1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Salon Entry Door

Well, the personal disaster continues apace and the Roamer project is commensurately throttled down. But I am still getting stuff done as time permits. I thought installing the salon entry doors would be a breeze, but an old nemesis of this project has reared its ugly head again.

I’ve written before about problems I’ve discovered on the port side of the cabin top–the broken salon fiberglass under the helm window, the mahogany safety rail in that area that was clearly not original, the stainless stanchion pipes that had obviously been replaced. My theory is that when they were doing the repower to the twin turbo Super Seamasters back in 1972, they dropped one of the original engines on the port side helm windshield as they were lifting it out through the salon ceiling hatch, which broke the salon roof and the mahogany safety rail, and bent some of the stainless stanchions as the engine assembly tumbled off the cabin top. Whatever it was, the incident also caused some of the salon ceiling frames to get knocked out of alignment, which I wrote about when we were installing the Whisper Wall headliner tracks in the salon.

The problem is, everything is connected. We made the cabin top look nice (it’s literally bullet-proof, by the way) , and the headliner covers the ceiling frames that got knocked out of alignment. But those frames still support the dashboard and are connected to the bulkhead, which are what the salon folding hatch and entry door attach to. The doors and hatch panels are straight, but the dashboard and salon bulkhead aren’t.

Everything is so complicated these days…

OEM door frame is stained and coated with ICA base coat clear

Back-side of the door frame gets sanded with 36 grit

Attachment point on the bulkhead also gets the 36 grit treatment

Wetted out with epoxy, then coated with wood flour-thickened epoxy

More wood flour-thickened epoxy on the bulkhead

I’ll stain the bungs then hit them with ICA base coat later, before topcoating

OEM door is stained and coated with ICA base coat then ICA satin topcoat

Need to knock some ICA off where the hinges mount

Ready for hinges!

I’ve got a salon door!

First time since 2008

Now for the trouble…

Door-to-frame gap grows from bottom to top

With the hinges attached to the original screw holes, the door is aligned with the hinge-side bulkhead. But on the door knob side, the gap between the door and the frame grows from 1/16″ at the bottom of the door opening to 3/8″ at the top. Which means the bulkhead on this side leans forward. Which would be consistent with the messed up salon ceiling frames in this area, where they dropped as much as 1/2″ from the original position as a result of something really heavy falling on the cabin top/dashboard.

New mahogany hatch panel gaps show the dashboard down ~3/8″

See how the right-side corner of the hatch panel touches the mahogany it’s supposed to rest on but there’s a gap on the left? Then from the left corner, the gap gets smaller as it goes toward the other, off-camera corner. That pattern repeats on the aft hatch panel here, too. What’s causing that is that the entire dashboard/cabin top structure is low here. But on the opposite side of the dashboard hatch opening, there’s no gap. That side–the side the camera was on–isn’t low. So the hatch opening isn’t on the same plane all the way around. But the hatch panels are flat.

There’s no easy fix here. The entire dashboard/cabin top structure is low just outboard of center on the port side because something heavy dropped on it. I can’t make twisted hatch panels to match the dashboard. Adding mahogany to flatten out the pieces the hatches close up against could make that part on the same plane, but then the hatches would stand proud of the dashboard on that side while they’d be flush on the outboard side. The proper fix would have been to cut off the fiberglass and plywood dashboard back when we were making the cabin top bullet-proof, disassemble the frames, and rebuild everything where it was when it left the factory. It’s too late for that now. So…what I’m going to do is average out the gaps. I’ll attach the door hinges in different spots so the gap is consistent all the way around. On the hatch panels, I’m just going to have to live with them not being consistently flush with the dashboard from side to side. Once everything is assembled and done, nobody’ll notice. Anybody that does…I’ll kick ’em off the boat! LOL

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fitting the Salon Entry Folding Hatch

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the Aft Stateroom Headliner Installation

All but one aft stateroom headliner panel has been installed, and then I got all of the LEDs and the OEM light fixture installed. There’s just one more Whisper Wall panel to install in the ceiling, and then I can do some finishing touches to wrap it up.

The last Whisper Wall panel is almost done

The installer spritzes the panel with water, then uses tools that look like thick, rounded putty knives to push the fabric home into the track on one side. Next, he pulls it to the far side and pushes it home in that track before doing the other two sides. Then he comes back with a razor and trims the material that’s hanging free. I like this approach a lot better than the original headliner, with a solid line of staples all the way around that has to be covered with trim.

Trimming the last bit of headliner

Boom. Done.

I got busy wrapping up the hatch

Staples hold the fabric tight, then trim the excess

The installer knew there was a friction fit between the mahogany ring and the new varnished veneer. But for some reason he pulled the fabric up into the hatch tube and put a line of staples into the new veneer to hold it in place. So I had to pull all the staples before trimming the fabric.

That’s the idea

That looks pretty awesome

Reconditioned screen is ready to install

I replaced the screen and spline. When I had it all apart, I cleaned up the aluminum extrusions and applied metal wax to protect it.

You can tell where the screen tracks go by the corrosion

The V-berth hatch leaked but the aft one didn’t. White aluminum oxide powder is heaviest on four of the eight tracks, so those are for the V-berth.

It’s obvious, right?

Test fitting two screen tracks

That looks about right

Houston, we have a problem

The original metal trim ring was ~1/16″ thick. The mahogany ring is ~1/8″ heavy, so the screen frame is too high to smoothly pass it. I need to lower the tracks 1/8″ or so.

The solution: thin mahogany spacer strips with eight coats of varnish

Drill pilot holes in the mahogany strip with a Vix #3 to precisely center them

That works…and looks good, too

Getting closer

That’s better

Perfect!

All tracks installed

I thought I should show what the OEM hatch trim piece looked like. I’m sure the aluminum was nice when it was new, but even if it was shiny I think the mahogany looks a lot better.

And with that, the aft stateroom headliner installation is a wrap.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the V-berth Headliner Installation

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Mahogany Trim Ring for the V-berth Hatch

The aft hatch opening and trim ring turned out very nicely, if I do say so myself. The headliner installer said he’d crack out the V-berth version. And because he’s a professional, it should look a lot better than mine.

Anybody willing to bet? If mine’s better, you hit the tip jar, maybe??? 😉

Pine corner pieces are a cheap way to test a theory

I arrived at the tent and found strange looking pieces of pine–resurrected 2×4 unless I’m wrong–in the V-berth.

OK…I get where he’s going with this

I like the approach, but was it necessary?

He added that little radiused bit of mahogany in the lower corners, but I’m not sure if it was actually necessary.

Wonder how much those cost me…

Either way, the corner pieces fit nicely

Keep in mind that the headliner will cover all of the plywood you see on the ceiling, and the trim ring will cover everything from the headliner up to the aluminum hatch.

OK…looks good….theory tested and passed

But I still don’t think he needed to put those little radiused blocks of mahogany in there.

Next time I show up, there’s a trim ring fitted!

Hey! That’s pretty slick!

But…why did he use the blandest mahogany board in the pile, I wonder?

I’ve got a stack of mahogany I’m working with here. Some is gorgeous, like what got used on the toe rail and the aft stateroom fascia panels. But there are a few 8/4 sticks in the pile that are just sort of orange cellulose. Yes, they’re mahogany, but they have little character. As long as I’ve got pretty stuff in the pile, I use it…especially when it’s going to be in a highly visible place.

Well…the professional chose a stick of orange cellulose to make most of the trim ring. Yes….most, but not all. That’ll become more obvious shortly.

Final touch ups

Also, note the difference in grain character of the far-side compared to the other three sides of the trim ring. And the left lower corner piece compared to the others.

OK…ready for sanding and coating

Why octagonal?

I’m stumped as to why he went with an irregular octagon trim ring. The 8/4 boards are plenty thick enough to have used a radius on the outside here. It’s a mystery.

It looks like he used a grinder

I wonder why he didn’t use the ShopSmith jointer on the straight sections? It’s just on the other side of the boat from the table saw.

Sanded with 80 grit Abranet, the machine marks cleaned up well

ShopSmith drum sander should work nicely on the inside corners

Those are some…generous…glue joints

In fact, all of his glue joints are generous.

The glue is epoxy thickened with mahogany wood flour, so it’s strong and not a bad color. But still…my joints aren’t that ‘generous’ most of the time.

Sanded with Mirka 240…ready for clear coat

Clear coated, the ‘orange cellulose’ really pops out

Meanwhile, the mahogany with character kind of sticks out

I’m not saying it’s bad. It’s just not how I might have done it.

Test fitted after the first three coats of ICA polyurethane

OK, it’s not bad when it’s in place. And I do like having mahogany go all the way up to the aluminum hatch, which is painted in Awlcraft 2000 Matterhorn White. But I’m still not sure what inspired the irregular octagon idea.

OK…so it doesn’t suck…but orange cellulose mahogany doesn’t hold a candle to the pretty stuff

Sanded down for the next three coats

Base coats are almost done

For comparison’s sake, here’s the aft stateroom hatch trim ring:

Mahogany porn, or what?!?!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Entryway Door Jamb

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Assembling the Forward Hatch

With the big glass order having arrived, I could finally set about closing up exterior holes…like the forward hatch, which has been beautifully painted since 2014. Before that, for several decades it wasn’t exactly a pretty thing. I think it looks even better with tinted glass rather than the original frosted white glass.

New tinted glass + 1969 Chris Craft hatch flange coated in new Awlgrip

The original bow deck hatch

New fasteners and Sikaflex 291-LOT sealant

The original hatches came with painted over stainless screws, and they used conventional window glazing that gets hard and eventually cracks and loses the bond. Then you get water into the screw holes and corrosion sets in. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much white aluminum oxide in this hatch. But instead of tightening the screws directly onto the painted surface of the flange, like Bomar did originally, I used stainless washers to protect the surface of the paint. I also used Tefgel on the screw threads and in every hole, and I used Sikaflex 291-LOT rather than conventional glazing. Hopefully, the modern materials and approach will keep this looking good at least until my Viking funeral several decades from now. 🙂

Good lookin’ hatch!

It was roasting hot during the summer when I installed the glass, too hot in the tent to work, so I cleaned the sealant up and went home by noon. I came back the next day to install the latch hardware.

Latch hardware needs cleaning

First, sand all of the oxide from the aluminum spacers

I applied a generous dollop of Tefgel on the contact surfaces of the aluminum spacer, then installed the screw with more Tefgel.

More Tefgel in the screw holes

One screw down, three to go

Clean the screw & washer, then apply Tefgel

…and more Tefgel

One hinged prop is installed

Remember I mentioned how hot it was in the tent that day? If you look at the glass, you can see some spots where the Sikaflex oozed out after I’d cleaned the glass and gone home. Maybe there’s an air bubble nearby that expanded from the heat before the material cured. It’s a small thing, but I think it’ll catch dirt so I’ll razor that off next time I’m on the bow.

The latch prop needs some cleaning

The aluminum bar for the latch prop has some surface imperfections, so I sanded it with 320 grit and left the surface looking brushed.

Threads need some cleaning

Not a bad brushed look

More Tefgel on the cleaned threads

One side’s done! Now repeat.

Done!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing New Glass in Portholes

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Bow Seat Hatches

If I’m going to splash the boat in the fall of 2015, certain things have to happen: All bulkheads and main walls have to be installed; all exterior openings have to be weatherproofed; insulation needs to be sprayed; and the engines have to be installed. Within those four broad topics, there are all sorts of big and small jobs that need to get done, some of which I’ve already knocked out while others are teed up and ready to go. The main aft stateroom walls are in, as is the galley bulkhead. The bow hatch is installed. The Cummins engines are sitting patiently in the engine room, though I do visit them on occasion to bump the crankshaft around a bit. But I’m holding off on moving the engines around until later in the summer, when it’s too hot in the tent to work top-side. Around July will be a good time to head into the cool ER and get the mechanicals in order.

But now it’s time to get the bow seat hatches installed.

Not so useful in the original design

In the original configuration, the space under the bow seat was an  empty void. So I cut out the original bow seat and remade it using a completely different approach, raising the seat, adding crown to it, and bracing it from below, coincidentally creating partitions for storage space. But rather than having hatches on top of the seat that inevitably allow rain water to enter, necessitating drains that inevitably leak, I opted to put the hatches on the underside of the seat. They’re less convenient, but since they’re for line storage I think they’ll be fine.

First hatch frame installed

When we were fairing the cabin top, we also faired a lip around these hatch openings because the hatches are flat but the mating surface on the boat is a compound curve. These hatches have been sitting around taking up space since…2010, if I remember correctly. It’s nice to finally get them out of the way, right where they belong.

Nice fit and function

Not a perfect color match, but they’re on the under-side so it doesn’t matter

If, at some point, I decide I just can’t stand having hatches that are a couple of shades off from Matterhorn white, I can always remove these and have them painted. I suspect that in 20 years, they’ll still be the same color. 😉

And that’s a wrap.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Interior Hardware (Chrome!)