1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Headliner Prep IV

I don’t know when I’ll be splashing the boat, but I want to get it in the water as soon as possible. This summer, I intend to weld in the stand pipes for the main engine raw water inlets and get the raw water and fuel systems connected. That’ll be some big steps toward splashing, but I also made the decision to use ICA clear coat for the interior varnish…and that complicates things.

ICA is a spray-only product, and I’ve never sprayed before. I have my Boatamalan* painter, who talked me into using ICA because that’s what he used in the boat builder shop he worked at, where they made multimillion dollar sportfishermen. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for my boat! But he lives around Annapolis and doesn’t want to do long commutes to come spray the boat if I move it. I’ve got all of the ICA basecoat and topcoat I need to finish the boat, so I want to get the varnish sprayed before I splash. The V-berth, salon, and aft stateroom major wall panels have already been sprayed with the basecoat. But before he can spray the topcoat, we have to get the Whisper Wall headliner installed. The painter knows from experience that the topcoat can easily get scratched during the headliner install, which is bad, but it’s not a big deal if the basecoat gets scratched.

* Boatamalan: portmanteau indicating highly skilled boat workers of Central American origin. They’re actually from Honduras, but Boatamalan rolls off the tongue better. 🙂

So…to splash the boat, I’ve been doing lots of stuff recently that doesn’t appear to be directly related to getting the bottom wet. Like doing the wiring for overhead lights, and installing mounting panels for the new LEDs in the V-berth, salon and aft stateroom. I’ve also been fitting panels around the perimeter of the aft stateroom so the Whisper Wall headliner tracks will have something to mount on. It’s time to glue and screw all of those in place.

Kreg pocket screw jig is really handy

In the picture above, if you look really closely, you can see a line of staple holes on that horizontal ceiling frame I’m drilling into. Those were from the original headliner installation. Chris Craft used a painted fascia board to cover the staples and the ugly, horizontal mahogany frame after the headliner was installed. But this time around, I plan to install mahogany fascia boards first, so the Whisper Wall tracks will butt up against pretty mahogany. That’s coming soon.

Pocket screws drilled

Perimeter panels are ready to install

Edge sealing and wetting out each panel face with US Composites epoxy

Wood flour-thickened epoxy glue squeezes out nicely

Nice!

The starboard corner piece looks good

On to the port side

Nice!

The port corner is looking good, too

So…these little patch panels are done, and the aft stateroom headliner tracks have something to attach to.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Headliner Prep V