Two weeks into Step 1 of our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 refit, and it’s time to demolish the aft deck enclosure — a cobbled together mish-mash of home-grade plywood that had long-since rotted, scratched up plexiglas windows and aluminum extrusions that worked but weren’t made for the job. It was a truly ugly thing…and it had to go.
Here’s what we started with. You can see the rot.
From the other side, the rotten plywood broke away with one kung fu kick
Some of the mahogany framing was still very solid, though.
The view from the inside wasn’t much better
In contrast to the rotten plywood, the mahogany framing was still in surprisingly solid shape
Time to break out the tools and get this thing gone.
Ugly and rotting aft deck enclosure, meet Mr. Chainsaw…
With the rotten wood out of the way, sources of leaks into the aft stateroom became abundantly apparent
This really exemplifies why screws should not penetrate a teak deck–eventually, the sealant lets go and water wicks in, rot starts and then…
Same thing on the other side
In no time, the rotten aft deck enclosure was in the large and growing junk pile beside the boat
A quick shot with a hose revealed that, for all of its faults, the aft enclosure had done a good job protecting most of the teak
It’s beautiful and appears to have never been sanded. The original seam compound is very tight.
Ah, now that’s better!
A bit more dejunking and the helm station will be ready to use again.
Remember, this is what we started with!
Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: more interior demolition!
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