1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Cutting and Fitting the V-berth Starboard Side Mahogany Panel

With the port V-berth side panel cut and fitted, it was much easier doing the starboard side. It’s still challenging, but at least I got this one done in only one day.

Backside of the port panel marked for insulation

I’ve been putting Buffalo Batt insulation on the backside of all plywood panels that face the hull. Between that and the spray foam on the hull itself, I’m hoping this metal boat will be comfortable no matter the season. But insulating the back of each panel adds a day to the process of cutting and installing them. Still, I think it will be worth it in the end.

Starboard panel fit surprisingly well on the first try

Other V-berth panels I cut previously

I had these painted last year, but never posted the pix

A woodworker hobbyist buddy of mine calls this ‘wood porn’

So, both V-berth side panels are ready for ICA clear coat. Unfortunately, my painter has been too busy at work and our schedules haven’t matched up. I really didn’t want to have to learn how to spray paint, but this is getting frustrating. Hopefully, he’ll get them sprayed this weekend.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Taking A Break…sort of

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Cutting and Fitting the V-berth Port Side Mahogany Panel

Things have not been going smoothly recently. My painter’s schedule and mine continue not to match up, and until the plywood we previously painted with ICA base coat clear gets the top coat, I can’t install them. That’s holding up the porthole installation, which is a big item that has to be done before the boat comes out of the tent. On top of that, a couple of big trees near my house had to be brought down, and I’ve been spending more time fixing my chainsaw than running it. Occasionally I do get out to the boatyard, though, and I managed to get one of the side panels in the V-berth to fit.

Luan plywood wasn’t flexible enough

These V-berth side panels are a complicated shape and, depending on how you orient the pattern, you can have a longer edge on one end of the panel or the other. When I cut the luan test panel, I made the trailing edge the long one. But when I clamped the leading edge in place and then pressed the trailing edge up against the cleat all the way to the bottom, a hard line formed in the panel. It just didn’t want to be forced into that shape. After staring at the luan panel for a while, it dawned on me that the panel would fit better if the trailing edge was the short one.

Tracing the pattern onto the mahogany plywood

Chris Craft had a shelf running along the base of these side panels. The paint line in the picture above tells me where the plane of the original shelf was. Since the panel is curved when installed, the bottom edge of the panel when it’s flat will be cut on a curve. When the panel is pushed into position and conforms roughly to the shape of the hull, in theory it should yield a fairly flat line. Using a ruler and a miter protractor set to the angle of the leading edge, I marked off where the line will be on the new plywood. Then I connected the dots and got busy with my jigsaw.

First cut done

The curve is more dramatic at the leading edge because that’s where most of the curve is in the Z plane.

Nice fit halfway through the cleat at the trailing edge

Porthole cutout needs a little trimming

Leading edge needs a bit of trimming at the bottom

A pro would probably nail it the first time around, but I’m no pro. The way I figure it, it’s better for a weekend wood warrior to cut a bit oversized and adjust than to risk cutting it too short.

The leading edge is pretty close

It’s not a “cabinet-grade” joint, but It’s close enough to cover with a molding.

Flat fit at the porthole

The porthole fit is the most important one, since if it’s not flat the porthole itself won’t fit in the opening right. I’m glad I took the time to sand down the aluminum frames and cleats so the panel would lay flat on the plywood that surrounds the porthole opening.

Zero contact on this cleat at the bottom

There are fasteners that will hold the porthole in place, and I’ll use epoxy to bond the back side of the panel to the cleat where there’s contact. Even though it’s floating free here, the bottom edge will tend to stay in place regardless. A shelf running full length near the bottom will tie it into the rest of the cabinetry around the bunk.

Full contact with this cleat

Good fit on the trailing edge

Nice!

This job would have gone a lot smoother if I wasn’t working solo. Wrestling that panel into shape and then holding it  was a real challenge. The winning approach, which took a while to figure out, was to attach oak handscrew clamps very tightly to the cleats on either end just at the height of the bottom of the panel. Then I attached additional clamps under the handscrew clamps to keep them from rotating. This is very important, because when either of the clamps rotate, the panel slides off suddenly and the guy trying to install the panel gets really mad and wants to start throwing stuff…

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Cutting and Fitting the V-berth Starboard Side Mahogany Panel

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Preparing to fit the V-berth Mahogany Panels

With the new mahogany panel installed on the V-berth bulkhead, next I had to fit the side panels. I knew this was going to be a challenge, and I’ve been mulling over how to tackle it for a few years. The approach Chris Craft used involved 1/4″ medium density fiberboard, which (with enough screws) can be forced to contort into shapes that plywood doesn’t like to take. But I want to use mahogany rather than painted fiberboard, and of all the berths on a boat, the V-berth is the most ‘boaty’…I wanted the walls to follow the curves of the hull. But first, I needed to adjust the aluminum frames and the cleats that a clown of a woodworker installed a few years ago so the curves would be smooth.

The OE fiberboard panel

I saved this panel during the disassembly phase back in 2008 because I thought it would come in handy as a template. Recently though, I realized that fiberboard makes a great pattern for new panels made of the same material. But when using different materials with very different properties, it’s only useful in the roughest sense. More on that later.

Cleats installed by a former woodworker didn’t make smooth curves

The spray foam insulation and aluminum frame in the pic above obscures the mahogany cleats a bit, but if you can see the two pieces of wood don’t even come close to lining up. I’ll have to sand that down to make a smooth curve.

Completely meaningless cleat

I’m not sure what the woodworker was thinking putting that little mahogany cleat up above the porthole. I mean, I understand why it might be best to have a cleat there to support the plywood, but for that to happen the cleat has to be a very different shape so it aligns with the plane of the porthole surround plywood. A profile shot might make the point clearer.

See? Completely meaningless cleat! No way plywood could make that bend

On the bottom side of the round porthole opening, I’ve got some Chris Craft goofiness to deal with.

The mahogany  cleat is proud of the plywood porthole surround, but so is the aluminum frame

There’s no way 1/4″ mahogany plywood will warp enough to seat on the plywood that surrounds the porthole opening, so I have to sand down the mahogany cleat and the aluminum frame here.

Finally, ready to test the fit the pattern

I attached a cleat to the new mahogany panel that tracks the shape of the closest frame cleats. But since the mahogany panel added thickness to the bulkhead, the original fiberboard panel  needed some trimming to get it to fit again.

Close-enough fit at the top

Close enough at the bottom, too.

Fiberboard panel finally matches up to the round porthole opening

I need to trim a bit here

Next I took the fiberboard off and traced the outline on a sheet of cheap luan 1/4″ ply. It was looking pretty good until I tried to fit it up to the V-berth frames.

 

What fit well as fiberboard doesn’t fit well at all with plywood

Turns out plywood is a lot less flexible than fiberboard, especially when you try to make it bend in the X, Y, and Z axis all at the same time. No amount of clamps helped. When I tried to make the panel conform to the V-berth wall curves, I could only get two of the three axes to work at once. And that’s when it occurred to me that if there is a big difference between how fiberboard and cheap luan plywood behave, it was likely that the mahogany panels  would also be different than the cheap luan.

I’m going to ponder a bit more on this before giving it a go. That mahogany plywood isn’t cheap, and I don’t want to end up with expensive scraps.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Cutting and Fitting the V-berth Port Side Mahogany Panel

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the New Mahogany V-berth Bulkhead Panel

With the origami spray booth done, I finally got the V-berth bulkhead mahogany panel sprayed with ICA base coat clear. Next I installed the panel using epoxy, wood flour, and a lot of clamps.

Ready for epoxy

The bulkhead and mahogany panel wetted out with epoxy

I made sure to wet out the edge of the new mahogany panel with epoxy so it will be fully sealed. I don’t expect any water to ever find its way in here, but sealing the edges ensures that the panel will be stable for pretty much ever.

The bulkhead is slathered with wood flour-thickened epoxy

Next, I put the panel in place and secured it with screws around the perimeter and clamps everywhere else.

Good squeeze-out at the top

Good squeeze-out at the cabinet openings

Good squeeze-out at the perimeter

Thick mahogany lumber spreads the clamp loads

After wiping the panel with alcohol to remove any epoxy that dripped, that was a wrap for the day. I came back the next day to remove the clamps and clean up the epoxy that squeezed out at the cabinet openings.

Nice!

That looks a lot better than what was there originally.

“Before”

Hardened epoxy needs to be cleaned up

One lap with a router cleans up the edge

With the bulkhead mahogany panel in place, now I can get to work fitting and installing the side panels in the V-berth. Those have to be done before I can put the portholes in, which is part of the rain-proofing process I need to finish before I can take the tent down.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Preparing to fit the V-berth Mahogany Panels

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Spraying Mahogany Panels in the Origami Spray Booth

I’ve got a stack of mahogany plywood that needs to be sprayed with ICA base clear before I can install it on the boat. With the origami spray booth ready to go, we finally got to spray.

Goood day to spray

Mahogany plywood suspended for spraying

Fume extractor and filter box are ready to go

Devilbis Camair QC3 filter drier ensures clean, dry air from the compressor

My Boatamalan* painter was supposed to show up by 11, but he’s been very busy at work and didn’t get there until 5:30. I strung up some lights so he could spray even after dark. With the extra time, I suspended even more mahogany panels.

*Boatamalan: portmanteau indicating highly skilled boat workers of Central American origin. They’re actually from Honduras, but boat + [Guat]amalan has a nicer ring to it.

Spray water on the gravel to hold down dust…then get to spraying ICA

There’s about 150 pounds worth of plywood hanging from the roof. I noticed that as the weight and the length of time grew, the PVC pipes started sagging a bit. So I added some upright sticks to support the center and the end that meets the tent.

Fourth and final coat

Shiny!

Good lookin’ mahogany!

After moving all of the plywood back onboard the following morning, it was time to fold up the origami spray booth.

Pop off the roof, drop the wall…

Fold in the right wall…

Fold in the left wall…

Put the end wall in place…

Tie the roof in place…

And move the filter box up against the tent.

It only took about 25 minutes to button up the spray booth. Not bad for the first time. And it worked well. The base coat is nice and clean. Now I need to get those panels installed.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the New Mahogany V-berth Bulkhead Panel

 

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Porthole Surround Panels V

With the port side transom porthole surround panels cut and dry-fitted, the two major vertical panels are temporarily attached to the hull frames and square to each other, and the transom vent chutes are cut and fitted, I’m ready to make the starboard side panels.

Short upright panel is a remnant

The panel above was a leftover from the aft stateroom walls. There’s always a question about whether or not to keep scraps since they take up space and can make for a messy work area. But this one turned out to be a good choice even with a dripped epoxy stain on one corner. That corner will be up against the framing…you’ll never see it.

Pocket screws will secure the panel to the overhead beam

Next, cut the 1/4″ mahogany plywood surround panel

Good lookin’ wood!

Use the port side horizontal panel as a pattern

Gotta love that EZ-One track saw for perfectly angled cuts

Next, cut the rabbet for the 1/4″ panel

Looks about right

I love it when a plan comes together

I’ve been thinking of next steps on the cabinetry back here and decided to take advantage of that triangular space below the horizontal panel. Looks like a good place for a shelf…

More plywood scraps will make a nice cabinet box

An epoxy drip messed up the edge of this panel, but most of it gets cut off anyway

If that epoxy drip had been an inch farther away from the edge, I wouldn’t have been able to use this panel. How’s that for good aim!?! 🙂

The track saw quickly cuts nice rabbets in the bottom piece

More rabbets on the side panel

Nice fit!

Nice!

Now THAT’s a square box. The rabbets are all that’s holding it together.

Booyah

That’s a wrap for the starboard porthole surround panels. I’ll make a similar box for the port side, too. But the stack of panels needing clear coating is getting too big. I’ve been talking with my painter, and he indicated that he could come sand and spray panels on a weekend day if there’s a space at my boat to do it. We did that before when he painted the windshield frame on the aft deck. But the problem with that approach is that it takes a day to cover the whole boat, including the aft deck, in plastic. And to avoid dried overspray becoming airborne dust particles, we’d have to re-cover the whole thing after each painting session. That’s a lot of wasted time and money.

So…I talked to the yard owner and have been given permission to make a portable paint booth. The plan I’ve come up with will yield a clean room spray booth that’s big enough to spray the 16′ long mahogany safety rails, and it’ll have filtered intake and exhaust. We’ve been using the same paint fume extractor and exhaust filters as Weaver Boatworks, the local boat manufacturer where my Boatamalan painter* works. So if it’s good enough for a commercial builder it ought to suffice for somebody who only does this stuff on a few weekends. When not in use, it’ll fold up against the side of Tent Model XXX. If it works out the way I want, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours to set it up. That’s the plan. We’ll see how it turns out…

*Boatamalan: portmanteau indicating highly skilled boat workers of Central American origin. They’re actually from Honduras, but boat + [Guat]amalan has a nicer ring to it.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making an Origami Spray Booth

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Porthole Surround Panels IV

The pile of African mahogany panels I’ll use for porthole surround panels continues to grow while my painter and I try to coordinate schedules. It’s at the point that I think it might make more sense for me to build a sort of spray booth outside of the tent to expedite things. In the meantime, I continued cutting and fitting new panels to connect the port side of the transom cabinetry to the  starboard side.

The overhead panel on the left needs to be cut square

The sawsall I used to cut out the cabinets back when the refit began didn’t cut square. The wood is solid and it’s already the right width, so I’ll just remove it and square it up.

48 year-old marine plywoood, meet my EZ-One tracksaw

Good lookin’ plywood

They don’t make it like that anymore…

Nicely squared panel

Original fascia panel was unfortunately painted white

The fascia panel over the porthole opening is original Chris Craft-grade mahogany, but it was unfortunately painted white from the factory. I’ll run it through a surface planer eventually and see if the wood looks good enough to clear coat. If it doesn’t clean up, I’ll probably just cut new pieces. I’ve got plenty of long mahogany stock, so I may just cut one piece to go all the way across the transom.

Transom vent chute

There are polished stainless vent covers that go on the outside of the boat, but inside the boat the 1/4″ pressboard panel that Chris Craft used to enclose the vent chute had rotted away. I’ll use 1/4″ marine plywoood for the chute and coat everything with epoxy to seal it up.

Port side vent chute is rough fitted

Next, I marked the line for the chute panel, which takes a bit of a curve, along the backside of the new porthole panel.

Next, install cleats for the vent chute

I reused cleats we saved when we dismantled the boat.

Port side is done

…now on to the port

Back into the plywood stack

Tracing the old vertical pattern piece

Nice fit

Mini cleats secure the panel to the framing

Port transom vent chute is rough fitted

Attach cleats to the marked line

Pretty much done

Port transom vent chute is ready for coating

Squaring up and fastening the starboard vertical transom panel set the foundation for all of the other panels that I’ll make for the aft stateroom cabinetry. With the corresponding port side panel now locked in place, I can cut and fit the port side transom porthole surround panels.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Porthole Surround Panels V

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Porthole Surround Panels III

My painter’s schedule still isn’t aligning with mine, so the stack of mahogany plywood panels that need to be clear coated keeps growing–the V-berth bulkhead, the aft stateroom head and closet/locker porthole surround panels. This boat also has porthole openings on the transom, but Chris Craft used fixed panes of glass there. I want to do things differently, by installing the same Bomar portholes as Chris Craft used on the ones that open. Chris Craft also painted the aft stateroom white on these boats, but we’re going with clear coated Mahogany everywhere outside of the bathroom.

Port transom porthole opening

The remains of two original panels can still be seen on the left side of the pic above. I used a sawsall here during the demolition phase years ago, so the cut edges aren’t straight. But the vertical panel will make a good pattern and the horizontal panel can still be used, I just need to remove it and square up the cut. In the linked demolition page, you can see that Chris Craft left the original fuel pipes exposed. I plan to box in the fuel inlets I made behind African mahogany panels, and provide a removable panel for maintenance access to the hose.

Remove the overhead horizontal panel

And remove the vertical panel

The porthole flange is wider than the original fixed window frame

Because the porthole flange is wider than the available space, I’m going to make more space by using 1/2″ plywood here instead of the 3/4″ that Chris Craft used. I’ll add 1/4″ spacer to all of the attachment points so the side of the new panel that faces the flange is inboard of where the original panel was. If that doesn’t make sense, hopefully the pix will tell the story.

A pretty piece of 1/2″ African mahogany plywood is just the right size

Tracing the filthy old pattern piece

The EZ-One tracksaw really shines on angled cuts

There’s only one 90° corner on this piece. All the rest are different angles. I have no idea how you could easily make these cuts on a traditional table saw, but with the tracksaw it’s a breeze. You put the panel on the wooden raised top. Drop the track bridge onto the panel, line up the marks on either end, turn on the vacuum and make the cut. Rotate the panel and repeat. The panel doesn’t move, the saw does, so it’s great in tight spaces like my boat salon. And even a complex panel like this is cut with perfectly straight lines in ~5 minutes.

BTW, I don’t get a commission for my tool reviews. When something works (or doesn’t) I like to share my experience.

The final 4′ cut

A jigsaw finishes the stringer cutouts

Plenty of room for the flange and for the porthole to swing open

Pre-drill the panel mounting holes, then use Tefgel with self-tapping screws

On the fuel inlet side, a leftover scrap of plywood is just the right size

It’s always a difficult decision when to keep or throw away wood scraps. Turns out the decision to keep this one was a good choice. There was enough to split it into two panels, one for each side of the boat.

Spray foam insulation is in the way

Cut back the spray foam insulation with a razor

After cutting to fit, drill pocket screw holes with my Kreg jig

Next, cut the 1/4″ porthole surround panel

Not too bad

I clamped a square to the overhead beam then clamped the long leg of the square to the inboard panel to keep it in place. If I do all of the fitting right, all of the other panels that are attached to that panel will be square, too.

One more panel with four angled cuts to hold it all together

Nice!

Two passes with the tracksaw makes a 1/4″ rabbet for the surround panel

Half-depth cut

Perfect!

Nice joints, eh!?

I think I won’t even need quarter round moldings to hide the joints. 🙂

Not bad for a weekend woodworkin’ warrior, if I do say so myself

That’s three more panels on the “to be painted” pile.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Porthole Surround Panels IV

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Porthole Surround Panels II

I got to the boatyard just after the crack of dawn and was listening to the radio when I heard news about “not my president” protests that were happening on President’s Day. My first thought was, these people need to get a hobby or something. I can’t imagine having nothing better to do than maintain a tantrum over having lost an election months ago. But then, I don’t belong to a political party, and I have the distinction of having never voted for anyone who ultimately won. I’m used to losing elections, so I take it in stride. Plus, I’ve got plenty of far better things to do. 🙂

While I wait for my painter’s schedule to match up with mine again, I’m cutting more 1/4″ African mahogany plywood panels that surround each of the porthole openings in the aft stateroom. Without those in place I can’t install the portholes, so getting the panels cut is mission-critical for taking the boat out of the tent. This time around, I cut the panels for the laundry and storage lockers, and the closet.

First, clear out the laundry and storage lockers and the closet

I really look forward to finishing up the walls in the laundry room, so I can finally get the washer and dryer out of the way permanently. Those things are heavy!

Starboard porthole surround panel

I split this 4′ x 8′ sheet of 1/4″ African mahogany plywood last week and fitted one half in the aft stateroom head. I used my EZ One track saw table to break this one down further still, since there are walls separating the laundry locker from storage and another one separating storage from the closet. I wrote about installing the aft stateroom walls a while back. Everything has been covered in ugly cardboard since then, so a couple of reminders of what they look like are may be in order.

1/4″ panel cut and fitted in the laundry locker

Nice fit…sloppy spray foam insulation overspray

I wasn’t careful enough taping off this area when I sprayed foam insulation, so I got some foam on the bulkhead separating the  salon from the laundry closet. It’s not a big deal, since the stacked washer/dryer will be in this space. I’ll clean up the foam later, before I wrap up this space.

Nice fit to the aft wall, too

This wall panel isn’t visible from the aft stateroom, so I used okume plywood instead of African mahogany.

Mark it from the outside, then cut out the porthole opening

Good fit

 

Screw holes are all countersunk

This panel is ready for ICA clear coat.

 

Next, rough cut the closet panel

This one’s tricky because the closet-to-storage wall lands right on top of a porthole. There was no other way to pull this off. The missus wanted a closet and a place to store laundry supplies. Who am I to ask why she needs both? And on other Chris Crafts I’ve owned, it was common for them to have walls split portholes like this.

Mark the opening from the outside, then cut

Nice fit

Screw holes drilled and countersunk

The storage locker is last

I ended up spending quite a bit of time cutting the spray foam insulation back so I can install these panels and also the ceiling panels that I’ll install eventually. The foam is 2~3″ thick in some places, but 1″ in most spots.

Nice fit

The joint between panels isn’t the prettiest, though it will look much better when the panels are clear coated. Either way, the porthole flange will cover most of the joint.

Screw holes drilled and countersunk

So, that’s three more panels that are ready for the painter. The stack of plywood needing clear coat is growing. Which means the stack of plywood that’s been taking up space in the salon is shrinking. This is a very, very good thing, since the plywood stack is a visible proxy for a progress meter. I’m really looking forward to the meter reaching zero.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Porthole Surround Panels III

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The V-berth Bulkhead

Paneling, building out the cabinets, and varnishing the V-berth (forward bedroom) is one of the bigger items remaining on the honey do list for this refit. I didn’t want to expose bare mahogany to the possibility of primer or paint overspray while we were prepping and painting the V-berth head. But with the Throne Room painted, I can finally get to work on building out the V-berth itself. The first thing to get done is the forward bulkhead. But first, a little rant about another real-world problem created by absurd regulations.

Back when I was cleaning up the Cummins intercoolers, I wrote about how Department of Transportation placarding and paperwork regulations result in a $198 shipping cost to deliver a $58 gallon kit of Devoe epoxy primer 200 miles away. If it was something other than a gallon of “listed material,” it’d cost ~$25. This time around, the rant is about EPA regulations promulgated under the Clean Air Act.

I arrived at the boat early. Winter is still upon us, so it was pretty cold on the boat. I cranked up the bazooka kerosene heater, and within 15 minutes or so it was toasty on board. That spray foam insulation really makes a HUGE difference.

70,000btu heats the place up quickly

But the heater was running low on kerosene, so I went and bought a few gallons. When I came back and tried to fill the tank, the stupid EPA-mandated jerry can nozzle destroyed itself.

5th time I’ve used this jerry can

Busted

I get that the intention is to keep fumes from escaping or accidental spills from happening with jerry cans. But this most recent spout iteration, which I’m sure works perfectly in the EPA’s Office of Air laboratories so long as they don’t actually use the thing, blows itself up almost immediately. This is the third of these things I’ve bought, and all of them broke very quickly. One broke the first time I tried to use it! And once it breaks, that’s it…no fluid passes through the spout. If you run out of gas, you can have a full jerry can, but you’re still outta gas!

Another bad design, but not as bad as the latest one

The spout with the green lever works OK, though it passes fluid at such a slow rate that it’s a real pain. Also, the plastic hose that attaches to the nozzle doesn’t seal up very well so fuel splashes out from it, which is why I end up throwing them away. Fuel splashing from these spouts that are intended to keep fuel fumes out of the air is a very common theme. Ask anybody what they think of these EPA-mandated jerry cans, and you’ll get an earful about how crappy they are. Everybody complains that they spill far more fuel than they ever did with the old-style straight tube spout. I keep a funnel around and just in case the spout blows apart so I can pour fuel direct from the can into the tank. I’m pretty sure the most expensive part of these modern jerry cans is the fancy schmancy spout that blows itself apart when you try to use it.

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to reduce fuel fume release, and I’m sure the people who came up with the regulation intended to comply with the law, but the real-world outcome is exactly the opposite of the intent of the law. I’d be very happy to see these stupid regulations rolled back to something sensible. Maybe EPA should ask welders, landscapers, mechanics and other deplorable fly-over people to beta test these things to make sure they work before they finalize their regulations. Just because it works in a laboratory doesn’t mean it’s going to work reliably in the field.

Rant over. I feel better.

While the V-berth was heating up, I sealed up the Throne Room.

Plastic should keep dust out of the Throne Room

The forward bulkhead

Sometime prior to 1985, nasty latex paint was rolled on over the original Chris Craft paint that coated the forward bulkhead. It appears there was no prep done at all…just roll the rubber paint on over unsanded, dirty enamel. It peels off very easily in spots, but sticks tenaciously in others. So I put down some plastic to catch the dust and hit the bulkhead with 36 grit on my Makita sander.

Sanded back to the 1969 douglas fir marine plywood

Next, I made a pattern of the bulkhead

I use a hot glue gun and 1″ wide strips cut from old 2×4 lumber to make patterns.

Delamination on a new African mahogany plywood panel

I bought some 1/4″ African mahogany plywood from a reputable supplier in the spring of 2016. The panels have been stored flat on the aft deck since then. But when I brushed off the back side of the top panel, I found a football-shaped delamination.

They certainly don’t make plywood like they used to…

Since this 1/4″ panel will be epoxied to the bulkhead, I’ll just add a bit more epoxy here. Hopefully the panel won’t delaminate any more than this. Once the wood is stabilized with epoxy sealing the back and sides and ICA clear coat on the face, it should stop moving around…I hope.

97″ across the top

Marked off and ready to cut

Makita jigsaw with the orbital setting on zero makes quick, smooth cuts

Test fit

I’ll use screws around the perimeter and clamps pushing on scrap lumber to press the new panel into the epoxy on the bulkhead. But first, the face needs to get a base coat of clear to protect it from epoxy and oxidation.

All of the perimeter screw holes are countersunk

Nice fit

Ready to go to the paint shop

Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer Refit: Sealing Up the V-berth Floor