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

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

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Salon Headliner Install II

The salon headliner installation is moving right along. We got three panels installed on Day One. Day Two went smoothly, with two more panels installed. It looks absolutely great! But I also had to deal with a climate-related epoxy mess.

It’s been hot in the tent

My tent is great at protecting the boat from the weather, but the plastic skin is also really good at holding in heat. When it’s a beautiful day outside, it’s roasting in the tent. And the higher you are, the hotter it is.

When we were installing the aft stateroom headliner, I moved a bunch of supplies from the work space to the salon. I’d never had a problem with epoxy spilling from its container before, but apparently moving it from the relatively cool floor of the aft stateroom to the hotter salon floor was enough to cause a problem. My theory is that as the air in this 1/4 full can of West System 207 hardener heated up, it expanded and pushed the hardener out of the pump. What a mess! I’ve never had this problem with US Composites epoxy.

While I was cleaning up the epoxy mess, the headliner installer was busy at his craft.

First, he pushes the headliner into the track in a few spots

Whisper Wall Ostrich Gelato is pretty stuff

Pulled up and tacked in place on the forward edge

First, push the material into the track with the spatula edge

Then push the spatula handle forward and roll the material into the track

Rinse, lather, repeat

The final stretch on the first panel

I got out of the installer’s way and came back the next day to find two panels installed. Ready for lights!

First, feel around for the soft spot

Hold your breath and stab through the new headliner

Cut the hole in the headliner, then plug in another new Kai LED

Springs snap the Kai LEDs in place in the 1/2″ plywood panel behind the headliner

Nice!

The OEM light fixture hole is much bigger

10w 12v corn LED bulbs work well in the OEM light fixtures

Then I installed more Kai LEDs

And that’s a wrap for the day

There are three more rows of headliner to install and the salon will be looking much better.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the Salon Headliner Install

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Salon Headliner Install Begins!

Well…this has been a long time coming. The salon headliner installation has officially begun.

I do like it when I arrive at the boat and find contracted work competently done

That Whisper Wall Osterich Gelato looks outstanding

Thinking back on what a hassle it was getting those LED mounting panels installed at just the right height…it was well worth the effort.

The leading edge turned out great!

Next, I took out my razor knife and started slicing and dicing the new headliner.

Cutting holes for the Kai LED lights

Another light hole and one for a speaker

The recessed Kai LEDs use springs to hold them up inside the 1/2″ plywood mounting panel

New Kai LEDs and an OEM light fixture for the galley

These 10w 12vdc LED corn bulbs are the biggest that fit in the OEM fixture (75w incandescent equivalent)

I found these lights on ebay.

AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT!

That OEM fixture was on the boat since it was new in 1969. My research concluded the boat went on the hard back in the mid-80s and didn’t move until I found it in late 2007. I didn’t power up the 12v breakers until December 2018.  Which suggests that this fixture hasn’t turned on in something like 35 years.

I had a big ol’ grin on my face when it lit up. It’s funny, the stuff that makes me happy.

The OEM galley fixture has a separate switch from the Kai lights

Two more Kai lights have to go in on the port side

One more to go

Done!

That looks sooooo much better with the headliner installed. It’s just a thin piece of fabric, but it makes a HUGE difference.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Salon Headliner Install II

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wrapping Up the V-berth Headliner Installation

The good news is, the aft stateroom headliner install is done. The bad news is, it’s summer in the Mid-Atlantic region, which means high temps and miserable humidity. It’s actually not bad if you’re out boating, and I’m very glad to have a 1968 Chris Craft Commander 42 knock-about boat for that sort of thing. But for doing a refit in a plastic tent, East Coast summers are the worst . When it’s 85° outside with a nice breeze, it’s 110° with no breeze inside. Want to do woodwork? Good luck with that! There’s nothing quite like dripping sweat all over raw mahogany or plywood to ensure an awesome finished product!

My solution is to show up at or around the crack of dawn and work until noon. That works OK, unless overnight temps are in the high 70s or higher, in which case it’s roasting inside once the sun comes up. So…progress is going to  drop over the next few weeks as I get through another round of the dog days of summer. With a forecast of ~100°F for the weekend, I’d much rather be on the knock-about Commander than stuck in the tent. That said, the show must go on (albeit heat-adjusted).

When last we were in the V-berth…

Two panels in, two to go.

Whisper Wall Gelato Baby Osterich looks shinier in the pic than it is in person

That’s pretty stuff

That looks much better than the Tiger Foam insulation!

Cutting holes in brand new headliner is always exciting

I have to say, I feel incredible relief when I cut the hole in the headliner and immediately find the wiring. I keep expecting the installer to have pushed the wiring so far out of reach that we have to pull the Whisper Wall to re-orient it. But thus far, on the wiring, this contractor has been performing up to my expectations.

OEM “hourglass” light switch is on

“And then there was [Kai LED] light!”

Next light goes near the head doorway

Before the last panel was installed…

…and after

That’s a wrap on the V-berth headliner install. I still have to get the guy to install the Whisper Wall around the bunk area, after which we’re about ready for the final ICA top coat spray. But because of the brutal temps in the tent, we won’t be spraying varnish until at least the fall of 2019. Which is fine, because there’s lots of other things to do before this boat splashes.

Circling back again to that thing about scorching summer heat and knock-about boats, I wanted to mention that Steve at Flagship Marine has been a big help getting a new-to-me air conditioner up and working in the V-berth of my Commander 42. He’s also the one I worked with on the new AC units I’ll be installing in the Roamer. I don’t make anything off of the referral, but if you’re looking for top quality marine AC, I encourage you to ping Steve.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Galley Crack Repair

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

When I wrote about starting on the aft stateroom headliner installation, the expert had done three Whisper Wall panels. With the entryway and head sliding door box varnished, it’s time to finish up the rest of the headliner install.

When last I posted, three panels were installed

The Whisper Wall installer came and got busy.

That’s looking great!

The aft hatch opening

That’s going to look super with the mahogany trim ring installed…soon.

Looking good

Aft looking forward…more panels!

Aft head sliding door box turned out very nicely

I really like that Whisper Wall headliner

Entryway headliner panel and light switch turned out good, too

This is a 3-way switch

I’ll install the counterpart to this switch near the head of the bed, so the lights can be turned on and off from either place.

The entryway sure looks better than what I started with!

That overhead beam looks great with the headliner installed!

Next, I went to work with a razor knife and a sharp pair of scissors, cutting holes for the light fixtures.

Kai inset LED lights are ready to install

First, cut the hole and fish out the wiring

Plug in the light

Pull the springs back and slide the light home

The springs pull the light up tight to the headliner

Sweet!

The last hole was for the OEM light

10w 12vdc LED corn bulb fits perfectly in the OEM fixture

I bought these LED corn bulbs on ebay. I bought a bunch with different watt ratings. It turns out that 10w bulbs are the biggest that can fit in these fixtures. They put out as much light as a 75w incandescent, but at a fraction of the amp consumption.

Nice mix of old and new

The OEM light will give a boost to the closets. They all have portholes, so natural lighting will provide some light. The Kai LED lights I’m using elsewhere are 6 watts each. The additional 4w from the corn bulbs really light the place up.

Don’t need the 10w light? It turns off on a separate switch

Done for today!

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

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Aft Stateroom Headliner Install Begins

With two Whisper Wall headliner panels installed in the V-berth, the installer jumped into the aft stateroom to get more panels installed. While he’s doing that, I’m doing other, related things that I’ll be writing about soon. Even though there’s quite a ways to go on this refit, getting the headliner installed sure makes a YUGE visual impact!

I give you…the partially completed aft stateroom!

Well…that doesn’t suck

Turning to the starboard side as we enter, the view just keeps getting better.

Dang…that looks…awesome, if I do say so myself

 

The headliner looks great up against those new fascia panels

Keep in mind that Chris Craft’s approach was to paint all of the mahogany back here white.

I’m just sayin’.

Oh, and BTW, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the dedicated fans who’ve hit the tip jar. 🙂

Sa~~weeeeet!

Port-side closets look great, too

Close-up of the transverse track intersecting the perimeter track

One very cool thing about Whisper Wall is, you spritz it with water before installing, then it tightens up in the tracks as it dries. Need to get up behind it sometime later? No Problem! Just carefully work the fabric out of the track and pull it free. When you’re done, spritz it with water and drive it back in the track. When the water dries, the headliner will be tensioned like it is now. That’s a lot better than standard headliner, where you have lines of staples hidden by moldings. You can pull a standard headliner maybe once, but it’ll never look like it did when it was first installed. The staple holes are too unforgiving. And hard panels held up by velco…always look like hard panels held up by velcro. They’re not bad approaches, and I’ve used both on the other boats I’ve owned. But this Whisper Wall stuff…I’m really glad the Boatamalans* who worked for custom sportfish manufacturer Weaver Boatworks introduced me to it. Believe it or not, going with the same materials and methods used on multi-million dollar toys for rich people yields a better end result. Who knew???

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

Now…about all that wiring I did…

See how those ugly (yet perfectly positioned) plywood panels that the LED lights fit into don’t print through the headliner?

Yeah…I did that. 😉

Kai LED light ready for final installation!

I’m not using the dimmer feature that’s controlled by the white lead. When I want light, I want light.

But…trouble. I used a hole saw to cut the holes in the plywood panels that were ~1/8″ bigger than the Kai light housing. That left 1/16″ of clearance around the perimeter. But with the thick Whisper Wall material stapled up in the hole, the light wouldn’t go in!

And then there was light!

Since the fabric had already shrunk to its permanent size, I trimmed the material that went up in the hole. We’ll probably staple around the hole just to keep things stable.

No backing panel print-through

Booya!

Three Kai LEDs installed on the port side

And two more installed on the starboard side

I’m diggin’ this

6th Kai light installed at the starboard transom

If only that damned dryer wasn’t in the way…

All in due time…

Not a bad start!

Well, that’s a pretty good start to the aft stateroom headliner installation. I want to give a big shoutout to the Hatteras Owners Forum member who very generously donated a bunch of Kai LEDs that didn’t fit his boat. They look great on this old Chris Craft!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Hatch Finish Panel

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fitting the V-berth Hatch Screen Track

With the perimeter of the V-berth ready for the Whisper Wall headliner track to be installed, the last step is to get the supports installed for the hatch sliding screen tracks.

The screen tracks will need a bit of cleaning…some day

Half of the original hatch sliding screen framing is there

Like everything else, the original framing is fine for an OEM-style headliner. But because the Whisper Wall track is 1/2″ tall, I need to add some height to the existing framing and make new framing around the hatch opening.

Kind of like that

Cool Chris Craft switch controls the Kai LEDs

It looks better with the tent support 2×4 out of the way

Another thing I’ve been doing recently is cleaning up all of the stuff that hangs from the ceiling in the boat. The ceiling frames are a great place to stow woodworking clamps and electrical power strips, and I’ve got CAT5 cable for alarm components strung all over. And all of that needs to get relocated so the headliner can be installed.

The slider screen frame will seal up against the headliner with that fuzzy stuff…whatever it’s called

That’s a wrap

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the V-berth Headliner Tracks

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

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Salon Light Mounts

With the 12v wiring powered up throughout the boat, next I started installing the panels that the new salon lights will go into once the headliner is installed.

Reusing original plywood

I kept most of the plywood that was still in good shape when we demolished the original interior back in 2008. It’s made my garage a mess for a decade, so I’m happy to be using the old wood while putting the boat back together. This is 1/2″ plywood, and the Whisper Wall track that the headliner goes into is also 1/2″ high.

Kai 12v LED marine lights, courtesy of a fellow boater

A fellow whose been following the refit very generously donated 20 Kai LED lights. He bought them for his own boat, but they were too deep to fit above the headliner. They’ll fit this Roamer just fine!

IMTRA LEDs I bought previously will go in the aft cabin and bathrooms

Hole saw then jigsaw and one mount is ready to go

Pretty slick

Springs on the backside hold them firmly in place.

First light mount is installed

Mass production

The salon panels are all cut

Line up the big holes in the panels and screw them to the overhead frames

Make sure the panels line up horizontally, too

The panels have to line up horizontally so hard edges don’t push the headliner and print through. The Whisper Wall headliner is 56″ wide, same as conventional Chris Craft perforated headliner. The lights are seven watts, so they’re not super bright. I’ll have nine of them in the salon spaced about 24″ apart, plus the OEM light fixture in the center of the salon and galley that can be turned on if the missus  (who likes lots of light) wants it brighter.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Wiring the New Salon Lights.