1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The V-berth Headliner Install Begins

This has been a long time coming.

Drum roll please…

The V-berth headliner installation has begun.

This roll of Whisper Wall Gelato Baby Osterich has been in storage for five years

It sure looks different from usual headliner

Tools of the trade

The guy cuts the headliner into roughly the right shape and size. Then he sprays the fabric with water and uses the spatulas to jam the headliner into the tracks.

V-berth Panel #1 is in!

This stuff looks great!

Nicely trimmed!

Next day, the headliner has dried and is tightly tensioned

I installed a Kai LED while another panel got installed

The headliner looks great, but take a gander at that hatch opening in the pic above. Chris Craft used stainless sheet, aluminum extrusions, and stainless nails to cover what was underneath. I’m thinking solid mahogany finished bright will look better. The headliner installer does lots of custom wood bits and pieces, and he says he can make something pretty.

Looks good!

And then, there was light!

V-berth Panel #2 is in

Looks great~!

The transition from mahogany to headliner looks great!

I like the fact that Whisper Wall tracks allow there to be a smooth transition from wall panel to headliner without fascia panels or moldings to hide a line of staples.

Very well done!

If you were wondering how this was going to turn out a couple of posts back…

It turns out like this!

Remember this ugly duckling section of track at this complex corner?

It turned into a beautiful swan!

Close-up of the track

The stainless staples the installer brought were too heavy gauge. They were causing the tracks to crack. Craftsman brand 1/2″ crown x 1/4″ leg that I had in stock solved that problem.

Before the installer puts in the headliner panel that goes around the hatch opening, he’s going to make a piece of mahogany furniture to fill the space between the headliner and the bottom of the aluminum hatch.  But for now, the headliner installer is heading into the aft stateroom to make more immediate progress.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Aft Stateroom Headliner Install Begins

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the V-berth Headliner Tracks

Things aren’t going as quickly as I’d hoped, but we’re still making fair progress in the right direction. The V-berth headliner tracks are installed now.

The Whisper Wall headliner installer knocked out the V-berth tracks in a day

Nothing’s square on a boat

Even the 90° corners aren’t 90°, which makes miter joints challenging…and there are lots of miter joints in the headliner track.

perimeter track meets transverse track

Lots of kerf cuts at the round corners

He uses cardboard as spacers where necessary

The height of the tracks where they join is apparently critical for a good look. The installer uses water resistant cardboard-like material as a spacer because it can be compressed to just the right height.

Complex joint

With the headliner tracks installed in the V-berth, next I have to apply ICA base coat varnish to the unfinished mahogany veneers on the galley bulkhead. There’s no sense in just doing them on the V-berth side, so I’ll paint the galley side at the same time.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: ICA Base Coat on the V-berth/Galley Bulkhead

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Getting the V-berth Ready for Headliner Track Installation

The aft stateroom is ready for the headliner to be installed. Now I’ve got to get the V-berth ready.

The Kai LED mounting panels have to be at just the right height

The Whisper Wall headliner tracks are 1/2″ high, so the plywood mounting panels for the lights need to be at the same height and in the same plane as the headliner fabric will be.

The LEDs in the V-berth work!

Beautiful mahogany…but no place to attach headliner tracks

Dry fitting the first mahogany track mount

Port-side mounting pieces are dry fitted

Had to “adjust” the curve of the front cleat to match the side mounts

Starboard side

It’s more challenging making the mounting pieces for the sides because of the angle  and curvature of the panels. The mounting pieces need to be cut at angles that match the wall so they’re in the same plane as the transverse mahogany cleats at the front bulkhead and the galley bulkhead. The headliner installer is really picky about that. He says if it’s off, the headliner will look goofy…can’t have that!

Push sticks hold the slider door box in place while the epoxy glue cures

Standard mahogany cleat above the head door opening

The last mounting pieces over the closet are fitted and glued and screwed in place

US Composites 635 epoxy with wood flour glues them in

Done!

The perimeter is ready for headliner track!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fitting the V-berth Hatch Screen Track

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Last Aft Stateroom Overhead Filler Boards

With the aft stateroom fascia panels installed, I’m getting pretty close to having the Whisper Wall installer come and put in the headliner. The last few things I have to do is 1) install the final filler panels between ceiling frames at the entryway to the stateroom; 2) make a box to hide the aft head slider door hardware, and 3) do something to make the forward bulkhead in the aft stateroom pretty.

I need to remove some insulation before I can fit filler panels

The filler panels are required between the frames so the Whisper Wall tracks will have solid attachment points all the way around the room perimeter.

Every gap between the frames has too much insulation

 

 

 

I didn’t plan to use Whisper Wall headliner when I did the spray foam insulation

After a bit of work with a putty knife, I was ready to make the filler panels

50-year old 3/4″ plywood will make great filler panels

Good ol’ Chris Craft Doug fir plywood looks perfectly solid

Getting closer

ShopSmith bandsaw is handy for cuts like this

Nice!

And another

The last filler panel, glued and screwed in place

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making the Aft Head Sliding Door Box

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Salon Headliner Prep

The aft stateroom headliner prep is coming along nicely. I decided to jump into the salon for a change of pace and get it ready for headliner, too.

Also, I wanted to express great gratitude to those of you who hit the tip jar. I’ve been documenting this refit as a labor of love, but it feels really great to know people put tangible value on my effort. Plus, since I went from the free WordPress site that had all those irritating ads to my own ad-free domain, every donation helps cover the cost of hosting. Thanks a lot!

Whisper Wall perimeter track will work great here at the salon aft bulkhead

The trouble starts here, at the helm station chase

There’s got to be a continuous surface for the headliner track to attach to. I’ve discussed the problems I’ve discovered on the port side–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 SuperSeamasters, they dropped one of the engines on the port side helm windshield, which broke the salon roof and the mahogany safety rail, and bent some of the stainless stanchions. It also caused some of the salon ceiling frames to get way out of alignment. In the picture above, you can see how the horizontal frame doesn’t meet its counterpart in the corner…it’s higher. And like a teeter-totter, if it’s high on one end, it’s going to be low on the other.

All of the framing in this area has been pushed down

The horizontal cleat didn’t move

But the ceiling framing is 1/2″ low!

There’s no way the Whisper Wall track will work with this

I want to have a separate little hatch panel here, so I can access the wiring and cables under the helm station. But with the frames 1/2″ out of alignment with the perimeter cleat, that’s just not going to work. Plus, the frames are far enough out of alignment that they’ll ‘print through’ onto the headliner…can’t have that.

Something really heavy must have landed on this area to cause this problem

I’m not going to tear off the cabintop and start over, and the fact of the matter is that the ceiling is stable in its current orientation. So what I need to do is add material to bring the perimeter cleats to the same height as the rest of the ceiling framing.

First, I need a long, tapered cleat

This EurekaZone track saw workstation is great for making angled cuts quickly

That’s a nice fit

Nice transition between the cleat and frame

The taper will smoothly bring the track down to the original perimeter cleat

Looks pretty good

Cut a short tapered piece of mahogany for the side of the helm chase

The cleat is a bit too narrow

3/4″ okume plywood scrap will make a good filler piece

The filler piece will go here

Next, I drilled pocket screw holes with my Kreg jig

Last step: glue and screw everything in place

That’s a nice transition for the headliner track to attach to

Looks good on the other side

Wood flour-thickened epoxy is the glue

The 3/4″ plywood filler piece is glued, screwed, and clamped in place

Well, that’s one problem solved. I wish I knew for sure how this damage happened, but I’m sticking with my theory until something proves me wrong. If I’m right, can you imagine the horror on the mechanics’ faces as the engine and gear tumbled to the ground, wreaking havoc all the way down?

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

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Headliner Prep IV

I don’t know when I’ll be splashing the boat, but I want to get it in the water as soon as possible. This summer, I intend to weld in the stand pipes for the main engine raw water inlets and get the raw water and fuel systems connected. That’ll be some big steps toward splashing, but I also made the decision to use ICA clear coat for the interior varnish…and that complicates things.

ICA is a spray-only product, and I’ve never sprayed before. I have my Boatamalan* painter, who talked me into using ICA because that’s what he used in the boat builder shop he worked at, where they made multimillion dollar sportfishermen. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for my boat! But he lives around Annapolis and doesn’t want to do long commutes to come spray the boat if I move it. I’ve got all of the ICA basecoat and topcoat I need to finish the boat, so I want to get the varnish sprayed before I splash. The V-berth, salon, and aft stateroom major wall panels have already been sprayed with the basecoat. But before he can spray the topcoat, we have to get the Whisper Wall headliner installed. The painter knows from experience that the topcoat can easily get scratched during the headliner install, which is bad, but it’s not a big deal if the basecoat gets scratched.

* Boatamalan: portmanteau indicating highly skilled boat workers of Central American origin. They’re actually from Honduras, but Boatamalan rolls off the tongue better. 🙂

So…to splash the boat, I’ve been doing lots of stuff recently that doesn’t appear to be directly related to getting the bottom wet. Like doing the wiring for overhead lights, and installing mounting panels for the new LEDs in the V-berth, salon and aft stateroom. I’ve also been fitting panels around the perimeter of the aft stateroom so the Whisper Wall headliner tracks will have something to mount on. It’s time to glue and screw all of those in place.

Kreg pocket screw jig is really handy

In the picture above, if you look really closely, you can see a line of staple holes on that horizontal ceiling frame I’m drilling into. Those were from the original headliner installation. Chris Craft used a painted fascia board to cover the staples and the ugly, horizontal mahogany frame after the headliner was installed. But this time around, I plan to install mahogany fascia boards first, so the Whisper Wall tracks will butt up against pretty mahogany. That’s coming soon.

Pocket screws drilled

Perimeter panels are ready to install

Edge sealing and wetting out each panel face with US Composites epoxy

Wood flour-thickened epoxy glue squeezes out nicely

Nice!

The starboard corner piece looks good

On to the port side

Nice!

The port corner is looking good, too

So…these little patch panels are done, and the aft stateroom headliner tracks have something to attach to.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Headliner Prep V

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Headliner Prep III

I’m still cutting and fitting plywood panels around the perimeter of the aft stateroom so the Whisper Wall headliner tracks will have something to attach to.

The starboard-side panels are all fitted

Knocking out the port-side panels

And a-one, and a-two…

The last panel will be a bit of a challenge

The headliner tracks need a continuous attachment point all around the perimeter. Tying the new plywood panel into the original mahogany cleat at the transom ceiling won’t be hard, but that angled aluminum frame complicates things. Fortunately, I found a new use for my little Bosch router.

Handcrafted perfection

Lookin’ good!

Tap with a mallet to set it in place

Port-side panels are all fitted

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Porthole Upgrade Success!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Headliner Prep II

I’m cutting lots of little panels to fit between the overhead frames in the aft stateroom so the Whisper Walls headliner track will have something to attach to around the perimeter.

Time to use this 3/4″ okume plywood scrap

There’s always that question about whether or not to keep a plywood scrap. This particular one has been in my way for three years, but I’m glad I kept it.

That should be just enough

Some panels are square on both ends and easy to fit

Others are more complicated

The little rabbet I had to cut there was necessary to clear a screw head sticking out from the overhead frame.

Aluminum framing gets in the way, too

You can just see a corner of the aluminum frame that attaches the wooden overhead frame to the hull.

This one required a deep rabbet

Looking good!

Three down, seven to go

The corner is a bit challenging

There’s not much to attach to here.

There’s just enough of a lip on the board to the left

On the right side…it’s complex

That ought to do it

Not bad

Nice, tight joint

Halfway done

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Headliner Prep III

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Headliner Tracks & LED Bulbs

This is my first post on my self-hosted blog, so hopefully the email notifications will go out properly. If you signed up for email notifications here but didn’t get a confirmation email, be sure to check your spam folder and white-list messages from this site.

I’ve been talking about Whisper Walls, the headliner material I’ll use, and how all of the new LED lights need to be positioned just so to match the height of the Whisper Wall track. I broke open the tubes of track and brought one of each to the boat so I could confirm I’ve been installing things properly. I’ll also be installing lots of support panels for these tracks around the perimeter of the aft stateroom, salon/galley, V-berth, and aft deck, and I wanted to have at least one track on site to make sure I’m doing this right.

Whisper Wall headliner tracks

Left side = perimeter track; right side = inside track

You should be able to click the picture and open the full-size version.

As I understand it, the installer will push the edge of the headliner material into the clamp part of the track with a fancy putty knife. The clamp part of the perimeter track has to butt up against a panel or solid stock that’s at 90° to whatever surface the track is attached to.

Marked off for screw holes

I found an installation manual online that indicated that, because of the high tension these tracks are under, there have to be #8 x 3/4″ screws every 2 inches. But the installer indicated that he uses a nearly continuous line of staples instead of screws.

The track is exactly aligned with the bottom surface of the LED mounting panel

That’s good news…I think it means I finally got those mount panels installed right. I’m going to leave that track there to keep it out of the way. I’ll let the installer permanently attach it and the rest.

I’ve also been messing with LED lights that fit in the OEM Chris Craft light fixtures.

10w LED looks good

It looks like there’s room for a bigger bulb

On the notion that ‘brighter is better,’ I ordered some 15w 12v LEDs, too.

Ebay purchase took a month to get here

Looks good!

Doh!

OK, so the OEM fixtures can only take a 10w corn bulb LED. The 15w units are a bit too wide, and it looks like the 12w ones are the same size. There’s one more LED option I’m looking into, but those are a month away, too. Stay tuned. In the meantime, the 10w bulbs are reportedly equivalent to ~70w incandescent but with a fraction of the amp draw. This is a great upgrade.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Porthole Gaskets

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wiring the New Salon Lights and…a Problem

I was real happy with myself for getting all of the new salon light mount panels installed. So I got busy on the wiring for the Kai LEDs.

18 gauge cable for the LED lights

Let there be light!

New LED wiring is in place and temporarily hooked up

New wiring for a 50-year old light fixture

I’ll be replacing the old incandescent bulbs with LEDs eventually

50w incandescent is more of a heater than a light

The LEDs are 7w. All of them together have about the same amp draw as that one OEM bulb.

With the salon light wiring in, I grabbed my drill and poked a big hole in the salon roof.

The navigation and anchor light wiring goes up to the mast here

First, I used a hole saw to cut partially through the salon roof plywood

Then I went up topside and finished the cut

We made the cabin top ‘bullet-proof’ with a layer of kevlar topping the heavy fiberglass mat. I was concerned that the hole saw would catch and pull the kevlar rather than cutting through it. As I was starting the cut, I was imagining kevlar fibers yanking up big chunks of fairing compound and Awl Grip Matterhorn White. Fortunately, the saw cut through the kevlar like butter. You want to talk about feeling relief???

Next I wetted out the hole with epoxy

There are three big, chromed bronze machine screws that hold the mast base to the cabin top. I’ll have to add a 1/2″ plywood panel here, too, so the screws will tighten up against the headliner at the right height. But as I was thinking that through, I realized I’d made a big mistake.

When I was installing the new light mounting panels, I used the same sort of approach I’d have used for a conventional, perforated Chris Craft headliner that’s stapled directly to the overhead frames. The Whisper Walls tracks are 1/2″ high, so I just needed to use 1/2″ plywood for the  mounts, and make sure they’re lined up horizontally within each 54″ wide panel. Yeah, well…wrong. And the more I stared at those panels while I was doing the wiring, the more completely I realized that I had to re-do them.

Testing the theory

This scrap of 1/2″ plywood is the height of the track

And this scrap of plywood is pushed up against the frame 54″ away

Whisper Wall fabric is taut and flat when it’s installed. So the straight edge between the two scraps of 1/2″ ply is on the same plane as the headliner fabric will be. The overhead light mounting panels need to be on the same plane.

Houston, we have a problem

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Redoing the New Salon Light mounts