1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the OEM lights On The Aft Deck

It is such a pleasure coming up the ladder to the aft deck and NOT seeing ceiling frames or insulation. That Whisper Wall headliner makes a YUGE difference not just in the appearance of the aft deck…it’s good for the soul. The IMTRA LEDs and Infinity Kappa speakers are very nice, too, but I still need to wrap up the OEM light fixture upgrade and install.

I’ve  been trying out different kinds of LED lighting, from the stick-on strip lights you can buy on Amazon that I used for engine room lighting, to 12v ‘corn’ LED lights on ebay to replace incandescent bulbs in OEM fixtures in the salon. What I learned from my ‘temporary’ knockabout boat, a 1968 Chris Craft Commander 42, is that the corn lights cannot tolerate heat. The OEM fixtures on our Commander are open-ended on the bottom, but there’s no way for built up heat to escape from the top. So they cook. Which is fine for glass and metal incandescents, but these LED corn lights are in plastic frames that melt and twist and eventually fail long before their claimed service life is up.

So…if you upgrade to corn bulbs in your OEM fixtures, make sure there’s a chimney hole or two…or more…for the heat to escape.

Ventilated OEM Chris Craft light fixture

I stewed for ages over how I’d protect what I thought was chromed steel if I drill vent holes in the reflector. This is a boat, and rusted steel doesn’t reflect light quite as well as shiny metal does. Imagine how surprised I was to find out that they’re just stamped aluminum.

With the corn bulb in place, you can’t see the holes…not that that matters

Oh, and the missing section of OEM cork gasket…that’s the air intake. I didn’t plan it that way, but from a physics perspective if there’s a chimney vent for heat there has to be an inlet for the cooling effect to work efficiently. Also, for these fixtures, 10w corn bulb LEDs are as bright as you can go. the 12w and 15w units are brighter, but they’re too wide and stop the glass and stainless trim ring from closing.

Upgraded OEM light fixture installed at the helm station

I like it!

The aft switch is for the IMTRA LEDs.

This is making me very happy!

Now for the aft-most OEM light fixture to fill that last hole

This fixture was in slightly rougher shape, so it got the full Collinite 810 treatment

The ‘air intake’ gasket gap on this one is slightly larger

Think of it as better cooling…like an intercooler for an ultra high-tech LED light upgrade…not as a brittle, busted up cork gasket.

Ready for showtime!

NICE!

That wraps up almost all of the aft deck headliner work. The only thing left is installing the One-Mile Ray searchlight controls, but that can happen much later. But I still have some mahogany panel work on the aft deck that has to happen if the plywood stack is ever going away. When the plywood stack is gone, the project should be done.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Helm Station Side Cabinets

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up The Aft Deck Headliner Installation

I had a bit of bad luck last week. For the second time on this refit, I lost a memory card that had all of the pictures on it, which is why I didn’t post any articles. I was able to recover some pix from a backup, so I’ll be working with those unless the card reappears.

On the good news side, the headliner on the aft deck is installed!

The Whisper Wall headliner is looking great!

The installer put the final panels in later this day

The big hole is for the OEM light fixture

I like that ostrich pattern in the headliner material

The radio box turned out really nice

While the installer put in the last few panels, I installed the speakers and lights

It’s always nerve-wracking slicing into the new headliner.

One down, five to go

The last Whisper Wall panel getting tacked into the tracks

Infinity Kappa speakers were next

Installing the last LED

A little push and the springs pull the light into position

Done!

What a massive transformation! I’ve been staring at ceiling frames and insulation for ten years. It was oppressive! Getting the headliner, LED lights, and speakers installed really did a lot to transform the space. It’s starting to look less like a project boat. Now if I can just stop losing the dang memory cards…

UPDATE: The goddess of the seas did me a solid! Just after I saved this article, I found the memory card!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the OEM lights On The Aft Deck

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Deck Headliner Install Begins

The headliner installer showed up and finished screwing and stapling the Whisper Wall tracks in place. Then he started installing the headliner panel at the windshield. Turns out that panel was a complicated job, what with all of the angles along the front edge and the radio box. It’s much easier installing the headliner when all of the edges are parallel to their opposite side. It took him half of a day to get that one panel installed, but I have to say…it looks great!

Setting up shop

Tools of the trade–gotta have a spray bottle

He spritzes the material with water after tacking one edge into the track. That allows it to stretch easier. And when the water dries, the material tightens up like a drum. It’s pretty cool stuff.

Let the tacking begin!

Around the radio box, he tacked, pulled, and retacked about a dozen times

Once he got the material tacked around the radio box, the angled mahogany panels above the windshields were giving him real trouble. The material would be tight almost everywhere, but there’d be a flappy spot in a corner. So he’d pull the material from the tracks and start over. It turned out the order of tacking was the key. Starting in the center and tacking the front and back, then working outwards solved the problem.

That’s more like it!

That curve to the overhead frame made it challenging, too

It sure turned out nice, though

Tight like a drum

Panel 1 is done!

So, a funny thing happened a while back. I was cleaning the aft stateroom when I came upon a box of IMTRA Ventura LED lights that I’d forgotten about. I used Kai lights in the aft stateroom, salon, and V-berth, but for the V-berth and aft stateroom heads I used these. I was planning on just having the OEM light fixtures on the aft deck, but since I found these six leftovers…

Soooo, while the headliner installer was griping about the grief the radio box was causing (I kept jazzing him, telling him it’s a skill problem!) I was making and installing LED light mount panels like mad. Once the headliner goes up, the window for putting these in closes.

Fortunately, I’ve got the process for making and installing these nailed

Ready to install

The first panel’s installed and the wiring is rough-cut to size

Port side panels are installed

Installing the wiring

Making sure the starboard panels are on the same plane as the headliner will be

I use anything handy that’s long and flat to span the space between the headliner tracks, then balance the plywood mounting panel on it while clamping the cleats for the mounting panels at just the right height. With my third hand, I take pix so I can share the adventure. LOL

Mounting panels…check Wiring…check

Next, I put spade connectors on the light wires

Nice flush fit

Held in place with springs

Last step, I added a separate switch at the helm for the new LEDs

That’s a wrap

With the unexpectedly new lights installed and working, I pulled the lights from the mounting panels and went home. When the installer comes next, the headliner should go in pretty quickly.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up The Aft Deck Headliner Installation