1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Staining the Salon Mahogany

We already sanded the original mahogany in the salon with 120 and 220 grit, and I cut two plywood panels to replace original panels that had suffered damage for decades from the leaking teak side decks and the leaking salon roof. The next step is to sand the whole shebang with 320 grit and apply Pettit 1095P Standard Mahogany filler stain. I would have preferred to just paint ICA base coat clear over the beautiful wood, but there is some discoloration on the original mahogany that won’t sand out. Plus, there’s a big color difference between the old mahogany and the new. The stain should even everything out.

First, a review of what we started with:

Our salon, circa 2007, when we first started this project

And here it is sanded to 220 grit in September 2015:

And then jumping forward to October 2015…

Dust bomb went off

Even with the dust extractors and collectors running, a lot of fine mahogany dust went flying while we were doing the final sanding.

But we got ‘er done

All cleaned up and ready for stain

Also, note in the picture above that I removed all of the trim pieces. We’ll be sanding, staining, and clear coating those separately to ensure that all surfaces are coated. Later, after the trim is all reinstalled, we’ll spray ICA top coat clear over everything.

Salon steps got sanded, too, but I’ll cover them in a forthcoming article

I’m using a different process for the steps since they see pretty hard service. More on that later.

The Pettit 1095P evened out the color

Jamestown Distributors has a youtube video showing the Pettit stain product and process. It’s time consuming, but you don’t get the streaky, splotchy results that sometimes happen with other brush-on stains.

Pettit 1095P is quite red

The stained original mahogany is so red that it looks like a pretty close match to the new mahogany, as in the shot below of the aft stateroom wall panels. Of course, things change when they get clear coated. But for now, we’re going to mask off the new plywood panels I made for the salon and not stain them. We’ll see how it turns out and go from there.

That’s a wrap for the stain.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Prepping the Salon Trim for Varnish

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wiring the Aft Head Lights

With the aft head moldings and corner/door pocket piece done, next I have to run the wires for the overhead lights and light switch. I have to wire it now because once I install the ceiling panels and do the fiberglass and fairing work, access to the overhead frames in this head will be rather challenging.

Overhead light wiring–original supply is fine

Since our Roamer 46 had been on dry land for about 25 years prior to us finding it on Purgatory Row of a southern Maryland boatyard, the original wiring is largely in good, serviceable condition. I’ve already removed all of the wiring that showed any sign of corrosion, so for the aft head overhead lights I just needed to add a new leg to go between the 12vdc LEDs we’ll be using and the light switch.

Slot the edge, drill the hole, then route for the switch

Chris Craft had a variety of ways of installing the wiring to switches. In a situation like this, with both sides of a panel being in living space, they usually just routed a groove in the face of the panel, straight from the ceiling to the switch. They installed the wire in the groove and covered it with a mahogany or teak trim piece. It’s not a bad approach, but I wanted a cleaner look. So I’ll run the wire up to the ceiling inside the slot that I cut in the panel edge.

Stuff the wire edgewise into the slot

Epoxy thickened with wood flour and cabosil along all bonding surfaces

More thickened epoxy on the corner piece

Clamp together, clean up, and let it cure overnight

Leave no epoxy outside of the joint

The 1″ x 1″ mahogany cleat I’m using for clamping is set back just far enough from the joint to allow me to wipe the area with a rag soaked in alcohol. Since the wood is already coated with ICA base coat clear, the wet epoxy wipes right off.

Et voila!

The aft head switch wiring is done and the panel corner piece/door pocket is installed!

In other news, you know your beater truck is suffering from deferred maintenance blues when you’re driving down the road on the way to the boatyard and the muffler comes off!

Salt in winter vs cheap steel muffler

Salt wins!

Funky rusted out lettering

Now the muffler’s nicer than the truck!

It turned out that the exhaust pipe from the catalytic converter to where the muffler used to be was rotten, too. So I fired up my Millermatic 35 and welded the new parts in. $35 and an afternoon later, we were back in business.

Truck’s still ugly though and getting worse by the year.

The old Ford only needs to hang on through next summer. Once the boat splashes, I won’t need it anymore.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Aft Head Ceiling Panels (more fillets!)

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Moldings for the Aft Stateroom Head

When I last worked on the aft stateroom head early in the summer of 2015, the walls were fiberglassed and faired and I’d made the ceiling panels. Before I start the priming and painting, I need to make moldings for the door opening and the jamb for the sliding door. The door opening moldings will basically cap the ends of the 3/4″ mahogany plywood. Since I’ll be using that approach everywhere there are exposed plywood panel edges, I’ll set up my ShopSmith and run off several lengths of identical molding at the same time.

The original interior concept rendering

Detail-level pieces of the concept rendering

While my interior concept drawings work well as a guide, I need greater detail and also need to refine the measurements to match the real aft head walls before I start cutting wood. Planning out the corner piece/door jamb in Sketchup’s free CAD software also allows me to plan the order of operations I’ll need to take to make the piece. This stuff is probably second nature for professional woodworkers, but it’s all new to me. I may be a rank amateur, but I want to get it right.

I’ll start with a long hunk of rectangular mahogany

First cuts will make the panel attachment point

Second series of cuts will make the door jamb/pocket

Something like this…

Gotta make sure I get all the measurements right

I’ll use router bits in my ShopSmith to round the exposed corners

And in the end, it ought to look something like this

Relocate the ShopSmith outside and start setting it up

It sucks having to cut, route, and sand lots of wood in Tent Model X. There’s just no room. So I find it’s easiest to wrestle the ShopSmith outside, but since I’m in a boatyard with a gravel lot it’s not easy. Once outside, I set up the table saw and sliced off the strips I’ll use for panel end moldings. Then I brought out the bigger piece of lumber and made the cuts for the corner piece/door pocket. I  followed up with dado cuts to clear out material from the door jamb/pocket and moldings, and finally rounded the outside edges.

3/4″ plywood end cap moldings

First corner cuts for the corner piece

Another problem is that the ShopSmith is down on the gravel outside the tent but the corner piece I’m making goes inside the aft stateroom. After making the first cuts, I walked the piece inside the tent, up the ladder, across the aft deck, down the steps to the salon and down the steps to the aft stateroom…THEN I could check the fit and go back outside to make the next cuts. I suppose the exercise will keep me fit! 😉

Looks pretty much like the plan drawings!

Lop off some of the length for a perfect fit, height-wise

After sanding, all of the parts got coated with ICA base and top coat semi-gloss clear

This is the same approach I used with the corner pieces in the aft stateroom, in which I apply the finish before assembling the parts with epoxy thickened with wood flour and cabosil. Doing it this way avoids epoxy stains on the wood. It’s super easy cleaning up any epoxy that squeezes out from the joint using alcohol on a rag, leaving the urethane coating unaffected and beautiful.

Et voila! Beautiful mahogany moldings are ready to install

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wiring For The Aft Head Lights

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Wall Panel Install

Since the insulated galley wall install went pretty well, I decided to try the process out on some of the pretty African mahogany panels that go around the aft stateroom porthole openings.

1/4″ African mahogany panel finished in ICA base-coat clear

I added a cleat to secure the leading edge of the new panel to the bathroom wall

I cut out notches to make space for the hull frames on the transom

As you can see in the pics, the back-side of the panel is still bare wood. The plan is to get the final fit right, then coat the backs and all edges with epoxy. The ICA coating on the face will allow me to wipe off any wet epoxy with an ethanol-soaked rag. With the panel fitting to the hull and interior wall, the next step involved the missus holding the panel in place while I marked the porthole openings from outside.

Cutting out the porthole openings

Two down…

Good test fit at the transom and window cut-outs

African mahogany panel-to-panel fit is good, too.

Epoxy coating and insulating the back of the panel

On the galley panel I installed recently to test my insulation plan, I used 3M spray-on contact cement to adhere the Buffalo Batt polyester nonwoven fabric insulation to the cured epoxy protecting the back of the panel. I figured I could save a step by applying the insulation as I roll on the sealing epoxy coat. The missus was a big help putting her craft skills to work cutting the insulation to size, leaving room for the attachment points.

Insulation applied to port and starboard panels, then pressed gently together until the epoxy cures

Epoxy drippage from edge sealing was caught by tape

Tape comes off clean, leaving the edges sealed with no residue or stains on the African mahogany

If I hadn’t already finished the front face with ICA base-coat, the epoxy would have bled under the tape and stained the pretty mahogany.

Ready for installation

Nice!

The dead air cavity between the insulated hull and the insulated interior panel

The insulation gurus all say that dead air space between the outer and inner layers of insulation significantly adds to insulating properties of the material. Hopefully, this approach is worth the effort.

Before I permanently install these panels, I need to assemble the portholes and get some other things done. So for now, the panels are sitting in place, out of the way, covered in plastic, and protected from abrasion. With the heat of summer making it too hot in the tent to work up top-side, I’m getting myself into the engine room next.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Gantry Time II!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Prepping the V-berth for Foam Insulation

One-by-one, I’m knocking out the honey-do list toward getting the boat splashed this fall. There have been some set backs, like the ongoing windshield frame fiasco, that might make it impossible to splash this year. But I’m still going full speed ahead in the hope of getting back on track, hopefully before I run out of steam.

With the aft stateroom all prepped for insulation, next I’ve got to do some things to get the V-berth ready for foam. And in getting that stuff done, I found a surprise left behind by a woodworking sailor who worked on the boat for a couple of months in 2012 and sold his services as “good but slow.” I found a mess Mr. Good-but-slow left behind when I was cutting the interior panels for the galley windows, and as I’m revisiting each part of the boat that he touched, it seems that all of his work left something to be desired.

The v-berth concept

V-berth major walls installed by Mr. Good-but-slow and wrapped in cardboard

In the pic above, I pulled up the v-berth floors to vacuum out the bilge one last time before fastening everything down. There were some surprises awaiting me as I pulled up the floor panels.

Mr. Good-but-slow’s patented “floating wall” system

When the woodworker initially installed the wall, he had the panels bolted to the hull frames but not connected to the deck frames overhead. Instead, they were held in place between a series of mahogany blocks that sort of pinched the panel while permitting limited up and down movement. I’d given him wide amount of discretion on how to accomplish my concept for the v-berth, so I wasn’t upset with the approach. And I understood his theory that an overly rigid structure can catastrophically fail, so permitting some degree of movement can be a good thing, as in the case of viscous couplers used to make bridges earthquake-resistant. I also knew from talking to a former Navy ship engineer that in underwater mine testing of fiberglass hulls, the engineers determined that FRP joint failures were prone to happen when explosions happen nearby. But, I pointed out to Mr. Good-but-slow, an FRP hull to engine stringer joint is a different beast than 3/4″ marine plywood bolted to an aluminum hull and deck. And in any case, I have no intention of running my boat in waters containing mines. Having a bullet-proof cabin top is one thing…I don’t need mine-proof v-berth walls!

So, Mr. Good-but-slow followed my explicit instructions and bolted the v-berth panels to the mahogany that was bolted to the overhead deck frames. What I didn’t know was that he’d left the bottom end of the panels free-floating, too. In the pic above, you can see that the panel is sitting firmly on the floor framing but it’s fastened to nothing along the bottom. When I removed the two floor panels, I discovered that he had used the same pinch approach as he used on the top!

Three large mahogany blocks bolted under the floor frames

I stared at the three blocks in the pic above for a while, trying to figure out what their intended purpose was. In the end, I was stumped and decided Mr. Good-but-slow might have wanted them to support the center floor section (which lifts out), but the blocks are under the floor frames–they don’t have a rabbet cut out so the edge comes up to the top of the floor frames. Plus, they barely stick out far enough to support anything, even if they were high enough. Finally, Mr. Good-but-slow knew I was using rounded corners on the walls, so it’s unclear why the transverse wall he installed comes out so far that the longitudinal wall that will attach to it cannot land on the floor frame.

Geesh. Time to get busy.

Everything glued and screwed together

I was too busy to take step-wise pictures, but the shot above captures pretty much everything. First, I cut mahogany blocks and used epoxy to glue and screw them to the mahogany blocks Mr. Good-but-slow installed. I installed them so they’re high enough and stick out far enough to support the center floor panel. Next, I wetted out both sides of the lower end of the wall panel and saturated both floor panels along the end grain with epoxy. Then I used my Kreg Mini Jr pocket hole jig to drill screw holes, and I applied epoxy thickened with wood flour and cabosil along the joints, Next, I fastened the floor panels to the wall panel glue joint using pocket screws, which pull the whole assembly together tightly, and I fastened the floor panels to the aluminum floor frames. Next, I cut out a bit of the center floor section that will support the longitudinal wall, and glued and screwed it in place. Then, finally, I installed the solid mahogany corner piece that’s pre-coated with ICA basecoat clear.

The overhead plywood finally gets installed

I started the day only planning to install the overhead plywood in the v-berth, then get on with other projects. Instead, it was nearing the end of the day when I finally got the overhead piece installed.

Epoxy stains on unfinished plywood won’t matter

The v-berth wall finishes will be a combination of off-white painted surfaces, ICA-coated natural mahogany, and Whisper Walls fabric. Because there’s limited light in the forward compartment, we decided there should be a lot of surfaces in white. The walls here will be finished white or covered with foam-backed white fabric, so the epoxy stains on the okume ply aren’t a concern.

Done!

With the v-berth finally ready for spray foam insulation, the next step is waiting for the foam to arrive.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Spray Foam Insulation

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Cutting and Installing Overhead Mahogany Plywood

Aft stateroom overhead needs panels installed before foam

Once the foam insulation gets sprayed between the frames, it will be very difficult to securely attach mahogany plywood panels overhead. The panels over every door and cabinet would have to be free-floating below the insulation, which wouldn’t make for a very solid structure. Alternatively, I’d have to slice and scrape away the urethane foam, and that sounds tedious.

Time to break out the luan ply strips and glue gun

The luan strips capture the complex angles and distances of the overhead framing

Transfer the luan shape to African mahogany plywood

The mahogany plywood pieces I’m using are the scraps that were left over from the aft stateroom walls.

First cut…not a bad fit

I’ve noticed that the luan tends to have a bit of spring in it. The transferred shape that I cut in the plywood is never a precise fit the first time around. It only takes a fraction of an inch here and there to make the fit too tight.

Better…but now quite right

That’s more like it

There’s a good fit all along the overhead plywood and frames, as well as along the edge where the overhead piece meets the walls and corners.

Repeat for the next segment on the port side

While I’m at it, I might as well install the last aft stateroom bulkhead

The pic above shows the stairs coming down from the helm station into the salon, behind which there is a large open area that permitted big things–like the fuel tank, the washer, dryer, and jet bath, to be moved into the aft stateroom. I removed the bulkhead there during the early demolition phase, since the plywood there was rotted out from the former teak decks. Since I no longer need that wide opening, it’s time to put the new bulkhead in.

Scarfed in frame replaces rotten mahogany

Pretty close fit for the first cut

After trimming off 1/32″ along the bottom, the bulkhead slid right into position

Like all of the other aft stateroom walls, I had this panel finished with ICA basecoat clear before installation. We’ll top coat it when we do the entire interior.

Overhead panels back from the paint shop, then prepped for gluing and screwing

Varnishing a piece of molding for a butt joint

The varnish protects the wood from the epoxy that’s used for the joint. Instead of staining the wood, any epoxy that squeezes out of the joint just wipes off with alcohol.

Molding hides the joint for the panel over the aft stateroom head door opening

That’s a wrap for the overhead panels in the aft stateroom

Ventilator opening through the toe rail had a piece of rotten mahogany that I removed

Wetting out the new mahogany piece to encapsulate it in epoxy

My ShopSmith bandsaw came in very handing making this piece for the ventilation opening. It’s a big chunk of mahogany, and none of my other saws could have made the cuts.

Wood flour and cabosil-thickened epoxy holds the new piece in place

But before clamping the new mahogany in place, I coated the entire opening (chute? chase?) with epoxy until it wouldn’t take any more. Then I applied wood flour-thickened epoxy where there were sharp edges at the transitions from the mahogany toe rail to the aluminum deck, and then to the mahogany underneath. Once the whole opening was smooth with thickened epoxy, I coated it once more to give an even smooth finish. Any water that passes the ventilator scoops will encounter a plastic tube, with no exposed wood to rot out.

And with that, the aft stateroom is ready for spray foam insulation.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Prepping the V-berth for Foam Insulation

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Head Walls

I installed the aft stateroom bulkhead and main walls back in March and April, which was one of many big things that must happen if we’re going to splash the Roamer in the fall of 2015. The windshield saga may put a hitch in that plan, but I’m going full steam ahead on other things while I work on a resolution for the windshield problems.

After getting the aft stateroom walls installed, my Boatamalan painter asked why I don’t make the aft head into a giant shower: basically, fiberglass and fair the walls and ceiling, then bond the ceiling to the overhead frames and fillet the corners. Then, prime and paint with Awlgrip. You end up with a monolithic room with no cracks or seams for water vapor to hide in and support mold. They do this on the showers in the multimillion dollar sportfishermen that the Boatamalan makes at Weaver Boatworks (his day job), though their showers are much smaller than my aft head. I figure what’s good enough for a multimillion dollar Weaver boat ought to be OK for a Chris Craft Roamer refit.

Expensive little pile of materials

1810 biaxial fiberglass, a roll of Floor Guard (the blue corrugated plastic), four rolls of masking film, a bucket of wood flour, a gallon or two of epoxy resin, hardner, and some fancy-schmancy filler…$1800. A small price to pay for a bathroom that’ll make the missus happy. By the time we add in the Awlquik, 545 primer, and Awlgrip top coat (in an off-white eggshell color), reducer, and catalyst, materials for the aft head total $2500.

This AlexSeal product is the only fairing compound to use in showers

The Boatamalan says other fillers–even Awlfair–can end up having problems years down the road in a shower application. The Alexseal product, while eye-poppingly expensive, is worth every penny since we’ll never have to do it again.

Roamer bathroom w/jet bath > Weaver multimillion dollar boat w/shower 🙂

The challenge is, we have to fiberglass, fair, prime, and paint in a small boat bathroom (relative to your average house bathroom) while the jet bathtub is in the space. Taping off the tub with Floor Guard and setting it up on end out of the way, the Boatamalan hit the bulkhead and walls with the sander. In retrospect, if we’d thought of this approach earlier, we should not have beautifully finished the interior walls of the head with ICA base coat clear. It all got turned to some very expensive dust in preparation for fiberglassing the walls.

Sanded with 36 grit and ready for epoxy and 1810 biaxial fabric

First layer of 1810 fabric applied at the top

Second band of 1810 applied down to the floor

Looks like a good place for fillets

I’m a big fan of fillets.

Skim coat of fairing compound

Once the epoxy was tacky, we hot-coated it with home-made fairing compound using the same epoxy and a 70/30 mix of microballoons and cabosil to a stiff, whipped cream consistency. We did this when fairing the exterior as well, since it puts a layer of fairing compound between the sand paper and the glass fibers in the FRP matrix when the fairing process begins. The strength of FRP is in the fibers, so not breaking them makes for a stronger finished product.

Bulkhead wall coated in fiberglass, epoxy, and fairing compound

That’s a wrap for Step One in the aft stateroom bathroom. I’ve described before the complex order of operations for this refit, where seemingly unrelated and even trivial stuff has to get done before a bigger thing can get done. The order of operations as of right this second is:

Sand walls
Apply Alexseal fairing compound (wait to cure)
Make ceiling panels (1/4″ marine ply, FRP & fair inside surface)
Insulate ceiling between frames (spray foam)
Sand Alexseal fairing compound smooth on walls
Install wiring for overhead lights
Epoxy back-side of ceiling panels and install (glue and screw to overhead frames, fiberglass joints, and fair)
Sand joints and make fillets
Sand & apply Awlquik
Sand Awlquik and apply 545 primer
Final sand 545 and spray Awlgrip topcoat in eggshell white

Since I’ll be spraying insulation to get the bathroom ready, I might as well do the rest of the boat, too. I’d like to have all of this done by July 1, when I plan to start on mechanical and get the engines finally installed. Busy, busy, busy…I need to quit my day  job! 🙂

Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Head Walls II

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Bow Seat Window Interior Panels

I’m still working through my options on the helm station windshield saga, but there are plenty of other things going on with the project to keep me busy. The helm windshield problem affects many other things, though, so at this point it’s unclear whether or not we’ll be able to splash the Roamer as planned in fall 2015. Getting all of the windows installed is one of the things that absolutely has to happen regardless. The bow seat windows have been awaiting installation since 2013, so I might as well get moving on that. There’s just this one little hitch though…

Chris Craft’s design had some…issues

The pic above from Day One of our 1969 Roamer Refit, back in December 2007, shows how Chris Craft installed the bow seat windows from the inside, using sealant between the glass and the fiberglass cabin top, all of which was held in place by mahogany bits on the inside. As you can see, that approach did not work well, in part, because it allowed water to pool at the base of the glass. When the sealant at the base of the glass started leaking, which probably started within the first few years (if not months or even weeks) after the boat went into service, it completely destroyed the interior paneling below.

After the paperwork SNAFU was resolved in 2012 and the refit restarted in earnest, I met a woodworker who was sailing the Americas in a steel boat he’d refitted. While overwintering nearby, he developed a following of loyal customers who highly recommended him for my refit. I saw a few examples of work he’d done and eventually contracted with this sailor/woodworker, who described himself  as “good but slow.” Slow was fine with me…it was the good part I was really after, and the price seemed fair.

Motion Windows’ design is best

The pic above shows the clamp-in window design from Motion Windows , in which the window frame seals on the outside, but the only fasteners are on the inside of the boat. In my opinion, this design is the best in the industry since, among other things, it uses no screws on the exterior for rain to eventually find a way in. And since they’re basically flush to the exterior, water isn’t given an opportunity to pool anywhere. The manufacturer specifies no more than 1/16” deflection in the bulkhead to which their window frames are affixed, which seems reasonable since we’re talking about panes of glass that naturally want to lie in single planes. My new windows arrived in 2013.

Out with the original

The shot above is from 2012, when I was remaking the bow seat, and shows the galley window openings with all of the original glass, wood, and bonding compounds removed. The fiberglass is ground back and ready for Mr. Good-but-slow to install new plywood.

Since the three bow seat windows are on three different planes, I felt the best approach was to cut three panels of ¾” Douglas fir marine ply that would fit up tightly to the backside of the fiberglass around the galley window openings, yielding three planes to which the Motion Windows would clamp. Then, the fairing crew on the cabin top would simply make the exterior surfaces flat and parallel (to within 1/16”) to the 1” deep window opening (i.e. ¾” plywood + 1/8”~ 3/16” fiberglass cabin top thickness + thickened epoxy filling in any irregularities and bonding everything together). Finally, I would apply mahogany veneers to the three marine plywood panels and finish it bright before finally installing the Motion Windows.

After explaining all of this to Mr. Good-but-slow back in the fall of 2012, I came back a week later to find something other than what we had discussed.

Not quite what I had in mind

Notice in the pic above that there are not three panels of ¾” Douglas fir marine ply in three planes. Each of the separate elements—the uprights and top and bottom cross pieces–are their own separate planes.

The hitch: 9 planes instead of 3

While Mr. Good-but-slow epoxied the ten separate panels very well to the fiberglass around the window openings, his approach yielded nine planes instead of three! The planes created by the center upright bits were ~8° off of the planes for the cross pieces installed to either side. Plus, none of the top pieces were in the same plane as their corresponding bottom pieces. Instead of meeting the manufacturer’s 1/16” tolerance for the bulkhead thickness, there were up to ¼” gaps in the corners where the flat mating surface for the window’s aluminum inner clamp ring met Mr. Good-but-slow’s handiwork.

Since this pattern had recurred (to varying degrees) three times with other projects I’d assigned to Mr. Good-but-slow, I let him go when he wrapped up the 4^th and last project I had him working on. Turns out that Mr. Meh-and-Slow would have been a more accurate name. As usual…Enter the Boatamalan* to fix the problems caused by the American “craftsman.”

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

Using his mad skills with a grinder, sanding block, a straight edge, and some Awlfair, my Boatamalan fairing crew chief and most excellent painter removed material from the uprights and upper and lower elements so there were three planes—one around each window opening where the window clamp ring lands. The port and starboard-side planes meet the center plane midway through the center uprights, which is what I need for the workaround I came up with for the interior mahogany. I can’t use veneer, as planned, because of all of Mr. Good-but-slow‘s wacky planes outside of the area the Boatamalan faired. Jumping ahead to 2015, I’ll use ½” African mahogany ply to make the finished interior panels against which the interior window clamp ring will clamp.

Luan strips and a hot glue gun for pattern-making

More luan strips for the starboard panel pattern

The vertical luan strip at the middle of the center upright is where port and center panels should meet

The plane of the side panels is offset from the center window panel by ~15°. So if I cut the inner edges of the side panels at 15°, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to cut the center panel side edges square.

Port-side pattern at the complex upper corner, where nothing is square

So…if I’ve done my calculations right, starting from the top in the pic above…the top edge for the side panels will need to be cut at 45°. The short vertical bit needs a 15° cut, followed by another 45° cut for the short horizontal. Then, the long vertical (or is that diagonal?) outer side edge needs a 21° cut, followed by 45° across the bottom of the panel. And I’ll need the aforementioned 15° cut for the inside edge that will meet the center panel.

I’m not a professional woodworker, and I’ve never done this kind of stuff before. What could possibly go wrong??? 🙂

Transferring the patterns onto the 4′ x 8′ African mahogany ply

The mahogany ply in the pic above is lying on my Eureka Zone EZ-One woodworking table. For breaking down big panels in a small space with extremely precise cuts, you can’t beat this table and the track saw that goes with it.

Cross cut then rip to the marks from the patterns

Angled cuts get the panel close to the final size

Jigsaw wouldn’t stay on the line

I tried to use my Makita jigsaw for the complex upper corner cuts, but with the base set at 45° I couldn’t keep the blade from wandering off the line. Time to break out the heavy hardware.

Roll out the Shop Smith for complex angle cuts

Though the bastard thieves took most of the attachments for my Shop Smith when they cleaned me out in May 2014, I’m guessing the base machine was [fortunately] too big for them to take. For the complex cuts I need to make on these panels, the Shop Smith table saw and bandsaw should get the job done.

Set the table saw and band saw to 45°

Done and done

I had to finish the cuts by hand where the two angles meet in the corner, but it turned out pretty good.

45° cut along the bottom (and top) went right to the line

Verify the line for the 21° edge cut

My biggest fear is that I’ll get the orientation wrong on these angled cuts and go the wrong way. With each successful cut, I got more and more nervous that the next cut I made would turn the panel into scrap.

Setting the table at 21° for the last cut

Booyah. Fits like a freakin’ old-school pro did it

I did not take video of the happy dance I was doing after this piece clicked into place, nor would I show it to anyone if such a video existed. But rest assured…there was, indeed, a happy dance. 🙂

Cut the rough window opening with a jigsaw, re-fit, and mark the actual opening

I also marked the high spots where the crazy planes from Mr. Meh-and-Slow‘s marine plywood install impinged upon the mahogany panel and stopped it from seating flush.

Creating low spots on the back-side and cutting the final window opening

BOOM! One panel down…two to go

Rinse, lather, repeat…nice fit!

Now go outside and mark the window opening and any points where Mr. Good-but-slow‘s Douglas fir plywood is high.

Port-side panel final window opening cut and low spots ground out

Two down, one to go!

The Bosch rangefinder moment of truth…

Measured between the inside edges of the two outer panels, there’s 1224mm at the top…

And 1222mm at the bottom

OK, I’m sure a real pro would nail it dead on, so I figured I’d be happy if I got it within 1/4″ (~6mm). But 2mm off over the height of the panel comes to only 0.03 degrees off on my final cut. I have no idea how I did that, but not too damned bad if I do say so myself! And I can easily make that up when I cut the final center panel.

More happy dance… 🙂

Back to the EurekaZone track saw

BOOM!

Et voila!

One of the cooler features on the boat

The center bow seat opens, which is one of the neater updates we’ve done to the original design. When we’re out in an anchorage or under way, we’ll get great airflow through the galley and salon. Venting heat from cooking in the galley will be a breeze, too: just flip the window open and lock it in place.

I need to take the panels off again and send them to the Boatamalan to be coated on the inner mahogany surface with ICA clear coat base before I epoxy them in place and install the windows for good. This is the same approach I used with the aft stateroom bulkhead walls, which turned out surprisingly nice. Resolving the problems created by Mr. Good-but-slow and getting the panels fitted is a huge step toward getting the glass in and [hopefully] splashing in 2015.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Head Walls

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Interior Hardware (Chrome!)

While I can only work on the Roamer on weekends and holidays, there is quite a lot of stuff I can do off-site in preparation for things that come later. One of those is polishing chrome.  It turns out, there’s a lot of chrome bits on these boats.

This is about 1/3 of the pile

sloppy varnish work has value

As we all know, bare chrome that’s left without wax or other maintenance pits and degrades over time. Sloppy varnish work, while unattractive, coats the chrome and protects it for years. Fortunately, the previous owner of our Roamer was very, very sloppy with his varnish work: under it all, the chrome is in pretty good shape. Incidentally, on my Chris Craft Commander 42 the chrome was in brilliant shape, having been protected from the elements by a solid coating of cigarette smoke residue. It was nasty stuff to remove (a product called Awesome finally did the trick), but the chrome was like new underneath!

As-found vs a light polish

While most of the interior chrome is polishing up just fine and providing an outstanding workout for the muscles in my fingers, I had to hit a lot of pieces with paint stripper to remove the varnish residue, then polish and wax. But it was worth it.

Shiny!

The mahogany panel to the right of the pic above is one of many of the original cabinet doors we’re refinishing. We’re using Pettit stain and ICA clear coat. For as ratty as the interior was on this boat, it’s coming back to life very nicely!

The magical polishing goo…now obsolete Collinite’s #810 Chrome Wax

I’ve had this can forever. I think it came with the 1967 Connie 52 I owned a while back. Great stuff, but apparently it’s no longer made.

Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Windshield Frame Saga Continues

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Aft Stateroom Walls VI

The aft stateroom is coming together pretty quickly. It may not seem like it since my posts covering the wall installations are spread out over many weeks. But since I can only work on the boat on weekends, and each trip to the yard and back takes two hours out of each day, it really has been coming together in a relatively small number of working hours. This time, I got another one of the aft stateroom en suite head walls installed.

The Plan

The wall and corner piece that get installed today

SketchUp is a slick CAD application, and even slicker since the basic version I use is free. After laying out the walls on the floor of the drawing (i.e. in 2D), you grab the walls and pull them up to make the 3D model. In the pic above that I exported from the model, I left the wall I’m installing today in 2D to preserve the corner and door frame details.

Zoom in to see door details

In the larger plan pix above, this area looks fuzzy grey. But that’s because of all the dimension details that are packed into the space that you can see when you zoom in close. I’ll eventually make the door frame/pocket piece in the close-up above out of solid mahogany. For now, getting the walls in is the priority.

First, cut the top to fit the overhead, then sand off the ICA base coat clear

I sanded off the base coat so the epoxy I use to wet out the area will saturate the wood. I’m using the same 1/4″-20 stainless bolts with nyloc nuts as I used on the first walls I installed, and I’m gluing the joints all around using epoxy thickened with wood flour and cabosil.

Pocket screw holes for the floor joint

Gotta love the Kreg R3 Jr pocket screw jig.

The next step involved a bit of panel tai chi to put the wall into position. It’s challenging moving a pre-finished African mahogany (ie pretty) 3/4″ plywood wall (ie heavy) that’s cut to fit within 1/8″ of the plywood decking overhead, when the 3″ tall frames the panel must attach to are spaced 16″ apart…oh, and sticky epoxy has been applied to very specific areas on the top, bottom, and sides of the panel. You can’t bump the panel into anything or you damage the beautiful wood AND get epoxy all over. So, lift, tilt, move gently into position while rotating back to near-vertical. Then, just as there’s no more space for your fingers to hold on the outside edge because the panel is almost touching the hull, give it a final twist back to vertical as the wetted out frame and floor glue joints slide home.

Hence, panel tai chi.

Bolted and glued to the overhead frame

Note Chris Craft’s use of mahogany frames with zinc chromate-primed steel plates screwed to them for strength. I believe that thru-bolting the steel plate to the frame and the 3/4″ plywood wall, with thickened epoxy enhancing the bond, makes a much stronger assembly.

Prepping the solid mahogany corner piece

I grind out a small trench in each corner to ensure a tight fit, then drill pilot holes and countersink for the screws that attach the corner piece to the plywood panels.

I also sanded off the ICA base coat from top to bottom at the corner joint

Next, wet out the plywood with straight epoxy

Harbor Freight acid shop brushes are cheap and work well for wetting out plywood edges with epoxy. After wetting out the plywood and corner piece with epoxy (3x on the plywood, since the ripped edge really drinks up the glue), I mixed up another batch and thickened it with the wood flour/cabosil mix and applied it to the joint area.

Another corner piece installed

Looking good!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing The Last Aft Stateroom Walls