1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the AC Circuit Panels

I shifted from doing cabinetry in the aft HVAC closet to focusing on electrical. My Boatamalan painter says the headliner has to be installed before he can spray the ICA clear top coat on the salon and V-berth mahogany. But before the headliner can be installed, I have to do all of the wiring. Most of that will involve running 12vdc lighting circuits and speaker wires, plus installing the plywood bases that the speakers and lights will attach to. Before I get to that, I want to wrap up some 240/120vac stuff.

The main power panel

I like the look of that tinted epoxy.

New ammeter donuts

My old Constellation 52 had ammeters so you could monitor power consumption and make sure loads were balanced. This Roamer only came with a voltmeter, but I plan to install NOS ammeters that match the voltmeter. For now, I’m just installing the donut current transformers on both hot legs and running the wiring up to where the ammeters will be installed. I’ll put the gauges in later, after the sanding and painting is done.

The OEM bilge pump plate and switches sure look nice

The original screws that attach the plate to the panel were deteriorated chromed bronze. I decided to replace them with stainless, so I ordered a bag of 250 #4 3/8″ oval head screws since the same ones are used on all of the OEM cabinet hinges and other hardware. But when I went to install them, I discovered that #4 is too big! Turns out Chris Craft used #3.5 screws! I haven’t been able to find a source for stainless screws in that size. If anybody knows where to find them, please leave a comment and let me know!

Tangled mess

In preparation for powering up the 12vdc breaker panel, I opened up the salon cabinet service chase. Though it looks like a tangled up mess of wires in there, the permanent wiring for the boat is actually well secured and organized. The messy wiring is for the various passive infrared alarm sensors I installed after the rat bastard thieves cleaned me out back in 2014.

Speaking of which, my insurance company, Chubb, has informed me that they’ll not be renewing my policy. Apparently, one claim for the burglary and another for the Nor’Easter damage earlier this year was too much. So now, on top of the usual complications of a busy life, I’m shopping around for boat insurance.

Tracking down a wire gives me a chance to clean some hidden sandblasting residue

Wrapping up the aft AC circuit panel

NOS fuel line makes good chafe protection

I’ve had this 1/4″ ID fuel line for a long time. It’s old enough that I wouldn’t use it in a fuel system, but it comes in handy as chafe protection.

That’s better than a sharp metal edge

Prepped for epoxy and insulation

US Composites 635 epoxy is good stuff

Apply epoxy, then staple the Buffalo Batt insulation in place

Not bad!

Long as I’m in here…

Might as well install the PEX water lines for the washing machine

I’ll finish this install later

Confounded by an ebay seller

Because this is an aluminum boat and aluminum loses to copper when they come together in damp environments, I’ve been trying to eliminate as much exposed copper as I can during this refit. Water condensing on copper or bronze, then dripping off into the bilge can carry copper ions that can attack the hull. So instead of using bronze PEX fittings, I thought I’d try plastic ones that were advertised on ebay. Turns out the plastic ones are for a different, older type of PEX. They don’t work with what I’m using. So the water line install will have to wait until I order more proper PEX fittings.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Powering Up the 12VDC Breaker Panel.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Aft Storage/HVAC Closet Back Panel

I’m baaaa~~~~ck.

The trip to Japan was great. The kids’ wedding was perfect. I got to see friends from university that I hadn’t seen in 20 years. The food was awesome. Hot springs were awesome. Jet lag was brutal going and coming back, but that’s to be expected.

The Shiba Toshogu Shrine in Tokyo

The wedding happened at the historic Shiba Toshogu shrine, the family shrine of Tokugawa Ieyasu, first shogun of Japan and the great unifier who ushered in the relatively peaceful Eido Period. Let’s hope the kids’ marriage works out as well!

Anyway…back to the Roamer refit.

I’ve been working my way toward the stern, first by stalling the back wall and ceiling of the laundry closet. Now I’m working on the storage/AC closet aft of that. The back panel is fitted and the backside of it is insulated. So the next step was to dry-fit the back panel and cut the shelf panels that will enclose the Flagship Marine air conditioning unit.

Framing out the AC shelf

The last piece of 3/4″ okume plywood

Okume isn’t as pretty as mahogany, but it’s marine grade and waterproof. Ideally, there will never be any water in unexpected places inside this AC closet, but if there is the okume will stand up to it better than the cabinet-grade mahogany panels would.

Nice fit!

Next, fit the upper panel support cleats

With the cleats and panels fitted, I removed everything and coated the back panel face.

Coat the back panel face with brown-tinted epoxy

A heavy coat of epoxy levels out pretty well

Next day, wet out the contact areas on the back panel with epoxy

Wet out the backing cleats and apply wood flour-thickened epoxy

Press the panel into position, and wipe up the epoxy that squeezes out

I like working in these smaller spaces. Individual projects wrap up faster when the overall job is smaller. 🙂

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Ducting for the Aft Stateroom Air Conditioner

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fitting the Laundry Closet Ceiling

With the electrical work started and other prep done in the aft stateroom laundry closet, next I got busy cutting and fitting the overhead ceiling panel. In all of the open areas in the salon, galley, v-berth, and aft stateroom, I’ll use Whisper Wall material as the headliner. But in the bathrooms and closet spaces, I’m going with 1/4″ Doug fir marine plywood that’s painted on the visible face and insulated on the back-side.

The last sheet of 1/4″ marine ply was on the bottom of the stack

The plywood stack is like a progress-o-meter. If I’ve calculated materials right, I’ll run out of mahogany ply on the last bit of cabinetry. I’m down to six sheets of 1/2″ and two of 1/4″.

Measuring the overhead width

It’s a boat…nothing’s square. I find I get the best fit in this sort of situation if I use two sticks to gauge the actual distance, then measure the sticks with a tape.

Laying out the cut lines

Rough cuts are done…time to see if it fits

Very close…but not quite there

The aft deck is angled down a bit heading aft, and the ceiling here isn’t square. What I found is that the panel doesn’t come close to fitting if I insert it leading edge first…or any other edge, for that matter. But it almost slides right into place if I put the aft outer corner in first, then slide the aft inner corner most of the way home, and then push the inner edge up into place. But the outer forward corner was getting hung up.

Need to knock off a bit there to get the angles matching

It was still a bit tight along the leading edge of the panel when I tried to fit it again.

Shaving off a bit on the aft edge should do the trick

So close, but yet so far…

A bit more trimming, and it slid right into place.

Boom

Mark off the backside for epoxy and insulation

Saturate the panel with epoxy

Lay on the Buffalo Batt insulation, and press it in place

With all of the insulation I’m using and with the interior spaces almost completely isolated from the hull envelope, this boat should be very comfortable temperature-wise all year round.

Unfortunately, I’m a clown sometimes

I forgot to mark off gaps for the overhead frames before laying on the epoxy and insulation. So after the epoxy cured I had to remove strips of insulation so the panel would seat on the frames. On the upside, I now have tested the stability of the panel-epoxy-nonwoven insulation fabric bond and found it to be (irritatingly) robust. That stuff’s never coming off on its own!

I had to remove one more strip of insulation at the marks, then it was done

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: More Progress in the Laundry Closet

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Cutting and Fitting Salon Plywood Panels

With the galley pantry panels installed, I moved on to other panels that face the hull in the salon. The cold winter made it hard to keep up momentum, since epoxy doesn’t kick when it’s too cold. But it was 76°F one day last week, then it snowed over the weekend. Today it will be 78°F. On the upside, the epoxy is finally starting to cure. I just wish it would stay warm enough on the weekend for me to get more stuff done.

Cleats for the next panel that will be installed aft of the pantry

Ready to fit the wall panel

Marine-grade 1/4″ Doug fir plywood fitted in place

The idea here is to have the living space sealed to isolate it from the hull envelope. The hull and decks are insulated, and I insulate the backside of every panel that faces that hull. Since metal boats can be difficult to keep comfortable, temperature-wise, this insulation approach should make my boat a lot warm in winter and cool in summer.

This 1/4″ Douglas fir panel was a bit challenging because the hull starts curving in toward the bow here. The plane of the back and front edges aren’t the same. Once I push the panel into place, the forward edge needs to be slightly curved so it fits closely to the upright galley pantry panel. Tight joints will help ensure there’s no air leakage between the hull envelope and the interior.

Cut the Buffalo Batt insulation to fit

US Composites epoxy resin with 2:1 hardener is my favorite epoxy product

The back-side is thoroughly wetted out and ready for the insulation

Press the insulation in place and go home

Next day, the epoxy still isn’t cured, but it’s tacky enough

Wet out the cleat contact points and seal the edges

Epoxy thickened with wood flour goes on the cleats

Boom! One more insulated panel installed

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Cutting and Fitting a Toe Rail Vent Duct

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Still More Pantry Panels

All the sudden it’s like somebody flipped the Season switch from Winter to Spring. But only for a few days…they say it will snow again on Saturday. So much for getting a bunch of panels epoxied in this weekend. The glue just doesn’t set up very quickly when it’s freezing. But I did manage to get more pantry panels installed in spite of the cold temps.

The PVC plumbing for the black water tank pump-out fits tight to the hull

I used my kerosene heater to heat up the PVC and mold it into shape. It turns out there are electric PVC pipe blankets that do the same thing. But since I’m not a professional plumber, it’s not worth buying another expensive tool I’ll (hopefully) never use again. It’s essential that I keep the pipe as close to the hull as possible so I can maximize the space inside the galley pantry. A big pantry makes for a happy missus, and that’s pretty much my goal in life. 😉

Final pantry wall panel is glued and screwed in place

I also ran the PEX water line that will connect to the original Chris Craft chromed bronze water inlet that I’ll install on the mahogany toe rail, and I put the water tank vent line in position.

Finally! The clamps came off of the first two pantry sections

The first two pantry sections are all glued together. None of the panels there should ever need to be removed, so they’re fixed in place. This back panel on the last pantry section will be removable to give access the hoses and plumbing. I hate it when manufacturers don’t provide access for maintenance.

The 1″x 1″ mahogany backing cleats are installed for the bottom and back panels

Not bad!

It was at this point that I realized I’d forgotten the bottom panel here when I varnished all of the other pantry panels. I’ll get to that soon. I also had to do a bit of trimming on the upper panel, so it can also be removed if necessary. The fit was a bit too tight. Then I applied epoxy to the edges to seal it up. With as warm as it’s been the last two days, hopefully it’ll be cured when I arrive over the weekend. It’ll be nice to finish up this pantry and move on.

Oh…I should maybe also explain that I’ll be making a solid mahogany face frame to cover the edges of the pantry plywood panels and give the door hinges something solid to screw into. But that’s a cosmetic detail that can be done later.

Next up in our

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Aft Head Ceiling Panels (more fillets!)

With the aft stateroom head walls fiberglassed and faired, the ceiling panels cut, fiberglassed, and faired, and the overhead wiring done, the next step is to install the ceiling panels, prime, and prep for paint. What we’re ultimately going for here is a nearly waterproof unit bathroom, in which the ceilings and walls are fiberglassed together, like an oversized shower enclosure.

1/4″ marine plywood ceiling panel that’s been fiberglassed and faired

It’s a lot easier to do flat fairing work on a table than it is overhead, but the epoxy, fiberglass, and fairing compound make these panels heavy and awkward to move around.

Panel 1 in place

I didn’t have time to take pictures with sticky epoxy in play, but prior to installing the panel I wetted out the top side of the panel with epoxy, then applied epoxy thickened with wood flour and cabosil to each overhead frame. With a little help from a friend, I marked off the overhead frames and countersunk the screw holes before fastening the panel in place with stainless screws.

Panel 2 glued and screwed in place

Corners and panel edges are glued and screwed all around

The joint between the panels will get a strip of fiberglass

Thickened epoxy topped with wetted out fiberglass mat

Panel edges get a strip of FRP to the longitudinal mahogany beam, too

Home-made epoxy fairing compound is hot-coated over FRP

It’s a lot easier to hot-coat tacky fiberglass with homemade fairing compound made of the same epoxy + a 70/30 mix of 3M microballoons and cabosil than it is to sand cured fiberglass and apply fairing compound. Hot-coating saves a really miserable step in the process.

After sanding the fairing compound, it’s fillet time!

I do love my fillets. Seriously. Can’t get enough of ’em. Awlfair is a great product for fillet work, and it sands pretty easily, too.

Once the Awlfair sets up, we’ll hit it with Awlquik, sand, then Awlgrip 545 primer, and then final sand before painting with Eggshell Awlgrip.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Prepping the Aft Head for Paint.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wiring the Aft Head Lights

With the aft head moldings and corner/door pocket piece done, next I have to run the wires for the overhead lights and light switch. I have to wire it now because once I install the ceiling panels and do the fiberglass and fairing work, access to the overhead frames in this head will be rather challenging.

Overhead light wiring–original supply is fine

Since our Roamer 46 had been on dry land for about 25 years prior to us finding it on Purgatory Row of a southern Maryland boatyard, the original wiring is largely in good, serviceable condition. I’ve already removed all of the wiring that showed any sign of corrosion, so for the aft head overhead lights I just needed to add a new leg to go between the 12vdc LEDs we’ll be using and the light switch.

Slot the edge, drill the hole, then route for the switch

Chris Craft had a variety of ways of installing the wiring to switches. In a situation like this, with both sides of a panel being in living space, they usually just routed a groove in the face of the panel, straight from the ceiling to the switch. They installed the wire in the groove and covered it with a mahogany or teak trim piece. It’s not a bad approach, but I wanted a cleaner look. So I’ll run the wire up to the ceiling inside the slot that I cut in the panel edge.

Stuff the wire edgewise into the slot

Epoxy thickened with wood flour and cabosil along all bonding surfaces

More thickened epoxy on the corner piece

Clamp together, clean up, and let it cure overnight

Leave no epoxy outside of the joint

The 1″ x 1″ mahogany cleat I’m using for clamping is set back just far enough from the joint to allow me to wipe the area with a rag soaked in alcohol. Since the wood is already coated with ICA base coat clear, the wet epoxy wipes right off.

Et voila!

The aft head switch wiring is done and the panel corner piece/door pocket is installed!

In other news, you know your beater truck is suffering from deferred maintenance blues when you’re driving down the road on the way to the boatyard and the muffler comes off!

Salt in winter vs cheap steel muffler

Salt wins!

Funky rusted out lettering

Now the muffler’s nicer than the truck!

It turned out that the exhaust pipe from the catalytic converter to where the muffler used to be was rotten, too. So I fired up my Millermatic 35 and welded the new parts in. $35 and an afternoon later, we were back in business.

Truck’s still ugly though and getting worse by the year.

The old Ford only needs to hang on through next summer. Once the boat splashes, I won’t need it anymore.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Aft Head Ceiling Panels (more fillets!)

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Cummins Engine Install — Spacers II

In my last article, I wrote about the second step in the process of  installing the Cummins engines into my Roamer. I came up with one plan for engine beds that didn’t work out at all, then cut up one of the beds to make spacers that should work just fine. But then I realized that the top of the stringer on one side isn’t square to the stringer upright, which complicates things just a bit. Just when I thought I’d worked around that problem, another one jumped out to bite me.

Up front, the vibration isolators are totally bottomed out

I even had to remove the locknut (lower left corner of the picture above) to lower the front of the engine far enough.

At the back, 1-1/2″ thick spacers put the engine at the right height

Perfect fit…zero gap at the couplers

But then, I checked the clearance under and around the engine…

There’s less than 1/8″ between the oil pan and one of the frames

There’s also zero clearance between the gear cooler and the top of the stringer. I need to move the engine out of the way and make some space.

Gotta love that gantry!

The gantry is absolutely the best tool I’ve ever made. Moving these one-ton engines around by a couple thousandths or a couple of feet is a one-man job.

Jigsaw makes quick work of the frame

That little wedge I cut out of the aluminum frame to make room for the oil pan will come in very handy in my next article.

Sharpie mark on the stringer marks the line for the fuel cooler

I need to cut the top of the stringer along the line I marked with a Sharpie so the fuel cooler bracket at the top of the pic above will fit between the stringers.  These coolers are notorious for causing installation headaches, and I’m experiencing that personally on my boat. Either way, it’s nothing that a gantry and jigsaw can’t fix.

Just like the front, the inner stringer isn’t square at the back

I’ll square that up the spacer when I finally install it in the next step.

The spacer is looking good…but..oh jeez.

I was so focused on the gear-to-prop shaft coupler gap, and centering the engine between the stringers, and trying to figure out what to do with the front motor mounts that are bottomed out, and the inner stringer that isn’t square to the upright frame that I totally missed the HUGE problem in the pic above.

The prop shaft coupler and gear coupler are perfectly mated, and the propeller is the exact distance it should be from the aft-most strut. But the 1/2″ bolt that will secure the rear vibration isolator to the stringer lands in the middle of the transverse frame behind the gear. That frame is welded to the engine-side of the upright stringer and the piece of aluminum angle in the pic above that forms the top of the stringer. There’s no good way to drill a hole through the stringer that won’t put the bolt and nut in the middle of that upright frame or the weld that holds everything together.

A pic from my last article shows the offending frame–how did I miss THAT???

I can’t move the engine back so the bolts clear the frame, since that would require pushing the prop shaft further out of the boat, which would put the propeller hub 2″ past the aft-most  cutlass bearing. I can’t pull the prop shaft further into the boat, because that would put the prop too close to the aft-most strut. The prop shaft can be shortened, but it’s already machined and installed. I could also have a new set of motor mounts made (which is probably what I should have done from the beginning). All of which reminds me of something I wrote about before: the butterfly effect, and how little tiny things that happened a long time ago can cause ripples in time that wind up kicking me in the balls years down the road.

I was originally going to order the prop shafts after the mechanic installed the engines, so I’d know exactly how long they needed to be. I fired the mechanic after he didn’t get the engines installed for several months back in 2012, but I’d already ordered the prop shafts based on his measurements. If only we had done things per the original plan…

While mulling over what to do about this new problem, I kept working on the spacers.

Epoxy + cabosil + atomized aluminum powder glues spacers together

Shopsmith 12″ sanding disk smooths the bonded aluminum

Nice radii on all sharp spacer corners

Good lookin’ spacer, ready for install

As I was finishing up sanding the spacers, an idea from years before came back to me. I remembered that in my original plan I was going to use DriveSavers to isolate my prop shafts from the gear. DriveSavers are basically industrial strength rubber donuts that isolate prop vibration, provide drivetrain protection in the event of a prop strike, and they break electrical continuity between the hull (via the engine & gear) and the prop shaft and prop, which is even more important on metal boats than on other hull materials. Far more important, though, was that DriveSavers generally require the engine to be moved forward or the prop shaft to be cut by about 1″ to make space for the rubber donut. In my case, they’ll permit me to move the engines forward far enough for those aft-most rear vibration isolator bolts to clear the upright frame, plus provide all of the benefits that originally convinced me they were something I needed on my boat.

We’re back in business…I think.

Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Cummins Engine Install –DriveSavers & Spacers

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the Bow Hatch Installation

With the first attempt at installing the bow hatch ending in having to remove a bunch of rotten plywood from around the hatch opening, the next step was to rebuild what nature had destroyed.

First, smooth off the hatch opening, remove all corrosion, then coat with Devoe Bar-Rust 233H epoxy primer

The Devoe Bar-Rust is great stuff, but I was using the remainder of a can I opened when we sandblasted and primed the hull several years ago. Over time, the catalyst changes color to red (as does West System), which turns the white Bar-Rust pink! Fortunately, according to the company, it doesn’t affect the durability or cure of the finished coating. And since this will be out of sight, it will also be out of mind…our little secret. 😉

Zero exposed aluminum

Chris craft left these edges uncoated, which allows aluminum oxide to start at the edge and work under the primer and fairing compound, popping them loose. By fully encapsulating the aluminum, as well as the silicon bronze screw heads that I mentioned in the last article, I hope to never have problems with the paint on the foredeck.

Oy vey

How many plies???

So, what I see going on here is: 1) no coating on the edges, which permits water into the grain; 2) doug fir marine ply, which tends to get cracks in the grain over time (and that permits even greater ingress of water); and 3) several layers of plywood of varying thicknesses bonded together to make up the full height. But for the life of me I can’t tell what sizes of ply they are. There’s at least one 3/4″ (and maybe two) but then I also see maybe a 3/8″ and 1/2″…or is that two 3/8″???

Either way, the important thing is to get the final piece I make to be the right height regardless of the combination I use.

Good thing I had some BS1088 Lloyds-rated okume lying around

Rip off a piece of ply with my Eureka Zone track saw

Cut Two to fit the opening between the frames

The water stains are just surface imperfections. This panel has been dry for 10+ years.

Nice test fit

Mark the opening from above

Makita jigsaw finishes off the hole nicely

After cutting two panels out of the okume ply, it became clear I couldn’t make the whole structure out of okume because it’s not as thick as 3/4″ doug fir. I wasn’t getting the thickness I need.

3/4″ doug fir marine ply makes up the final height

I’d been saving some of these plywood scraps for years, wondering if I’d ever use them. Turns out they came in very handy.

Out with the old, in with the new

I glued, clamped, and then screwed the new panels together, then wetted out the still-tacky Devoe primer on the hatch opening with epoxy. Next, I mixed up some epoxy thickened with wood flour and cabosil and applied it generously to the mating surface of the new plywood, then clamped it to the underside of the deck.

Clamped in place overnight

Good fit, and a solid epoxy bond all the way around.

Next, dry fit the hatch and mark and drill holes

The holes are drilled oversized

After drilling the screw holes, I taped the bottom of each hole and filled the holes with epoxy mixed with the slowest hardener. Overnight, the epoxy wicked into the plywood around each hole and the hole in the aluminum was also coated. This effectively encapsulates the wood and aluminum, isolating it from exposure to air or any water that might one day seep past the sealant I’ll use.

316 stainless machine screws and locknuts  instead of the original silicon bronze wood screws

Next morning, I countersunk the under-side so the nuts will be inset

I also re-drilled the holes to clear out excess epoxy. The holes are 0.004″ larger than the #10-24 machine screws.

Sikaflex 295LOT seals the hatch to the deck

Thread in the machine screws all around before putting the nuts on below

Nut time

Sikaflex on the epoxy-coated ply will be covered by flashing later

Boom

Done

I’ll install the hatch glass later. We’re going with tinted glass all around, and I will be ordering all of it at the same time. But I need to get the new windshield frame installed before I know what shape to make the helm station side glass. It’s a process…

Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Transforming the Tent (once again)

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing The Last Aft Stateroom Walls

The aft stateroom wall installation was going pretty smoothly. Gluing and screwing pre-finished panels to the corner pieces, floor, and overhead frames is working out well. Just two more wall sections to go, and the aft stateroom major wall installation is nearly done.

The new walls going in today, per The Plan

Good test fit for the toilet cubby wall

Dry fitted with clamps

Nice, tight joint

You can see some sanding marks printing through the finish, but keep in mind that ICA is a base-coat/top coat system. The sanding marks and surface imperfections in the base coat will vanish when it’s sanded and top coated.

Gluing the joint

I wetted out the joint with straight epoxy, then coated it with epoxy thickened with wood flour and cabosil.

Same treatment for the solid mahogany corner piece

Slide the panel home, gluing and screwing to overhead 1″x1″ cleats

Got another wall in! The toilet cubby lives!

The aft stateroom is really coming together…maybe a bit too fast

The pic above shows a wee bit of a problem that I’d foreseen and considered and had a plan to avoid…that I completely overlooked until it was almost too late. More on that later…

The next corner piece goes in

I had to notch the top just a wee bit to clear the backing block overhead

Nice fit…ready for the panel…but what was I thinking?

The back story here is that I was selling a piece of equipment on this day and the buyer was coming to pick it up at my house at 6pm. It’s an hour commute from my house to the boatyard. The walls were going in pretty quickly and I’ve got the process nailed, so I decided to get ‘er done and install the last wall before going home. It would be close, but I could do it. Looking at these pix now, I can’t believe I was so focused on gettin’ ‘er done that I didn’t see the problem I was creating.

Cut out the notch for the overhead butt block

Super awesome Kreg R3 Jr pocket hole screw jig makes fast work of pre-drilling for the floor joint

Nice alignment with the Concept Plan I traced on the floor

Bracing the panel to avoid creep

Pocket screw joinery is popular, in part, because the screws draw the pieces together very tightly. The screws go in at a very shallow angle — I believe it’s 10 degrees — so most of the clamping force is applied in line with the screw. But with glued and screwed applications, the glue acts as a lubricant and that 10 degree skew can cause the panel to creep up to 3/32″. To stop panel creep, I used scraps of wood and a wedge to keep the panel right over the lines I have laid out on the floor while I drive the pocket screws home.

Boom! Done! Time to clean up and get outta here!

Single flute cardboard protects the pre-finished wood

Dang, that’s pretty if I do say so myself

I know a lot of people like straight grained wood, but I really like the character that strategically placed knots add. This one’s at shoulder height…nice eye candy.

Coming together just like the Concept Plans (except for that one teensy-weensy thing)

Good cleat fit overhead…time to get home!

It was at about this time, while I was leaning over the new clothes dryer carton trying to get a shot of the inside of the new aft head wall that I realized I’d left the new clothes dryer carton inside the aft head when I installed the last of the walls. The door opening to the head is ~21 inches…about a foot too narrow to get the dryer out.

OMG

Fortunately, this was on a cold day and even though time had passed while I cleaned up and taped cardboard to the panels to protect the walls, the epoxy joint had not yet taken a hard set. So, I pulled out my cordless drill and very quickly removed all of the screws. There was a bit of a challenge removing the panel, since the wood flour and cabosil-thickened epoxy was in the process of setting, but in the end it all came apart just fine. While the wall was off, I pulled the dryer out of the bathroom and swapped it for the jet bathtub, which was sitting in its carton on the aft fuel tank. Then I put it all back together again, ending up with just a hint of a scuff on the tough ICA base coat clear. On the principle of “that’ll sand out,” I packed up, set the alarm, and was 20 minutes late getting home, but the buyer waited and the equipment went down the road as planned.

Sheesh…it’s never easy.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Insulation follow-up