I’d like for my top priority to be splashing the boat and getting the bottom wet. This project would finish a lot faster if it was closer to my home port. But my Boatamalan* painter lives in Annapolis, and until his job is completely done I need to keep it closer to him. I decided years ago to use ICA catalyzed polyurethane varnish for the interior because that’s what they used at the Boatamalan’s former day job, Weaver Boatworks. I figure if it’s good enough for multi-million dollar sportfishermen toys for the top 1%, it’s good enough for a weekend warrior boat nog** like me.
* Boatamalan: portmanteau indicating highly skilled boat workers of Central American origin. They’re actually from Honduras, but Boatamalan rolls off the tongue better. 🙂
** Boat nog: A local term I picked up at a southern Maryland boatyard meaning “guy who spends every weekend working on a hopeless boat that’ll never see the water again.”
Thing is, ICA is a base coat/top coat system, and the top coat is a spray-only product. You can roll and tip it, but word has it the results are disastrous. When sprayed though….absolutely gorgeous.
So…the boat has to stay in the current marina until the ICA top coat I’ve already purchased has been sprayed. But before the Boatamalan can spray it, the headliner has to be installed. It seems backward, but as I understand it the topcoat is applied last to avoid it getting scratched when the headliner is installed. The V-berth headliner installation is started and looking great, and a few of the Whisper Wall headliner panels have been installed in the aft stateroom, too. But before the rest of the headliner can be installed in the aft stateroom, the aft stateroom head slider door box has to be finished. The bigger job, though, is squaring away the aft stateroom entryway.
Right side door jamb is a hot mess
We removed that door jamb part way back when we were doing demolition in December 2007. It’s been sitting in a pile of parts in my garage since then because I knew I’d need it as a pattern some day.
Man…was I an idiot. lol
A previous owner was very concerned with security
That cutout was for padlock hardware. Like…barn door padlock hardware. Galvanized steel. Very ‘work boat’ feel to it.
A bigger hot mess
Mr. Good-but-Slow strikes again!
Mr. Good-but-Slow was a guy who had very good customer reviews, but pretty much everything he did on my boat was a disaster. I had to replace the bulkhead on this side because it rotted out from water coming in through the teak deck-to-aluminum deck joint. There’s a major mahogany beam overhead here that had rotted out and then split from taking the load that the rotted out plywood bulkhead was no longer holding in place. Mr. Good-but-Slow did an OK job scarfing in a new section of beam, but he didn’t jack it up to the right height (~1/8″) before epoxying it in place. When I cut the bulkhead, I used the original as a pattern. When I installed it, I jacked the beam up to the OEM height, epoxied all of the joint surfaces, slid the bulkhead home and screwed it all in place. But because Mr. Good-but-Slow had epoxy-locked the beam in place in the ‘rotted bulkhead’ position, when I put the bulkhead in it was too tall. I didn’t notice because I was using a hydraulic jack to put the beam in place and everything seemed to fit just fine.
Fast forward to 2019 and I’m working on the aft stateroom doorjamb and that’s when I realized the bulkhead panel had been installed in compression. The panel, which should be flat, is instead curved. This is a problem because the door, the jamb, and everything else here will not be curved.
It’s always something…
So, I need to make a straight door jamb that fits a slightly curved bulkhead. No problem.
That’s ugly
Chris Craft and their freakin’ white painted mahogany
The least-horrible view
8/4 mahogany scrap left over from the toe rail
There’s always that question of whether or not to keep scraps. It turned out this one was a good keeper.
One pass down the table saw rough-cuts the height
I see potential here
Dewalt miter saw lops off the sharp ends
This is working out well so far
Run the lumber over my MiniMax 35 jointer back at the house
After jointing all four sides, I rounded the face edges with a router
Back at the boat, with each additional cut I get more nervous
It’s a funny thing: the first cut or two on a piece of nice lumber aren’t stressful at all. But as each piece of wood gets closer to its final form, I get more and more nervous about the next cut. I’ve spent a full day before machining a single piece of wood. On that last cut, if you blow it, that’s a whole day’s work gone. So far, things are going well.
First rabbet cut
Second rabbet cut
3rd rabbet cut
That’s not bad!
This is terrifying
Not bad!
Shopsmith bandsaw is a great tool
One final cut and the piece is rough cut
Next, I used a router to cut the curve in the outer rabbet to fit the curve in the bulkhead panel. That won’t be visible because the bulkhead is behind the salon entry stairs. The door jamb rabbet on the other side is straight, so it’ll align nicely with the lower door jamb. This was irritating, but overall it didn’t add much time to making the part. Where things get more time consuming is the next step.
Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Entryway Mahogany Panels
1969chriscraftroamer46 