1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Salon Aft Cabinet

My main plan for 2018 is to keep working on weather-proofing the boat, which means rebuilding the toe rail-to-bilge vent ducts. Until those are done, any water that ends up going down the vent holes in the toe rail will end up landing on interior wood that isn’t intended for water exposure. I finished up the salon port side ducts and associated nearby plywood panels in March. But then I realized that I’m moving a lot of 1/8″ mahogany plywood around, and the big pile of useful scraps are getting in the way. I’m going to get this stuff out of the way by using it to make the OEM cabinet interiors pretty.

The OEM salon cabinets are really ugly on the inside

I’ve had a Chris Craft Constellation 52 (a 1967 wooden boat), a 1968 Commander 42 (FRP hull), and this 1969 Roamer, and every one of them had really ugly cabinet interiors. Even if the cabinets are made of mahogany plywood, Chris Craft painted them white on the inside and the paint just doesn’t weather well. The missus has made it clear that she wants pretty cabinet interiors, so this is a good place to put the last of the 1/8″ plywood to good use.

Cleared of tools and materials

The pile of 1/8″ mahogany plywood scraps

My EZ-One track saw makes panel cutting super easy

The really big benefit of the track saw over a table saw is that the panel doesn’t move, the saw does. So breaking down panels in limited spaces like mine is easy, even when ripping full-length 8-foot panels. Another huge benefit–especially when working on an old boat where nothing is cut square–is that it’s no more difficult to cut a panel at a 91° angle (or whatever) than any other. You simply mark the near and far side of the panel where you want the cut, drop the track bridge, align the track to the marks, fire up the dust collector, and make the cut.

Pulling the last full 1/8th” mahogany sheet from the stack

Marking off the cut lines

Breaking down the panel one cut at a time

The upper back panel is done

That looks better!

MUCH BETTER!

I need to relocate tools that are in the lower cabinet, and then cut those panels. I’ll take them back to the house and  varnish them with Minwax Quick Dry Urethane before top coating with Minwax Urethane Spar Varnish

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making the Ugly Galley Cabinet Pretty