I built Tent Model IX to be transformable. It was a tough winter tent that could survive a 3′ dump of snow or a Mid-Atlantic wind storm. As it turns out, it held up just fine during Super Storm Sandy, too. But a key design feature was that I could transform it relatively easily into a spring paint shed, which has much more volume than the storm-tested winter version.
As a paint shed, I knew we would be painting the hardtop first, so we’d need room up top to stand and paint. That extra height is a liability, though, when the winds from thunderstorms come raging through. So I planned to transform the tent again and lose that additional height once the hardtop was painted. We were also applying Awl Quik everywhere, which is a great product, but the longboarding produces HUGE amounts of dust.
With most of the Awl Quik sanding finally done, it was time to cut the tired, dusty plastic off the top, adjust the PVC frames to drop the height down over the hardtop, and install a new sheet of fresh shrinkwrap plastic from stem to stern.
Ohhhh, that feels sooooo much better. 🙂
After removing the top plastic, I lowered the frame height over the hardtop.
Next, I stretched new shrink film over the top.
This shows how much higher the tent was with standing room on the hardtop.
It looks about the same from the front.
The plastic is maybe cleaner than the old stuff.
The “Before” profile (very before, since it wasn’t shrunk in this pic.
The “After” profile has a lot less windage in the rear.
On the inside, there’s a world of difference.
- No dust flies when you brush the tent.
- No center supports for the tent to get in the way or scratch surfaces.
- Plenty of headroom, even over the cabin top.
Unless we get hit by a tornado, this should be the last time I write about tents. 🙂
Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Prepping and Priming the Aft Enclosure.
1969chriscraftroamer46 
My 1968 Roamer Riviera 37′ is out of the water for bottom paint and some cosmetic Awlgrip work. I had hoped to get her back in the water by Thanksgiving. The weather here in Georgia has been so rainy the guys have not been able to work much. Is your shelter still available and if so how much? We are looking at sandblasting the bottom since the sand paper seems to gum up from the moisture. I’ll review your blog on the subject. If you have an email address please send it via mine. Thanks for all of the great info.
Really looking great,phenomenal craftsmanship going into this Roamer.
Any pic’s of 68 42′ cris that you sold ,or the 52′ er,I imagine those two boats were pretty amazing as well.
Thanks, Tuck!
Actually, I still have the 42. Once the Roamer’s on the water, we’ll sell the Commander. The 52 was a good boat: https://sites.google.com/site/1967chriscraftconstellation52/
Unfortunately, the current owner of the 52 hasn’t kept the site going.
Cheers,
Q