1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Salon AC Unit

So…it’s past the first week of November 2022, and I was sure it’d be splashed and moved to a different marina before Halloween. But the boat’s still in the Tent Model XXX.3.2 in Deale, MD. If the weather holds and the reasons why the boat isn’t splashed yet get resolved/stop happening, I still believe the boat will be in the water and moved before the end of 2022.

That said, getting the air conditioners installed has been a priority item on my honey-do list because they account for three of the six raw water circuits on this boat. Raw water circuits involve inlets for the water the boat is floating in, some sort of mechanism that needs raw water, and the outlet for the raw water after it passes through the mechanism. On this boat, that’s two main propulsion engines, one generator, air conditioners, and two toilets. I want all of the raw water circuits done before I splash the boat, because failures in raw water circuits are the main reason why boats sink.

Most of the Panda genset raw water circuit is done, as is the outlet-side of the main propulsion. The AC raw water pump and manifold are done, and the aft stateroom AC is (mostly) installed. Next up was the salon AC unit.

This is where I’m thinking the AC needs to call home

The AC unit will be on the port side, under the built-in sofa

This shot below of the salon from December 2007, when we started this project, shows the OEM sofa/hide-a-bed that I plan to remake eventually.

Man…that was a looooong time ago

First, I installed vibration isolators on the AC mount base plate

As always, I’m using Tef-Gel to isolate the stainless vibration isolator bolts from the aluminum plate.

Next, I drilled holes in the floor to match the vibration isolators

I then applied some lacquer I had laying around to the bolt holes in the wood to seal the surface. I don’t expect there will ever be much water in there, but the bolts can pull condensation out of the air, and I don’t want it wicking into the wood.

The mounting base plate is installed and ready for the AC unit

Neoprene spacers are on each bolt

The rubber spacers will keep the stainless AC unit base slightly separated from the aluminum plate below. So there’ll be no chance of rattles one day.

Looking good

Original wiring is in near-perfect condition

Chris Craft used 10 gauge wiring on all of the 120v and many of the 12v circuits. That’s overkill for this air conditioner application, but the wire is bright and shiny so I’m repurposing it for the 240v Flagship AC units.

Next, I installed new 5/8″ raw water hose

I bought a 50-foot roll of Shields 200 Series (no-wire) heavy duty water hose for the AC circuits. It’s super tough and lasts an incredibly long time. For example, the 200 Series hoses for the Super SeaMaster twin-turbo and intercooled engines that were in the boat when we got it in 2007 had been installed in 1973 but were still supple and had zero cracks. It costs more than garden or heater hose (either one of which ABYC has no problems with, IIRC), but I never want to have to mess with these hoses again so it’s worth the price.

One hose goes to the aft stateroom AC, the other to the salon

Raw water in and raw water out hoses are attached to the AC unit

The last hose is for the condensate drain

A minor quibble for the manufacturer…

Flagship welds standard female bungs into the condensate tray under the evaporator so you can attach a hose barb for the drain. They angle the bottom of the tray so water naturally collects on the side with the drain bung, which is a nice touch. But that approach causes ~3/8″ of water to collect in the tray before it gets high enough to finally enter the hose barb and drain out. I think a better approach would be to weld a pipe nipple so the bottom of the inside of the pipe matched the bottom of the lowest part of the drain tray. You’d have to use a female hose barb, but water wouldn’t collect in the tray where it will slowly dissolve the aluminum.

3/8″ drain hose is installed

Once all the hoses were installed, I applied clear sealant where they enter the holes in the floor so the hoses won’t move around and get abraded, but also to make sure engine room air doesn’t get pulled up past the hoses.

So that’s two raw water circuits that are more than half done. I still have to route the ‘raw water out’ hoses to their thru-hulls, but that’ll come later.

I’ll be doing the big reveal in my next post on the various vexing problems that have been delaying splashing the boat.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: First Try Starting My Cummins Main Engines

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Ducting for the Aft Stateroom Air Conditioner

Happy Thanksgiving, my fellow Americans!

I’m knocking out the aft stateroom closet/storage one space at a time. With the air conditioning shelf installed in the middle closet, it’s time to get ducting in place.

The aft stateroom AC unit will go in here

The ducting will need to go aft and also forward. The AC unit is oversized for the aft stateroom because I planned to duct some of its output into the salon.

Essential tools: new 6″ hole saw and a cordless angle drill

Start the cut from one side

For smoother edges, finish the cut from the other side

First hole from the AC closet to the laundry closet is cut

Second hole goes from the laundry closet into the salon cabinetry

Move the salon cabinet box out of the way

Finish the second hole cut from the salon side

4″ insulated ducting is a tight fit to the 6″ hole

Insulated ducting fits nicely behind the laundry closet back wall

The duct will attach to a hole I’ll cut in the salon wall…later

Winter has officially arrived

In other news, I’ve been back in contact with the Boatamalan* painter, who tells me he may be moving before too long. I’d like him to finish spraying the ICA top coat in the salon and V-berth before he goes, but there’s a funny order of operations for that.

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

The Boatamalan used to work at Weaver Boatworks, manufacturer of very expensive, custom sportfishermen. They use ICA clear coat on those boats and Whisper Wall material for the headliners. Once the cabinetry and electrical is done on Weaver boats, they do the ICA base coats first, then install the headliner, and lastly they spray the ICA top coat. They do it that way because Whisper Wall uses a track around the perimeter to hold the material in place, and the spatula they use to drive the material into the track can scratch the finish. Experience informs their order of operations, and I have to trust the experts.

So, I need to shift gears and get the electrical work up in the ceiling done. I’m using 12v LED lighting throughout the boat, and I’d rather be working with energized circuits than using an ohmmeter to make sure everything is working right. So I’ll be hooking up the battery cables and energizing the 12vdc breaker panel. Then I’ll get to installing the new LED lights and some of the OEM lights as well. This should be exciting. The 12v panel hasn’t had power to it since the boat went on the hard back in the mid-1980s! But first, since I’m digging into the electrical again, I’m going to finish some of the AC electrical work I started a month or so ago.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the AC Circuit Panels

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: V-Berth Air Conditioner Ducting

With the wiring and plumbing to the V-berth air conditioner pretty much done, next I worked on the ducting.

With the forward cabinet interior panels removed, I marked the AC outlet location on the under-side of the shelf panel

Laying out the hole for the AC outlet and the area to get insulated

Round the edges with a router

Cut Buffalo Batt insulation to size

Same pattern as always–fit the insulation to the panel, then saturate the area with epoxy before laying the insulation back in place.

Press the insulation in place until the epoxy cures

Modify the AC outlet and connect 2″ PVC pipe

There’s not enough room inside the V-berth cabinetry to pass a 4″ insulated duct over to the starboard side, so I decided to use 2″ PVC as the duct. This duct will go to the V-berth head.

Sikaflex 291 seals the PVC to the outlet

Shrink wrap heat gun comes in handy for customizing PVC pipe bends

Insulating the PVC pipe duct with Buffalo Batt

I don’t want the PVC dripping water that condenses on it when the AC is on during the summer. So I wrapped the pipe with Buffalo Batt, which doesn’t absorb water like fiberglass can. Then I wrapped it in plastic sheeting and zip-tied and taped it all together.

Next, I installed the 4″ insulated flexible duct

And the 2″ duct going around to the head

For now, the 2″ duct ends in the closet

This is far enough for now

My plan is to install a booster fan at the outlet for the head to pull air through the small duct. But for now, with the duct installed inside the cabinetry, I’m focusing on getting the last of the plywood panels installed.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Final V-Berth Mahogany Panels

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Back Into the V-Berth

The toe rail bilge vent ducts in the salon are all installed, which was a big step toward getting the boat ready for exposure to weather. I also need to get the boat ready to float, which means sealing up every hull opening, including connecting plumbing to the thru-hulls for the air conditioner raw water outlets, one of which is in the V-berth. If I’m connecting hoses to thru-hulls, I might as well install the wiring and ducting for the AC unit. Once that’s done, I can wrap up the installation of the last panels in the V-berth. I installed a bunch of mahogany panels in the V-berth over the last year, there are only a few more to go.

Back into the V-berth

New double wall, no-wire, raw water hose has arrived

The raw water thru-hull is inside the cabinetry

I opened a hole through the panel for the hose

I’ll be sealing the bare wood in that hole with epoxy before I permanently install the hose.

That looks about right

Next, I need to finish up the wiring in here.

Fishing raw water supply hose, 12vdc, and 240/120AC wires up to the V-berth

Getting closer

An overhead light switch wire I forgot to install earlier

When I installed the curvy wall panels in the V-berth, I forgot to put in wiring for the 12vdc switch to the overhead lights. So I had to fish the cable up behind the installed panel. Turns out that Buffalo Batt insulation on the backside of these panels grabs onto the fish tape, making it challenging to pass it through. There was significant cussing going on during that process. lol

Overhead light wiring installed

Overhead light switch installed

I’ve got a bunch of these Chris Craft OEM chromed hourglass switches, which are a nice touch on an old tub like this one.

AC cabinet back panel installed

Nice! Ready for ducting!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: V-Berth Air Conditioner Ducting

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Flagship Marine Air Conditioners Have Arrived

A few months back, having spent a lot of time researching products from the various marine air conditioner manufacturers, I decided Flagship Marine appeared to offer the best quality for a fair price. There are other manufacturers whose products appear to offer better short-term bang for the buck (i.e. low initial price) but I concluded that if anything ever went wrong with those units they’re basically throw-aways. Flagship uses top notch parts and they’re serviceable with parts you can buy at your local HVAC supplier. So I ordered a 9kBTU unit for the V-berth, 12kBTU for the aft stateroom, and 16kBTU for the salon. Both the V-berth unit and the one in the aft stateroom will be ducted to contribute to salon/galley cooling, since the salon is what tends to get hottest on these boats. I also went with 220v units with integral heater coils rather than reverse cycle heat. Where we keep the boat, reverse cycle only works for a couple of months of the year, and with my 42′ Commander and previous 52′ Constellation, we  schlep oil-filled radiant heaters on board during the winter. With these integral heat coils, we should be plenty warm in fall and winter without annoying radiator heaters.

The 9kBTU unit is apparently not commonly ordered, so they had to make that one up special. Flagship also indicated that they were swapping out the standard compressor on the 18kBTU unit, so there was a bit of a production delay there. None of that bothered me, given how much time it will take before the boat’s ready to splash. Six weeks after ordering, a large box appeared on my doorstep.

Pretty little things, and well packaged, too!

Getting the 9kBTU unit up the ladder and into the V-berth wasn’t too bad

The AC shelf in the V-berth

Looks good!

The ducting will go something like this

Flagship recommended MSI Products for ducting and outlet grills. The diverters are slick. Inside the Y is a rigid flap that you can adjust with detents into the circular dots you see in the pic above, directing more air in the direction of the longer run that will have more resistance.

Unfortunately, it was around this time I found a couple of niggling points on this AC unit.

The problem areas on the top side are the raw water inlet and the blower outlet

Insufficient clearance for double-wall raw water hose

The raw water inlet is oriented very close to that little capillary tube. I’m using Shields 200 Series no wire water hose, which is a proper, double-walled hose. I’ve used the single-walled hose before, but it always reminds me of garden hose. I’ve never had a problem with the 100 Series, single-wall hose failing, but for this boat I don’t want to have any problems, and I’d prefer to use the higher quality hose. Flagship responded on this issue and indicated that they spec these out for single-wall hose and indicated it’s OK to gently push the capillary tube out of the way. But I can’t install the 200 Series hose on this inlet without snipping the wire ties and relocating the capillary tube, which is up against the stainless evaporator housing. It’s not a big problem, but the copper water inlet has plenty of room on the other side. Leaving an extra 1/8″~3/16″ gap at the factory would have avoided the issue.

No place to put 2 of the 4 plenum mounting screws

The two screw holes at the top of the blower outlet in the pic above are easy to access. But the lower two have…issues. The one on the left sits directly on the stainless evaporator housing. Now, maybe I can drill into it without hitting any vital parts, but without partially disassembling the unit it’d be a blind drill…very risky! On the right side, the hole is directly over the copper heat exchanger tube. There’s actually just enough space between the two that if a bolt had been installed before the unit was assembled and tacked in place, there wouldn’t be an issue. Flagship’s response here was that they’d discuss this with the production line, and that drilling a hole in a different spot on the right side should suffice. But I’m not keen on having to drill holes in brand new equipment that’s powder coated for corrosion protection. Sure, I can apply touch up paint, but these things aren’t cheap…so the work-arounds I’ll have to do are just a bit disappointing. But Flagship did commit to addressing these issues on the factory floor, so I give them credit for that.

The final niggle: bolt heads on the underside protrude

The Flagship installation/instruction manual doesn’t mention that rubber isolators are required to install their air conditioners. But the round heads for the carriage bolts that secure the compressor to the base stick out on the bottom side, so you’ve got to elevate them somehow. You can’t mount them directly to the plywood. The AC units in my other Chris Crafts all attached directly. Now, in retrospect, I can imagine some potential benefits to mounting these on rubber, but since they don’t supply the isolators and since the manual didn’t mention them I hadn’t gone looking for them.  If I was ready to head out on a cruise once these were installed, it’d be frustrating to have to wait while I located isolators to finish the install.

I don’t want to give the impression that Flagship’s product is inferior with these few observations I’ve made. They’re very nice and with the exception of these few niggling points they appear to be very robust. The fact that they can be repaired with off-the-shelf parts could be a big help one day, and I like the idea of integral heater coils. And I’m also glad to hear the company raised the issues with the production floor. I suspect that once the units are fired up and working, I’ll have completely forgotten about these niggling points.

OH! And another thing! I mentioned a couple of times that I was having trouble finding one of my 2″ Schedule 80, straight-threaded raw water stand pipes for my Cummins main propulsion engines. I’d gone through the boat stem to stern several times, and rummaged through my garage (which is packed full of all sorts of stuff) trying to find the thing. I’d about given up hope when, over recent weeks when the temps were way below freezing, I decided to organize my garage, sell some compressors and other redundant tools on Craigslist, when I found the long-lost stand pipe!

GOTCHA, ya little bugger!

Now that I’ve got both of them, I can weld them in and finish the raw water supply installation. Then, the only remaining engine system I need to finish is the engine room fuel lines!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Salon Entryway Panels

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Marine Air Conditioners

The V-berth cabinetry is coming along nicely, but as it transitions from concept drawings to reality, it’s become apparent that I need to pay close attention to certain details…like electric and raw water supply, as well as ducting for the air conditioners and heat. While building the V-berth closet, I initially planned on putting a 6,000BTU AC unit up on a shelf. But after looking into marine air conditioners, I decided to go with a 9,000BTU unit that could also help cool the galley. That’s when I realized it would be better to put it in the “desk-like structure,” on the other side of the room. That meant I’d have to relocate the wiring…I wish I’d done that before making the V-berth head. I’d also have to build a robust shelf in the “desk-like structure,” and I might as well go ahead and choose the specific models I want since the unit needs to fit in the space.

After reading a bunch of brochures and reviews, I decided to go with either Marinaire or Flagship self-contained units. Marinaire sells quite a few units through ebay and their pricing is by far the lowest around. They apparently had problems with earlier models that used aluminum tubing in the evaporators, which rotted out fairly quickly. The current models have copper tubing, and reviews are generally good. Marinaire are manufactured in China, and use proprietary controls that can be quite expensive to replace if they go out.

Flagship is an American company that uses American-supplied materials, off-the-shelf HVAC controls, expansion valves for refrigerant “throttle” rather than capillary tubes, and a very slick angled condensate tray under the evaporator so the tray drains and dries rather than staying wet all the time. The feet for each component stay dry that way, as compared to Marinaire and other manufacturers that use the unit base as the drip tray, and everything gets wet. The spreadsheet below summarizes each one.

Unlike the bang-for-the-buck table I made when deciding on insulation, this isn’t as straightforward. On a simple BTU per buck basis, Marinaire is the clear winner. But there are a many features that one manufacturer offers that the other doesn’t. Marinaire has a dehumidifier function, for example, while Flagship doesn’t. But Flagship offers built-in resistant heater coils, while Marinaire only has reverse cycle. In my area, reverse cycle heat is only useful for about six weeks per year, then we have to haul oil-filled radiators onboard. Built-in heat would be nice. Where the two manufacturers have different approaches to specific issues, like capillary tubes vs expansion valves or rifled, thin-wall heat exchangers vs thick, smooth-walled, Flagship was the clear winner on every point. Since I never want to have to replace an air conditioner again, Flagship’s commercial/military-grade approach ultimately led me to go with their products. The new units should arrive in six weeks.

Marine Air Conditioner comparison
BTU	Marinaire	Model	Flagship	Model
9	$1,195	MSBA9K2	$1,850	FM9R, TOP 1.7kw heat, 230v
11	$1,365	MSBA11K2
12			$1,850	FM12R, SIDE, 1.7kw heat, 230v
16	$1,515	MSBA16K2
18			$1,949	FM18R, TOP, w/ 2.0kw Heat, 230v
Shipping	$175
Total	$4,250		$5,649
Drip tray	316SS wet		304SS dry
Refrig. Control	Cap. tube		Txv
Tstat	Included		Included (but I can supply my own)
Compressor	Toshiba		Matsushita
Mode	AC		AC only
Heat	rev cyc		Resistant
Dehumidifier	Yes		—
Noise	sound shield (44db)		48db
Air outlet	Rotating		Fixed
Controller	Proprietary		Off-the-shelf
Hex	Rifled, thin		smooth, thick
Gauges	Hi & Lo		extra

Digging into the “Throne Room: wiring

1-1/2″ PVC pipe works as a wire chase

This isn’t the most elegant solution, but it works and keeps the wire run much shorter than going around the perimeter of the V-berth.

AC and 12v DC lines are relocated to come out under the “desk-like structure”

Building robust structure for the shelf

And then the step up for the AC shelf

That will do

I cut that shelf panel from a sheet of 1″ thick marine plywood that Chris Craft used for the original V-berth bathroom bulkhead. I’ve kept a big sheet of it since we disassembled the boat back in 2008 knowing it would come in handy somewhere. I’ll sand the ugly paint off of it and seal it in epoxy before the final installation. But first, I need to disassemble the all of the cabinetry I’ve been building, epoxy seal and insulate the backsides, and get it installed. The project would go quicker if I didn’t seal everything and insulate, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Sealing and Insulating V-berth Panels