With the aft stateroom and V-berth headliners and LED lighting installed, the salon is up next. But before we can do that there are a few things that have to be done. One of those involves fixing some cracks that have appeared around the forward window openings in the galley. Unfortunately, the ‘before’ pictures are on a memory card that I misplaced a few months back.
So, to set up the scene, about a week after the salon cabin top got painted, I noticed long cracks showing up in the new paint inside the forward window openings. There was broken filler in there between the fiberglass cabin top and the wooden framing around each window opening when we first got the boat, and I’d specifically asked the guys to fix them. They did, but immediately after painting it looked like the cracks came back. I’ve wanted to have that fixed since late 2013 when we finished the exterior paint. Before we can install the headliner tracks in the galley, those cracks have to be fixed.
“Veeing” out the cracks in the original grey filler
New red Awl Fair filler the guys put in that didn’t bond to the surrounding substrate
I never want to have to do this again
After talking it over with the painter, we decided the most bulletproof approach would be to put in epoxy-based filler then top that with a layer of medium weight fiberglass mat.
New filler and FRP is in
That looks robust
Next day, trim and grind the fiberglass
That’s looking better
This is the last section that needs trimming
Fairing compound goes on next
Hopefully, this is crack-proof
That’s it for the crack repair. I wish the guys had done this properly the first time around, but I’d rather deal with it now than to leave the cracks. Even though they weren’t visible from outside of the boat, from inside the galley they were pretty noticeable.
Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Painting the Galley Window Openings
1969chriscraftroamer46 
Looking forward to the continuing story. My email has been down for two weeks ending in April 10, 2021.
My new email address is:
pelicanjay@comcast.net
Jay Connors
It’s always frustrating to think that part of a project is done, only to have to revisit it again later, but I think you did the right thing in dealing with it now. Looking good.
Thanks Ben!
Yeah, this has been super frustrating. It’s actually worse than what you see in this post. Cracks and other flaws have appeared in a dozen or so spots around the exterior since 2013. The painter has been fixing those, too, recently. But because I lost the memory card that had the pictures, I didn’t write an article about it. It’s all getting taken care of, which is good, but I wish they’d done it right the first time.
Cheers,
Q