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

[roamer46]

I’ve got a huge backlog of articles to write about stuff that’s been finished for a while. So I’m going to try and clear out as many as I can while we’re in this cold snap and it’s just too cold to do much of anything else. First up: the door to the v-berth.

I used half of a soft-close drawer slide for the slider hardware on this door, and it turned out soooo much better than I'd imagined. On a drawer, the soft-close feature pulls the drawer closed and holds it that way. It also prevents the drawer from being slammed shut. In this application, the soft-close feature pulls the door open the last few inches and holds it open without needing a latch. It also prevents the door from being slammed open.

The core of the door is Tricel, which is super strong and light. I topped that with mahogany veneers and ICA clear coat varnish, then finished it off with the rechromed OEM slider door handles from 1969.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The V-berth Door

Merry Christmas!
Q

[roamer46]

Merry Christmas!

I'm on a tear, posting a bunch of articles of stuff I finished months to years ago. My camera's memory card was getting close to the limit, and if I lose it a whole lot of records of the refit would be lost. With the cold snap, it's a perfect opportunity to catch up and post this stuff.

The topic this time is the aft stateroom doors--the entry door and the slider for the aft head. I used the same process and materials as I did with the V-berth doors.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Doors

Q

[roamer46]

It's still too cold to do anything outside or on the boat, so I'm clearing out content from my camera memory card. This article is about a switch plate I made for the LED lights in the aft stateroom head. I got tired of having to twist the wires together to turn on the lights and figured I might as well make a switch plate as long as I was installing a switch. I used a piece of 1/4" mahogany cut from a remnant leftover from when we cut the big 8/4 boards to the thickness I wanted. It turned out real purdy.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Head Light Switch Plate

Cheers,
Q

[roamer46]

This boat came with a 75lbs CO2 automatic fire extinguishing system in the engine room. I decommissioned it when we were sandblasting the hull inside and out and left it that way until a year or two ago when I put it all back together...just never got around to posting the pics in my blog. I can say that re-arming the firing mechanism was a bit intense. I had my escape route cleared and doors and windows in the salon were all wide open. But it all went fine.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Recommissioning the Kidde CO2 Fire Extinguishing System

Cheers,
Q

[roamer46]

It looks like the super cold arctic blast is finally moving on today, We'll be back to more typical winter weather, so I can get back to normal life and get stuff done outside of the house. It did give me a good opportunity to clear out my camera's memory card, though.

Today's topic covers some galley cabinet boxes I built back in the summer of 2019 but never posted. Building them allowed me to take another sheet of mahogany plywood out of the stack in the salon. As I've said before, the plywood stack is a sort of progress-o-meter on the project: when it's gone, the refit will be finished. It's getting pretty close. And the cabinet boxes didn't turn out too bad.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Galley Cabinets

Cheers,
Q

[roamer46]

I switched my blog topics from galley cabinets to stainless because I'm in a bit of a bind and hope somebody can help me out.

I'm looking for some pre-2000, 1" solid-backed stainless rub rail. I seem to have misplaced about 18-feet worth, though I can't say for sure because none of the pictures I took at the beginning of this refit are sufficiently close-up in the right places...maybe they weren't there when we got the boat. Anyway, if anybody knows of any Purgatory Row, abandoned boats or soon-to-be-scrapped boats with these rub rails (#8 screws, 7-1/2" center-to-center) please let me know.

The particular stainless that's the topic of today's article isn't rub rails...it's salon window filler pieces and a gorgeous Made in Japan bronze step that came with the boat, which I had rechromed in 2013. I think they look fabulous.

Now...if only somebody knows of some old school 1" solid rub rail I might acquire...

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing More Stainless

Cheers,
Q

[roamer46]

Before I can splash the boat, I've got to have hardware in place so I can tie it up to whatever dock I'm on. I installed chocks and cleats on the port and starboard side decks a couple months back, but the main attachment points are bollards on the bow and aft deck just above the transom. I had the original Chris Craft bronze bollards rechromed and just got them installed last week. I think they turned out very nicely.

The linked article also covers the Lofrans ProgressII windlass that I partially installed several years ago but never got around to writing about.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Fore and Aft Bollards

Cheers,
Q

Before


After


Installed

[roamer46]

I finally got my trim tabs hooked up and working properly. The only problem I have with them now is the original tab angle (AKA Roamer Cruise Control) gauge. One of the resistors inside let the smoke out catastrophically, leaving nothing behind to tell me what value it was. I installed a resistor with the same ohm value as two other resistors in the gauge but can't get it to work on the boat. Off the boat, I can trick the needles into moving. Hooked up to the boat wiring, the needles don't budge. But if I hook up an incandescent bulb and run the tabs up and down, the bulb gets correspondingly dimmer or brighter. So the rheostats at the tab actuators are sending a proper variable ground signal... I'm stumped. But the gauge being out doesn't hold me up from splashing the boat, so I'm moving on to the next priority.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Recommissioning the Trim Tabs

Cheers,
Q

The starboard trim tab


The smoked gauge resistor

[roamer46]

I'm still clearing out pictures from my camera's memory card of stuff I did a while back. Today's post covers final installation of the salon entry door.

A surprising challenge popped up when I tried to get new keys made for the original Schlage lockset. None of the brick and mortar "locksmiths" in my area have the ability to cut a new key without an existing one to copy. I finally found a retired hippy locksmith who hand-filed a key in about 15 minutes in the back of his old work van. Anyway, compared to what I started with, I think this looks terrific.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the Salon Entry Door

Cheers,
Q

Before


After

[roamer46]

Way back when the Boatamalan paint crew was priming my hull, they oversprayed the helm dashboard. I'd already removed the gauges and chrome switch knobs, but the black plastic switch plate that runs along the bottom of the dash from port to starboard ignition switches got dusted with primer. The painter decided to soak it in lacquer thinner to soften the paint...which it did...but it also melted the plastic into a ball.

A few months ago I took very careful measurements (4 times!) between all the switches and the space the plate has to fit into, then I used Sketchup to make a 2D model. After being told by lots of plastic engraving shops that they couldn't make the plate, Los Vegas Custom Engraving took the job. They turned my 2D model into a CAD file and made the part with their laser CNC engraver. I had to do a bit of shaving here and there, but that's to be expected since I'm pretty sure Chris Craft hand-drilled the switch holes...the CAD file was too precise.

With the plate installed, I reinstalled all of the original lights and switch nuts and knobs that I had rechromed back in 2013. I polished the push button switches for the horn and alarms, which turned out surprisingly good. The ignition switches were toast, so I got new ones. And for the finishing touch, I installed medallion stickers with Chris Craft logos on the Morse Control throttle and shift levers.

It turned out real nice.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the Helm Dashboard

Cheers,
Q

Before


After


Throttle lever medallion