1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: V-berth Cabinetry Corner Molding

The V-berth is coming along pretty well. I’ve got almost all of the mahogany panels cut and fitted, the closet is done, and so is the bed foundation. I’ve also got all of the panels for the “desk-like structure” cut and fitted, so next I need to make a complex molding for the corner where several panels join together in all three axes and at different angles. I don’t do this for a living, and it’s been hot as can be this summer (and worse in the tent), so it was very challenging making this piece.

The “desk-like structure”

As time goes on, this “desk-like structure” is looking more and more like an air conditioner cabinet. I need to make a molding that joins the two vertically oriented panels with the horizontal one.

The basic molding shape

I find it’s much better on working drawings to use the angles that correspond to the saw gauge than to use the actual geometric angles. On all of my saws, 90° is 0°, so the 20° noted in the drawing would be 70° in conventional geometry.

Truing up a mahogany stick

Cutting a square groove

Two passes through the saw

Four passes…

Five passes and done

Nice fit for 13mm mahogany plywood

Next, I need to route a slot at an angle…never done that before

Turns out my little Bosch router has a tilt attachment

Looks like this will work

One full pass…looking good

Full depth pass…that looks good, too!

After one more pass at full depth, the second slot was done

That’s looking as I imagined

Next, I marked the molding for the next slot that the horizontal panel will fit into.

Just like that…

Nice!

Next, I removed some material with my band saw

That ought to do it

I’m using the bandsaw because this cut won’t go all the way to the far end of the molding, and the cut needs to be straight through the material. The molding needs to be full-size at the bottom, from the horizontal panel to the floor. But there’s no  need to have the extra material up higher.

Rough cuts done

3/4″ and 3/8″ round router bits will smooth off the corners

Getting closer

Getting better

Mini drum sander on a rotary tool helps clean up the rounded corners

Sanded with 120 grit…looking OK!

Sweet!

Done!

See the sweat stain thumb print in the middle of the molding? Yeah…it’s that hot in the tent. It feels cool when I go outside on 90°F days.

While making the molding, I noticed that as I finished each step I got more and more nervous about making subsequent cuts. Mahogany isn’t cheap, but if I screw up on the first couple cuts I can just cuss myself out and pull another stick from the stack. After getting the basic shape done, it’s not just a stick any more! Having spent the better part of six hours working on it, I was being very, very careful on the last operation drum sanding with my Harbor Freight rotary tool. That thing removes material fast! But in the end, I think it turned out pretty good!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Marine Air Conditioners

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making Molding

There are lots of things going on with our Roamer project right now. So many, in fact, that a honey-do list with check boxes would make more sense than writing up individual articles. 🙂 That said, I recently made the molding I’ll use to join two African mahogany panels in the aft stateroom, the first part of which I already installed.

Chris Craft joined panels using butt joints

When the varnish is new and the panels are aligned nicely, butt joints are fine. But eventually varnish starts chipping at the joint and if you let it go for, say, 25 years, like our boat when we first found her, butt joints can look kind of scrappy.

I was over at Weaver Boatworks checking out one of their new builds and noticed that they used a modified butt joint, with a thin piece of dark teak separating the two panels. On a 3/4″ panel, the teak is cut to 5/8″ and glued in so, when looking at the front of the panel, it’s inset 1/8″. I liked the idea of breaking up the butt joint, but I’d rather see wood than a dark void. Having never done anything like this before, I figured it was best to test the idea first and see if I’ve got the tools and skills to make the filler molding.

Panel molding plan

Freud 1/8″ radius half-round router bit

Scrap wood clamped and ready for routing

Actually, my Shopsmith would be the best tool for this job. But it was 20 degrees outside, and the space where I keep the Shopsmith isn’t heated. It’s also not set up for working long pieces of material right now. So, instead, I used my Bosch laminate router on my EurekaZone EZ-One table in the nicely heated salon.

Not bad, but depth control is a problem

This router bit doesn’t have a bearing on the end to control depth, so I have to free-hand.

After a few practice runs, I’ve got the hang of it

Slicing off the molding using my EurekaZone track saw

Needs a little bit more depth of cut so it just meets the cut from the half-round router

Scrap molding looks pretty good!

Fits good, too! The plan works!

Time to get serious.

African mahogany molding from a craigslist find

I bought a stack of these 13″x 1-1/8″ moldings that were leftovers from a golf club remodel. This is the shortest one, at 88″; the longest is 12 feet, and I paid $1/ft for them. The wood has been sitting since 2008 just waiting for…today!

Setting up the track saw

I forgot to snap a pic of the finished routed edge, but it turned out very nice.

Setting the extremely important depth of cut

Getting closer

Gotta love this Eurekazone track saw. It’s pretty easy to set up, and the accuracy and trueness of the cut is outstanding.

Cut, sanded and varnished

I’m using the same pre-finished approach here that I did with the other aft stateroom walls.

Two coats of varnish need to dry overnight

I’m sure a pro in a proper woodshop could have whipped out that molding in an hour or two. Being a noob in the very confined space of a Chris Craft Roamer 46 motor yacht in the middle of winter, it took me a whole day. That’s OK though…the plan worked, the molding looks great, and I can continue installing the aft stateroom walls now.

Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Aft Stateroom Walls V