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

[roamer46]

Good news! The surveyor showed up and was very impressed with what he saw. He'll get his updated report back to me next week and doesn't think the insurance company will find anything to prevent me from splashing.

But most of my blog post today is about a YUGE problem I found last fall that made it impossible to make my helm sliding doors work: the deck and lower door frame that's welded to it both slope down toward the transom. But the aft deck hardtop, which makes up the upper part of the door frame, is pretty close to parallel to the water line. So the top of the door frame and bottom aren't parallel. When I tried to install the door tracks last fall, there was a perfect 1/8" gap between the top of the leading edges of the doors and the upper guide track (that's screwed to the hardtop). But with the doors slid open, there was a 1-1/4" gap between the top of the aft door edges and the guide track.

After a bunch of scowling at the problem, I finally just broke out some thick mahogany lumber, fiberglass, and various Awlgrip products and modified the hardtop so the upper door frame was parallel with the bottom one. This was one of the additional things that made it impossible for me to launch last year. But the repair turned out quite nicely.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Deck Helm Doors III

Cheers,
Q

Before


After

[roamer46]

I've officially finished all of the mission-critical items on my pre-launch honey-do list. In preparation for splashing next week, I took my woodshop machines out of the tent and moved them back home. Then I removed compressor air lines and electric circuits I installed in the tent to distribute power. I'm tentatively planning to launch Friday, June 16, 2023.

But over the winter, I was still working on getting helm doors installed. After reconfiguring the door openings so they'd work with slider doors, I had the doors painted, installed the latch hardware, and then installed them. They look good.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Aft Deck Helm Doors

Cheers,
Q

Port helm sliding door


Starboard side

[roamer46]

I discovered a problem with the aft deck enclosure windows over the winter. The Boat Life caulk I'd used to bed them didn't bond well to the paint. Every single pane had a loose corner. On the upside, the weak bond made it easy to remove the windows so I could rebed them. I learned some tips and tricks from the professionals over at Weaver Boatworks and used Bostik 70-08A windshield adhesive, which they swear by. Six months down the road, and the glass is still properly adhering to both the glass and the painted frames. I suppose I should be pleased that I discovered the problem before splashing.

Oh, and I've got 2-1/2 tubes of leftover Bostik if anybody needs to bed some windows.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Season of Do-Overs...Aft Deck Glass 2.0

Cheers,
Q

The Boat Life caulk doesn't adhere well to the paint.


Tinted glass looks great against the Matterhorn White Awlgrip.

[roamer46]

The last item on my must-do pre-launch punch list was installing hull strainer scoops for the main engine raw water intakes. Groco makes a nice scoop in aluminum, with little access doors so you can clean out anything that accumulates in the strainer or intake standpipe. I decided to attach mine with screws and caulk rather than welding them on, since I'd rather have all of the underwater aluminum barrier coated and bottom painted.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing GROCO Hull Strainers

Cheers,
Q

[roamer46]

With all of the mission critical items checked off my pre-launch punch list, like sealing up all holes in the hull that will be underwater shortly, I started working on slightly less critical items. Making sure stainless rub rails were installed all around was one such item, since pilings can rip up a paint job in no time. I also need to protect the teak swim platform. All of the marinas in my area have very short finger piers, so you have to back into the slips. With ~15 tons moving at even a very low speed, if I botch the landing and have direct contact between pilings and the teak swim platform it could be disastrous.

So I got some 1-1/4" solid back stainless rub rails and polished them, and the heads of the screws I'll use to attach them, to a super shiny finish. The platform looks a helluva lot better than what we started with.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Swim Platform Rub Rail

Cheers,
Q

Before


After

[roamer46]

In my quest to get all of the above-the-waterline thru-hulls attached to hoses, pumps, or whatever appliances they service, the ones servicing the bilge pumps were a top pre-splash priority.

Chris Craft did a strange thing with these boats: they'd cut NPT threads for hose barbs then weld the various thru-hull pipes to the hull. But the mechanical team would come along and just install the hoses directly on the pipes rather than threading on proper hose barbs. Water inevitably gets into the threads and starts eating the bare aluminum. They also didn't barrier coat inside these pipes. So I cleaned up all the white aluminum oxide powder using wire brushes and an NPT die, barrier coated everything, then installed proper hose barbs with Gasoila sealant before installing new bilge pumps and hoses.

I also wrapped up the Panda generator installation with some big 304 stainless fittings that attach the 1-1/2" dry exhaust hose to the OEM Chris Craft genset exhaust thru-hull. It turned out very nice.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Bilge Pumps & Panda Exhaust Wrap-Up

Cheers,
Q

Aft compartment bilge pump


Panda genset exhaust plumbing

[roamer46]

The marina manager told me they can't splash me on Friday but Monday is open. So after 4,998 days on the hard in Deale, MD, the boat's finally going back in the water.

There are a few minor spots on the topsides where rain can still get inside the boat. I'll be taking care of those areas over the next week or so, but one of them is already done: the gap around the transom door now has Frost King weather seals. It was a cheap and easy off-the-shelf solution and doesn't look bad at all.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Transom Door Seal

Cheers,
Q

Before


After

[roamer46]

The surveyor just informed me that he won't have his report done until the weekend. It was supposed to be in my inbox yesterday. That almost certainly throws the launch back to later next week instead of Monday. I really hate having to rely on others to do the things they say they'll do when they say they'll do it.

That said, the tent is coming down this weekend. Since the tent structure is also a scaffolding all the way around the boat, I'd like to get the mahogany handrails installed while the catwalk is still there. I first started polishing the stainless stanchion pipes for the handrails in 2016. I did few more in 2019, and polished all the rest, including the big curvy bow rails earlier this year. They really polished up nicely and are much shinier than OEM. And my ShopSmith in lathe mode was the perfect tool for sanding and polishing all of those straight stainless steel stanchions.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Polishing More Side Deck Stanchions and Bow Railing

Cheers,
Q

Before


After

[roamer46]

With all the handrail stanchions polished, I next set to work installing them and the mahogany handrail. It wasn't a pre-splash priority, but it's a lot easier to install these things with the catwalk scaffolding that goes around the boat now than it would be after this weekend, when I plan to disassemble the tent. I'm running into a couple of challenges, but still think I can get the handrail installed before the tent comes down.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Side Deck Handrails

Cheers,
Q

Before (circa 2008)


After (circa yesterday)

[roamer46]

Things are falling into place very rapidly. Had a long day at the boatyard today and got my mahogany handrails installed. I also peeled off the top of the tent and got most of the roof frames down. Tomorrow the rest of the tent comes down. If anybody is in the Deale, MD area and has “dismantle massive shrinkwrap tent’ on your bucket list, this is a golden opportunity.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Mahogany Handrails

Cheers,
Q