1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Port Helm Side Cabinet

Happy New Year!!!

The good news is, the project is moving along pretty smoothly and it’s starting to look more like an actual boat than a Purgatory Row leper.

The bad news is, the marina I’m at sold last year. The new owners sent out a notice saying there’s a new sheriff in town, and DIY projects can’t continue. But the owner or manager spoke to me and said they understand my situation and I can continue with the project as an exception. Then they leased the yard out to another outfit that apparently specializes in selling new boats. The lessee’s manager sent a notice saying DIY projects had to leave the yard before the end of the season. But then, once again, the manager (a different one) spoke with me and said they get it and that my boat is an exception.

Then, not long ago, a guy came to the tent while I was working and introduced himself as the new manager. He asked if I’d gotten the last notice and wanted to know if the boat would be ready to splash and go before the end of the season. I explained the series of managers before him who’d said they understand my situation and that my project was an exception. He asked if I had that in writing, which told me all I need to know about how the conversation was going to go.

I explained that when I heard the yard had sold, I stopped doing cosmetic stuff and focused on things that had to happen before the boat could splash. But with the previous assurances that my boat was an exception to the new sheriff’s rules, I went back to making the boat pretty. I told him there was no way the boat could float by the end of the season, specifically because two different representatives of the new owner and lessee  told me emphatically that I could keep going with the project.

After a few tough-guy threats, including that they’d put a lien on the boat, splash it, and move it to a different marina, and my increasingly heated responses, the new manager (who is apparently a new boat salesman at another of the lessee’s lots) asked how long it would take before the boat could splash. I told him four months if I drop everything and focus only on that (and everything goes smoothly). And he said, “OK, so I’ll tell my boss your tent will be gone and you’ll be ready to splash April 1, 2020.

So, for those of you who keep asking when the boat’s going to splash…apparently it’ll be on April Fool’s Day this year.

Once the tent comes down, the boat’s got to be weather-proof. That means I need canvas for the aft deck and side doors at the helm. I need to finish installing the portholes. But before I can do that I have to install bilge vents in the aft stateroom.

Before the boat can float, I have to install the swim platform and weld in standpipes for the main engine raw water inlets. For the boat to also drive away, I need to finish and hook up the fuel lines, raw water cooling lines, and engine control cables.

But once the tent comes down, I’m vulnerable to thieves. So before that happens, I need to move my ShopSmith, table saw, big compressor, dust collector, and mahogany lumber stack back to my house. And that means that getting any cabinetry or sprayed paint work done will become very difficult/time consuming. No more running down to the ShopSmith to adjust a piece of molding so it fits just right.

So…my plan for now is to continue pushing ahead on cabinetry as fast as I can, then transition in March to mission-critical stuff for splashing.

Speaking of which, the port helm cabinet is installed.

I’m using the same approach as I used on the starboard helm cabinet

I want reasonably easy access to the back-side of this cabinet face panel. So I cut rabbets in mahogany sticks and epoxy them to the back of the panel. Once they’re cured, the interior panels can press up against the rabbet corners.

Cutting interior panels from 1/4″ ribbon stripe mahogany plywood

Just like that

Panel 2 fits nicely

Next I cut the top and bottom panels to a just-touch fit with the side panels

Once they’re varnished, that’ll add thickness to the side panels, which should make it a nice friction fit.

And then I cut the back panels

Next, I hit all of the new plywood with three coats of rolled and tipped Helmsman Spar Varnish in clear satin.

The last coat drying outside on an unseasonably warm day

The cabinet face is glued and screwed in place

Time for interior panels

Back panels installed

It takes two minutes to pull all of the interior panels to access to the antenna cables

That’s a wrap.

I’ll install a shelf and make the door later. Here’s hoping things go smoothly through this winter and into spring!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Top Coating the V-berth