BIG NEWS! My pre-splash honey-do list of things that absolutely had to be finished to splash the boat is officially done. I also brought my remaining stash of mahogany lumber, ShopSmith, and table saw home, and removed all electrical lines inside the tent that powered the woodshop. I also removed the compressor piping and hoses, and prepared the refrigerated air drier for transport. I’m cleaning out the tent in preparation for disassembly next week.
The ‘must-do’ punch list is FINALLY blacked out!
No more mahogany lumber or table saw
ShopSmith is gone
Cleaned out a bunch of garbage cluttering up Tent Modell XXX
$25 worth of wasted AlexSeal filler
The Boatamalans sure were a wasteful bunch. I found hundreds of dollars worth of wasted materials that they dropped off the scaffolding and didn’t retrieve: rolls of plastic masking film, rolls of masking tape, boxes of razor blades, numerous buckets containing a quart or more of hardened primer and paint, etc. Never again.
Anyway, I’m still on schedule for probable splash next week. But over the winter and spring I was very busy getting the helm sliding doors installed.
The doors were primed at the tent and finally ready for paint
I took them over to Weaver Boatworks so the doors could be painted in their spray booth. It was late November 2022 and too cold to even think about painting them in the tent.
Back from the paint shop, I started installing hardware
It was very difficult finding hardware that worked in 1″ thick doors
I found these at The Brass Works.
Epoxy stir sticks make good squeegees for removing excess caulk
Off with the tape, and final wipe with mineral spirits
Nice!
Bottom linear motion slider assemblies are ready to install
Close-up of the PBC Linear track, slider car, and stainless door bracket
Drilling and tapping the holes for the slider track
I’m using stainless screws in aluminum, so every hole gets Tef Gel
Port track is installed
Looks good
Nice!
Port helm door is installed
Starboard is next
Nice!
Boom…done
Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Season of Do-Overs…Aft Deck Glass 2.0
1969chriscraftroamer46 
I’m irrationally excited for this. I’ve never met you but been reading the blog since around the fillets days or maybe the Kevlar roof, and of course went back and read the earlier ones.
I’ve been amazed for years at your stick-to-it ethos, and willingness to take anything on.
So congrats on getting ‘er back in the water!
Only half in jest, you should have a fundraiser / tour-the-boat party! There’s probably enough lurkers out there that would love to see the boat in person!
Thanks Squirreljam!
That’s a good idea about a tour-the-boat party. I may try and do that before leaving the current marina…
Q
I can’t wait to see what she looks like in the light. BTW, I can’t remember, have you named her yet?
Me too!
I haven’t named the boat yet. I’ve got some vinyl lettering left over from my 1967 Chris Craft Connie 52 that I’m thinking of using. That’s a nice calligraphy script that says LIBERTARIAN, WASHINGTON, DC. Libertarian, as in the classically American ideology, not the political party. But we’re no longer in DC. I also toyed around with ALUMINAUGHTY, which could describe a bad-boy aluminum hull, but it also ties in with allegations of Illuminati and the American founding, which makes more sense if home port was DC.
Anyway, nope, she’s not named yet.
Stay tuned!
Q
Costa Lotta would be apropos too.
HA! Painfully true! lol
ALUMINAUGHTY has my vote
Thanks Rob!
But it seems a classic motorhome/trailer enthusiast has already claimed the name!
https://waypointventura.com/trailers/aluminaughty/
Cheers,
Q