1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fitting the Salon Entry Folding Hatch

I’m still buried with that personal crisis that got dropped on me, but I’m managing to get stuff done on the boat, too.

The salon entry hatch panels need solid mahogany around the edges

Because the dashboard isn’t level but the Tricel hatch panels are, I’m going to make some solid mahogany pieces to even out and fill the gaps between the flat panels and the dashboard. I’ll also need to make a mahogany piece to fill between the hatch panel and the salon door. And I’ll slice off some thin mahogany to use as a veneer on the panel edges where the hinges attach.

I wonder how the grain looks in this heavy piece of mahogany?

I have two of these 2″ thick slabs of mahogany that Chris Craft used to strengthen the cabin sides around the helm area. I don’t need them because I changed the aft deck side entry so it will have sliding doors.

That’s interesting grain; just need to lop off the end

This piece will be on the leading edge of the hatch where it closes against the door

Cut the mahogany to match the angle of the dashboard opening

I like this grain

Nice fit side-to-side

I should maybe trim that leading edge back a bit

The top of the salon door isn’t flat. It’s angled up from left to right, so I need to cut the bottom of this mahogany piece at an angle to match the door. The leading edge of the salon door is also at a different angle than the square hatches, so I’ll need to cut that at an angle, too. Those would be a difficult cuts on a table saw.

Fortunately, angled cuts are a breeze with my EurekaZone track saw

Twp angled cuts, done!

Nice!

The mahogany is 1/4″ proud of the dashboard and bulkhead

Eventually, I’ll make moldings to cover the joint between the dashboard and bulkhead. They’ll be 1/4″ thick and should just match this mahogany piece.

Rounding the top edge looks better

That’s a wrap for the leading edge. Next I made the hatch sides.

Thicknessing pretty mahogany

The sides will be cut at an angle to match the dashboard opening

That’s pretty wood

Cut to length plus a bit for wiggle room when I do the final fit

Trim off a bit of the hatch panel to make room for the new sides

Not bad on the left side, but I need to trim off more from both sides so the right-side mahogany piece fits

Slicing off thin veneer pieces for the panel edges near the hinges

The plan is coming together

Shrink wrap plastic on a flat board helps when epoxying flat hatches to angled mahogany pieces

Epoxy doesn’t stick to the plastic.

Gluing and clamping all the pieces together

You can never have too many clamps

I’m a big fan of these Harbor Freight F clamps in various sizes.

Next day, sand the epoxied joints smooth

Then remove the excess veneer with a router

That’s looking good!

Sand it smooth and the forward hatch is pretty much done

I don’t know if it shows up well in these pictures, but the edges extend beyond the plane of the hatch panels. When the hatch is closed, the portion that sticks out will interlock with the groove that goes around the hatch opening on the dashboard.

The aft hatch is next

The glued edge looks good

Clamping the hinge-edge veneer in place

Next day, remove the excess veneer with a router

Looking good!

Hinges installed…time for a test fit

Those veneers look really good, and the sides fit into the perimeter groove perfectly!

If I didn’t tell you the dashboard opening was twisted, could you see it?

The almost final touch

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Final Fitting, Finishing, and Assembling the Salon Entry Folding Hatch