1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Transom Name and Home Port

My Roamer is a US Coast Guard documented vessel, which means (among other things) I can’t legally navigate away from the marina until the name of the boat and its hailing port are prominently displayed on the transom. My first shake-down cruise out to the jetty and back doesn’t count. 🙂

After the Paperwork SNAFU got resolved in 2012, I got the boat documented and used the name of our then-current boat for the application: Libertarian. I like the name because ‘lover of liberty’ and ‘taxation is theft’ are fundamental to libertarian philosophy, and they’re quintessentially American concepts. The name has absolutely nothing to do with the Libertarian Party, though it’s funny how people almost always assume that’s the case.

While the refit proceeded, every once in a while people would ask what I was going to name the boat. I toyed around with changing the name over the years. The missus thought her family crest would be a good way to pay respects to her father, but Sagarifuji doesn’t exactly roll off of American tongues.

I came up with Aluminaughty. Alumin for the aluminum hull, and naughty because…well…it’s a classic Chris Craft yacht and sometimes naughty things happen on boats…or so I’m told. And then there was the alleged connection of some of America’s Founding Fathers to the Illuminati. Washington DC was my home port at the time, so it struck me as fun to have a name that sort of rhymes with a somewhat obscure connection to America’s founding.

I also recently considered Belphegor, the archdemon of sloth (one of the Seven Deadly Sins), after it seemed my starboard engine was possessed and didn’t want to go to work. Since we figured out the secret to making the starboard key switch work right, the engines are back to lighting off immediately. Check out this video from when the boat finally splashed for real:

Back to the boat name, ultimately I decided to stick with Libertarian and went with Elegant font, which is a cursive font reminiscent of Madison’s calligraphy in the US Constitution. I got the decal from SignSpecialist.com for $54.40.

I also renewed the USCG documentation. But instead of just sending me the new Certificate of Documentation, they also sent me the Abstract of Title, which they didn’t send me back in 2012. What I learned from the Abstract of Title was that the boat had several more owners than I previously believed.

According to the USCG documentation, the Chris Craft dealer Grand Craft in Memphis, TN, originally sold the boat for $80,000 in 1971 to one Jerry Hull, who named the boat Outward Bound. Mr. Hull sold the boat in 1972 to Frank Harris, who named it Becky-Jane III and proceeded in 1973 to have the original Ford 427s removed and replaced with the absolutely gorgeous Super SeaMaster turbocharged and intercooled monsters that were still in the boat when I found it. Mr. Harris sold the boat to Oscar Brill in early 1975, who named it Marguerite and subsequently sold it to Stephen Wordell in 1981. Mr. Wordell kept the name and refinanced numerous times before selling it to Epifanio Vargas-Dones in 1986, who named the boat Sa-Va (Let’s Go) and allowed the boat to almost sink during a bad winter freeze in the late 1980s. I bought the boat for $1 from Mr. Vargas-Dones in December 2007, and here we are today.

It’s funny that I’ve owned the boat longer than any of previous owners but Vargas-Dones, yet I’ve only had a few hours on the boat while it’s floating. That’s going to change going forward. 😉

But first…the missus and I got the transom lettering installation done today.

Transom decal is laid out flat on the dock

I put a bit of compound on the transom to remove wax and any accumulated dirt. Then taped the decal into place, measuring several times. I measured from the portholes to the edge of the decal backing paper on both sides initially, but a guy driving a boat by kept hollering “TILTED!” I’m glad he did, because it turned out measuring to the edge of the backing paper was the wrong approach. I then measured from the lower rub rail to the bottom of the lettering on each side, then applied tape to indicate where the top corners of the backing paper should go. Measuring to the bottom of the lettering and making sure it was the same on both sides was the key.

Backing paper removed

Transom sprayed with soapy water

Ten minutes’ work with squeegees, and the boat name is done

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Retiring Tent Model XXX’s Alarm System & Depth Sounder Install

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Splash Day! (sorta)

In a nutshell, we splashed the boat, I found a small leak, and we lifted the boat out of the water. I fixed the problem and we splashed again. And then I found another small leak that requires parts to fix. So the Roamer is in the slings and on blocks in front of the lift well at the marina. Parts are on order.

The day started off just fine. Everybody showed up when they said they would. The Travelift came over and lifted the boat, but the straps were too far forward. I mentioned that to the lift operator. He said it’d be fine. The tires for the lift were on uncompacted gravel. Lifting the boat compacted the gravel under the tires, and the lift didn’t have the oomph to get out of the depressions it made in the gravel.

So they put the boat back down and moved the lift aft three feet.

Relocating the straps

Second try with some plywood on the ground in front of the tires.

But the lift just didn’t have the power to move forward on the uncompacted gravel.

So they brought in some muscle to help out

Never seen this done before

It worked!

Getting close

Splashed!

I jumped onboard and went around checking thruhulls, and that’s when I noticed a bit of water streaming in from the starboard main engine Forespar Marelon seacock. Water was getting past the thread sealant. So I had them lift the boat clear of the water and set about fixing it.

Removing the hose wasn’t too difficult

With the hose out of the way, I removed the valve.

I found nothing out of order with the standpipe

Maybe I didn’t apply enough Gasoila thread sealant. Or maybe I didn’t fully seat the valve. I don’t know why it leaked. But I cleaned the sealant off the threads as best I could and applied a different sealant: Loctite 567.

I fully seated the valve and attached the hose

They lowered the boat again and the seal for the Forespar valve appears to have held. But I could hear a dripping sound and tracked it down to the underside of the base for the OEM Chris Craft-branded seacock that originally served the genset.

In 2009, when I splashed the boat at its original marina, that seacock was dry and tight. It made the trip to Deale without leaking a drop. So after confirming that the rubber stopper part of the valve was still soft and serviceable, I didn’t bother removing it from the standpipe. I got a new sight glass and gaskets and presumed everything would be fine. But something happened in the interim and the unit is no longer reliable.

So I ordered a new Marelon valve and it will be here sometime next week.

This was a very stressful, disappointing day…

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Splash Day Breakdown

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Final Engine Test & Impeller Install

With Tent Model XXX finally retired, the last items on my pre-launch punch list are to prove the Cummins 6CTAs start reliably and then install the raw water impellers.

Since the boat is on land, there’s no raw water supply to cool the exhaust. I don’t want to overheat my brand new exhaust hoses or fiberglass mufflers, so I’ve only been letting the engines run for a maximum of 10 seconds. I’m very pleased that after so much time sitting, they light off at the first twist of the key switches. I think they may be idling too low, but that should be an easy adjustment once the boat is in my temporary slip.

I’ve never had a turbocharged boat before. I love hearing the subtle whistling sound of the turbos spooling up even at idle. 🙂

This short video shows the view from outside when I light off each engine. I don’t have the engine heaters on, but the starter only runs for a fraction of a second before the engines are running. There’s a bit of smoke, and it differs slightly from side to side, but I don’t think it’s anything to be concerned about. My Kubota tractor belches black smoke every time it starts, and it gets run a lot more often than these Cummins 6CTA have for the last decade!

The important thing is that the engines now reliably start every time I’ve tested them.

When the video is over, click Cancel or it advances to some randomly selected video at the hosting site.

With the final engine pre-launch tests done, I set about installing the raw water impellers.

I’ve had these new Sherwood 17000 impellers for far too long

They’ve been sitting in the original packaging since 2015, waiting for me to finally get the project where it is now.

I put a dab of Gasoila thread sealant on the shaft to hold the key in place

A hose clamp compressing the fins a bit helps ease installation

I also put a bit of dish soap on each fin tip as a lubricant.

Aligning the keyway to the key was a bit tricky, but I finally got it.

Each bolt got a touch of Tef-Gel

I was glad to see that the previous owner of these engines had also obviously been using a thread lubricant. I take that as a good sign that he paid attention to important details.

Starboard side is done

Port side is done

That’s it! My Roamer is officially ready to splash! All I need is the insurance company’s approval, and I’m off to the boatyard for the big launch!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Splash Day (sorta)!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Retiring Tent Model XXX part II

I just hung up with Hagerty Marine Insurance. My survey and request for approval to launch is in the underwriters’ workflow. I should have their response in a day, so I may still be able to splash this week. Unfortunately, after six weeks of unusually dry, pleasant weather, this area now has thunderstorms forecast every day for the next week.

That said, taking down Tent Model XXX was more time consuming than I expected, even with a very competent assistant. We were able to pull all of the plastic and get half of the frames and scaffolding out of the way on Day One of the tent removal. Day Two of tent removal got cut short by the heat, humidity, and the fact that we’re two geezers who are a bit out of shape and not used to long days of hard physical labor. lol

First light of Day 2

I started disassembly at the stern

The catwalk comes off first…

Then the lumber tying the frames together gets removed…

And finally, I haul the individual frame uprights away from the boat

With each piece removed, the remaining structure got increasingly wobbly.

Only two frame sections remain!

Last frame standing…but barely

Beautiful boat surrounded by a sea of dirty, rotten lumber

The lower parts of the majority of the tent frames were badly rotted. I knew Tent Model XXX was past its prime, but now that I’ve seen how bad each piece was I’m surprised it stayed together.

It’s great to be able to see the boat without anything blocking the view

It’s hot, we’re beat and calling it a day

Day 3 started off cool and cloudy

That’s one good lookin’ boat

First priority for cleaning up was the shrink wrap

I spread out each sheet of plastic, cut it into 6′ wide strips, folded it once so it was 3′ wide, and rolled it as tightly as I could before tying it securely with twine.

Next I put my Makita cordless drill through its paces by pulling hundreds of screws that were holding all of the lumber frames together. It would have been faster to just take a saw to it, but there’s ~$1,000 worth of lumber and screws here, and I can reuse them at my house.

The sea of dirty, rotten lumber has been taken apart and loaded on the trailer

The boat looks even better when it’s not surrounded by dirty, rotten lumber

I rigged my new Hubbell shore power cable along the stainless safety line in preparation for splashing

Thank you for your service, Tent Model XXX

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Final Engine Test & Impeller Install

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Mast

This post is out of sequence, since in my excitement I already posted about Day 1 of dismantling Tent Model XXX. Anyway, I mentioned before that I had to remove the tent top to install the handrail. But the top also had to come off as part of the tent disassembly process, so it’s a win-win. There’s a lot of stuff that may appear to be coming together quickly, but actually it’s just a lot of things I worked on previously that I knew would one day have to happen. And when the day came, everything sort of fell into place.

Like the mast.

Rechromed parts got reacquainted with the OEM mahogany mast back in 2013

Sikaflex 291 LOT (Long Open Time) is a great product

Most caulks kick off pretty fast…sometimes too fast. And once they kick off, there’s no turning back. What I like about 291LOT is that it stays workable/cleanable for around an hour. No other caulk does that. When it cures, it’s like any other caulk. So if you’ve got a caulk job that’s complex, I highly recommend spending the money on Sikaflex 291 LOT.

That’s a seriously caulked mast

Rechromed OEM hardware slides right in place

A little squeegee work and it was ready to pull the tape. I make my caulk squeegees from Harbor Freight bondo spreaders, which I cut down to ~5/16″ width with a razor. They make a nice, clean edge, and they’re cheap, so as soon as the squeegee stops performing you toss it and use the next one.

NICE!

Rechromed mast base is next

I used fine-line tape for the mahogany and chrome

Nice!

Tool of the trade: the Makita grinder makes a great buffing platform

Mast reflector has seen better days

Somebody made this after the Roamer left the Chris Craft factory. It’s a nav light reflector that keeps the forward steaming nav light from lighting up the cabin top…a good strategy for not losing night vision.

New wires for the nav and anchor lights

Caulk on all of the metal-to-metal joints that could bring water into places with electrical connections

Coming together in 2019

These rechromed mast parts are seriously gorgeous

Fast forward to June 16, 2023, and it’s showtime!

That’s been a long time coming

Tef-Gel on the set screw for the pivot pin and the pin itself

Because…why not?

Nav, anchor light, and horn wiring get the pig-tail twist treatment for flexibility

Adhesive-lined shrink connectors finish the wiring

Last up is the mast holder-upper

As always, I use my Vix hinge drill bit to center each screw hole.

Sikaflex 291LOT in mahogany will seal the screw holes

The mast holder-upper works perfectly!

Finally, with the tent top gone, the mast can stand proud

That’s a good looking mast

Keep in mind…

This is what we started with

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Retiring Tent Model XXX part II

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Mahogany Handrails

Things are flying along on the boat. Lots of stuff that’s been in the works for more than a decade have fallen nicely into place. The surveyor still hasn’t gotten me his report, so I don’t have the insurance company’s permission to splash yet. But I’m going full steam ahead on dismantling the tent. Tomorrow’s the big day to pull it all down. If anybody in the Deale, MD, area has “dismantle massive shrinkwrap tent’ on your bucket list, this is a golden opportunity. 🙂

It rained overnight after I cut off the tent top over the bow

I mentioned before that the base for the handrail stanchion brace wasn’t fitting right

The part that it fits into was also riding too high on the stanchion pipe. I finally decided to just cut them and weld the shortened braces back together.

Harbor Freight metal-cutting bandsaw is a great tool

Shortened parts ready for TIG

That should do the trick

Not perfect, but I think they’ll do fine

It’s perfect!

The stanchion top piece wasn’t flush with the handrail before

Lopping off 1/2″ of the brace brought the top piece level…just what I needed.

And the base is flat to the toe rail…perfect!

Taping everything off for caulk

All of the threaded parts also got a generous dollop of Tef-Gel.

Good squeeze-out

Clean up with a squeegee, then pull the tape and wipe up with mineral spirits

Nice!

Next up: the stainless safety line

I got the stainless swageless turnbuckles and swageless jaws for the lifelines at e-rigging.com. I’ve had the stainless wire rope in the garage for years. It’s nice to finally get it out of my way and on the boat.

The wire rope is threaded through all of the port stanchion pipes

The turnbuckle jaw is attached to the bow rail.

Tef-gel in all threads and metal-to-metal contact areas

Swageless jaw is tightened to spec and ready for tensioning

Turnbuckle at the bow rail tensioned the safety line

Next, I tackled final installation of the port aft mahogany hand rail.

316 stainless screws and Sikaflex LOT caulk secures the handrail to the stanchion tops

I didn’t bother taping the handrail off…just applied the caulk to all of the stanchion tops, lowered the handrail into place, then drove the screws home. Cleanup was easy with a squeegee and little rags dampened with mineral spirits.

The joint between the two sections of rail was the last step.

The rails are coated on the ends, so there’s no exposed wood. I taped off the joint and injected Sikaflex between the two.

The original stainless steel plate joints the two rails from below

That’s a wrap for the port side handrail!

That looks great!

I repeated the process on the starboard side.

A tip for installing pipe stanchions threaded in NPT

Having spent all that time polishing stanchions, the last thing I wanted to do was gouge them with a pipe wrench while snugging them during install. Since the pipes are drilled for the safety line, a long driver bit just fits in the hole.

Wrap the pipe with a cloth and open the wrench jaws wide

The jaws are biting on the driver bit, not the pipe.

Starboard handrail is done!

I tensioned the turnbuckle, and that was a wrap on a very productive day.

Boom

This was all from today, by the way. You probably noticed the tent top is peeled back a lot further than it was at the start of this article. It’s sooo nice not having that tent locking in heat!

The view from the salon got a lot better today

I got handrails!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Walk-Through Video

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Swim Platform Rub Rail

After putting so much effort into making the swim platform pretty, I wanted to make sure it’s protected in the event that I botch the landing when backing into a slip. The original rub rail was rectangular anodized aluminum. It probably looked fine when it was brand new, but it was pretty worn out by the time we bought the boat for $1 in December of 2007. I decided to go with 1-1/4″ solid back stainless steel rub rails for this refit.

When we first got the boat, the swim platform was as rough as everything else

That’s pretty rough

The original rub rail wasn’t salvageable

That’s a good looking swim platform

The factory polish on stainless rub rail isn’t bad, but it could be improved

The 316 stainless screw heads could use a bit of polishing, too

Super shiny rub rails are ready to install

I taped off the teak with 1/2″ straight line tape

I drilled the screw holes using a Vix bit to center the holes, then temporarily installed the port rail

I then taped off the rail

I then applied Sikaflex 291 LOT (long Open Time) mahogany-colored caulk

After squeegeeing off the caulk that squeezed out, I pulled the tape

I repeated that process for the other pieces of rail.

NICE!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Bilge Pumps & Panda Exhaust Wrap-Up

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing GROCO Hull Strainers

I’ve got a lot more things done on the boat than I’ve posted to this blog, so I’ll try to get caught up and post more.

One of the major must-do items on my pre-launch punch list was to weld in the new main engine raw water intakes. I’ve got 2″ Buck Algonquin 70RWS200 stainless steel strainers in the engine room, but I want scoop strainers on the bottom. GROCO ASC-AL hull strainers are what I went with. I considered welding them to the bottom, which is how Chris Craft did it. But welding them on means there are spots on the hull that have no barrier coat or bottom paint. The boat does have an impressed current cathodic protection system (CAPAC) installed, but I’d rather not have bare aluminum exposed to salt water. Fortunately, Groco makes these so they can be installed with screws, too.

Groco ASC-AL hull strainers

I coated the scoops inside and out with Barr Rust 235 epoxy barrier coat, then topped that with the Pettit VIVID I had left over from repainting the bottom.

Drilling and tapping holes in the hull

Well…that sucks

A brand new tap snapped off clean just a few turns into the hole.

30 minutes later, I got the broken tap out of the hole

Vix hinge bit perfectly centers the drill in the holes

All the holes are drilled

I’m using 316 stainless screws, so each hole got a dollop of Tef-Gel

Next, I taped off the area…

…and applied Sikka 291 LOT caulk

Good squeeze out

I like the fact that I can pull the pin and open the little access hatch on the back of the scoop. That makes it easy to keep the inside of the standpipe clean.

Repeat the process on the opposite side

Done

That’s a wrap for my below-the-waterline punch list.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Swim Platform Rub Rail

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Aft Deck Helm Doors

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

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Deck Helm Doors III

Good news!

The surveyor came by today and was very impressed with what he saw. He doesn’t expect the insurance company will have any demands before I splash the boat. He thinks he can have the updated survey report back to me by next Wednesday. I’ll immediately send it to the insurance company, so hopefully by Friday I’ll know if they approve of getting the bottom wet. I tentatively plan to start dismantling the tent on Thursday. Might have the boat back in the water for the weekend!

The missus did a great job cleaning in preparation for the surveyor

That’s a good looking dashboard

I keep most of the interior mahogany covered with cardboard and a moving blanket is usually draped over the helm, so not even I know what the boat looks like under all that protective covering and dust. This may be the first time I’ve seen the whole area cleaned up!

Diaper report from the fuel manifold: no diesel leaks!

So, that’s the good news. But now, I have a tale of woe from last fall, when I was furiously trying to get the boat ready to be splashed. I discovered a huge problem with the aft deck entry sliding doors: the doors are rectangular, which is perfectly common, but the door frames are not. The side decks on all old Chris Craft motoryachts are angled down from the bow to the transom, so water will run off. But the aft deck hardtop is basically parallel to the waterline. So the distance from the bottom of the helm door openings to the top is shorter at the leading edge than the aft. That’s not a good situation for a sliding door, where the top and bottom of the door frames are usually parallel.

When I tore out the original teak side deck and had it replaced with aluminum plate, the fabricator welded the 2″ square aluminum tube that would become the lower door frame at the same angle as the deck.

2″ square tube is at the same angle as the deck

When we were painting the aft enclosure in 2013, it didn’t even occur to me that the door opening wasn’t configured right. If only I had a time machine…

When I tried to install the linear tracks for the helm doors in late 2022, with the door closed there was 1/8″ gap from the top of the leading edge of the door to the upper guide track…perfect. But at the trailing edge, the gap between the door top and upper guide track was 1/2″! And when I slid the door open, the leading edge door top had that same 1/2″ gap, but the gap at the trailing edge of the door was 1-1/4″!

Those two surfaces need to be parallel or sliding doors won’t work. What a mess.

My first “solution” to the problem was a mahogany threshold

Thicker at the back, thin at the front

After making the threshold, though, I realized it wouldn’t work. The leading edge of the door fits in the pocket at the leading edge of the frame nicely when it’s sitting on the 2″ square aluminum tube. But with the mahogany threshold in place, it jacks up the trailing edge of the door, which opens a big gap between the lower leading edge of the door and the pocket that the leading edge slides into. So the bottom will need to stay as-is. The hardtop will have to be modified so it’s parallel with that 2″ aluminum square tube on the bottom.

It was around this time that the Boatamalan painter was doing crack repairs around the hull. Since he was on the lookout for cracks, he spotted several on the underside of the hardtop where it overhangs the side door entries. In other words, there were fairly big gelcoat cracks that needed to be repaired in the vicinity of the sliding door problem I was having. So we went for broke and got ‘er done.

I epoxy glued and screwed big pieces of tapered mahogany to the hardtop on both sides

Really wish I’d thought of this in 2013…

Fiberglassed then faired with Awlfair

The Boatamalan took over with crack repair and fairing

The last of the cracks were dug out

More Awlfair

After sanding the fairing smooth, we tented the area and sprayed Awlquik medium build surfacer.

After sanding the Awlquik, we re-tented the area and sprayed Awlgrip 545 primer

A dusting of black paint for a guide coat

After sanding the 545 with 320 grit, we re-tented the area again and the Boatamalan sprayed the Awlcraft 2000 Matterhorn White topcoat. The next morning, I arrived at 6am to find…

SHINY!

After pulling all the tape and plastic, the repair areas looked great!

With the upper and lower door frames now parallel, I was finally able to install the doors. But what a mess that was! To any other bonehead who takes on a project like this, pay very close attention to your future door openings early in the project!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Aft Deck Helm Doors