1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping up the Aft Stateroom Sliding Door Box

The V-berth hatch trim ring and the one for the aft stateroom turned out nicely, and the the aft stateroom entryway looks better than I expected. I’m going to have some mahogany pieces ready to coat with ICA base clear varnish in addition to the aft stateroom wall, and I want to do a bunch of it all at the same time. That ICA is some stinky stuff. I finished fitting the aft stateroom sliding door box a while back, but I still need to finish the bottom edge. Then, it’s varnish time.

Good lookin’ box…goofy lookin’ edge

That raw plywood needs to get covered.

Mahogany veneer should do the trick

Rough-cut to size

Wetted out with US Composites 635 epoxy and 2:1 hardener

Scrap plywood covered with scrap shrink plastic for a clamping jig

Since I’m using epoxy for the veneer glue, it can seep through the veneer while the part is clamped and stick to whatever it’s sitting on. When that happened a while back, a bit of mahogany peeled off the veneer when I separated them. So now I use shrink wrap plastic leftover from the tent skin replacement to clamp epoxied stuff together. Even if the epoxy seeps through, it doesn’t stick to the plastic.

Ready for clamping

Plywood edge and corner piece are wetted out with epoxy

It’s handy to have lots of Harbor Freight clamps sometimes

Next day, I popped the veneered part off the clamp jig

A little trimming with a razor knife

Mini plane comes in handy for finishing the edges

Sanded smooth and ready for ICA clear

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Varnishing the Aft Stateroom Entryway