1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fairing the Topsides

By the end of February 2009, we were fairing the hull sides. My initial approach was to get it basically back to the same degree of smoothness as it would have had coming off the Chris Craft line back in ’69. Later, after getting a good look at the waviness of another aluminum Roamer with shiny paint compared to the fiberglass Hatteras next to it, plans changed and I decided a nice, smooth hull was best. Around the same time, I was lucky enough to meet the boss of the fairing crew at Weaver Boatworks, who have extensive experience fairing brand new, multi-million dollar sportfish yachts.

The view from the port transom looking forward

The surface we were working with was a combination of sandblasted original fairing compound (that was well adhered) and blasted and treated aluminum. The blue stuff is vinylester fairing compound.

Lots more vinylester fairing compound

Skimcoating the hull

Makin’ ‘er blue from the chine up

It was around this time that we realized how wavy this aluminum hull would be once painted and shiny if we used only minimal fairing compound. Through a chance meeting with the fairing crew boss at Weaver Boatworks, we decided to make the Roamer as fair as Weaver’s multi-million dollar sportfish yachts.

The lower hull side gets a real fairing coat

This fairing compound consists of US Composites 635 epoxy mixed with their SM Fairing Compound powder. The fairing crew boss is getting the scaffolding ready for the guys in April 2009.

Enter the Boatamalans

Boatamalan: Noun. joking reference to the Central American origin of the fairing crew (boat + Guatamalan).

The fairing crew from Weaver showed up every Saturday and Sunday for six weekends straight. The guys are some of the hardest working, most skilled craftsmen I’ve ever run into. Not a single prima donna in the bunch.