I’m finally back from the funeral trip abroad. Jet lag is slowly getting better, and as the fog has been clearing it’s become apparent that the Roamer will not splash in 2016. I could rush to get it done and have it ready to bring around to my home port a month later than I planned. But I’ve learned that rushing generally doesn’t work out well, and I’d need to splash around a month past the time the yard starts packing boats in tight for the winter. The downside to leaving it in the yard for another winter is that I’ll keep having to waste several hours per day driving to the yard and back every weekend. On the upside, it’s a lot closer to my Boatamalan painter, so as I install more mahogany panels in the interior it’ll be easier for him to come out and spray the ICA clear coat. It’s not ideal, but it is what it is.
In other news, I got the dry side of the starboard exhaust riser cut and tacked together. It was a bit more challenging to work out the angles than the port side riser.
Starboard riser will have to make a loop
It would be super easy to just make a straight shot out of the turbo and point it down to the muffler inlet. But the easy road would end up potentially destroying the engine if the muffler was ever to fill with water, since gravity would cause the water to flow into the turbo and engine long before it went over the hump and out the side of the hull. To make the exhaust system inherently safe, I’ll need to have a loop coming off the turbo and going as high as possible before turning and pointing back toward the muffler opening.
X marks the spillover spot
In the pic above, there’s a 1″ x 1″ x 30″ mahogany cleat clamped to the muffler inlet, which tells me the direction the riser needs to point in at the showerhead outlet. I’ve also tied a red and white collapsible mop handle to the bottom of the U-bend that connects the muffler outlet to the exhaust port through the side of the hull. The mop handle indicates the spillover point. As long as the final turn of the dry section of tubing is above that point, even if the muffler fills with water completely, gravity will naturally force the water to drain out the exhaust rather than backing up into the turbo and engine.
Somewhere around here will be inherently safe
In the pic above, you can see the red mop handle clearly ~2″ or so below the bottom of the dry section exhaust tubing. That puts it well above the spillover point and also leaves sufficient room for the Inferno Wrap insulation I’ll use to keep the exhaust heat in the riser.
Trimming the tubing to fit the turbo flange
135° showerhead tubing + 90° turn is a bit too loopy
Final fitting before tacking
Unbolt the whole thing and line up the Sharpie marks
Let the tacking begin!
Tacked all around
Re-attach the riser, final fit, and mark the showerhead section
Remove the riser, line up the Sharpie marks, and tack all around
Tacking complete!
Loopy riser
Well above the spillover point
That wraps up Phase 1 of my riser build. They’re tacked together, with the showerhead ends pointing toward the muffler inlets. I’m still waiting for my argon diffuser to arrive, which I need to finish the welding. I’ve already got a couple of lengths of 6″ stainless tubing that I’ll use for the showerhead itself, but I also need to finish the CAD drawings for the showerhead end plates. Then I need to find somebody with a CNC cutting machine who can cut the ends per the CAD drawings. All in due time.
Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: New Coolant Hoses, Clamps, and Coolant Test
1969chriscraftroamer46 