1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Non-skid!

Got a call Wednesday AM from my Boatamalan painter. We chatted for a few minutes about this and that, and then he says “I’m at the boat now. I just finished spraying the non-skid.”

It’s so nice when contract workers do a job ahead of schedule and for the agreed price.

“But,” he says, “you gotta pull the tape ASAP.”

It turns out that non-skid transforms tape into a concrete-like substance that gets harder and harder to remove the longer you wait past 12 hours. So, I got up at oh-dark-thirty the following morning and went out to the tent to remove tape and plastic. I kid you not–the Boatamalan was right. Most of the tape came off easily, but in spots the non-skid just did not want to let go. With a bit of gentle persuasion I finally got all of the tape and plastic film off before heading to my day job.

I haven’t had all the plastic off the boat since we put the shiny on the hard top back in May 2013. I’ll let the pix tell the rest of the story.

Even in the mostly-white tent, the reflection in “the shiny” is brilliant.

Props to the Boatamalans for some damn fine paint work. The lack of contrast makes it tough to see in pix, but you can just make out the band of shiny around the non-skid on the mini deck over the transom.

Long view down the starboard side

She’s really coming together nicely.

The new helm door opening and side deck fillets look like they belong on the boat.

The shiny extends one inch past the fillets on the side decks. I’m really glad the Boatamalan suggested that approach.

Shiny dashboard….needs a windshield.

Just enough non-skid for safety

Shiny stripe down the center

Brilliant non-skid detail around the bow hatch opening

Again…props to the Boatamalans.

All of that sanding with the six-foot longboards paid off.

We’re taking this weekend off to recharge a bit…go anchor out at Three Sisters on the Potomac in our 42′ Chris Craft Commander. I might pop in to the Roamer on Sunday to work on the toe rail, but that’s it.

Now that the paint work is done from the decks up, we’ll sand the MS1 High Gloss Clear on the toe rail one last time, then apply two more coats (for a total of ten). After that, we’ve got to finish longboarding the starboard hull, then hit it with Awlquik in spots, longboard again, then apply Awlgrip 545 final primer. Then, we’ll final sand the hull with Mirka Abranet 320 grit, and in about three hours on a Sunday morning apply the last of the Awlcraft 2000 Matterhorn White.

This paint job should be done by the end of September.

Yippee! 🙂

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: “The Shiny” Out to the Rub Rail