 671 Detroit Diesel engines in that boat didn't have a sender or alternator that sent an RPM signal, so I couldn't use the Accusync and it went on the shelf...until recently.

I found the perfect spot to install it in my Roamer, and my Cummins engines (by happy chance) not only have the outputs for cable-drive tachometers like mine, they also have the optional magnetic pickups used for more modern, electronic tachometers. The Accusync can use the signal from the mag pickups to synchronize throttles for both engines.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Throttle Cables & Accusync Engine Synchronizer

Cheers,

Q

JPG

Under educated guess re senders.

Are they magnetic and therefore self "powered".(do not require a power source) Output proportional to mechanical rotation or frequency of signal?(pulses per second...)

Then the signal (two) with a common return makes sense.

roamer46

I think you're right, JPG.

But when you say "common return," is that synonymous with "common ground"?

JPG

Yep.

Common ground return.

roamer46

I'm wailing away on the boat and am still optimistic about splashing in October.

To de-tent and splash the boat, it needs to be reasonably weather-proof on the topside and absolutely water-tight on the bottom. One of the things I've been stewing over for years has been what to do about the aft stateroom bilge vents. Chris Craft used flexible hose there to route air to and from the bilge, but the hose didn't last and when it let go it allowed water from rain or washing the boat to seep into the back side of interior plywood panels. After trying one possible solution that I ended up rejecting, I recently decided to fire up my TIG welder and make vent tubes out of aluminum. They turned out pretty good, and will last at least as long as the hull itself.

So that's two water-entry points that have been resolved. And with the vent tubes installed, I can now install the mahogany porthole surrounds and FINALLY install the portholes that have been done and ready to install since 2016!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Vents

Cheers,

Q

Before

After

nuhobby

Man, this is some righteous work going on !!!

Chris

roamer46

Thanks!

roamer46

October is coming up fast, but I'm checking off pre-splash priorities pretty quickly.

Making the bottom water-tight and the topsides weather-proof are my top priorities now. And with the aft stateroom vents finally installed, I was able to install the pretty mahogany panels surrounding them. Then I permanently installed 12 of the 14 portholes that have been done and awaiting installation since 2016. They look great!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing [most of] the Portholes

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

Closing up all of the holes in the hull that will be underwater when the boat splashes is my top priority. The biggest holes are where I need to weld in the raw water intake standpipes for the Cummins 6CTAs. But the most numerous holes are on the transom, where the swim platform supports will attach to the hull with a bunch of 3/8" stainless bolts.

I did all of the cosmetic work to the teak swim platform back in 2016. It's been sitting behind the boat, ready to install, since then. So I wrapped up some tapered spacers I need for the stainless platform supports, broke out the caulk gun, and installed the stainless and teak platform. That's ~40 holes below the waterline that are now water-tight. And the teak looks gorgeous mounted back where the goddess of the seas intended.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Swim Platform

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

Still working toward splashing this month. Getting exterior holes sealed up is my current priority. I filled a whole bunch of them by installing the stanchion bases, fairleads, and fresh water fill on the mahogany toe rail. I had all of those original bronze pieces rechromed and sitting in a box since 2016. It's nice to finally have them back where they belong.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Rechromed Deck Hardware

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

I buttoned up four more holes on the cabin top by installing the chromed bronze mast base. That has the practical effect of getting the boat closer to weather-tight, and it's pretty, too. It's also nice to finally move stuff that's been taking up space in storage back to the boat, where it belongs.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Mast Base

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

Next, I started working on closing up holes in the engine room; in this case, the raw water inlet for the air conditioners. By "closing up," I mean getting the raw water pump installed so I can connect the strainer/seacock to the pump with a hose. I had a big 3000gph Dometic pump that I was going to use, but after looking over the spec sheets for the AC units, I realized I only need 1000gph. The electric requirement drops from 6 amps for the Dometic unit to 1 amp for a March 1000gph pump.

Anyway, I finally got the platform built for the pump and distribution manifold, and got it installed. The distribution manifold is made of Schedule 80 PVC Tees, close nipples, and hose barbs, and is attached to the pump platform with some 316 stainless pipe straps I whipped up from stainless leftovers I had laying around.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Air Conditioning Raw Water Supply

Cheers,

Q

roamer46

Well, the boat's not splashing in October.

I don't post articles to my blog (or link to them here) in real-time, so the boat's actually a lot farther along than what I've shared publicly so far. But problems keep popping up that take time to resolve, which I'll write about in the future, and they've killed my grand plan for an October 2022 launch. But I haven't given up hope and am now aiming for November.

Anyway, I installed the aft stateroom air conditioner. It was nice to finally get it out of my garage, where it's been sitting since 2018, and in its new home inside the boat. That allows me to connect a raw water hose to it from the pump and manifold I wrote about recently, and another hose from the AC unit to the thru-hull that takes it off the boat.

There are six raw water circuits in total that I want completed before the boat splashes: two main engines, one genset, and the three AC units. So that's one raw water circuit down, five to go.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Aft Stateroom AC Unit

BuckeyeDennis

Hey Q, I’m curious. My own boating experience is pretty much all fresh-water inland lakes and trailered boats, so everything comes out of the water and into winter storage by this time of year. So I keep wondering, why would you even WANT to splash the boat with winter about to close in? I’m guessing it’s not so that your hull can get fouled before using it in the spring!

With my small fresh-water boats, cruising down to winter in the Caribbean was not an option …

roamer46

BuckeyeDennis, I want to splash the boat and move to another marina. I wrote in my blog about that recently. There are new owners at my current marina, and they increased rates 30%. Also, Tent Model XXX is past its expiration date, and I don't want to have to do another tent renovation. So my plan is to splash the boat, drive to a marina that's 15 minutes from my house (the current one is 1 hour away), and have it hauled for the winter.

roamer46

Problems keep popping up that are delaying splashing the boat. I'm dealing with those as fast as I can, and fortunately the weather is cooperating. But I'm also checking off items on my pre-splash honey-do list.

I want to have all of the raw water circuits finished before I splash. Raw water circuits involve inlets for the water the boat is floating in, some sort of mechanism that needs raw water, and the outlet for the raw water after it passes through the mechanism. On this boat, that’s two main propulsion engines, one generator, air conditioners, and two toilets. I want all of the raw water circuits done before I splash the boat, because failures in raw water circuits are the main reason why boats sink.

This time, I got the salon air conditioner installed, including running new Shields 200 Series 5/8" hose from the raw water manifold I made recently to the aft stateroom and salon AC units. The installation went well, and I'm moving onto other things. Hopefully, the boat will be splashed this month.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Salon AC Unit

Cheers,

Q

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