With the exhaust system out of the way (for now), we focused on final longboarding and other detail work on the hull. Since I don’t want to make any cuts in the paint once it’s done, this means I have to drill out all of the holes for hardware and tap as necessary. For other holes in the hull sides, like thruhulls, I used an air deburring tool to remove excess filler. Then I applied Awlgrip Max Cor CF aluminum primer to the bare spots of aluminum inside the bores. This should help ensure that there is a continuous coating film from the coatings inside to the outside paint job, which in theory should help reduce the possibility of aluminum oxide forming and creeping under the paint, causing it to fail prematurely.
Stbd nav light cutout all cleaned out
aft bilge and shower pump thruhulls
Main engine room bilge pump outlet.
Stern light cutout
The original stern light was made of chromed pot metal that had corroded. I found a good, proper vintage replacement on ebay that was chromed bronze rather than pot metal, but it turned out to be slightly larger than the original. So it took quite a bit more work with the deburring tool to open up the cutout so it would fit. Once it was big enough that the light fixture would fit, I had to make it just a wee bit bigger in all dimensions to account for the thickness of the primer and paint we’ll apply.
Because aluminum oxide forms immediately when aluminum is exposed to atmospheric moisture and builds up over time, I wanted to reduce the amount of time the aluminum was exposed. As soon as I finished opening up each hole, I brushed some Max Cor CF inside.
Awlgrip Max Cor CF in each hole to protect the aluminum
Low spots on the hull got a touch of fairing compound
There were a dozen or so low spots we found when longboarding the hull, which we initially faired back in 2009. So we mixed up a small batch of homemade epoxy fairing compound thickened with cabosil and 3M microballoons. The base coating is Awlgrip 545 white that we applied in May 2009, so you can see the filler in the pic above and below because it’s slightly yellow from the 4:1 fast hardener we used.
A few more low spots at the bow
The flare of the bow had a low spot along a weld
Former port exhaust outlet hole
Former stbd exhaust outlet hole
Now all we have to do is longboard the patched areas and apply some Awlquik sprayable fairing compound in spots. Once that’s longboarded smooth, we’ll be ready for the final coat of Awlgrip 545 primer. Gotta move on this…summer is over and the cold winter is coming.
Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Windows
1969chriscraftroamer46 