1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Final Panel In the Laundry Closet

With the back and side wall and floor in the laundry closet epoxy coated, next I made the top panel that will fill the space between the back panel and the panel around the porthole.

The laundry closet is coming together

I taped off the aft wall in preparation for varnishing later in the day. I need to make the top panel first, which will also be varnished.

Nothing’s square on a boat

The last sheet of marine-grade okume plywood is getting smaller and smaller

Nice fit!

I rounded the “top edge” to a 3/8″ radius

Next, I cut rabbets all the way around

Since electrical, plumbing, and HVAC ducting will run behind the laundry closet back wall, this top panel needs to be removable. The idea is that the panel won’t just sit on top of the back wall panel and mahogany cleats around the opening, it’ll be inset a bit to better ensure a good seal. I want to keep air conditioned air inside the living spaces, and outside air–whether cold or hot–needs to stay outside the air conditioned space.

A router cleans up the rabbet all the way around

At this point I was very happy. The panel fit had been perfect, and the rabbet idea turned out very nice, too. There was just one problem…

I’m an idiot

I didn’t keep track of which side was the top and ended up rounding the bottom and putting a lovely rabbet in the top. The panel only fits one way…it cant be reversed. So…

I made another panel, taking great care this time to keep track of which side was up

The second panel turned out nicely, too

With one coat of Minwax Spar Varnish on the panel, next I applied a coat to the aft wall.

That okume isn’t a bad looking wood

For the inside of a laundry closet, this is turning out pretty nice.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wiring the Laundry Closet