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

[roamer46]

Drumroll please...the starboard engine LIVES!

I went through all of the electrics and found nothing wrong. Just as I was beginning to dread the thought of having to pull the starter, I noticed something funny with one of the starter bolts. Turns out it was finger-tight! The mechanic who sold me the engines must have used that as the negative battery cable attachment point, but didn't snug it up when he removed the cables and shipped the engines to me. I torqued it to spec and the boat test fired four times flawlessly!

Now I'm just waiting on the new seacock, which should arrive tomorrow.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Starboard Engine is Back in Business!

Cheers,
Q

[RFGuy]

Woohoo!!! Congrats!!!

[JPG]

Woohoo!!! Congrats!!!

AMEN!

[roamer46]

My 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 is floating in Rock Creek, MD, after a successful splash with a nearly dry bilge, followed by an idle speed maiden voyage out to the Herring Bay jetty and back! Oh...and the loose starter bolt problem ended up not being the actual problem. It was voodoo, man!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Splash Day Redux

Cheers,
Q

[BuckeyeDennis]

Wow Q, what a beauty … congratulations!

Question: How does one get down to the swim platform? I have a hunch that there’s a nice shiny ladder somewhere, that you have yet to install.

Suggestion: Add a page of beauty photos (optionally with “before” photos) to your blog, and give it prominent billing. I recall many gorgeous restored-interior photos that you’ve posted, but couldn’t find them easily the other day. This came up because a daughter and son-in-law have just decided to undertake the rehabilitation of his family’s old fold-out camper. I half-jokingly suggested that they should look at your blog for inspiration, and trim the little camper out in mahogany. But I couldn’t find any single page that showcases your most amazing transformations. The really good stuff is in there, but it’s hiding amongst tons of nitty-gritty detail.

[roamer46]

Thanks, BuckeyeDennis!

I covered the swim platform access back in 2014: 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Transom Steps

The Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit Article Index is a good way to find articles of interest. They're all in chronological order, so 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46: The Refit Begins shows what we started with. The most completed space is the V-berth, and the most recent posting on it is 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Missus’s Custom V-berth Mattress.

[BuckeyeDennis]

That a very interesting design on those transom steps. I would never have guessed.

[algale]

Yayyyy! Woohoo!

[DLB]

She looks great back in her element, congratulations!

Starter switch - Possibly also the reason the motor stopped running to begin with? Flaky in On as well as Start, maybe.

- David

[roamer46]

Thanks guys!

David, the engines perform absolutely flawlessly now. I'm more inclined to think that the shutdown was just an air bubble in the injection pump, and that the no-restart problem was unrelated. The engines light off so fast now, it's amazing. The missus was onboard today getting ready for the big passage to our home port. When I started the engines, her eyes went wide open and she said "That started faster than my Subaru!" If the missus notices something mechanical like that, you know it's impressive.

That said, I don't want to get a $10,000 ticket from the Coasties, so I finally got the transom name installed. As I was writing that now, it seems to me that $10,000 is a cruel and unusual punishment if the USCG catches you navigating a documented vessel without the name and home port on the transom. Such is the state of our republic.

Anyway, it turned out fine and now we're 100% legal. And in the process of getting the USCG documentation up to date, I learned there were far more previous owners of this boat than I previously believed.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Transom Name and Home Port

Cheers,
Q