1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Transom Threshold Moldings

The aft deck is coming along very nicely, albeit slowly.

I’ve also been busy working on our 1968 Chris Craft Commander 42, getting it ready to put on the market as part of the big transition from a two-Chris Craft family to just one. One of the big success stories there was to bypass the OEM starboard engine oil cooler, which was a big cast iron thing that bolted up to the oil pan, and install an aftermarket one. The OEM one was restricting water flow and, I suspect, not doing a very good job actually cooling the oil. The aftermarket one actually came on the Super SeaMaster twin turbo and intercooled 534ci monsters that were in this Roamer when we got it. With the new cooler installed, the difference in water flow out the exhaust and temperature stability even when running on plane is pretty amazing.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about since we got the Commander, and finally started working on recently, was bringing the old Kohler 6.5kv genset back to life. It didn’t run when we bought the boat, and by the looks of things it hadn’t run in decades–the hour meter only shows 290 on the clock. One of the two previous owners had removed the carburetor, linkage, water pump drive belt and pulleys, and other bits, but none of those parts came with the boat. I’ve been slowly accumulating the parts necessary to put it back together, though not exactly to original condition. The carburetor, for example, is a side draft unit from a later model Kohler; I believe the original was an up-draft version.

But I also wanted to convert it from open, raw water cooling to a closed cooling system with a heat exchanger and antifreeze. I understand open cooling systems on trailer boats, where they get drained at the end of the day once they’re back on the trailer. But I can’t fathom why anybody would want that in a boat that stays in the water all the time, especially if it’s salt or brackish. Anyway, I’m just waiting on a few small parts, then I’ll be ready to fire it up.

Back to the Roamer. While I was working on the transom mahogany panels, I also made the moldings for the transom threshold/step-through.

The transom step-through threshold could look better

Note that, in the picture above, the wood and white painted aluminum aren’t the same height. The wood sits below or to the side of the painted, 3/16″ thick aluminum. So to make a pretty molding that covers that joint/step, the underside of  the molding will have to have a 3/16″ step to it as well. Keep that in mind as you read the rest.

Repurposing 50-year old OEM mahogany

I’m going to use this mahogany board that was originally one of the aft stateroom facia panels that Chris Craft painted white. I think my full-width, varnished mahogany ones look a lot better than the white originals did. I ran this one through the Dewalt thickness planer a few times to get rid of the white paint, but the serial number still remained.

Let the cutting begin!

Good initial fit

Route the ends to match the fillets on the transom

Nice!

Next, I marked off the curve of the plywood panel and cut off the excess.

ShopSmith bandsaw trims the curved edge to match the mahogany plywood

Oops

I had used my little Bosch router to remove excess material from the bottom side of this molding, where it will overlap the 3/16″ aluminum threshold. The next step was to round the top edge of the molding. But there was too little material left below for the guide roller to ride on. When the roller slipped past the edge (two inches from being finished!!!) the little Bosch very quickly turned this complex, nearly finished mahogany molding into scrap.

Deep breath…

Take-home lesson: leave the board thick while rounding an edge with a router bit that relies on a bearing guide, then remove the material from the underside.

So I made another molding…

Nice!

Great fit!

Bottom molding is done

Starboard molding is rough fitted

Little curved cuts on the bottom match the bottom molding

Port side molding is last

Nice!

Since these moldings are in a ‘rough service’ area, I decided to treat them as replaceable maintenance items. So instead of epoxying them permanently in place, I’ll use traditional screws, bungs, and caulk.

These are very complex pieces of mahogany

Done!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Varnishing and Installing More Aft Deck Mahogany

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: V-berth Cabinetry Corner Molding

The V-berth is coming along pretty well. I’ve got almost all of the mahogany panels cut and fitted, the closet is done, and so is the bed foundation. I’ve also got all of the panels for the “desk-like structure” cut and fitted, so next I need to make a complex molding for the corner where several panels join together in all three axes and at different angles. I don’t do this for a living, and it’s been hot as can be this summer (and worse in the tent), so it was very challenging making this piece.

The “desk-like structure”

As time goes on, this “desk-like structure” is looking more and more like an air conditioner cabinet. I need to make a molding that joins the two vertically oriented panels with the horizontal one.

The basic molding shape

I find it’s much better on working drawings to use the angles that correspond to the saw gauge than to use the actual geometric angles. On all of my saws, 90° is 0°, so the 20° noted in the drawing would be 70° in conventional geometry.

Truing up a mahogany stick

Cutting a square groove

Two passes through the saw

Four passes…

Five passes and done

Nice fit for 13mm mahogany plywood

Next, I need to route a slot at an angle…never done that before

Turns out my little Bosch router has a tilt attachment

Looks like this will work

One full pass…looking good

Full depth pass…that looks good, too!

After one more pass at full depth, the second slot was done

That’s looking as I imagined

Next, I marked the molding for the next slot that the horizontal panel will fit into.

Just like that…

Nice!

Next, I removed some material with my band saw

That ought to do it

I’m using the bandsaw because this cut won’t go all the way to the far end of the molding, and the cut needs to be straight through the material. The molding needs to be full-size at the bottom, from the horizontal panel to the floor. But there’s no  need to have the extra material up higher.

Rough cuts done

3/4″ and 3/8″ round router bits will smooth off the corners

Getting closer

Getting better

Mini drum sander on a rotary tool helps clean up the rounded corners

Sanded with 120 grit…looking OK!

Sweet!

Done!

See the sweat stain thumb print in the middle of the molding? Yeah…it’s that hot in the tent. It feels cool when I go outside on 90°F days.

While making the molding, I noticed that as I finished each step I got more and more nervous about making subsequent cuts. Mahogany isn’t cheap, but if I screw up on the first couple cuts I can just cuss myself out and pull another stick from the stack. After getting the basic shape done, it’s not just a stick any more! Having spent the better part of six hours working on it, I was being very, very careful on the last operation drum sanding with my Harbor Freight rotary tool. That thing removes material fast! But in the end, I think it turned out pretty good!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Marine Air Conditioners