1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Deck Headliner Track Prep

The aft deck headliner prep is coming to a close. I got the aft deck wiring done. The searchlight is installed. The radio antennas and wiring are done. The helm radio box is looking very fine. Now I’ve just got to wrap up the lighting and speaker wiring and mounting panel installation, and we’re ready for Whisper Wall tracks. Almost.

OEM light fixture is great, but everything else needs help

The pic above was taken before we started on the helm mahogany parts, but it shows what I started with on the OEM light fixtures. The light mounting panels are at the wrong height for Whisper Wall tracks, the switches are in rough shape, and that OEM headliner fragment….well…it’s gotta go. But first…

I’ve been very impressed with Infinity Kappa speakers

Mahogany plywood scrap makes good speaker mounting panel

I’ve wrestled with the “throw it away or keep it” problem for this entire refit, when it comes to wood scraps. Turns out I was right to keep these two!

Ready to install

The attachment cleats have to place the speaker mount plywood face exactly 1/2″ above the frames

Everything that comes through the headliner, like speakers or lights, have to be on exactly the same plane as the headliner. It makes this install more detail-oriented than a standard-type marine headliner. But I think it’s worth it, based on the way the salon headliner, aft stateroom, and V-berth turned out.

Ready for speakers!

Next, I got wooden cleats for the headliner tracks glued and screwed all the way around the perimeter

This is gonna be awesome

MAHOGANY PORN ALERT!!!

While I was admiring my handiwork, the headliner installer popped in and popped my bubble. Turns out overly angular hiccups in the spacers for the transverse overhead frames aren’t pretty when you attach headliner to them. Better to find and fix that now than to live with ugly forever…

Smoothing out some transitions for the Whisper Wall track

While the Whisper Wall guy was on-site, he finished up the last access panel for the salon.

Salon headliner install wasn’t quite done

Now that’s pretty

This panel with the Pearl Ostrich Whisper Wall and foam backing it is a friction fit to the dashboard access hole. But the installer insisted on backing the ends with Velcro. Now you need a putty knife to remove it!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Deck Headliner Track Prep II

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the Salon Headliner Install

There are four areas on the boat that have headliner. We wrapped up the aft stateroom headliner first, followed by the V-berth. The salon headliner has been come along nicely, and now…it’s done! Which leaves only the aft deck ceiling, and that’s going to be a huge job…but all good things in due time.

The last few panels are going in today!

Prep work takes forever…the final touch is done in a blink

This is gorgeous

Safety rail hardware is hidden up behind that Whisper Wall panel

That’s just….so nice

Spray foam insulation is great. But looking at it every single weekend…I didn’t realize how oppressive it was. LOL I can get used to this Whisper Wall Ostrich Gelato.

OK…time to stop admiring the headliner perfection, bust out the razor knife and start slicin’ and dicin’.

Second to the last Kai LED light hole

I still get the willies when I cut through the headliner material. It’d be pretty hard to make a mistake at this point, but I still get nervous.

Check it out!

In case you were wondering, this is what I was hoping it would look like

A while back, after I posted one of the articles about prep work for the headliner, a commenter said something to the effect of “I think I see where you’re going with this.” That’s when I realized that just because I’ve got a vision in my head of how it will turn out, and I do my best to explain in this blog what I’ve got in mind for next steps, it’s maybe not equally clear to readers what I’m aiming for. I’d appreciate any comments letting me know how close I’ve come to YOUR impression of how this was going to turn out.

The last Kai light is in

Time for speakers!

I went with Infinity Kappa 62IX speakers throughout the boat

I considered hiding the speakers up behind the headliner, but I find these to be visually very appealing. And though I’d be the first to admit I’m not an audiophile, the sound is terrific. It’s really amazing, the difference between the Pyle shop-grade speakers I’ve been using and these.

The salon headliner is (pretty much) a wrap

The last headliner-related task will be to make the little hatch panel to access the under-side of the dashboard. But that can wait. For now, I’m calling this part of the refit done!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: V-birth Moldings