We’ve been making lots of progress in recent years on this massive Chris Craft Roamer 46 refit project, and most articles I write tend to cover big stuff–sandblasting the hull inside and out, building the aft enclosure, making the salon roof bulletproof, installing an engine, or (recently) making the salon pretty. But every once in a while I like to focus in on some of the detail work and useful trivia–the moldings, more moldings, the occasional shout out for cool tools, and tools of the trade. So with all of the recent focus on big jobs (like the salon mahogany), I wanted to zoom in on the transformation of just one mahogany board.
As found, circa 2007
It didn’t look too bad at first–just needs to be cleaned up, strip the wood, a couple of coats of varnish and she’ll be good as new.
Or not.
On the right side of the picture above, just below the bow seat windows, there’s a spot of rotten bulkhead from where the window leaked. As we dug into it, we found the rot went all the way across. The original design of the bow seat windows was destined to fail and take out the wood below. But the solid mahogany board below the side windows in the galley…that was a keeper.
Out with the rotten wood, and the project grew
Rotten plywood and cabinets all removed
With the rotten plywood and cabinets gone, it was clear that one mahogany board was solid. It was also clear that the whole galley bulkhead needed replacing in order to turn the interior concepts I came up with during the paperwork SNAFU into reality.
The project grew still bigger, and the board was removed
After removal, the board sat in the lumber stack awaiting its time.
Fast forward to September 2014
While the salon got sanded, stained, and clear coated, we gave the same treatment to lots of moldings, fascia boards, and other smaller pieces. The galley board also got hauled out of the lumber stack.
The old board fits up against the new galley bulkhead pretty well.
Fits just like before, and that wood has great potential
The original bonding material is still stuck to the back-side of the board and the cabin sides. Once I grind that off, the board will fit much better.
The fit at the front isn’t perfect, but it’ll do
The leading edge of the board will be mostly hidden inside of cabinets, like the original layout. Plus, I’ll be gluing and screwing the board in place; the wood flour-thickened epoxy will fill the gap between the board and the bulkhead.
Original bonding material isn’t rock-hard
I don’t know what Chris Craft used to bond wood to fiberglass back in the day, but it definitely wasn’t anything like modern epoxies. The grey stuff is hard and sands well, but if you pry off the big blobs they bend like soft plastic before breaking. It’s not rock-hard like epoxy.
First cut clean-up with 36 grit on the Makita sander looks good
That dark stain on the salon end of the board will take some work to make it go away
Chris Craft’s thick, white primer came off nicely, too
The remaining white primer will come off as we sand with 120 and 220, before we hit it with 320 grit and stain.
Test fit looks good
Much better fit at the salon end with the OE bonding material out of the way
But there’s a fit problem in the galley
In the pic above, the board is seated against the bottom of the upright cleat, which is sticking out proud of the piece of wood at the bottom. Nice fit Chris Craft! 🙂
Scribe a straight line
Need to knock off ~1/8″ from the bottom
The big, ugly galley board got pretty!
We stained the board and sprayed it with ICA base coat clear along with all of the rest of the trim pieces.
Sprayed with ICA clear–right side, all the way at the bottom
While the ICA cured, I prepped the fiberglass
Good lookin’ board!
Buffalo Batts provide R3 insulation
I really like working with this Buffalo Batt fabric insulation. It’s easy to handle, takes glue well, and you don’t get bits and pieces of itchy stuff falling off of it like you do with fiberglass. Plus, it’s cheap and doesn’t absorb water like fiberglass batts. Best bang for the buck of all the insulating materials I looked into.
Insulation is fitted; time for glue
Heavy coat of wood flour-thickened epoxy on the fiberglass
Wet out the contact points on the back of the board
Chris Craft didn’t coat the back-side of big pieces of wood like this one, though they did coat just about every other piece of mahogany used for framing. My theory is that not coating the wood permits moisture in through the back side, which can cause the varnish on the face to come loose, especially at the edges. So we gave the back-side of the board a few good, heavy coats of ICA. I ground the ICA back to bare wood at the contact points, so there will be a good epoxy bond all the way around.
Glued, screwed, and clamped in place
The epoxy that squeezes out cleans up with a squeegee and alcohol on a rag.
Good lookin’ board!
Fully clamped and waiting for the epoxy to cure
Insulation doing exactly what I’d hoped it would do
I can’t wait to unclamp the board and see how it looks. Then, I’ve got to install new plywood above the board to replace the rotten stuff we removed back in 2009 when the refit began.
Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer Refit: New Galley Plywood Panels
![Nice fit at the corner [pats self on back]](https://1969chriscraftroamer46.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/dscf8073.jpg?w=640)
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