1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Varnishing the Aft Deck Mahogany

AHOY!!!

I apologize for the three-month hiatus on posting. As I mentioned several posts back, trying to get re-employed and dealing with a wrongful termination complaint is extremely time-consuming. The level of federal corruption I’m encountering through all of this is truly stunning. There are people who’ve been imprisoned for violating one of the same laws my managers did when firing me…but the federal overseers on these things thus far don’t seem interested in referring them for official investigations. It’s almost like this law only gets enforced when it’s applied to political targets and ‘little people.’ I should write a book…

Long-time readers will know that I’ve had my share of setbacks on this refit, but this has by far been the biggest gut-punch. It’s difficult keeping up enthusiasm and investing time on this blog given my current status. Thank you for sticking around while I try to get my life back in order.

When last I posted, I had built a giant Aft Deck Mahogany Floor Box to cover the transition from the port aft deck walls to the deck itself. The next step was to make the starboard side, then varnish the boxes and other wall panels using ICA two-part catalyzed urethane base coat.

The port floor box

Port & starboard aft deck floor boxes are ready for varnish

ICA base coat is really smelly stuff, so when I use it I prefer to varnish lots of stuff at the same time. Since I already cut and fitted a bunch of beautiful mahogany solid stock to surround the aft deck windows, I decided to get it all varnished in one go.

After sanding with 220 grit Mirka Abranet, I fired up the compressor and blew off all the dust, then wiped everything down with a lintless cloth soaked in alcohol. Next, I mixed up a batch of ICA base coat clear and rolled and tipped three coats on the boxes and the mahogany window surround pieces.

Lots of mahogany parts, sanded and ready for ICA

First coat on the floor boxes really makes the grain POP!

First coat looks good!

By the time I put the first coat on all the pieces, the big mahogany boxes were tack-free, so I applied another coat, and then repeated the process for a third coat.

Three hot coats of ICA base applied using the roll & tip process

First round of three coats applied…time to go home

Next day, the ICA is cured and ready for sanding with 220 Mirka

Ready for the next three coats

That’s some beautiful mahogany

Three coats later

NICE!

And three final coats on the aft deck floor boxes

By the way, if you haven’t used Mirka Abranet sandpaper, I highly recommend it. It’s tough as nails, and with a good vacuum the dust collection is better than any paper-backed sandpaper I’ve ever used. Very little dust goes airborne or is left behind on the sanded surface. I find it works best with two-part catalyzed urethanes or very well-cured one-part finishes. With one-part spar varnish, it takes weeks or more for the finish to be cured hard enough not to gum up the paper.

Anyway, that’s a wrap for now on varnishing the aft deck mahogany. Apologies, again, for the long delay in posting.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wiring the Aft Deck Floor Boxes