With the OEM salon and galley cabinet interiors tricked out with mahogany veneers, I’m getting back to sealing up exterior holes to make the boat waterproof. I finished that on the port side of the salon already. To access the starboard side hull in the salon, I have to pull the original electrical panel out of the way. Chris Craft put hinges on the panel, so it’s easy enough to see the hull. But I need to get up close and personal with it, so the panel has to come out. That’ll also give me a chance to clean up the panel and get it ready for another half-century of use.
The electric panel resides behind double doors in the salon cabinetry
The cabinets are already refinished and ready for installation. I keep them at home so they won’t get damaged in the construction zone.
OEM Simpson volt meter doesn’t look bad, though the needle needs to be zeroed
After popping the meter out of the case, things look very good
All back together. Now to see if it functions
Booyah
Though this boat didn’t come with ammeters, my old Constellation 52 had one and I liked it. I bought some NOS Simpson units I want to install when I put this all back together.
The power selector switch appears to be in good shape
The panel is out
I thought this was 3/4″ plywood, but it turns out it’s two sheets of 1/2″
The hour meter for the genset was difficult to remove
You can see white powder on the aluminum housing for the hour meter. It’s bare aluminum, and the hole in the panel wasn’t sealed. So moisture that condensed on the metal wicked in and corroded the aluminum where it contacted the wood. Enough aluminum oxide built up to fill the gap and make it extremely difficult to remove the meter.
White aluminum oxide is incorporated in the plywood fibers
I used a holesaw to clear out the aluminum oxide, then scraped it off of the meter housing. I’ll coat the housing with clear enamel to protect the aluminum from now on. With the white powder gone, the meter fits in the hole a lot easier…but it’s still ugly.
Rough looking hour meter
Pretty hour meter
Gotta love Collinite metal polish.
Nasty bilge pump switch and panel
That wax is good stuff!
Pretty bilge pump switches and panel
Disassembling the electric panel
Separating the two halves
There was no glue holding the two panels together, and there was a surprising amount of movement between the two panels.
After sanding, the panels are ready to be glued and screwed back together
Fully saturated with epoxy and clamped flat
I plan on re-using the main AC and DC breaker panels, but I’m getting rid of the small breaker panel that was connected to the port engine battery. All 12v house loads will go through the starboard battery bank. The battery for the port engine will only be used for starting and running that engine. That will clear up some space on the electric panel, so I’ll relocate the AC power source selector switch and add those NOS ammeters in line with the OE voltmeter. But that will come a bit later.
Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Starboard Engine Room Vent Panel
1969chriscraftroamer46 