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

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: ICA Base Coat on the V-berth/Galley Bulkhead

The headliner tracks are getting installed, so I needed to get the last bare mahogany veneers on the V-berth/galley bulkhead varnished with ICA polyurethane base coat. If I’m doing the V-berth side, I might as well do the galley at the same time.

The mahogany veneer looks pretty good

It’s been protected with cardboard since I installed it back in December 2017. How time flies…

This part is mostly inside the galley cabinet

The big wall will mostly be covered by upper and lower galley cabinets

I used Mirka Abranet in 240 grit to prep the panels

The V-berth side of the bulkhead will get varnished, too

Once I’d sanded everything with 240, I blew dust out of the wood grain, vacuumed the area, wiped everything down with alcohol and a microfiber cloth, then got to mixing the ICA.

ICA 272 base coat, 1015 reducer, and 266 catalyst

This was a horrible mistake

DO NOT BUY 6001CN organic respirator filters!!!

I thought I was getting a good deal on some respirator filters advertised on ebay. They were listed as 6001, but it turns out they were the Chinese version. The 6001 filters I had on my respirator had been used and were long past their expiration date. But when I put on the respirator with the new 6001CN filters, a strange smell came through…and it was coming from the filters. I hadn’t mixed the ICA yet, and the salon didn’t have any chemical odors. These filters come from the factory smelling like chemicals. So I threw them out and used the old ones. Even though they were old, no smell came through. So…lesson learned. Only buy genuine 3m 6001 filters.

Three coats later…

I rolled and tipped it, but it was hot in the tent and I was working solo so it’s not as smooth as I’d like. But since it’s only the first base coat, that’s fine.

The V-berth looks good, too

It was hot enough in the tent that the base coat was dry to the touch within five minutes or so. With three coats laid down, I left the stinky boat and went home.

Next day, sand again with Abranet 240

Abranet is a great product. Since it’s net instead of paper, the vacuum pulls almost all of the dust through. There’s very little flying dust or residue.

Ready for three more coats

This is a very different grain than the rest of the V-berth

Sanded, vacuumed, wiped down, and ready for more ICA

6 coats total

Looks good!

That’s a wrap

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The V-berth Headliner Install Begins